Matthew 5, beginning at the first verse. This is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." That's as far as we'll read this morning in God's Holy Word. Well, with Matthew 5, verse 4 still ringing in our ears, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you mourned? When was the last time you mourned? You know, sadly, Mourning is not uncommon in our world. We live in a fallen world. And in Adam, we know from the Bible that when sin entered the world, death entered along with sin. Mourning in a fallen world is not surprising. But what may seem surprising to many people is that mourning should be one of the things that Jesus says is connected to being blessed. Blessed are those who mourn. And boys and girls, like we saw last time with the poor and the spirit being poor and being blessed, those things don't seem to go together. When Jesus is preaching here, he is saying very striking things that come as a surprise to people. Blessed are those who mourn. To capture that strange sense of these two things coming together, mourning and blessing, John MacArthur entitles his section in his commentary on this verse, happy are the sad. Happy are the sad. John Stott puts it even more strikingly, happy are the unhappy. Happy are the unhappy. Now, of course, in the same breath, Jesus goes on to speak about being comforted. And that sounds attractive, that sounds appealing. But before we come to the comfort, We have to be clear about the mourning or the sadness that Jesus was talking about. The first thing we need to see is what this mourning means. When Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn, what did he mean when he used that word mourning? What does mourning mean? Well, the word in general means being sad at some kind of loss in your life. Losses of all kinds, of many kinds, can make people sad. But the loss which results from death is usually what we think of when we hear this word mourning. Someone in our family, a friend, a loved one dies. And the response is mourning. We mourn the loss, we say. Our neighbors on our street have been very sad for the last couple of weeks, boys and girls. And you know what made them sad? Their dog. that they had since she was a puppy after 15 years of being in their home, died a couple of weeks ago. And it was sad. And they were sad. Mourning because of a loss and particularly the loss that is involved in death. People can be sad when their pets die. We understand that. We appreciate that. We don't want to ignore that or minimize that. But how much more then when a human being dies? And this is the first kind of mourning that we see in the Bible. We could call it common or natural mourning. Mourning at the loss that occurs in death. That kind of mourning is across all the pages of scripture. Genesis 23 verse 2, Sarah died at Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. There is a great sadness, the loss of a loved one. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4.13, brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, that's a way of saying dying, or grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. There is a grieving that all men experience in the face of death. And this is a common sense and understanding of mourning. But if, according to 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, if the rest of men, as Paul says, can grieve or mourn in this natural way, this can't be the mourning that Jesus has in mind here in this beatitude. Because this is a special gospel condition. It has to do with something spiritual, as we saw with poor in spirit. It's not material poverty, it's spiritual poverty. You know, even as we think here about mourning, natural or common mourning, even here, what is striking in our culture, it seems, is the increasing reluctance to mourn. There is an increasing reluctance to mourn. It is almost as if sadness is to be banished, even at funerals. They're often not called funerals anymore. They're called celebrations of life. Now, to be sure, there is a time to remember with joy and gratitude our loved ones. Of course that's true. But friends, Jesus wept. Jesus wept. Was he less mentally stable than people in our culture? Was he foolishly given over to sadness when he should have been celebrating? Jesus wept at a grave. And there's a lot that we can learn from that in our culture. The increasing absence of mourning in our culture is almost certainly a sign of decreasing acknowledgement of God and his truth in our culture. The Bible tells us death is not natural. It is the penalty for sin. The Bible tells us that death is not the end. It is the beginning of eternity. The Bible tells us that the only hope that there is in the face of death is the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not hard to see why, in an increasingly anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible culture, that people want to change the way society looks at death. Even when we think of common or natural mourning, Things are messed up in our world. But the second main kind of sorrow or mourning that's mentioned in the Bible is more religious. It could be called worldly sorrow or sinful mourning even. Paul deals with this in 2 Corinthians 7. It is sadness over sin. But it is a sadness that is not blessed or ultimately comforted. And if you've been here in the evening services over the past number of months when Pastor John Roque has come and preached, he's been leading us through 2 Corinthians 7, last time in particular, on sorrow and the different kinds of sorrow. It's in 2 Corinthians 7.10, Paul can say, worldly sorrow brings death. There is a sorrowing even over sin, a mourning in the face of sin that is not blessed. It leads to death. Cain had worldly sorrow. Esau had worldly sorrow. Judas had worldly sorrow. They were sad because of sin. But it wasn't blessed. People can be