This morning we consider the second beatitude that our Lord spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, verse 4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And in connection with that beatitude, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 7, as we read together verses 7 through verse 25, the end of the chapter. It's a portion of Scripture that we associate with Paul's struggle, his internal struggle between what he wanted to do and what he did do. Romans chapter 7, beginning at verse 7. Hear now the word of God. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law, for I would not have known what coveting really was If the law had not said, do not covet. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good then become death to me? By no means. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ, those are the words of Jesus. Blessed are those who mourn. Now again, strange words, aren't they? Strange words given the context of this world in which we live. Because who of us has ever considered ourselves blessed or happy when mourning? And boys and girls, I trust you know we're not talking about mourning as in the first part of the day versus evening, but mourning in the sense of weeping and being filled with sorrow. And who of us has ever considered ourselves happy and blessed when mourning because of the hurt of death or because of the sting of some sort of a punishment, boys and girls? Or because of the pain of loss? Or because of the worry that comes with hardship? We don't normally associate mourning with happiness and blessedness. In fact, the world does everything possible to avoid mourning. To keep away from sadness and sorrow. Its slogan is, don't worry, be happy. Do all you can to forget your troubles and to forget the things in this life that get you down. Do all that you can to keep from facing them. The world's goal is to sell you and me a lifestyle of comfort and happiness and ease with no trouble. Its goal is to promote laughter and entertainment which people spend countless millions, billions of dollars on pursuing. And even certain evangelists with somewhat pasted on smiles preach, well, God wants you to have it all. God wants you to be happy. He wants you to have no struggles. And indeed, Proverbs 17, verse 22 says, A joyful heart is good medicine. But in Luke's parallel account of the Sermon on the Mount, he records Jesus as saying, Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. As if to say, woe to those who try to escape the reality behind the troubles and the difficulties of life. The reality that is the cause of the troubles and difficulties that we face. While a joyful heart with true blessedness and happiness comes by way of the path of mourning. The mourning that Jesus speaks of here. Mourning that comes as kingdom citizens face sin. Kingdom citizens face sin, first of all, with a heart-wrenching cry like Paul's cry. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? You see, that is a cry because of sin's reality. Because of the reality of sin. And that reality of sin that is recognized by the poor in spirit. Those whom Jesus describes in that first beatitude, the kingdom character of being poor in spirit, Now, in general, we know that people mourn for various reasons. There are many things, many situations in this life that cause sorrow and cause tears, such as sickness and pain and death and material loss and wounded pride and all kinds of other things. And the sorrow that mankind, believers and unbelievers alike, have for those things is not the kind of sorrow, not the kind of mourning that Jesus is talking about. Yet we know that all of those things are the result. They come because of sin. The result of sin in the world. The world doesn't recognize that. The world doesn't see that those things are the result of sin or that sin is connected. But this mourning that Jesus talks about, it necessarily flows, it will flow because of the sin that is realized by those who are poor in spirit. And again, Jesus is talking to believers here. As we said a couple of weeks ago, believers, only those who are poor in spirit are believers by the grace of God. As you remember, as we talked about the poor in spirit, one who is poor in spirit is one who is brought face to face with the holiness of God by faith as Isaiah was. Remember? He saw the holiness of God and his reaction was, Woe to me for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. In an instant, as it were, as he saw the holiness of God, he saw his utter unholiness. His complete inability to stand before God on his own two feet, as it were, because of anything about him. One who is poor in spirit is one who is indeed brought face to face with the holiness of God and then quickly is brought to recognize the truth of himself, the truth of my unholiness because of sin and because of my continual struggle with sin as Paul talks about here. that one quickly recognizes my utter helplessness and hopelessness in myself to please God or to earn His favor. That one quickly recognizes my spiritual bankruptcy. That word means a lot to us in this life, doesn't it? It means we're broke. We have nothing. In our spiritual bankruptcy, I have nothing of value. I am nothing of value. and the sight of God. The one who is poor in spirit understands that. And that reality then of sin draws a response from the