I invite you to open your Bible to Matthew and chapter number five. We're looking at the Beatitudes in a Sunday morning series right now. And today we're going to talk about blessed are they that mourn. And I don't know, I don't think that mourning is something that we seek to do or that we want to do. It's part of the human frame and existence, no doubt about that, but we don't look for reasons to mourn so much, but today we're going to learn about what the Bible says about this idea. morning I'm calling it good morning so good morning and then talk about good morning so you know I wish you could see the spelling but you can't yet but someday you'll have a chick in your head you'll see the spelling come out but anyway don't worry about that right now okay that's for that's for down the road all right Matthew chapter 5 when I read the Beatitudes to you once again this morning beginning in verse number one and seeing the multitude she went up into a mountain and And when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. And everybody said. Thank you, Father, again for an opportunity to be in your house to open up your book and to see what it has for us on this particular Lord's Day. Lord, I do pray that you give us understanding of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will illuminate our hearts and minds to the truth of your Word and that it will come to life for each and every one who's chosen to be here this morning at Liberty Baptist Church. I do pray, Lord, that you would speak to each and every one of us in the way that we need to be. Spoken to and addressed this morning according to the power of your Holy Spirit and also father you knowing our hearts and our needs more than we know Ourselves and father we do pray this morning if there be anybody here amongst us who has never called out onto Christ for salvation that today would be Their day of salvation and father. I do pray that the believer would be strengthened and encouraged by the Word of God this morning We're asking these things in Jesus name everybody said Amen Now I remember this from, I guess, living in Ohio, growing up in Ohio, Indiana. I don't see it much anymore, so I'm not sure if it was a regional thing or if it's just kind of fading off over the years. But it used to be when somebody passed away, oftentimes you would see like a black wreath or a black piece of cloth on the doorknob of that home where that person passed away. How many of you know about that or remember something about that? Okay, so is it regional or is it everywhere? Okay, I haven't seen it out here near his door, so I remember back in Ohio quite a bit seeing that often when someone passed away. And the idea of putting that black wreath or that black hanger on the doorknob had a two-fold purpose. And number one, it was to give that family some space and to respect them. You know, they've lost a loved one, maybe a lifelong spouse, whatever the case might be, a child, whatever it is. You want to give them space and respect as you're dealing with grief in their own way And the second thing that that wreath was to do was or purpose for was to remind us when we came across these people in daily life to to show them compassion and kindness to let them know that you are sorry for their loss and to reach out to see if there's anything that you could do to be a blessing or to be a help to them and so Again, I'm not sure that why. I don't see it much anymore. Maybe it's just kind of fading away like many traditions do in a country such as this. I also found out in my research that there was a time in this nation, in the United States of America, where it was customary and really expected for widows who lost their husbands to wear something black for at least four months' time. to wear something black for at least four months' time to show that they were mourning or that they were in the midst of grief. In Mexico, where my son-in-law ministers, I learned some about their culture about grief. And they had a very different way of dealing with things in Mexico than we do here in the States. And the way they deal with things is they would have what we would call a wake, a huge gathering with food and everything else. But they would also have a big bonfire in their village or sometimes if their yard was big enough to have a bonfire in their yard. And the idea was to stay up and to weep around the bonfire all night long and to not sleep at all. They would have that kind of thing in Mexico, and I saw that with my own two eyes how they dealt with death and mourning in the country of Mexico, at least where Mike and Jillian are ministering right now. In the Middle East, it's common to go into what they call a death wail, and it's a cry aloud. to let your neighbors know that someone in your household has passed away. And this death wail would carry on for a week's time, not continually, of course, but you would wake up in the morning and you would have that death wail. It was common in the Middle East to hire what they call professional weepers. who would come alongside, they would cry with you for at least three days straight of crying and weeping because someone has passed away. That's the way that they would express mourning in the Middle East. Other cultures expect the men to shave their heads, their beards, and their mustaches. Some of you already have done that. Amen? All right. But anyway. Some cultures that are more pagan in nature promote cutting, cutting the skin to inflict some self-suffering because of the mourning process and the grieving process. Again, the bottom line is, and I think I'm on safe ground, we don't like to mourn. But there's a time when we have to mourn. It's a part of the human existence, the human condition, the human frame. And Jesus said this, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be, what saints? Comforted. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. That word, comfort. Blessed we were reminded that it means some kind of deep inward Abiding joy we talk about deep and inward and abiding joy. That's something that can't be taken away By the events of life and it can't be taken away by adverse circumstances. It's something that's true about us because of our Relationship with God and because of the nature of the God that we know we have this this deep inner abiding joy But again, this whole idea of feeling like we're blessed because we're in a state or a season of mourning doesn't really make a lot of sense when we think about mourning being a negative and being something that we don't like to do, something we would try to avoid, if at all possible, in our lifetimes. But again, we are reminded that when Christ spoke, and especially when you're reading the Beatitudes, He's speaking truth to get the attention of people who have closed their minds and had blinded their eyes to the truth of God and to the truth that was our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. And so the Beatitudes are kind of like truth standing on its head clamoring for attention and trying to get folks to recognize and to see that God thinks about life and looks at life differently than you and I think about life and look at life. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Aren't they, saints? And so we're going to talk about this this morning, about this idea about being good morning, being comforted in the morning process and what that means and what all that entails. We talked about last Sunday morning real quick. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And we develop that poor in spirit mentality to come to that realization when you completely understand that you are fully dependent on God's grace and power. That you have nothing to offer, that you don't bring anything to the table when it comes to salvation, inheriting eternal life, and all those spiritual blessings. in heavenly places, on and on and on. So I do believe this, that you have to be poor in spirit first before you can begin to understand what it means to be comforted in our state in seasons of mourning. Those who are poor in spirit will be able to see the blessing of mourning or the good mourning that we're talking about here at Liberty Baptist Church. today. So this this morning isn't about like I was explaining an introduction. This isn't about grieving the loss of a loved one or a spouse or or a dear friend or or someone that you knew really well. This is about being broken hearted. Get this down, saints. This is about being broken-hearted over sins that we commit after salvation, after we were poor in spirit and we asked Christ to save us, and broken-hearted over sins and misdeeds and bad behavior that we've committed since salvation, but also being broken over the sins of others. and being broken by what I would describe, and maybe you're on the same page, maybe you aren't, being broken about the downward spiral of the world that we live in seems to be caught up in this morning. Being broken hearted about those things. You know, talking about the sins of others, you know, it's still hard for me to comprehend. I've been saved since 1985, and I've been preaching since 2003. It's hard for me to comprehend. why anyone would continually reject the grace and love of Jesus Christ. I can't consume that with this little mind that I have, this small, insignificant intellect that God has given me. I cannot understand Why people continually reject the gospel message. They say no to mercy. They say uh-uh to grace. They want nothing to do with Jesus and salvation. When you read the Bible, those folks are on the road to perdition. I said they're on the road to perdition. their lost loved ones, their friends, their family members, their co-workers, their neighbors, their people that we come into contact with. And we should mourn over their sins because right now, still lost in their sins, they're on their way to a sinner's hell. So we should be mourning, at least in that regard, if nothing else, but we're going to see some other things today, if God will allow me to, and if you'll open your heart to other kinds of sins that you and I should be aware of, and that we should be willing to mourn about in our Christian life. Amen, saints? When it comes to mourning over sin, When it comes to mourning over sin, we need to make the decision that we're going to mourn over it regardless if we get caught or not. Does that make sense at all? We need to make the decision that we need to mourn over it regardless of whether we get caught in that sin or that action, that behavior, whatever the case may be. It's important that you do that. If you'll be willing to mourn over your sin before you get