convicted of sin. They may be sorry that they have sinned. Sin brings misery, so we can regret sin. Sin brings punishment, so we wish we hadn't done it. We're sorry when we're caught. That's worldly sorrow. You can do that without the Spirit of God. Worldly sorrow is man-centered and not God-centered, as many have said. It sees sin only in terms of personal loss or pain. This kind of repentance is just a way to avoid consequences. Worldly sorrow also has a sense often of being self-righteous. We may think our sadness pays the penalty for sin. And somehow we can atone for our own sins if we're sad enough about them, if we cry enough about them. But as one Puritan said, even our tears of repentance need to be washed. There's no merit in our repentance. Can be very self-righteous and self-centered, sometimes sorrow And repentance for sin, mourning over sin, is done more for the benefit of others than before the face of God. We'll get to that in Matthew 6.16. The Pharisees, who had a public kind of mourning and fastness, and they let everyone know about it. They wanted people to see how sad they were. As one writer said, he grieves truly who weeps without a witness. He grieves truly who weeps without a witness. What we are alone before God on our knees is what we are and nothing more, said Robert Murray McShane. So, the Bible speaks of common mourning and worldly mourning, sinful mourning. These are not what Jesus has in mind here. The mourning that Jesus is speaking about is gracious, godly mourning over sin. This verb that Jesus uses here in the Greek in Matthew's gospel is used 10 times. The noun is used five times in the New Testament and it's almost always used in reference to sin. Spiritual mourning concerning sin. So when people say blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted, people often think, well, someone has died and we're sad and there'll be a comfort for you in this. This word is almost always used. There are two exceptions and we'll see them later. Almost always used in terms of sin and repentance. And the verses are striking. They are counter cultural. They are counter to what we see in the world. And they're even counter to much of the spirit of the church in our day throughout the ages. Luke 625, woe to you, that's the opposite of blessed. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. There Jesus is bringing before us the great realities of this life and eternity. Time and eternity. We're here for a good time, not a long time. Whoever's saying that. And what does Jesus say about that kind of philosophy? Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep and mourn. Now there's a time to laugh, Ecclesiastes 3. It's a time to enjoy and all those things, to be sure. But that's all the world wants. And sometimes that's all that Christians want, all that people in the church want. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 1 Corinthians 5.2, another use of this word. Paul says, in the light of the great sin in the church of Corinth, the man who had his father's wife, are you proud? Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief, that's the same word here, and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 2 Corinthians 12, 21, I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you and I will be grieved. I will mourn over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin, and debauchery in which they have indulged. Perhaps one of the most striking passages in which this word is used is James chapter 4, verse 8. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. That is so against the spirit of the age. That is so against so much of popular church culture. This is what Jesus is speaking about. This is God-centered repentance, sadness, and mourning over sin. Psalm 51.4, do you see what he's saying and how God-centered it is? Against you, you only have I sinned. and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. God is at the center. It is sadness at loss. That's mourning, but it's sadness at the loss of image of God righteousness. As human beings, it's sadness of falling short of the glory of God, Romans 3. Sadness that accompanies the offense that sin is against God. It's a mourning over our culture that sins against God. Rivers of water run down my eyes, Psalm 191.36, because they keep not thy law. When you look around, when a Christian looks around and sees sin in the world, it causes us to mourn. We mourn when we see sin in the lives of others. because of the harm that it does to themselves and to those around them. This kind of mourning is a characteristic of the true people of God. In Ezekiel 9, in one of the prophecies, It says, say to him, go throughout the city of Jerusalem, put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it. Sin was happening and some people were mourning over it. And they received a special mark. Why? Verse 5 continues, as I listened, he said to the others, follow him. through the city and kill without showing pity or compassion, slaughter old men, young men, maidens, women, and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. There are those who mourn over sin, and they were marked. And there were those who didn't mourn over sin, and they were judged. The mourning that Jesus intends here in Matthew 5 verse 4 is what Paul describes as godly sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7. Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. Yet now I am happy because you were made sorry. Not because you were made sorry alone, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended, so you were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you. This is the fruit of repentance. What earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. This is the godly sorrow that leads to life. It is the mourning over sin of the true people of God. This is the mourning of David in Psalm 51. This is mourning not like Judas, but like Peter. This is repentance unto life. It's not only the conviction of sin, that's more the poor in spirit. We have nothing. We're convicted in our sin. but it's also contrition over sin. It's the mourning that accompanies it. Because a man may be convinced and convicted of sin. He say, yep, I did it and it was wrong. But maybe just as ready to do it again. There's no sorrow over sin as an offense to God. There's no mourning of the sinfulness of sin. And Jesus, when he speaks of this morning and draws our attention to it here in verse four, in the second beatitude, is simply confirming here the call to godly repentance that was throughout the Old Testament. I was blessed by a study that someone had done on calls to repentance in the Old Testament. This writer says the prophets were spokesmen sent by God with a central message of calling God's people to repent. All those who functioned in a prophetic capacity prefigured the great prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, who began his own prophetic ministry with a call to repentance. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Repentance is central to the Bible's overall message of salvation. And the apostles preached a message of repentance as well. Blessed are those who mourn, who mourn over sin before the face of God. Beloved, don't deny sin. Mourn over it. Don't downplay sin. Mourn over it. My parents are just uptight. Well, they may be. But maybe they're telling you what God tells you is sin. It's sin. Don't downplay it. Mourn it. Don't try to drown sin just to get your mind off it, to deaden your conscience in one way or another. Mourn it. Blessed are those who mourn, Jesus says. Not blessed are those who deny sin. Not blessed are those who blame shift. Not blessed are those who make excuses. Blessed are those who mourn. The apostles preach, Paul preached, Acts 20, 21, I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. This is what mourning means. But we also need to consider the means to mourning. If this kind of mourning, if this godly sorrow and repentance is what is blessed, who does it? Who really mourns this way? How do they come to mourn in this way? What are the means to mourning? Well, first, you know, when Paul says they preach to turn to God in repentance and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, just like faith is a gift from God, so is true repentance. So is godly mourning over sin. I can't just say as a preacher, here is what you should do now. You just try to do that. You can't. You won't. In and of yourself. It's not natural. Supernatural. You can't work it up yourselves. Mourning over sin, the kind of mourning that Jesus is talking about, is the evidence of a new heart, of regeneration. It's a gift from God. Acts 11, 18, when they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, so then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life. God has granted repentance unto life. It's a gift of saving grace in a believer's life. Well, if that's true, what do we do? Well, pray. Pray and ask God to work in your heart. Gospel mourning over sin. Pray for the mercy to mourn. Pray for the gift of true repentance. Pray for the work of the Spirit. In John 16, 8, this is what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin. There's the first work of the Holy Spirit. It's interesting in John 16, the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. And that's how this beatitude ends. Comfort, same word. We need to pray as in Jeremiah 31.18, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, thus thou has chastised me and I was chastised as a bull unaccustomed to the yoke. And here's the prayer, turn thou me. That's the word for repentance, the great Hebrew word for repent, turn. But it's a prayer to God, turn thou me. You do it Lord, I can't. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Pray. Second, grow in your understanding of the sinfulness of sin. Study the law of God. Study the law of God in terms of the God who gave the law. Proverbs 6, 16, there are six things the Lord hates. seven that are detestable to him. It's not just bare law. These things are what God hates. Do you want to do something that the person you love the most hates? Are you just going to do that? You know that this person that is chief in your affections hates this thing. And you say, well, that's just the thing I'm going to do. Study the law of God in light of the lawgiver and what God loves and what God hates. Study the goodness of God to sinners. Don't you realize that God's kindness should lead you to repentance? The good gifts we receive every day and often take them and turn them into sin? You take the body that God gave you You sin with it. You take the mind that God gave you and you sin with it. All the good gifts he gives us. Study the glory of God. You know, boys and girls, when you're at home at night and you're in the house and all the lights are on, and then you quickly go outside, the darkness is darker, isn't it? Than if you were out in the dark all night. It's when we come before the face of God and we study His glory and the light of His glory, that then when we go out into the darkness, the darkness seems dark to us. But if you just hang out in the dark all the time, The dark actually starts to look light to you. Study the glory of God. Richard Baxter said, nothing in the world will tell us so plainly and powerfully of the evil of sin like the knowledge of the greatness, wisdom, goodness, holiness, authority, justice, and truth of God. The sense of his presence, therefore, will revive our sense of sin's malignity, sin's sinfulness. But last, the means to mourning, study the gospel of Jesus Christ. Study the grace and mercy of Christ. Remember Peter? In the high priest's courtyard, about an hour