Good morning and welcome to Grace Church. Please be seated. We'll begin our worship service. Before we Again, I would like to. Welcome any visitors we might have today.
If you are a visitor to the church or would like more information about our church, If you would please raise your hand. An usher will get you an information packet about our church.
Some announcements. Please join us tonight at 6 p.m. When John Marine will be preaching a message from Matthew 16, yes, we are sending in the Marines. Um If you have not already done so, we have Ligonier Connect available to our congregation. It's a ligander.
uh video series uh online series that you can uh take advantage of. We did a we just completed a series in Sunday school. Uh if you would like to uh subscribe to that. I believe in the Grace readings, there's a link to that, or you can call the office and we can get you signed up for that. We're only a few weeks into 2024, and already has been a trying year for our church body, full of unexpected changes.
As we continue to work through the events that have occurred, and think ahead to the next steps for Grace Church. The session would like to host an informal meeting for the purpose of discussing where we are as a church. and how we have gotten here. And to give an explanation on what the process of calling the next senior pastor entails. If you're able...
Please join us in the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday, February 14th at 7 p.m. for this meeting. There will be a Q ⁇ A session. during that meeting. And uh Our prayer is that this will edify the congregation by clarifying.
where we have been and where we have gone as a church body. Also, please be reminded that Grace Church is accepting officer nominations through March 3rd. Please prayerfully consider who you may nominate for office of either elder or deacon. Nomination forms are available in the foyer. You may also click the link found in your Grace Greetings on Wednesday to complete the online officer nomination form.
If you'd rather do that. Monday and Tuesday of this week, the Ladies' Bible Studies will meet in the Fellowship Hall. The Monday morning, Meeting starts at 10 a.m. and the Tuesday evening study starts at 6.30 p.m. On February 17th at 8 a.m., the men's prayer breakfast will be held in the fellowship hall.
Please sign up in the foyer if you plan to attend. And on the same day, February 17th, the youth grades 6 through 12 are invited to the Diggs house. for a dinner and a white elephant gift exchange from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Please note the church office hours and prayer requests.
The current office hours at church are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Please note that prayer requests can be emailed any time to the church office. That is the most efficient way of ensuring your prayer requests are sent out in a timely manner. And I'd also like to call day weekly for the missions moment.
Good morning. For the month of February, we're highlighting a ministry Charlotte rescue mission. And also, the missionaries Michael and Lindy Wadhams. A Charlotte Rescue Mission provides free. Christian-based residential recovery programs that help people struggling with addiction achieve long-term sobriety, find employment and stable housing, and restore and build healthy relationships.
Their mission statement is transforming lives in the name of Jesus Christ by serving people impacted by addiction to equip them to thrive in the community. Their ministries include Rebound, which serves more than 400 men each year, guiding them through a substance abuse program. Doves Nest, which serves more than 300 women and children each year, providing substance abuse treatment, recovery services, and family support. And they also have a Community Matters Cafe. And this is a six month extension program offered to rebound and dove nest graduates focused around gaining work experience and life skills to help transition to a healthy independent future.
So please pray for the leaders and volunteers of Charlotte Rescue Mission, and that God will continue to use this ministry to effectively minister to the lost and needy of the Charlotte area. And also pray for the new rebound men's facility currently under construction. Michael and Lindy Wadams are MTW missionaries to the Lumney Nation in Washington State. They reside in Linden, Washington, which is located between the Nooksack and Lumney Reservations, where they labor among the tribes through developing relations, evangelism, and mentoring and discipleship. The long-term goal is to establish native churches in the region.
And so please pray for God to affect it. To effectively use this family in their ministry to the alumni and Nook Sac communities. And Michael is also ministering to the Tohono O'Autum Nation in Sales Or Arizona. This is something new that he's taken on in addition to his other ministries.
So please pray for these communities. And those who've made public confessions of faith, and many of them struggle with major social issues, and including substance abuse. Please pray also for the planning and building of the Nooksack Prayer Center. This will be the first prayer center the Nooksacks have had in over 100 years, and hopefully that will be a reality soon. And now I'll ask Daniel to come up.
He has another missions item he'd like to share with you. Good morning. Uh I would like to start by recognizing Grace Church as a very, very strong mission church. If you have been on a short-terms mission trip, Through Grace Church, or if we supported a ministry of yours through Grace Church, please stand up so we can. show the support that we've been able to share as a congregation to everyone.
that's had an opportunity to go on a mission trip. Thank you guys. I encourage the rest of the congregation to ask these folks about their experience on short-term mission trips, what they did in their ministry. how it helped them. and just kind of get to know them.
