Blessed are those who Mourn: Why does this matter?

The Bible declares in Psalm 36:1-4,  
Wrongdoing speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his wrongful deed and the hatred of it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wickedness on his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not reject evil.

Psalm 32:1-5 declares,
How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is a person whose guilt the LORD does not take into account, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality failed as with the dry heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And I did not hide my guilt; I said, “I will confess my wrongdoings to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 51:1-8 speaks again on this saying,
Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my wrongdoings, and my sin is constantly 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. Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in secret You will make wisdom known to me. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Cleanse me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, Let the bones You have broken rejoice.

Again, in Psalm 30:3-5 God reveals this saying,
LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, and praise the mention of His holiness. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.
 
And in Matthew 5:4,
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

In this second Beatitude, Jesus places what seems to be two opposites to reveal a very important reality that exists in the heart and character of His followers. Let’s look at why it matters that this character quality must be present in every person standing redeemed before God.

We now look at the second of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Let’s again admit to the obvious. How do you get happiness, blessedness from be mournful? I mean, we can easily arrive at a connection of being comforted when you’re in a a state of mournfulness. That’s easy.

Most of us have experienced being in sorrow and mourning. We’ve lost loved ones and wept and sought and needed comfort. And God indeed supplies to His people with such comfort based on the hope He provides in the victory over death in Christ’s resurrection. But we need to understand something.  The context of this Beatitude. The context is not the sorrow from death or life’s circumstances.

Remember the verse before, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Jesus is talking about character qualities that exists within the hearts of His followers. Here at the beginning, His sermon is laying down essential realities that have been realized in those who have come to Him. At the very beginning of His follower’s life, they first come to the realizing of their poverty of spirit. And then He then provides what we cannot. This is an actualized reality in anyone who is truly His followers.

And in the same way, Jesus now presents a second reality in the life of His followers: They acknowledge their sinfulness and their spirit mourns.

Let me go back for just a moment and remind you of what I mentioned previously. Jesus’ focus in these is on the inward over the outward. What exists in the lives of His followers is fundamentally within, then expresses itself outwardly. Remember what Jesus said? “You must be born again,” reborn by God’s Spirit from within. And then what comes out, flows out of that inward reality.

This is why this truth matters, this truth matters. It has to be REAL internally in order for what comes out in a life to be real and true. God is a God of Truth. And truth matters to Him.

You see, if God is just an add-on to a person’s life, if He is merely a moral guideline that someone chooses to adopt and adapt into their life to have a sense of goodness, it skews everything. Then the person works to conform their conduct to make them feel good about their own goodness. “I’m a good person. I’m not that bad.” And they precede with their life doing the best they can, in control of how they feel about how their doing.

Or a person could just ignore any idea of God’s reality at all. That makes it even easier. If their own sinfulness they even come up with all kinds of things. They reject even such an idea of truth. And then there’s a multitude of directions they can take. “Well, there’s no God, so I just live my life like I want to. I have my own truth. In fact, truth doesn’t even matter.”

Well, in the beginning of His sermon, Jesus starts with the fundamentals. And throughout this Sermon He’s going to lay out the contrast of the fundamentals versus the superficial.
The same is true in the Beatitudes. So, let’s get back to where we were in Jesus is saying when He speaks of “those who mourn.”

Remember in an earlier broadcast I said that in these Beatitudes have a sequential order to them. There’s a journey that each of us, every true believer has to make in this process of following Jesus. There is map, if you will, that each believer will follow as God redeems us and makes us. You will see what I mean in these Beatitudes as we move through them.

You see, we first come to God, we must come sensing our inadequacy. We bring nothing to God to commend ourselves except coming “poor in spirit.” And then He provides what He alone can provide. And only then can we enter His Kingdom, and are happy, blessed.

When we first come, and even throughout our days on this earth we are faced with a problem, even believers; Our Sin. We are sinners. It’s the truth. Believers know it, and it bothers us. It burdens us. It causes us no end of grief. I wish I could say that after getting saved that the sin problem was over. But it’s not true. Remember what Paul said in Romans 7:18-20?

"For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me."