later, someone asserted, certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter replied, man, I don't know what you're talking about. And just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Look in the Lord's face. If you want to mourn over sin, look in the Lord's face and see him looking at you. And Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. Study the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 7 says, when a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him, had his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. You want to mourn over sin? Study the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christina Rossetti has a poem called Good Friday, and this is how it begins. Am I a stone and not a sheep that I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross to number drop by drop thy blood's slow loss and yet not weep? We mourn over sin all the more because this same God against whom we sin forgives sin. And that woman's tears were perhaps mingled tears. I would suspect tears of mourning and sorrow over sin, but at the same time, tears of love and joy and comfort at the feet of her savior. And that's what we see third here in this beatitude, by God's grace and spirit in Christ, what true mourning meets. What is it met with? When God's people truly mourn over their sin, well, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. They will be comforted. That's what mourning meets in the gospel, comfort. God's calls to repentance and mourning are buttressed always by the promise of comfort. And again, from that study of repentance in the Old Testament, Matthew Henry said, God does not change his mind, but when the sinner's mind is changed, then God does change his actions toward repentant sinners. Joel 2, 13, return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. Amos 5.15, establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord, God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Hosea 6.1, come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn, but he will heal us. Hosea 14, receive us graciously, for in you the fatherless find mercy. Zephaniah 2.3, seek the Lord. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Malachi 3.10, bring all the tithes into the storehouse. Test me now in this, if I will not pour out for you such blessing. You know, literally what Jesus says here is, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be paracleted. Paraclete. Paraclete, the word that means to come alongside. Comfort. Someone who comes alongside. Well, who comes alongside? Well, in the New Testament, Jesus is the paraclete, par excellence. We can come alongside each other in our sadnesses in Greece, and that's a blessing. But Jesus is the paraclete, par excellence, because he is God with us, Emmanuel. And the God who is with us in the Gospels is the one who will be named Jesus. For He will save His people from their sins. That's the comfort. God coming alongside of us, and not only coming alongside of us, but standing in our place, taking the penalty for our sins so that we could be forgiven. This is the great comfort, you see, it's the comfort of forgiveness. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Why is it, friends, that so many people do not find comfort in the gospel? They hear the gospel and they say, not interested, nothing for me there. Is it because they've never truly mourned over sin? The comfort of the gospel here is inextricably linked with mourning over sin. Only those who mourn over sin in the gospel will be comforted. Is this why many people have never seen the comfort in the gospel, comfort in gospel preaching, comfort in the church? Because they've never mourned over sin. You know, there are two other times that this Greek word, as I mentioned, are used, and they're both in connection with Jesus. The word for mourning, Matthew 9, 15, Jesus answered, how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, then they will fast. Jesus would die and be buried, and the disciples would be sad. But it says in Mark 16, 9, and this is the other use of this word for mourn, when Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him who were mourning and weeping. This is the comfort of the resurrection. Jesus says, surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We mourn our sin, but Jesus is raised from the dead. and He's with us. And Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Even now when He is at the right hand of God because He has sent His Spirit, I will send another comforter, another paraclete to be with you, the Holy Spirit. This is the comfort you see that Jesus is speaking about, the comfort of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Now being indwelt by the Holy Spirit means that we have a keener sense of grief because we grieve the Spirit when we sin. But of that same Spirit we read in Romans 8, Therefore, brethren, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God." This is the comfort for those who mourn. In spite of all our sin, We're the forgiven, spirit-filled children of God. And your Father loves you and forgives you, is patient with you, and will never leave you or forsake you in Christ. Blessed are those who mourn, for they and they alone will be comforted. That word comfort is in the future tense. They will be comforted. It has a note of certainty. They shall be comforted. They shall be comforted. But they also will be comforted. Not only now when we mourn and in our mourning, but then in glory and then perfectly. Luke 16, in the parable, Abraham replies to the rich man in hell, son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. The comfort will be perfected and completed. Revelation 21.4, he will wipe every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things has passed away. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.