And uh That way the Lord may be able to lead you on a short-term mission trip also. Grace Church Missions Committee has been working on trying to organize more short-term missions. We've taken on a couple missionaries. Uh To give us more opportunity to be able to send youth and more folks into the mission field on short-term trips. Um to be able to provide that experience for them.
We currently support over 26 missionaries and organizations. And that's monthly. That's not including the the folks that we'll give a one-time gift to. One example was: we supported a group in Myanmar to give them. Supplies to be able to teach tent building as a source of revenue and income.
for that group. And that ministry has really helped that. Group of people.
So this church does a great job of Given missions, budgeting permissions, and we're really impacting the world. L. what y'all guys donate.
So I want to thank Grace Church for The overwhelming generosity that y'all continue to surprise us with. In the missions committee, we're working with budgets and doing things, and it's like no matter how much we give. God always outgives what we're able to give others.
So it's a real blessing to see how God has helped. Uh that missed our Church and Missions Committee so much of providing funds and opportunities. All right. Uh one thing that is coming up that I'm very excited about. is our Alaskan fish fry.
Uh It is going to be March 2nd, 4 to 7. We're going to start serving food around 5. I got more cookers and more fish and more everything this year, so it should go a lot faster, a lot better. Every year we. always are behind because it's just so many people want to come and hang out.
So, please bring friends, family, come hang out. It's gonna be a fun time. It's open donation only. There's no set price for anything. It's gonna be in little takeout boxes.
So, even if you can't come and hang out for a while, please come grab some fish, take it. Home, take it to some folks that might need it. We'll be more than happy to package those up for you, get them in a bag, and get you out the door. We're going to have some of the members that have gone to, sorry, some of the missionaries that have gone to Alaska before come and help. And hopefully, some of these folks that have been on short-term mission trips will be there too, so we can just kind of have a discussion about short-term missions.
how much fun it is and then future endeavors. The goal for the Fish Rise, I want to have one every year and then be able to prepare a team every other year to go and help Mark Ferris in Alaska with his mission group called Vassal.
So, if y'all would just be in prayer for Mark and preparing a mission team for.
Next year, so that way that can get organized and opportunity and funds raised. Thank you. In case you I want to remind you too that the family chat That is this Wednesday. At 7 p.m.
So I'd urge you to make sure Yeah. possible effort to be there. for that. If you now stand for the call to worship, Our call to worship comes from Psalm 111, verses 1 through 5. Here is the reading of the Word of God.
Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. In the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him. He remembers his covenant. Forever.
Please be seated. And please join with me in prayer. Father in heaven, we Come before you this morning. With Thankful hearts. And we thank you that you are so gracious and merciful to us.
Oh, how we have sinned before you, but yet you still love us, you forgive us. You seal us with your Holy Spirit. You've Call us sons of God. You adopted us into your family. And that is much to be praised and rejoiced over.
We give you that glory. Lord, pray this morning that as we Hear the word preached that you would do a work in our hearts. They'll bring us to greater sanctification. That we would serve one another and with love and gladness. encouraging each other in the faith, in the Word and Spirit.
And we pray that you would. work in our hearts to be more and more diligent each day. to be faithful to you. Not in our own strength, but in your strength that you give to us through the work of your Spirit. We thank you that this church, Grace Church, Particularly, it is a church that has a great focus on missions, and we pray that you would bless that effort.
That. As we seek your guidance to go out into the world, to minister to those who are lost. to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. that your word would do a work in their hearts. to bring them to faith.
and trust in you. We pray that also we would minister to their physical needs, that you would be merciful to provide their daily bread. And we pray that Yeah, we would be faithful in not only these things, but even within our own community and our own families. uh to bring the gospel forth. Yeah.
In obedience. Lord, we pray that As we Come to you and worship today, that you would indeed would be pleased with that worship. that we would come before you in humble hearts. confessing our sin. And And expecting the repentance and the forgiveness that you promised to us and that we trust in you for.
Lord, we pray with the Apostle, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. Our God is all-powerful. There's nothing too difficult for Him. And I love the way Wesley puts it in this hymn that we're going to begin with.
Listen to all these miracles in the fourth verse. He says, Hear him, ye deaf. His praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ. Ye blind, Behold, your Savior come, and leap, you lame, for joy. Our God is able to make the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the blind see, and even the lame to leap.
Because He is the all-powerful Redeemer that we've gathered here this morning to worship. Let's stand as we lift our voice in praise. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my name. Great Redeemer's praise the glories of my God and King the trodden song. His grace, my gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim to spread through all the earth abroad, he honors I.