poor in spirit. The response of mourning. With a cry from the depths of the heart, like the psalmist in Psalm 130, If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? In essence, that's what Paul responds to. What a wretched man that I am. And this mourning, it's a deep spiritual sorrow. It embraces our whole being. Deep from the heart, a mourning, a sorrow, a hurt of spirit within us that then cries out because of the mourning that sin brings. One who recognizes that sin cannot help but to mourn because of it. and that mourning is for my own sin. The believer has a godly sorrow over my rebellion against God, over my hostility to His will, over my trust in the things of the world instead of trusting in God alone. A godly sorrow over my self-righteousness that causes my indifference to God, sometimes not caring what God says or what He thinks. A godly sorrow over my sins of co-mission, that indeed which I have committed against him, but of omission, that which I have failed to do, that he commands. And we are given a number of biblical examples. David is one of them. We can think of Psalm 51 where he pours it out. He pours out his mourning, as it were, because of his sin with Bathsheba. And if you read the Gospel of Luke again, there are a number of examples there. For example, in chapter 7, Luke speaks of the woman who lived a sinful life, he says, and she came and anointed Jesus' feet with perfume and washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair. Or in Luke chapter 15, we read the story of the prodigal son. Boys and girls, you know that story. He came to the end of himself. He was completely humbled. He came to see his sin. And returns in humility to his father. In Luke chapter 18, we read about the tax collector and the Pharisee praying in the temple. And the tax collector beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, the sinner. As if he thought of himself as the one and only. And then there was the 3,000 on Pentecost who responded to Peter's powerful sermon. They were cut to the heart and they cried out because of their sin. What must I do? Mourning because of my own sin. You see, as someone has suggested that I read, when we take the time to meditate on our life, if we were to take time at the end of each and every day and think back over that day. Probably have to do it every day, huh? Because you skip a day or two, you're going to forget very quickly. But take the time at the end of each and every day and to think back and meditate on your life in that day to ask yourself, what have I done? What have I said? What have I thought? And think about all those things and how those things were carried out. And also ask, well, how have I behaved with respect to others? If we were to do that, beloved, sadly, each one of us, I suspect, would be shocked and filled with sorrow at what we are capable of. Like Paul, we would find that war waging in us that indeed brings mourning for my sin. But also mourning for the sin of mankind. Sin in general. Sin that is clearly revealed in the world. It's published in the newspapers. It's televised on TV. All you need to do is open your eyes. The sin of mankind made clear in the deeds of ungodliness. As we see throughout the world, a lack of integrity and a lack of charity for others. And in its place, we see the presence of injustice and cruelty and selfishness and dishonesty. Maybe things that we struggle with from time to time. And the believer's heart aches as he recognizes that sin in the world among mankind and as he sees demonstrations of that sin. For example, the believer's heart aches. My heart ached as I saw on the news a couple of weeks ago the publicity that the Gay Pride Day gets. My heart ached. Every channel. Showing the parade as if it was some great celebration. Showing those who laugh. Who revel in their homosexuality. And the believer's heart aches as he sees the promoting of sexual immorality and adultery all around us, all over the television. Think of the sitcoms, even the ones we consider to be clean. Or raunchy comedians. Do you see what the world is doing is laughing at sin. Treating it as no big deal. And the believer's heart aches because of that and not only for my own sin not only for the sin of mankind but also for sin's results in the world in addition to the sinfulness and the ungodliness that is demonstrated or practiced by men just as Paul says creation groans the kingdom citizen mourns because of the suffering that is out there due to hunger and drought and sickness and death and wars and especially the blows and the losses and the pain that is inflicted upon God's people because we know it's all because of the result of sin in the world. Just as Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus, he didn't weep because Lazarus was physically dead. I always thought that. He knew what he was going to do long before he got there. He knew that he was going to overturn that physical death. He didn't weep because Lazarus was physically dead. He wept because of sin that had intruded this life. And death was the result of it. Physical death. And the believer mourns because of sin's result, ultimately because of a lack of knowledge of God and the punishment that sin brings. The believer weeps, mourns for lost souls, just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, As Jerusalem did not understand what she