I'm a mess. Somebody say amen. And so he was just kind of going off on this one and about that one and everything else. And I said, you know, brother, I said, I want you to know what I'm preaching on Sunday. I'm preaching blessed are they that mourn. for they shall be comforted. And I know, I know the world around us, it's wacky, and I know pastors fall, and I know it's easy when a pastor falls because in the mind of those who are looking at it, the pastor represents the church, at least symbolically. And so it's easy to get caught up in those things. And he was just going off and he was talking about their theology. And of course they weren't the same theology. And they were talking about their doctrine. Of course they weren't the same doctrine. But, you know, he had all these different things. And I said, you know, I'm preaching blessed early in the morning. And I said, Brother Ron, I'm dealing with my own sin right now. And I said this, and how's your sin? They got real quiet the rest of the time. I mean, crickets. Amen. And every once in a while, as a preacher, you like some crickets. Somebody say amen. So, how's your sin? And I can tell you, with transparency, I try to be transparent from the pulpit as often as I can without blowing it all up. But you know, it's important that I'm transparent for you, so you realize that I'm fallible and I'm far from perfect. But how's your sin tonight? How's your sin this morning? When's the last time you mourned over your sin? would lessen you mourn over a lost loved one or the condition, the state of the world that's in today. I didn't ever, this is not something that I thought of myself, but when I read it, I thought, wow, that's so true. There's never one time in the Bible where Jesus was found laughing. Now, I'm not against laughing. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. I believe that. I like to laugh. But when Jesus was here for his three and a half years, he didn't laugh. At least, there's no Bible record of it. I know some movies and TV shows show him as laughing, but not biblically, not in God's Word. But there's more than one record of him weeping and being broken. As we sang, hallelujah what a savior, he was a man of sorrows, a man of grief. Isaiah 53, somebody say amen. So there is this time to mourn, this time to weep, this time to face the mystic as it were. What's the blessing, what's the benefit? Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be what saints? comforted. Comfort comes after mourning. Comfort comes after grief. You will not be comforted until at first you mourn. And I've said this for 21 years it seems like now, God knows how to comfort you best because comfort originated with God. It was His idea, it was His precept that He sent down to mankind. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of what saints? Comfort God knows how to comfort his people and one of the ways that he comforts us in the 21st century As a blood-bought believer as he has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is called our Comforter I Will pray the father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for how long things I could use a little bit more forever in my life. Amen? A little bit more forever. Knowing this, the Holy Spirit is with me. He's watching over me. And sometimes He convicts me. Sometimes He validates me. Sometimes He breaks me and all those different things. But I love the fact we have the Holy Spirit who is with us. And we have God as our help in time of trouble. A very present help in time of trouble. I love that about our God. I love it that He's our comforter. And I know I use this phrase an awful lot, but one of my favorite verses, and don't, don't, just don't, but one of my favorite verses of the Bible, depending on the season of life that I'm in, is 1 John chapter 3 and verse number 20, where the Bible says this, For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. I like to put it like this, if our heart condemns us, And it will. I mean, if you're right with God, you're going to be broken, you're going to be convicted, you're going to want to mourn, maybe even weep over something you said or did or thought. If our heart condemns us, and it will, get this saints, God is greater than our hearts. He can forgive it all. He can lay a foundation of mercy all over that. Somebody say amen. There is the balm of Gilead that's in the hand of the great God of heaven. He wants us to be healed so we can be closer to Him. He wants us to be healed so we can be more whole in our service. I'm not talking about so much physical healing but spiritual healing that we're drawing nigh unto Him. And he's drawing nigh unto us. I love it that if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. And he knoweth all things. I like that too because it means this, when I yelled at Bruce that day, God already knew I was going to yell at Bruce that day. I'm not saying he approved of it, but he knew it. He knows our actions before we commit our actions. He knows our words before we speak our words. He knows our thoughts before we begin to act on our thoughts. All those different things. And so He knows all things. He knows what kind of person I am. He knows what kind of Christian you are this morning. Amen. The comfort comes in the conviction of guilt. It comes in the consuming of grief, but also the comforting of grace. All those things are true about our God. You know, I do a lot of counseling, and I enjoy counseling. Sometimes it's like true confession time, and they want to say, Pastor, I've done this, this, this, and this. And I just say, hey, hey, hey, stop. Don't tell me, tell Him. Amen? I can't do anything about your sin. I can't absolve sins. I can't grant you repentance or forgiveness. But I can say you can talk to Him about it. and He could grant you forgiveness, and He could take your repentance and put it on your account. Somebody help me this morning. And so don't be skittish about going to God and being broken in front of God and talking to Him about whatever failure it is, about whatever sin that you've fallen into, whatever sin that you keep committing over and over and over again. Don't be skittish about weeping over your sin. And don't be scared about praying about the sins of others and the condition of this world because there is comfort promised at the end of this life. He's going to wipe away all tears. There's not going to be any sorrow. There's not going to be any crying. And the former things are going to be passed away. But I think a good fitting verse to close on this morning is this in Psalms 30 and verse number 5, For His anger endureth but for a moment. How long's a moment? Huh? For his anger endureth but a moment, if his favor is life. Weeping may endure for how long, saints? But joy cometh in the morning. Does it say it might come in the morning? It does come in the morning. I was thinking about those people in Mexico who set that bonfire and stay up all night and they weep and they mourn over that lost loved one. You know, the morning will come and joy does come in the morning especially for a blood-bought child of God. Especially for a blood-bought child of God. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted and everybody said Father, we thank you for this time this morning. Pray for your help. I think it's not natural for us to mourn. It's not natural for us to weep and be broken. That has to be something that comes from you and that emanates from within our souls. And Father, I know there's things that we should be broken about, and we should mourn over in our own individual Christian lives. Father, right now, the concern of my heart is maybe there's someone here today who's never put their faith and trust completely in Christ for salvation. Father, I'm praying for that one this morning, maybe more today, who have never come to a saving knowledge in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They need to be poor in spirit first before this mourning and being comforted could be a reality for them. And Father, for the believer today, I pray that we would see the importance of this and the urgency of the moment to be brokenhearted and to mourn and weep because we're letting you down, because we're not enjoying our salvation like we should, because we're not glorifying our Father who's ahead. We go on and on, Father, of things that are just not going right and going well in our lives. And Father, don't let our stoicism, or our pride, keep us from doing the right thing and the God thing and the biblical thing in our individual walk with you. And Father, we do pray that when all is said and done here this morning, that you will have gotten all of the praise and all the honor and all the glory. We need your help. We ask it and pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand. We're gonna sing Nothing Between this morning. And if there's nothing between, then sing it out. But if there's something between, have a little talk with Jesus before you start singing out this morning and make sure that everything is good and right with your Savior. And everybody said, all right, Brother Rush, come ahead and lead us. Between my soul and the Savior The windless world's elusive dream I have renounced all sinful pleasure Jesus is mine, there's nothing between Nothing between my soul and the Savior, so let His blessed face be.