He breaks the power of reigning sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest thing. Is bottom. Avail for me.
Hear him ye down his praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues and pour. He blindly hold your Savior come and make me lame for joy. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect knee, a great high priest whose name is La, whoever lives and faiths for me. My name is Favan on his hand. My name is written on his heart.
I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me fence depart. No tongue can bid me fence deep when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and part. To look on him and pardon me.
Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchanged grace. One with himself I cannot die. Thy soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ, my Savior, and my God, with Christ, my Savior, and my. My God He seated.
Our Old Testament reading This morning is from 2 Kings chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. This is the passage of Elijah being taken on to glory and Elisha. Taking up his mantle. And I think as we read these verses, we certainly feel the grief. that Elisha is experiencing We also learn that God's servants come and go, but God is constant.
He is the rock. He's the foundation. upon which his church is built.
So we're exhorted to look to God and Him alone. 2 Kings 2, verses 1 through 12.
Now, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.
So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he said, Yes, I know it. Keep quiet. Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.
But he said, 'As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you'.
So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he answered, Yes, I know it. Keep quiet. Then Elijah said to him, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.
But he said, As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.
So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Please let there be a double portion of your Spirit on me.
And he said, You have asked a hard thing. Yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, It shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so. And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My God. My father, my father.
the chariots of Israel and its horsemen, and he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them. in two pieces. This is the word of the Lord. God is fixed, He is constant, He is faithful.
He is unchanging, and yet we are fickle, and often changing, we are faithless. and it is good and right in our worship of this immutable God. To go to Him for mercy, to confess our sin, knowing that when we confess, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Church, would you bow with me as we use David's? Prayer of confession this morning from Psalm 51, and pray aloud with me.
Yeah. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. And do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
and uphold me by your generous spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God. The God of my salvation. and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise. Amen. Take a few moments now to silently confess your particular sins to the Lord. Listen now to these wonderful words from Lamentations 3. The prophet says.
The steadfast love of the Lord. never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your Faithfulness.
God is a merciful God. He is a faithful God. We're going to sing a psalm this morning. It's a psalm about the enemies of God's people. There are plenty of enemies, those who are opposed to God's people, opposed to God's church, and yet God is the deliverer.
He is the just one who sees every injustice and who will right every wrong. He is the judge. He is faithful. We're going to chant this psalm. This is relatively new for Grace Church, but the benefit of this is we're actually singing the very words of Scripture.
This is not a paraphrase. This is the ESV translation that we're going to be singing.
So even though maybe the music feels a little odd to us, we're singing Scripture. Let's stand as we join our voices together. That would be Be not silent, O God of my praise. days. For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against thieves.
Speaking against me with lying tongue. They encircle me with words of pain. And attack me without cause. But you oh God, my lord. Lord, deal on my behalf.
for your Namesake. Be Because your steadfast love is good. Deliver me for I I am poor and needy and my heart is stricken within me Help. Me, O Lord, my God. God save.
me according to your steadfast love. With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord. Lord, I will praise him in the Mids of the The throng for He stands at the right hand. Of the needy one to save him from the Wolves who condemn his soul to hell. Let us pray.
Our Father and our God, we come to you this morning with thankful hearts. With joy in our hearts, Lord. Lord, you tell us that you love a cheerful giver, and we've reached. The point in our worship of you this morning, Lord. that we give back.
a portion of the many blessings. that you bestow on us. Lord, we Thank you that you've Gave Grace Church a heart for missions, Lord, for. You have entrusted us with The good news, the gospel of reconciliation.
So that we would take it out to a lost and dying world that so desperately needs to know. That they could have peace with you, Lord, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you bless this offering to that end. Strengthen your church. Multiply it.
And help us use it wisely. With good discernment, Lord. Yeah. For the growth. of your glorious kingdom.
and to the glory of Christ our Lord. And this is his name I pray. Amen. The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord the peace of God which passeth all understanding Keep your hearts and minds Keep your hearts And binds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be our must you be our must you and we made with you all praise to God. Last week, we began studying the Sermon on the Mount.
And we spent some time laying out some foundational principles for how to interpret and apply this sermon of Jesus.
some time considering the first Of these many Beatitudes that open the Sermon on the Mount. Today we're going to consider the second Beatitude. Blessed are those. who mourn. I'm going to invite you to stand with me in honor of God's word.
And we will read this morning from Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 through 4. Matthew 5, verses 1 through 4. Hear now the word of the Lord. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to 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 those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Let's pray together. God, we have a natural aversion to God. to sorrow and Morning.