had rejected, did not understand, had no clue of the punishment that was to come upon her. Sin brings mourning to the believer because of my own sin, because of the sin of mankind, because of sin's result. Yet all of that mourning, beloved, is meaningless. Unless it flows from a sorrow because of what sin means to God, for God. and to God. It is a violation of God. It is against Him. It is against His holiness. It is against this One who is Almighty. This One who made us. This One apart from whom we do not exist. This One who saved us in Christ Jesus. It's a violation of God Himself and He utterly hates it. And sin, as it were, is a constant stabbing into the very heart of God. It is so dangerous and deadly that as the psalmist says in Psalm 1, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. The believer mourns because sin is dangerous and deadly and it draws one away from God. And kingdom citizens, only kingdom citizens. Again, Jesus is talking to believers here who are blessed. Only kingdom citizens who understand this by faith are filled with the greatest grief. They will be filled with the greatest grief. And I have to ask you, and I have to ask me, does that describe you? Does it describe me? Am I truly grieved by sin, or do I laugh along with it? Are you truly grieved by sin or do you indulge in it? Even in ways you might think are not really indulging in it. You see, the psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 136 says, Streams of tears flow from my eyes. Why? For your law is not obeyed. Notice what the psalmist does not say. He does not say streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the horrible results that I have to endure because of sin or because of the struggles of life that I am going through. No. Tears stream, flow from his eyes because God's law is not obeyed because of what sin means to God. This is the kind of grief and mourning. To help us understand it a little bit, but it's the kind of grief and mourning that you might have when you know that you have hurt or offended or wronged one who loves you dearly and whom you love. And that's why it's the believer's grief. Because we have offended and wronged the God who loves us dearly and has demonstrated that love in Christ Jesus and has brought us through new life. He has given us a love for Him. And therefore, it brings a heart-wrenching cry because of the desire that the believer has. A desire that you and I have by the grace of God through the influence of the Holy Spirit. And that desire is to fight against sin. Paul desired to do good. He desired to be obedient to God. And the believer's mourning, beloved, is outwardly demonstrated not by walking around with a sad face that preaches hopelessness and despair all the time, far from it the believer's mourning is outwardly demonstrated by seeking God's glory the very opposite of what sin does it strips him of his glory and by seeking God's glory at least in this way by battling sin by going to war against it instead of giving in to its seductive charm that is our task isn't it as those who profess the Lord Jesus Christ, it's our task to fight against sin, to do so consciously, to do so willingly. That's what Reuben has said this morning. That's what he testified to. That he desires to live for God, to be obedient to Him. Which means to fight against sin. On this side of glory, we know that it's a constant battle and we will fail again and again. Paul makes that clear. Paul knew that, which means on this side of glory, this mourning that Jesus is talking about is always present. We don't ever escape it in this life. It is ongoing. He speaks in the present tense. Ongoing. Blessed are those who mourn and continue to mourn. This mourning that he talks about is a part of this life, as long as we are in this life surrounded by sin and its effects, It's a part of this life as constantly the believer mourns as he recognizes sin in all these ways. And especially in the light of the cross of Jesus. You see, as kingdom citizens, we understand, at least in part, we understand the blood that Jesus shed and the wrath that he endured because of sin. And the believer mourns daily because of our daily sin that made Jesus' sacrifice necessary. Yet that sacrifice of Jesus is the very reason that kingdom citizens in the second place face sin with a heartfelt comfort. Blessed are those who mourn, Jesus says, for they will be comforted. They will be comforted with what we might call an alien comfort. Boys and girls, an alien is something that is not of this world. That's how we understand them. An alien comfort comes from outside of us. We can only find it outside of ourselves. It's in the passive voice there. It's not something that those who mourn find themselves and take upon themselves. It is given to them, laid upon them. All we can do is receive it. It's an alien comfort in Jesus Christ alone. And that is why Paul is able to answer his questioning cry with such confidence, Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this alien comfort is a future comfort, will be comforted. It points to that full and complete comfort. Ultimately, it points to what Paul says in chapter 8, verse 18, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. But that comfort of eternal glory, when all sin will have been put away forever and ever and all of God's enemies, that comfort of eternal