WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.679 And today we're going to continue our series on the Beatitudes that we found in Matthew, 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:11.080 chapter 5. 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:17.719 And today we're going to talk and we're going to learn all together about the second Beatitude. 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:32.359 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:41.320 How can someone who is mourning be more than happy? 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:49.399 Because of the promise that we see here, because they shall be comforted. 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:58.320 One of the saddest experiences that humans can feel is being separated from someone who 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:06.480 will really love the departure of a husband, wife, son, daughter, or friends at the airport, 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:14.920 or whatever, to other places, bring some pain and even grief to our hearts. 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:21.640 My loss are living in Scotland in the 9th of August and I know that that will be a really 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:24.000 sad experience. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:30.240 Nevertheless, there is some hope in knowing that at some point we will be comforted by 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:37.519 their presence, by having a meal together, even a cup of tea or some barbecue, but just 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:47.000 enjoying the presence of friends and family with food, with just sharing our love to each 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:48.000 other. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.000 That's a really good experience. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:02:00.920 Someone like being reunited with those who love vanishes, all pain and mourning. 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:10.719 In the same line, the experience of being reunited with those who we hurt or those who 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:17.599 hurt us removes all pain and grieving. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:27.959 Comfort means to rest in the chest of those who bring comfort and love, and that is family 00:02:27.959 --> 00:02:30.240 and friends. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:41.799 However, one of the most saddest experiences that we can experience is the loss by death 00:02:41.799 --> 00:02:44.919 of those we love. 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:51.239 I will never forget seeing my cousins mourning the death of their dad. 00:02:51.239 --> 00:02:58.319 A 3 AM heart attack took my uncle's life when my cousins were just 9 and 10 and 15 years 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:02.519 old and my auntie was pregnant. 00:03:02.519 --> 00:03:10.599 I will never forget the lament, the mourning of my cousins just saying, Daddy, Daddy, that 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:15.879 was really, that was a really sad experience. 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:19.159 Death brings mourn, even 5 days ago. 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:27.519 Another auntie just passed away just one day before my birthday of my cousin. 00:03:27.519 --> 00:03:38.000 So the question is, who can bring true comfort, but the one who is the life himself? 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:49.479 That is God himself, the God who took human nature, the God who is the life himself, and 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.919 in his human nature, he died. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:04:01.159 And through his death, we have life. 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:11.319 And the question is, who will dare to be a rebel against the God that gives life? 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:14.479 And sadly, the answer is we. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.839 And this is a serious problem. 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:26.159 When we sin against God, we are being, not just because we are broken people, but because 00:04:26.159 --> 00:04:28.079 we are being rebellious against him. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:35.439 We are sinning against the one, the only one who brings true comfort to our life. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.800 So this is a serious problem. 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:43.759 And there is a situation we seem unaware of, sorry. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:53.560 And that is the lack of mourning among us as Christians. 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:57.039 The lack of, let me put it in this way. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:04.800 The lack of a gracious and not legalistic mourning. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:11.520 The heart is pierced by the love, sorry, by the loss of someone who really loved. 00:05:11.520 --> 00:05:19.560 The heart is pierced because we know that the fellowship was broken by death. 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:21.920 And the result of this is mourning. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:33.400 However, sometimes our hearts are so indifferent to our spiritual condition, so indifferent 00:05:33.400 --> 00:05:38.200 towards our neighbor. 00:05:38.200 --> 00:05:44.280 Because there is not poverty of a spirit as we learned last week. 00:05:44.280 --> 00:05:48.879 There is no spiritual and true mourning. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:58.839 Who in the world could be indifferent when friendship, when a friend died? 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:01.639 No one's right? 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:06.159 Who in the world could be indifferent when someone is between life and death because 00:06:06.159 --> 00:06:07.879 of some illness? 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:08.920 No one. 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:19.199 And why we are so indifferent regarding our cold sometime, spiritual life? 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:25.480 Why we're so indifferent in our relationships towards others? 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:34.400 Why we're so indifferent regarding our relationship or fellowship with God? 00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:37.879 And that is sadly because of the condition of our hearts. 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:42.920 There's no mourning because of the hardness of the heart. 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:50.719 So why are Christian lives sometimes seem to be so dull and dry and we are just living 00:06:50.719 --> 00:06:57.480 in a kind of a circle that sometimes even when we think that this could be the last 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:09.400 Sunday in this place, why we're living in this way because maybe we are not experiencing 00:07:09.400 --> 00:07:15.160 the reality of being blessed. 