And yet, these words that we just read, words that come from you and are perfectly true. Tell us that our joy, our comfort can only come through great sorrow and mourning.
So would you please give us grace today to embrace this truth? in order that your name might be glorified through The unspeakable joy that you give us as we obey your word. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Be seated.
I love the Olympics, the excitement of watching an athlete in his prime, an athlete who has trained and Devoted himself to one goal for years: is competing for a medal, and it's do or die time. One of the competitions that impresses me the most, I think, is the marathon. I remember watching the Olympic Women's Marathon several years ago. There was a Romanian runner who had built up a very comfortable lead going into the last six or seven miles of the race, but you could see that she was straining. Her muscles had just about reached their limit, and there was a grimace on her face as her mind was trying to manipulate her body just to finish strong.
Well, the commentator, who had evidently run the marathon himself, was telling us what was going on in her head as she was struggling to finish the race. And he said that if she could just get within sight of the stadium, that she would win. He said, being able to see the end of the race gives you a shot of adrenaline that spurs you on to the end.
Well, the stadium came into view, and sure enough, she never slowed down. She ended up winning the marathon, finishing well ahead of everyone else. The goal of victory. The anticipated dream of winning the gold had enabled her to push through the pain and the agony and the misery and finish with joy. The verse that we're looking at today is not a fun verse.
Probably no one here would choose this to be their life verse. It's not the kind of scripture that you would typically hang up on your wall at home because it's painful. It's a hard truth. Grief and sorrow are not paths that any of us would naturally choose. In fact, we do just the opposite: we run from sorrow.
But just like there is a goal that makes the pain and agony worthwhile in a marathon, so here there is an outcome set forth in this difficult verse that makes the pain and the sorrow in the morning worthwhile.
So as we dig into these words of Jesus, I want to encourage you this morning to keep your eyes fixed on the joy at the end of the race. Don't yield to the temptation to try and short-circuit the process. You know, if that Romanian marathon runner had jumped onto one of the TV crew vehicles and ridden to the finish line, that would not have been victory. She would have been the first to cross the finish line, but she would not have won the race. If you want your joy, your comfort to be genuine, you've got to endure the sorrow.
Now, the truth of Matthew 5:4 is not only difficult to accept, it's difficult to understand because it's really a paradox, isn't it? Through sorrow comes comfort. Through pain comes joy. This goes against the grain. It goes against our natural reasoning.
And yet, the meaning of Christ's words here are perfectly clear. If you want happiness that transcends circumstance, If you want real joy, you'd better be prepared to go through some serious grief because that's the pathway to real joy. Every man, woman, girl, and boy wants to be happy. We're created that way. We're made for joy.
And the deepest Most significant joy we can experience comes from fully delighting in God. But we've messed that up, haven't we? We've messed it up. Our sin disrupts our desire and ability to delight in God. If we are to know perfect happiness, if we are to experience purest pleasure, we have to deal with sin.
We have to eradicate it. As long as we have the slightest delight in sin or tolerance for sin in our lives, complete and perfect joy is impossible.
So here's the truth that Jesus is conveying to us in Matthew 5:4. He's telling us that a high view of joy demands a serious view of sin. A high view of joy demands a serious view of sin. Matthew 5, 4 promises blessedness. In other words, happiness that transcends everything to those who mourn.
And then it gives a reason why these mourners are blessed. It's because mourners are the only candidates for comfort. Mourners are the only candidates. for comfort. A couple of weeks ago in our Sunday School video series that we've been going through, R.
C. Sproll made a similar point regarding courage. If you were there, you'll remember he said that the prerequisite for courage is fear. There's no need for courage if there's nothing to fear. And in a similar way, there is no need for comfort unless there's sorrow.
It's only those who mourn that need and receive comfort.
So with these thoughts in mind, let's jump in. And the first question I'd like for us to consider is this. In what sense are we to mourn? In what sense is Jesus saying we need to mourn here? Is this blessedness and this comfort promised to everyone who sorrows without exception?
Or is something more specific in view here? What kind of mourning brings comfort? It's interesting to note that in New Testament Greek, There are at least ten different words. That describe mourning or sorrow and the actions that accompany sorrow. And each of these words communicates different nuances of meaning.
Sometimes, even the same word can have different shades of meaning depending on the context in which it is used. There are certain kinds of griefs that are actually condemned in Scripture. And not all grief is created equal.
So we can't say that the promise of comfort given in Matthew 5, 4 is guaranteed for any and all who mourn. There's a specific type of mourning that Jesus has in mind here. Let me briefly mention three ways this idea of mourning or sorrowing can be used, and I think this will help us hone in on the sense in which Jesus is using the word. First, there's what we might call natural sorrow. Natural sorrow, this would be the kind of grief a person experiences when he's suffered some kind of temporal loss, maybe an unexpected financial deficit, shattered expectations, the breakup of a marriage, the death of a loved one.