glory reaches into the present so that those who mourn are already blessed. We do continue to mourn because of sin, but not without hope. and that's because the comfort that God gives is an effective comfort. You see, that's the great promise of Scripture in Psalm 126, verse 5. The psalmist says, Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. In Psalm 30, verse 11, You turned my wailing into dancing. You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. That's the great promise of Scripture, this effective comfort in Jesus Christ. You see, beloved, in Jesus Christ, we have been comforted. Because as David says in Psalm 103, God has not treated us as our sins deserve, nor repaid us according to our iniquities. We have been comforted. Instead, our comfort in Christ, as Isaiah 40, verse 2 says, is that our sin has been paid for. And that we, as Romans 5 says, have peace with God. You see, the very same holiness of God that Isaiah saw face to face, that very same holiness that reveals our sin, that in a sense casts us into mourning, that very same holiness of God is joined with His grace, which offers forgiveness in the gospel. We have been comforted. And we are being comforted. Again, we mourn daily. Yet daily, God's people are driven to Christ. So that we are constantly reminded, when Satan would accuse us, we are constantly reminded of Christ's answer, It is finished. And as we recognize our sin daily and bring that to the throne of God, We are comforted that our sin cannot and will not ever be lost again because of our sin. That's our great comfort. We will never be lost again as the Holy Spirit strengthens and assures us constantly of the never-failing forgiveness of God. As John says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have been comforted. We are being comforted, and again, we will be comforted perfectly and completely in heavenly glory. That's why we can sing with confidence, no guilt in life and no fear in death. Heaven, we might describe, is the return, the harvest of that seed time of tears, those tears that have been planted. Heaven is the return, the harvest of the seed time of tears, As God promises in Revelation 21, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Dear people of God, the Christian life with this kingdom character that Jesus describes here is indeed a strange mixture, isn't it? A strange mixture of sorrow and joy, of mourning and comfort at the very same time. On the one hand, sorrow and mourning because of sin, my sin, sin in the world, the results of it, and because of how God is offended. Because sin is dangerous. Sin is deadly. And we are called to hate it and despise it. At the very same time, joy and comfort, because God has dealt with it for us in Jesus Christ. He has dealt with it completely and effectively. And therefore, mine is the comfort of this blessedness that Jesus speaks of. Remember, blessed, approved, the favor of God, that without a doubt I am reconciled with Him because He has taken me back as His very own. And this blessedness, beloved, indeed, what a motivation to be obedient to God as Paul desired. Because in response to God's love and grace poured out on us, I ought not want to offend Him, but instead desire to do all that I can to please Him, to keep from offending Him. Recognizing the sacrifice of Jesus, as we have said before on occasion, that when you understand the blood that Jesus shed to pay for your sins, it makes sin harder to commit. It makes sin more difficult to give in to the next time. That's the blessing, that's the work of sanctification. What a motivation to be obedient to God and what a motivation to strive to do good in the hope that God would use that good that He produces in us. That He would use that good that others might see it and be brought to Him and learn to hate their sin and by the grace of God receive the comfort of God's love. Beloved, indeed, the wages of sin is death. The eternal torment of weeping and gnashing of teeth reserved for all those who laugh now. Who laugh at sin. Who make light of it. Who fail to see the seriousness of it. Who willfully delight in it and indulge in it. But for all who forsake themselves and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone by faith. for each and every one, for you, for me. He has secured the gift of God, which is eternal life, where we will enjoy unspeakable blessing. That, dear believers, is our only comfort in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Let's pray together. dear heavenly father we pray that you would continue to work in our hearts and lives in a most powerful way that you would continue to open our eyes wider and wider to the truth of sin it's horrible nature it's destructive quality and how offensive it is to You. And we pray that more and more You would produce in us a righteous hatred for sin and a holy delight and a desire to live to Your name's honor and glory in gratitude for Your forgiveness of all of our sins in Christ Jesus. Oh, Father, it's all around us. We can hardly look here or there without seeing some demonstration of sin in the world or even in ourselves. We pray that you continue to work powerfully. Help us, Lord, and strengthen us. We might live in that joy of salvation in Jesus Christ, moment by moment, day by day. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. And in His name we pray. Amen.