caught, I would say that's closer to biblical repentance than what is being taught in much of Christendom in the 21st century. Because a lot of times we're taught to repent after the fact, after we've been caught, things of that nature. But I do believe, and maybe you'll agree, maybe you won't, I do believe there's a difference biblically between repentance and regret. between repentance and regret. And this whole idea of repenting is important because the Bible talks about repentance that leads us to God and His comfort, and then regret, what the Bible calls worldly sorrow. that really leads to death. That's what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse number 10. And what it kills is the spirit within us. It really dries up the spirit within us, the spiritual side of us. It closes down. And it also eliminates the desire to serve the Lord. When you only work in the realm of regret and never come to repentance, you know, you're just completely always saying, sorry, excuse me, but you're never getting right with God. You say, it's Sunday morning, I know, and we need to be right with God. And we need to understand these things and be brought face to face with these things. Repentance has the power to revive us, has the power to remind us that the mercy of God endures forever. That's a very important precept for this preacher to remember, that God's mercy is ever enduring. He doesn't turn off the faucet or the spigot over me because of doing wrong or thinking wrong, whatever the case may be. But I'm telling you this, it's good to know that God's mercy endures forever. It's good to know that He can still revive His work even in this old heart. Somebody say amen. We have this account in the book of Luke about the prodigal son. You know, and I did not name it the prodigal son. Somebody else did a long, long time ago. But I've been saying for 21 years now, the prodigal son is not about the son. It's about the father. It's about the father. I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best The what robe? The best robe. This is not the consolation prize of life right here, saints. This isn't like, okay, let's put a robe in storage in case it comes home, that the malls have gotten to, that got gravy stains on it. No, let's get the best robe out. Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be what, saints? My boy's back! My son is back! And I'm just going to tell you this morning, the great God of heaven is looking for His sons and His daughters to come back to Him again. And if He sees you come back to Him again, He will run to you! and you be honest in your heart and you mourn over your sin and you realize and you recognize that your sin was not against you, that your sin was not against your fellow man as much as it was against the great God of heaven who saved your ever living soul. Blessed are they that mourn. for they shall be comforted. We talked about Peter in our series on forgiveness a few weeks ago, and how he denied the Lord three times. And there was a moment when Peter's eyes met the eyes of Jesus, and when he just simply saw the eyes of Jesus, he was broken. And he went out and he wept bitterly, the Bible says. He was mourning over his sin. This kind of mourning does not focus on ourself, but it focuses on our Savior. We come to the point where we say, God would not approve, God did not approve, so I should be brokenhearted over what I have done, over what I have said. Even saints, to the point of even what I have thought, and not brought it under the captivity of my Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. David, of course, he had that sinful affair with Bathsheba. He was caught, and he wasn't just simply a man who regretted that he got caught. He repented before the great God of heaven. And Psalm 51 delineates and talks about how he was coming back to God and how brokenhearted he was before God. But I want you to see verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 51 this morning. I admit it. The devil didn't make me do it. I made me do it. It was my choice. It was my lust. It was my the deception of my own heart that led me down this path. Somebody help me. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against the The only have I sinned how about talking to god here against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges david was just coming coming bare before god He was being very transparent and he he knew that he had not just crossed the line. He had basically obliterated the line And he was trying to get back to God's good graces again, you know. And God did save David later on. He's a man after my own heart. I mean, absolutely amazing because David was willing to repent and just not live in that season or that solitude of regret. Make sense or not? Now, before I go on and you think, well, you're just saying things that aren't possible, I'm not telling you this. I'm not saying that any one of us are ever going to come to the point in this life where we never sin again. We will. We will. Okay, I will. But you will too. Amen? I always like the perfect ones to come to church just to check on us. Somebody say amen? But for the rest of us, We're just dealing with stuff, and so that's going on. We're not going to come to that place where we don't sin again, but what's going to happen if we're