These are things that are all part of our natural existence. They're temporal, they're earthly. Nevertheless, they cause great pain and sorrow. This would have been the kind of sorrow that the disciples experienced after Jesus' crucifixion. We read in Mark 16, 10, the account of Mary Magdalene after the resurrected Jesus had appeared to her.
She goes to the disciples to tell them the news, and it says in Mark that she went to them as they mourned. And that's the same Greek word that Matthew 5 uses, as they mourned and wept. The disciples were experiencing a deep, natural sorrow over the death of a loved one. This kind of sorrow occurs all the time in the course of life, and we're all familiar with natural sorrow. It's a good thing to mourn this way.
And God gives us His grace and comfort during those times of intense natural sorrow. But this isn't the kind of morning that Christ is referring to in the Beatitudes.
Now, let me just stop for a minute and explain something very important. I was sharing this truth several years ago with a group of people, and after I finished, an elderly couple whose son had recently died came up to me and they explained that they thought I was saying God doesn't comfort us when we experience natural grief and sorrow. I want to be very clear. I'm not saying God doesn't comfort us when we grieve the death of a loved one or when a bad circumstance happens to our life, our family. All I'm saying is that this natural sorrow is not the kind of sorrow that Jesus is directly referring to here in the Second Beatitude.
To be sure, God comforts those who mourn over a death, over a physical illness, over the loss of a job. God's care and concern for his children is not limited merely to their spiritual health and well-being. No, God made us physical creatures. He put us in a temporal existence in time and space. And so all of these spheres, both physical and spiritual, the visible and invisible, the natural and the supernatural, matter to God.
He is the God of all comfort, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1.3. There is most definitely a divine comfort available to those who experience this natural sorrow. But I should qualify even that statement by pointing out that God's comfort. Even to those whose sorrow in this natural sense is always mediated through Jesus Christ. Without Christ as your Savior, as your representative before the throne of God, there is no guarantee of comfort, natural or otherwise.
But in Jesus Christ, there is comfort, both in this life and in the life to come. If you're experiencing temporal, natural sorrow this morning, there is comfort to be found in Jesus Christ.
So run to him. At the same time, and this is the point that I'm trying to make here. There is a sadness that should grieve our hearts more than death itself. And as we will see It's comfort in the midst of this.
sort of sadness that Christ promises to give. Yeah. Before we get to that though, there is another kind of mourning that we often confuse with the kind that Jesus has here in view, here in Matthew 5. We'll call this sinful sorrow. Paul describes this type of mourning in 2 Corinthians 7.9.
In fact, let's turn there and read it together. 2 Corinthians 7, Paul is addressing the Christians in Corinth, and he's referring to a previous letter he's written to them in which he confronted them with a particular sin. And he says in verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 7. I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. for you felt a godly grief.
so that you suffered no loss through us, For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. whereas worldly grief produces death. There's a brand of sorrow that is wicked and useless. It does not produce the comfort that Matthew 5, 4 promises. In fact, just the opposite.
It produces death. It brings nothing but death. The primary characteristic of this sinful sorrow is the fact that it does not lead to repentance from sin. It does not result in a change of a person's attitude towards sin. It's the sorrow of someone who's merely grieved by the consequences of sin.
Let's say a person gets caught in a moral failure. Perhaps they lose their job because of it or lose their spouse over it. They become depressed and sorrowful over the outcome or the effect of their sin, but they don't hate the sin. They hate the fact that sin has wrecked their life. But they don't repent.
They have yet to realize the vileness and the horridness of their sin. Folks, This kind of sorrow is itself a sin. And Scripture is full of examples of this. You remember the story of Cain and Abel, how Cain murdered his brother in cold blood? And when the sin finally caught up with him, God punished him by saying, When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.
You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
Now Cain's response to this was not repentance, it was sinful sorrow. He said, To God, my punishment is greater than I can bear. There was no recognition that he deserved far worse. He was only bummed that his act of murder was going to have a negative impact on him for the rest of his life. This is not the kind of mourning over sin that leads to comfort.
and to blessedness. Or think of Esau, who refused to live by faith, would only live by sight. Hebrews 12, 17 subs up Esau's life this way. For you know that afterward when Esau desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Remember the story of King Saul.