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:20.560 And this is because we forgot how and why we have to mourn. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:31.560 And finally, sometimes our Christian living is becoming so dry because we do not consider 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:36.600 the promise attached here to those who mourn. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:40.240 And that is true comfort. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:45.560 So this night I would like to talk just about two things according to this text about the 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:54.000 necessity of true mourning, about the nature of true mourning in order to experience true 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:04.840 comfort here on earth and in heaven because they shall be comforted. 00:08:04.840 --> 00:08:11.360 So the first point is the nature of true mourning. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:16.520 That are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. 00:08:16.520 --> 00:08:19.720 What's the meaning of mourning? 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:27.639 So in order to understand this beatitude, we should remember that this is not isolated. 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:33.279 The beatitude should be read as a single message or body. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:40.320 Each beatitude is better understood in connection with the others as we learn from Corey and 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.520 Eric. 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:46.920 In this case, this beatitude is connected to the previous one. 00:08:46.920 --> 00:08:53.120 Blessed are the poor in the spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:55.240 Poor in the spirit. 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:57.640 We just learned this last Sunday. 00:08:57.640 --> 00:09:05.120 To be poor in spirit is a continual declaration of the necessity of the only one who can satisfy 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.880 my heart and that is God himself. 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:18.559 It is to feel and to be conscious that I am a naked bankrupt person that has nothing 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:23.279 to offer or to give to God. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:33.159 But by the work of the Holy Spirit, it's ready to receive every grace upon grace from God. 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:41.399 So the result of this declaration that we are poor in spirit from the deep of our hearts 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:45.799 at some point brings pain and sorrow. 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:48.519 In other words, mourning. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:50.019 But why? 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:58.199 Because we recognize that we are not only this naked bankrupt person, but also broken 00:09:58.199 --> 00:10:01.439 and rebellious people. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:06.240 People that offend both God and our neighbor. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:10.200 People that offend both God and our friends. 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:18.480 And because we are conscious of this reality, we mourn. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:23.560 We don't have a party or a celebration because we are offending God and our neighbors, but 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:25.800 we mourn. 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:35.079 Mourning, the meaning of this word is related to the deep pain or grief over loss. 00:10:35.079 --> 00:10:42.159 That's why mourning is connected to the feeling when someone passes away. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:50.559 We mourn because we have lost the fellowship of that dear person, the greater the loss, 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.399 the greater, the greater the mourning. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:56.959 And let me ask you this. 00:10:56.959 --> 00:11:02.519 What was the greatest loss of humanity? 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:11.720 And that is the loss of fellowship with God as a result of Adam's sin. 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:18.840 Due to Adam's rebellion, he broke this covenant between himself and God, breaking this fellowship 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:29.560 with God, this friendship with God, thus losing the enjoyment of God. 00:11:29.560 --> 00:11:37.519 So the opposite of mourning is enjoy someone. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.920 But keep thinking about this. 00:11:38.920 --> 00:11:43.440 How can we, someone who is mourning, be blessed? 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:50.720 That is more, absolutely more than happy. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:57.840 So sin impacted the relationship with God and also with creation. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:07.000 Sin affects our lives to such an extent that there's, and this is so, this is the ugliest 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.160 thing about sin. 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:18.719 That sin affects our life in a way that we don't feel even pain when we hurt someone. 00:12:18.719 --> 00:12:26.199 That's, that's, that's the result of sin, that we are doing something so bad that we 00:12:26.199 --> 00:12:36.079 are sinning against God, the God who brings true comfort, the God who uses others to comfort 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:45.240 us, and we are so blind sometimes because of sin that we don't feel any mourning. 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:54.560 That's a tragedy of sin. 00:12:54.560 --> 00:12:57.240 This is indolence. 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:04.640 Sin is so awful that blind our sense of mourning and make us indolent people. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:15.279 At the same time, sin is so terrible because it depel us a false mourning, false mourning, 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.879 because I'm trying to talk about the true mourning. 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.399 And we'll talk about that in a couple of minutes. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:25.799 But if we talk about true mourning, therefore there's some false mourning. 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.319 What is this false mourning? 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:36.080 It is the pain we feel for losing things that glorify our names and not God. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:46.000 In other words, when a man, when a person cannot satisfy his idolatry. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.240 What do I mean by this? 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:56.800 When we live for creative things that sadly will never satisfy the thirst and hunger of 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:59.240 our hearts. 