“Blessed Are The Repentant”
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”
As we began examining the Beatitudes we noted that there is a definite order in the Beatitudes. Our Lord does not place them in their respective positions haphazardly or accidentally but in a logical spiritual sequence reflective of the way by which one becomes a part of the Kingdom of Heaven. As we saw in the last message being “poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3) is important because it is the fundamental first step in becoming a Christian -because it is not until a person realizes their poverty that there is a sense of the need to be saved. Today we look at the second “blessed” – the second step to true happiness – repentance.
In each of the Beatitudes Jesus tells how the Kingdom of God reverses the obvious situation. Each statement makes us readjust our thinking. Jesus says "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comfort-ed.” This beatitude tells us that comfort comes through sorrow. Luke’s account is even more forceful, “…Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:25) What an amazing paradox! If it is not a paradox it is at least the opposite of what our culture tells us today.
The paradox is that Jesus says that the man who mourns will be really happy. The world regards such a statement as utterly ridiculous. Who wants to mourn anyway? In our self absorbed world we do everything we can to move in the opposite direction. The emphasis of our day is “live it up,” “grab all the gusto you can,” “laugh it off and move on.”
Last week we saw the need to recognize that we are spiritually bankrupt. But it is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it: it is another to grieve and mourn over it. It is the difference between realization and repentance, between awareness and brokenness. Realizing that one is “poor in spirit” is the intellectual side, the resulting “mourning” is the emotional side.
We want to examine three things in this message.
First, The Meaning Of Mourning
There are nine Greek words that can express grief, the word used here is the strongest and most severe of all, it is usually reserved for mourning the dead. It is also in the present tense, indicating continuous action and is lit. "the ones continually mourning (and they alone) are continually comforted."
• What Jesus is not talking about.
We all know people who do not seem content unless they are miserable. They look miserable, they act miserable and they seemed pleased when everyone around them is also miserable. They just seem to suck the life right out of any gathering. Maybe you experience someone like that in your family gatherings over the holidays. But that is not what Jesus is talking about. Christians ought to spread joy not despair.
• So what is Jesus talking about when He says that we should mourn?
Let me suggest three areas in which this beat-itude can be lived out.
Lamenting Life’s Losses.
What we are talking about is general sorrow - that which comes to all men due to death and disappointment. “Tears that flow for normal reasons encountered in life are therapeutic. They are provided by God for the healing of the soul. Tears are a way God gives us to relieve the pressure caused by the pain, the anxieties and the sufferings of life. …Often you hear someone, in an attempt to comfort a bereaved person, say something like, “Dear, don’t weep. Don’t cry. You know they are better off. You know they are in a better place. Now, now, don’t cry.” [Craig Conner. “Principles For Powerful Living: A Study of the Beatitudes.” (Panama City: Florida, Touch of Grace Ministries, 2007) p.23]
Besides being horribly hurtful it is also potent-ially harmful, because tears are a part of the process that God has given for allowing grief to run its course so that healing can begin.
One benefit of sorrow in life is that it is during those periods of dark loneliness, walking through the very shadow of death, that Christ can become more real, more present, more dear than at any time before. He and He alone is able to truly comfort us during those times of sorrow and mourning.
As real as the mourning over losses in life that is not the kind of mourning that Jesus is describing in this Beatitude. Beyond the arena of lamenting life’s losses there is also the whole matter of …
Weeping over a Lost World.
There is a sense in which the believer should mourn over the evil in this world. There certainly is much in this world to grieve over. There was a time (before two bitter and devastating World wars) when people were under the delusion that our world was getting better and better. But no one can honestly believe that now. Our world is not getting better and better. No amount of education or technological advances will make this world fundamentally a better place. You cannot count on the United Nations or any other organization to bring any substantive change.
As we reflect on the fact that every single day 4,000 are killed in this country by abortion we should be moved to tears. When we need to understand that we are rapidly moving toward the day of legalized sodomy in this country. There are law-makers and lobbyist in our nation’s capital that are doing everything possible to legalize same-sex marriages – men marrying men and women marrying women. We should be moved to tears as we contemplate the condition of our country.
Although we may not buy into the world’s philosophy we do so “…vicariously …when we laugh at the world crude and immoral jokes even though we do not retell them, when we are entertained by sin even though we do not indulge in it, when we smile at ungodly talk although we do not repeat the words…to do so is to rejoice when we should be mourning, to be laughing when we should be moved to tears.” [John MacArthur. “The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 1-7” (Chicago: Moody, 1985) p. 159]
But as important as this kind of sorrow is it is still not the primary mourning that Jesus is talking about.
Sorrow for Sin.
When Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn..." He is talking about mourning about one’s individual spiritual condition. “To mourn is a natural outflow of poverty of the spirit. The second beatitude should follow the first. But that not always the case. Many deny their weakness. Many know they are wrong, yet pretend they are right.” [Max Lucado." The Applause of Heaven" (Dallas: Word, 1990) p. 53]
There are four ways that we can react to the knowledge our spiritual bankruptcy.
(1) We can deny we have any need. When faced with the truth of our sinfulness we can deny it. We can hypo-critically put on a show, we can pretend to be, what we know inside we are not.
(2) We can admit our need and try to change (self-reformation.) The first of a New Year is just around the corner and every year countless individuals make New Year’s resolutions. But the truth is that with-out God’s help most of our resolutions are doomed to failure. And if that is true of the things of this world; how much more true is it of defeating sin.