He forsook God, and so God forsook him by taking the kingdom of Israel away from him. Saul's life comes to a bleak end when he realizes he's lost the battle against the Philistines and in hopelessness and grief he commits suicide by falling on his own sword. Saul's grief was not a sorrow that led to repentance. He died without hope. without comfort.
because he refused to repent. Perhaps the prime example of this sinful sorrow would have to be Judas Iscariot. A disciple who betrayed Jesus for 30 measly pieces of silver. Matthew 27 describes the last few moments of Judas's life, moments that were filled with sorrow. But not the kind of sorrow that leads to repentance and life and comfort.
The Gospel writer says: When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, What is that to us? See to it yourself. and throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. That is mere remorse, that kind of sorrow that leads to death.
This isn't the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5 because there's no comfort. without repentance.
So what kind of sorrow is Jesus referring to?
Well, he's referring to godly sorrow over sin. This is made evident by the context of verse 4. The Beatitudes, as we pointed out last week, are a list of spiritual traits, spiritual qualities that describe the Christian. And so Christ, I believe, is not referring to natural sorrow, but spiritual sorrow. And it's apparent that he's referring to sorrow over sin in light of the previous beatitude.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn. You see the connection between those first two beatitudes. Poverty of spirit refers to the moral bankruptcy of man. He has nothing to offer God that would make him acceptable.
He's spiritually deficient. He's inadequate. And the only thing he contributes to his spiritual state is filthiness. And defilement and impurity. This is the state of man's spirit without God.
So when a person, by God's grace, recognizes that he or she is truly poor in spirit, that they're utterly bankrupt before God, the automatic response is deep, intense sorrow over that condition. That's the sort of mourning Jesus describes. He's saying, blessed are those who mourn over their poverty of spirit, for they will be comforted. Jesus isn't referring to the natural sorrow that we experience whenever we suffer some temporal loss. He's certainly not referring to the sinful sorrow that we experience when we suffer the consequence of disobedience but refuse to repent.
He's referring to the godly sorrow over sin that leads to repentance, a turning away from the very sin that is causing the grief. That's the kind of mourning that promises comfort. There are numerous examples of this kind of mourning in Scripture. Perhaps the most captivating illustration comes from the life of Peter. We all remember his bold assertion that he would be loyal to Jesus to the death.
And yet Jesus prophesied that before the rooster had finished crowing, he would have denied his Lord. When this prophecy came true, The Bible tells us that Peter remembered the saying of Jesus: before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept. bitterly. Peter was experiencing Intense sorrow over personal sin.
He saw the wickedness of his own heart, and it brought bitter, bitter grief.
Now we know that Peter eventually repented. His relationship with Christ was restored. His loyalty to Christ was tested countless times after that, but he proved faithful, even to the point of suffering a martyr's death. His sorrow was not over the loss of status or reputation. He was grieved over his broken relationship with the Lord, whom he loved more than anything.
So the mourning referred to in the Beatitudes is a sorrow over sin. And that sin is typically our own personal sin. But sometimes there's another sense in which we can experience godly sorrow over sin in a general sort of way, not the specific sins of my own heart, but the presence of sin in general. And I think we see Christ mourning over sin in this way. Jesus had no personal sin over which to mourn, but he was surrounded with sins.
The effect of sin every day, and it grieved his soul. For example, he wept over the death of Lazarus, even though he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He wept over the city of Jerusalem. Why? Martin Lloyd-Jones gives us the answer.
He says, This is why our Lord mourned. This is why he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is why he wept at the grave of Lazarus. He saw this horrid, ugly, foul thing called sin, which had come into life and introduced death into life and had upset life and made life unhappy. He wept because of that.
He saw the city of Jerusalem. Rejecting him and bringing upon itself its own damnation, and he wept because of that. He mourned over it. And so does his true follower, the one who has received his nature, In other words, he must mourn because of the very nature of sin itself, because it has ever entered into the world and has led to these terrible results. Indeed, he must mourn, because he has some understanding of what sin means to God.
of God's utter abhorrence and hatred of it, this terrible thing that would stab, as it were, into the heart of God if it could, this rebelliousness and arrogance of man the result of listening to Satan, It grieves him. And he mourns because of it.
So, there is a sense in which we mourn not only over our own poverty of spirit specifically, but we mourn over the devastating effects of sin all around us generally. Humanity is walking around enjoying their rebellion. worshiping at the altar of trinkets and shadows, oblivious to the fact that an eternal weight of glory could be theirs, and that knowledge should break our hearts.
Well, thank God that this second beatitude doesn't stop at the word mourn. There is grace in this verse.