willing to mourn over our sin, if we're willing to mourn about our sin, then we're going to have that awareness of heart to recognize it and to deal with it. in a biblical way, a way that honors God, a way that glorifies the Savior again, who gave everything so I could be saved. He gave everything so I could have eternal life. He gave everything that I might one day see Him in His beautiful heaven. Somebody say amen. Before I was a preacher, I worked for Motorola for a few years down the valley. I worked on the night shift. It was a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift. And the way that our structure was, I was a technician. I worked under the supervision of an engineer. But there was people who were on the floor, we would say. They were the operators of the machinery. The technicians had a lot of, what do I want to say, a lot of supervisory authority on the floor. And I was having a bad day. Ever had a bad day? I was having a bad day. And one of the operators kept on messing up things and getting the machine jammed. And it was causing our numbers to go down. And down numbers caused the technicians to get shooed out in the morning. I experienced that a few times. And so I kept on going to this guy. His name was Bruce. I mean, a nice guy. One of the nicest men I had ever met in my life. And he was a kind man. He was a gentleman. But he's also an idiot. He kept on jamming his machine. He kept on jamming his machine. You know, and I finally just lost it. I mean, I lost it. And I went up one side and down the other side. And I didn't say anything vulgar. Everybody knew I was a Christian. I think at the time I was a deacon in my home church there in Chandler, Arizona. But I was not kind. I was mean-spirited. We used to have this still do this missionary couple who went to Greece. They were from the south. They were Louisiana born and bred. And she would just say, now Brother Mark, God don't like ugly. Heard that a few times. Amen. But it was ugly what I did. And I remember There was two texts on night shift, and so I told the coworker, I said, I'm going to go on break. He said, OK. So I went into the break room. There was nobody else in there. It was kind of dimly lit. And I sat down, and I began to weep over my sin about the way that I treated a fellow human being, excuse me, and treated, excuse me, a lost person. And I asked God to forgive me, and I knew He would because He does. His mercy really does endure forever. It really, really does, thanks. But I remember I just stayed in there and I cried and I prayed and I cried and I prayed. I mean, the whole endurance of my break, I was just brokenhearted about this. And I was like, taking a couple of deep breaths and, okay, Lord, what do I do next? I knew what He was going to tell me to do. I didn't want to do it. He said, go ask that idiot for forgiveness. No, he didn't say idiot. He said, go ask, go ask Bruce for forgiveness. And I know my eyes were still red and puffy. I know they were. I mean, when I cry, people don't, I have the ugly cry. Somebody help me. So I waited until his machine jammed again. And he looked back and he saw me and said, Bruce, I am so sorry for the way I treated you. Didn't honor you, didn't honor God, didn't do anything at all to help the situation here on the test floor. I said, would you please consider forgiving me? He said, oh Mark, I already did. I said, well, thank you, Prince. It was very kind of you. I said, but I just, I don't, I want you to know I don't ever want that to happen again as long as you and I work together. Does that make sense? He goes, it does. I understand. And so those are, those are humbling moments being a believer. Not, not a lot, not a lot of man's life, but in a believer's life. to be broken over sin, to actually mourn over sin, to shed tears over sin. And you say, well, that wasn't that big a deal. It was to be at the time. It was to be at the time. You know, when we see our own sin in the right light, we'll be broken. and will be less judgmental over the sins of others. It is so easy to get caught up over what other people are doing, what other people are saying, and how other people are failing. But I'm telling you this, God wants us to focus in and to zoom in on ourselves first. Be right with our God. It's, I mean, it's natural to see the world around us and say, yeah, it's not going well. You know, the Psalmist said, Psalm 119, 136, rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law. Kind of speaks a lot of 21st century Christianity in many respects, doesn't it, saints? Or how about the world around us, Jeremiah 9, 1. Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears. that I might weep day and night for the slain, the daughter of my people. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet because he wept a lot. And it wasn't just his sins, but he also saw the undoing of the people that he was called to preach to on a regular basis. I was down in Phoenix on Friday and got to have some fellowship with a pastor friend of mine. And, uh, He's a little bit different than me, and that's not really a big deal. But he was kind of wound up about all. If you've been following the news at all, there's been a few mega church pastors lately who have had to resign because of some improprieties. We'll leave it like that, and I don't even know.