(3) We can admit our need, settle into depression and give up. Judas Iscariot after he had betrayed the Lord was overcome with grief, he became despondent and he went out and committed suicide. Every year countless individuals follow his example and in a fit of despair end their lives. In 2007 over 34,000 individuals committed sui8cide in this country. But there is a better answer.
(4) Or we can admit our need and turn to God.
Of course the classic example from Scripture is that of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24). He left his Father’s house and used all of his inheritance in wasteful living. But he did not deny his situation. He did not settle on an attempt at self-reformation, neither did he drown himself in self-pity. The Bible says “He came to himself” (Luke 15:17) and he admitted his sin and went back to the father where he found mercy. [Found in John MacArthur. “Happy Are the Sad.” www.gty.org/resources/sermons/2199]
True blessedness, Jesus says, begins with deep sadness. "Blessed are those who know they are in trouble and have enough sense to admit it." The Apostle Paul wrote, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Many years ago a man who was overcome by sorrow for the sin in his life wrote these words, "Have mercy on me O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgression. (2) Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin… (17) I realize that the sacrifices that you desire are a broken spirit, as broken and contrite heart." (NIV - Psalm 51:1-2, 17) King David after more than a year of hiding his sin, lying about his sin and refusing to recognize his sin now in deep humility gives all up to God. David does a marv-elous job of illustrating the truth that Jesus is now teaching in this the second of the Beatitudes when Jesus says, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.” David’s problem was sin. David’s solution was to turn to God and confess. David’s end result was joy.
Max Lucado says it well when he says, “As long as Jesus is one of many options, he is no option. As long as you can bear your burdens alone, you don't need a burden bearer. As long as your situation brings you no grief, you will receive no comfort. And as long as you can take him or leave him, you might as well leave him, because he won't be taken half-heartedly.” [Lucado. p. 56]
Having found the meaning of mourning we turn to …
Secondly, The Purpose of Pain
• God draws near to those who hurt.
Scripture tells us that God himself draws near to those that hurt. David says, “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) And here is the special promise of God’s presence in the midst of our pain.
• God uses suffering to draw us to himself.
Suffering and pain often draws us to God as nothing else can. Someone has said, “You’ve never really know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”
• We grow faster in hard times than in good times.
Paul says in Romans 5:3 that “we rejoice in sufferings.” That sounds a little crazy on the surface, but he is not suggesting that pain is fun. He does not say, “We rejoice because of our sufferings” but rather, “We rejoice in our sufferings.” The key is in understanding that God is at work in our lives doing something important. In the verses that follow Paul explains the process; suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope and hope does not disappoint. Experience of what God has done in our past is always encouragement when facing difficulties in the present.
• Our suffering qualifies us to minister to others.
The Apostle Paul writes that God, “… comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corin-thians 1:4) What does that mean? It means that no one understands cancer like someone who has been through it. No one understands the devastation of divorce like someone whose life has been changed by it. No one understands the loss of a child like a mother who has lost a child.
So don’t waste your pain. Our trials, our difficulties, our pain has superbly qualified us to minister to others. Those who have been deeply hurt by the troubles of life and who have through it all discovered that God is faithful have an important message to share. They can say, “God will take care of you. I know, because God took care of me!”
But beyond the Purpose of Pain is …
Third, The Promise Of Comfort
It is important to understand this – happiness or blessedness does not come from the mourning, it comes from what God does in response to it!
“Comfort” as it is used here is not "sympathy" which is "to feel with someone." The word comfort in the English language comes from two Latin words that mean "with strength" thus comfort means to "encourage, or to give strength.” This is comfort is given only to those who sense their sin and mourn for it
What is exceedingly important is the source of this comfort is God. As we have already noted the Old Testament speaks of God the Father comforting those who mourn.
As Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure from this Earth He promised them, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” (John 14:16) The word used to describe the Holy Spirit is “helper” and is literally (paracletos) which means “one who comes along side to help.”
And one of the ways that the Holy Spirit comforts us is through the Word of God. Paul writes, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of Scripture might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
Conclusion
The mark of maturity as a believer is not sinless-ness, but rather a growing awareness of our sinfulness. John warns, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)
Somehow Contemporary Christians have come to believe that once we accept Christ that there is nothing further we nee to do to deal with sin. That is not what the Word of God teaches. It is true that the matter of our eternal destiny is settled.
Jesus said in this second Beatitude, “Blessed are they that mourn over their sin.” The word translated “mourn” is a present participle and indicates contin-uous action. In other words it is that the one’s who are continually confessing their sins who give evidence that they are the forgiven. The subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven are characterized by day by day confession of our shortcoming and sins to the Father.
“Blessed Are The Repentant”
Matthew 5:4
First, The _________________ Of Mourning
• What Jesus is not talking about.
• What is Jesus talking about when He says that we should mourn? Three areas in which this beatitude can be lived out.
Lamenting Life’s ________________.
Sorrow for ______. – an individual’s spiritual condition. (2Cor. 7:10)
Weeping over a Lost ______________.
Secondly, The __________________ of Pain
• God draws ______________ to those who hurt. (Ps. 34:18)
• God uses suffering to __________ us to himself.
• We ___________ faster in hard times than in good times. (Rom.5:3)
• Our suffering qualifies us to _________________ to others. (2 Corinthians 1:4)
Third, The ___________________ Of Comfort
Happiness or blessedness does not come from the mourning it comes from what God does in response to it!
• The Source Of Comfort
God The ___________ Gives Comfort
(Ps 138:3, 1 Sam 30:6)
The _________ _____________ Is A Comforter (John 14:16)
The _____________ Of God Is A Comfort (Rom. 15:4)