Sorrow is not the end. There is the promise of comfort to those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And this really is the main point of the second Beatitude. In fact, of all the Beatitudes, it's about the joy and the blessedness of the Christian life.
As we think about the comfort that's promised here in Matthew 5, 4, let me first point out that this is a passive verb. In other words, it means there's something being done to us. We're not the agents doing the comforting. We can't comfort ourselves. Remember, we're poor in spirit.
We're spiritually bankrupt. Theologians like to call this verb a divine passive. That is, God is the agent who brings about the comfort. We do the mourning, he does the comforting. And yet how often do we try to comfort ourselves in our sin?
We weren't made to mourn. We were made for joy. That's how God created us. And so when we come under conviction of sin, we've got to find comfort. We've got to find relief from the sorrow and the conviction.
So we either embrace through repentance the comfort that God gives us, or we try to fabricate our own false comfort. As I thought about this this past week, about my own tendencies, I realized that when I'm trying to delay repentance and produce my own relief from conviction, I often run to one of two options. I either run to distraction or I hide behind denial. We get pretty good at distracting ourselves from dealing with sin, don't we?
Sometimes we run to entertainment or leisure. As long as I'm amusing myself, I don't have to think about the condition of my heart before God. Or if we want to feel really good about ourselves, we run to busyness. We throw ourselves into our work or into some project, sometimes a very virtuous project. But this too occupies our minds enough to keep us from having to dwell on the misery that sin is causing.
Oftentimes, though, these distractions quit working. And we're not quite ready to give up the fight, so we employ the denial technique. We either deny the sinfulness of sin. By redefining sin, saying things like, I'm not angry, I'm just stressed. Or it's not lust, it's curiosity.
Or I'm not bitter at you, I was just hurt. We deny the reality of conviction by pretending to be happy. Pretentious joy. We've all done it, haven't we? We have a knock-down drag out on the way to church as we drive.
We get there, we're seething and angry. And just full of disgust at how we have been mistreated, then we get out of the car in the church parking lot, and all of a sudden, we're spiritual. We put on a happy face. We pretend to be full of the joy of the Lord when just underneath the surface we're wrestling with our own. Ugly sinfulness.
It's pretentious joy. It's a denial technique that we use to manufacture our own comfort.
Well, what kind of comfort is real? What kind of comfort does God give us? It's not the kind of false comfort that comes from distraction. It's not the kind of comfort that comes from downplaying sin or from pretending to be joyful. What kind of comfort is promised here?
A.W. Pink describes three distinct ways that God extends comfort to those who mourn over their sinful condition. First, he identifies the divine consolation that follows conversion. The divine consolation that follows conversion. When God begins to call an unbeliever out of darkness into life, He puts that person under deep conviction of sin, and as that person Is converted from sinner to saint, the depth of guilt that he has experienced prior to knowing Christ is suddenly overcome by this incredible, unexpected joy.
over the knowledge that his sins are forgiven. This is the kind of comfort that Christ spoke of when he said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy. and my burden is light.
Folks, if you do not know Christ, but you do know the misery and the pain and the guilt of your own sinful state before God. Jesus Christ says, come to me and I'll give you rest. Go to Christ and you'll find the comfort that you so desperately long for. But there's another kind of comfort that's promised. It's the continual comfort of the believer by the Holy Spirit, the continual comfort of the believer by the Holy Spirit.
When we're converted to Christ, we have a new standing before God. We are forever righteous in His sight because of the finished work of Christ on our behalf. But at the same time, we're not yet free from sin's presence. The Christian still struggles with sin. We hate sin, and yet we often find ourselves harboring and treasuring our sin.
We love holiness. And yet, that holiness often eludes us. This struggle ought to cause us to mourn. If we're in Christ, we will grieve over the sin tendencies that still reside within us. Paul knew this struggle all too well.
He describes it at length in Romans 7. But even in the midst of this struggle, a struggle that's going to last for the rest of our earthly lives, there is comfort. Paul says in Romans 7, 24, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And we, like Paul, realize our wretchedness. We realize how enslaved we are at times to this body's desires, and we grieve.
but not as those who are without hope. Because our grief causes us to look again to Christ. And we say with Paul, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So there is this ongoing cycle in the life of the believer of conviction of sin, followed by grief and sorrow over that sin, followed by repentance, followed by joy and the consolation of Christ. But then lastly, there is A final comfort. that awaits every Christian. The comfort of all comforts. Paul refers to this as the blessed hope.
This comfort will come when we leave this world behind and are forever done with sin. John describes this comfort in Revelation 21:4. He says, God will wipe away every tear. from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning.
nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Behold, God will make all things. Neil.