Then in verses 24 and 25 he sums it up, “Wretched man that I am!” He admits it. “Who can set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Paul states the obvious problem. It’s within us. It must be dealt with from within. That’s what Jesus alone provides.

The true child of God faces their own sinfulness. Doing it is painful. It’s humbling. It rips deep because God’s work is soul deep. He isn’t making us better citizens or better people. He’s remaking us. He’s making us new creations. He’s molding us into His likeness. And He and sin cannot co-exist, thus this painful work. But Thanks be to God, redemption also goes soul deep. That’s why it bothers us to sin.

Facing our sin is not a superficial exercise. It’s a soul wrenching journey. If sin doesn’t bother you, you might have a deeper problem, much deeper. We’ll look at that in a moment.

Let’s just look at some Scriptural examples of the process that the redeemed go through. I quoted them earlier. Psalm 32:1-5 declares,
"How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is a person whose guilt the LORD does not take into account, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality failed as with the dry heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And I did not hide my guilt; I said, 'I will confess my wrongdoings to the LORD'; And You forgave the guilt of my sin."

Did you see it? Did you see the process? Sorrow over sin moving to joy, the joy of forgiveness.

Let’s look again. In Psalm 51:1-8,
"Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my wrongdoings, and my sin is constantly 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. Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in secret You will make wisdom known to me. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Cleanse me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, Let the bones You have broken rejoice."

Pain, sorrow, redemption and then rejoicing.

Once again in Psalm 30:3-5 we see this journey.
"LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, and praise the mention of His holiness. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning."

You see it now? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Facing and dealing with our sin is not a fun journey. But it is necessary. The truth about sin matters to the believer. It causes us sorrow and mourning. But coming to the place where sin is truly dealt with, we find forgiveness, comfort, redemption. We are comforted by His loving grace, mercy and healing.

The true believer faces the fundamental issues and we avoid the superficial. Our happiness is not a superficial act to show how good we are. It is merely the expression in life of someone who is continually redeemed by a God who deals and forgives sinners.

But there is a flip side of this view. You see, not all people like the idea of looking at their sinfulness. Truth is always easier to avoid for those who don’t take God or truth seriously. They don’t like the idea of digging deep into such fundamental questions as sin. The topic of goodness is best left on the superficial level. Such a strategy is safe and comfortable. “I’m do good things. I’m basically a good person.” And the fundamental problem is never dealt with on a deep spiritual and truthful level.

If it comes up, there is plenty of distractions available today to keep mankind from having to deal with it. The soul becomes anesthetized from having to look at that direction and avoidance is key to keeping them safe. But are they safe? Remember what I read in Psalm 36:1-4?  
"Wrongdoing speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his wrongful deed and the hatred of it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wickedness on his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not reject evil."

Are they really safe, and for how long?

It would be wrong for me not to mention this aspect in dealing with sin. As Adrian Rogers once said, “We do no one any favors if we make them comfortable on the way to Hell.”
You see, facing our sin is a problem that should not be avoided.
 
Jesus told a story and declared the consequences surrounding this matter. The story involved a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. The choices in their lives set on a destiny that was eternally fixed and vastly different. One found himself in the comfort of the redeemed. The rich man found himself tormented in a fiery darkness, pleading for a help that was lost to him.

He then cried out and asked that Lazarus be sent to warn his family so that they could escape his fate. But he was told that his family had Moses and the prophets. God’s Word was there to warn them. He then appeals, “No, send Lazarus. If someone comes back from the dead, then they’ll believe.”

Again, he’s answered. “They won’t believe, even if someone comes back from the dead. They have Moses and the prophets.”

You see, God’s Word provides all with the choice. Avoid the pain and shame of facing your sin now and now you face an eternity weeping in regret and gnashing in pain for eternity. It doesn’t have to be that way. The gift of redemption in Jesus Christ is available to all sinners, all who come to Him, truthfully, honestly, humbly. You know what? Christ forgives sinners.

Face your sin honestly before God now. It’s painful, but it ends with redemption.
Psalm 30:3-5. I love what it says,
"LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, and praise the mention of His holiness. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning."

This is God’s Truth coming to you. Believe it. Receive it.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” comforted in redemption, happy.
This is the truth and it’s a Truth that Matters.