So we have this threefold comfort. The comfort we receive at conversion. of sins forgiven. the comfort we receive throughout our journey in this life. As we are refined and made more and more like Jesus, And then ultimately, the final comfort we'll receive when God eradicates pain and death and sorrow forever: our blessed hope.
As we close this morning and think about how to specifically apply this message to our lives, let me mention two things that I think will be key to our finding lasting comfort and real joy. First of all, we need to take sin seriously. We need to take sin seriously. Yeah. Our text says, Blessed are those.
who mourn. Luke's gospel, the parallel passage to this, puts it in the negative. It says, Woe to you who laugh at sin now, for you shall mourn. and weep. Sin is not something to laugh at.
It's not something to be ignored. It's something to mourn over. And we live certainly in a culture that likes sarcasm and lightheartedness when it comes to sin. But folks, sin is not a joke. It's a destroyer of joy.
We need to learn to take sin seriously. and deal with it properly.
So let's be very careful not to laugh at sin. Jonathan Edwards had a list of 70 resolutions that he lived by, and every time I read these, I'm just convicted by my own lack of spiritual fervor and maturity. His 37th resolution relates to this need to take sin seriously. Let me read it to you. Edward says, resolved to inquire every night as I'm going to bed.
wherein I have been negligent. what sin I have committed and wherein I have denied myself. I think that's a great application of this verse. If we're going to mourn over sin, we've got to deliberately and regularly consider the state of our soul. What if we, like Edward, spent time every night asking God to search us and show us the depth of our sin and then spent time mourning over the joy that we have forfeited because of that sin?
But, folks, don't stop there. Don't stop at mourning over your sin. Jesus didn't stop there. He said, Blessed are they that mourn. for they shall be comforted.
So take sin seriously. But don't ever forget to look to Christ. We are to deplore our sin, but will never find comfort for our souls by looking at ourselves. The sinfulness that we so deplore about ourselves ought to make us look to Christ. And it is in the looking to Christ.
that we find comfort. and the blessedness that is promised here in Matthew 5, 4. Hebrews 12, 1 through 4 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him. who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. in your struggle against sin. You have not yet resisted. to the point of shedding your blood.
A high view of joy. requires a serious view of sin.
So strive against sin, mourn over it, and then look to Jesus alone for comfort. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the promise of comfort to those who mourn. May we be among those who mourn as we should. Not over the mere consequences of sin, but over the shame and disgrace our sin brings upon you.
Our Redeemer, our Lord. And over the pain and suffering that our sin brought upon your holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May the comfort we received from Christ truly make us lose our taste for sin more and more. May it fill us with the eternal happiness that only you can give. We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. Sin has put us in a state of misery. of great sadness, of sorrow, and yet Christ fixes that state. He restores us to a state of joy and comfort. That's what this closing hymn of response is all about.
Would you stand with me as we sing? How sad Bye. By nature is our sin. How deep. it stains and Satan minds are Captive might fast in his slave is changed, but there's a voice of sound.
Sovereign grace sounds from the sacred word. Oh, heed despairing sinners come and trust upon the Lord. Ooh. Obeys the Almighty call and runs to this relief. I would believe thy promise, Lord.
Oh, help my unbelief unto the fountain of thy blood, in card and God I fly. Here, let me wash my spot and soul from crimes of deepest time. Stretch out thine arm, O Victoria's King, by reigning sins of due and drive the dragon from his seat with all his hellish crew. A guilty weak and helpless worm on thy kind arms I form. Be thou my strength and righteousness, my Jesus and my own.
Amen. Thank you for being here this morning. I want to encourage you to come back tonight as a Our brother John Maureen preaches from Matthew 16. We worship together as we enjoy closing our Lord's Day out in fellowship with each other. That's at 6 o'clock.
this evening, so please come and be a part of that. Also, I encourage you to be back Wednesday night at 7 o'clock as we have a time just to interact with each other as a body and the session makes itself available for some questions and answers and just giving some description as to where we're headed as a church. in light of these significant changes that have hit our body unexpectedly this past month.
So tonight, 6 o'clock, Wednesday night, 7 o'clock in the fellowship poll. As we close, I want to read a passage from Isaiah. That is relevant to this second Beatitude that we've looked at. Isaiah declared several blessings to those who mourn specifically. Blessings that come to fruition only in Christ.
And so, to you, saints of Grace Church, who are mourning over your sin. May Jesus Christ grant to you a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. the oil of gladness instead of mourning The garment of praise. instead of a faint spirit. that you may be called oaks of righteousness.
The planting of the Lord. that He may be glorified. And all God's people said. Yeah.