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:00.519 You know what I'm talking about. 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:08.719 It could be money, a career, fame, reputation, whatever, ministry. 00:14:08.719 --> 00:14:20.519 So when that idol is gone, when we cannot satisfy even a secret, sinful desire, we get frustrated 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:28.279 and we mourn. 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:35.639 Remember the story in the Old Testament, when someone was yearning for a vineyard. 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:39.600 I have mourning for Nabot's vineyard. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:47.379 And he laid down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:54.080 Because he was so desperate for getting just a single vineyard. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:59.720 And because he couldn't, he just mourned. 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:01.559 This is a false mourning. 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:09.000 This false mourning lead us to run even to seven worst idols or sins. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:14.320 It is to mourn for the absurd. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:18.320 And you can think, but Israel, why are you talking about this? 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.360 Because sadly this is the reality of sin. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:22.560 We are mourning for the absurd. 00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:28.600 It's like mourning for the death of the one who tortured and oppressed us. 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:34.080 Thus, there's a lack of true mourning. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:38.200 So let's talk about the nature of true mourning. 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:45.640 When we read the prophet about the prophet Isaiah in chapter 6, and when we saw and when 00:15:45.640 --> 00:15:54.680 he had this vision of God, and the seraphim, one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, 00:15:54.680 --> 00:15:56.400 holy is the Lord of hosts. 00:15:56.400 --> 00:16:00.320 The whole earth is full of his glory. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:04.920 What was the response of this prophet? 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:13.279 He just declared, woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:18.599 in the midst of a people of unclean lips. 00:16:18.599 --> 00:16:28.159 So first in true mourning, there is a pain, a mourning for having sinned against God. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:33.279 Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:37.120 Here we can see a recognition of three things. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:43.120 The first is this declaration, woe is me. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:54.240 Woe is an expression of grief and despair because of the recognition of God's curse 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:02.159 or wrath above him, above me. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:09.039 So again, this is not a time for a party, but for mourning. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:15.159 The prophet here, he is conscious of God's judgment because he is before the one who 00:17:15.159 --> 00:17:18.599 is thrice, holy. 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:28.879 And he's declaring that he is a person, he's a man of unclean lips. 00:17:28.879 --> 00:17:31.480 He's conscious of God's judgment. 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:38.559 He's aware that he's a lost person, and that is that he's lost or ruined. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:43.079 And this is an echo of a poor in spirit. 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:48.480 This is being poor in spirit again, that we have nothing to offer, but at the same time 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:56.799 we are just declaring the reality of our condition. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:57.880 Why is this? 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:06.360 Why this man of God is declaring this because he is a man of unclean lips? 00:18:06.360 --> 00:18:12.880 This is important because this is not just a general confession of sin. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:20.600 And maybe we should pray in our time of the liturgy when we confess our sin. 00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:27.560 We should pray to really, in a real way, confess our sins. 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:35.839 These are not just one or two minutes of repeating or responding to what the leader said. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:40.159 It's a confession of spiritual illness. 00:18:40.159 --> 00:18:44.159 And here we don't see a general confession. 00:18:44.159 --> 00:18:52.119 We see a specific confession of sin. 00:18:52.119 --> 00:19:00.639 And this is done because of God's holiness, because of God's holiness and light that reveals 00:19:00.639 --> 00:19:15.239 everything, even every secret thought, every disposition, every act. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:25.839 Probably, probably, sometimes we do not consider the ugliness of sin or in an old-fashioned 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:37.359 way the sinfulness of sin, because we don't have a clear vision of God's holiness. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:47.519 This prophet, this man of God, confessed that he was a ruined, broken, that he was a ruined, 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:55.979 broken, and a rebellious person. 00:19:55.979 --> 00:20:03.159 Do we mourn because of our sins? 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:09.300 Do we mourn because of the destruction that sin brings to our hearts? 00:20:09.300 --> 00:20:16.600 Do we mourn because we are grieving the Holy Spirit when we run after idols? 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:22.960 Do we mourn because of the lack of true mourning? 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:34.200 Do we mourn for the excess of a legalistic mourning? 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:38.600 So number one, in true mourning there's a pain mourning for having sinned against God. 00:20:38.600 --> 00:20:44.079 Number two, in true mourning there's a pain for having sinned against others and because 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.840 of the sin of others. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:55.599 So here, this prophet, I say, was a man of, not only he was a man of unclean lips, but 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:57.599 also the people. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:05.839 Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:10.879 a people of unclean lips. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:24.200 We mourn, we sorrow because we envy others, because we are envy, or with our pride, we 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:28.960 destroy relationships, friendship. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:38.880 We mourn because we see the city, our city, playing with the worst disease. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:47.880 We mourn because we see them as a ship without a shepherd. 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:50.800 There's no place for indifference here. 00:21:50.800 --> 00:22:01.240 Thus, there's a pain, a mourn for the consequence of sin in every sphere of life and society. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:06.600 This mourning is real because it comes from God's work in our hearts. 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:11.199 That's why those who mourn are blessed. 00:22:11.199 --> 00:22:14.959 But what's the nature of this beatitude? 00:22:14.959 --> 00:22:25.079 Blessed are those who mourn because, as we saw, we see the reality of sin bringing death 00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:35.839 to every sphere of life, among friends, among families, among churches. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.799 And we mourn for that. 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:43.559 But why those who mourn are blessed? 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:49.599 So that's the second point, the blessing of true mourning, and that is true comfort, 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:53.079 both here and in heaven. 00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:55.480 Every people mourns. 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.599 Some people with a true old first mourning, as we saw. 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:02.679 But what makes the difference? 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:07.640 That is the blessing upon the mourners. 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:16.519 Even when they are mourning, even when we are mourning, we are more than happy people 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:23.680 because we have God's blessing upon us. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:27.400 So just remember the last sermon. 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.360 It's about God's benediction. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:33.279 It's about God's blessing upon us. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:39.399 It's about God's favor upon His people. 00:23:39.399 --> 00:23:42.039 It's about God's friendship. 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:49.959 It's about God giving Himself to you, saying to you, saying to us that He is the promised 00:23:49.960 --> 00:24:01.960 land, the true honey and milk that can satisfy and nurture your life, and why we are blessed 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:07.039 because it's all about God's grace from being an enemy. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:15.720 The king of the universe calls you, my son, through the Son, Jesus Christ. 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:22.839 So when we consider this mourning has a different meaning and purpose because of the following 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:24.880 reasons. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:27.559 So quickly just to go to finish. 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:36.279 Four reasons why we are mourning. 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:40.279 We can be blessed both here and in heaven. 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:47.559 The first reason is because we are blessed because we understand that it is God who produces 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:54.079 this grief, this pain, and at the same time this compassion. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:25:01.799 We got a real picture of our situation that is not molded by our traditionalism or by 00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:06.240 our ideas or agendas, but by God Himself. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:12.279 We have a picture of our sin not according to our ideas, but according to God's holy 00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:15.519 word. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:25.519 We mourn not as professional and very emotional mourners of Jesus' time, but we mourn even 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.319 as Jesus did. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:35.640 Jesus wept because of the bed of his friend Lazarus. 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:43.000 So in the Old Testament you see like professional mourners that they were just mourning for 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.040 money. 00:25:45.040 --> 00:25:50.360 But Jesus is calling us to true mourning. 00:25:50.360 --> 00:25:55.320 And Jesus wept because of the death of Lazarus. 00:25:55.320 --> 00:26:02.440 There's a true mourning because Jesus knew and loved his friend and he knew the condition 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:04.400 of his friend. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:13.600 So for true mourning there must be a true knowledge, not just in our heads, but a relational 00:26:13.600 --> 00:26:15.680 knowledge. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:20.720 In this case was between Jesus and Lazarus. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:24.360 So there's a true mourning because Jesus knew and loved his friend and he knew about 00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:25.700 his condition. 00:26:25.700 --> 00:26:33.680 So we are truly blessed when God illuminates our heart and convinces us about having sinned 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:41.920 against him, against our friends, against society. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:44.720 So true mourning lead us to true comfort. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:52.320 Now the second point of this, we are blessed because we are comforted here on earth. 00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:54.960 We know that there is a promise for the future. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.759 They shall be comforted. 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:08.559 But also we can taste a little bit of that here while we are pilgrims. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:21.480 God not only show us, as we said, the ugliness of our sin, but also the beauty of true comfort. 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:24.519 So what is comfort? 00:27:24.519 --> 00:27:30.480 Let me ask you, what is your only comfort? 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:31.559 Both in life and death. 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:36.720 Let me just pause here before answering what is comfort. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:46.079 Let me say that the reformed tradition is not a mere intellectualistic tradition because 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:51.599 it is rooted in the word of God and anointed in the Holy Spirit. 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:58.919 This reform teaching or preaching must impact the whole man and this involves the mind, 00:27:58.919 --> 00:28:04.119 the affections and the will. 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:08.719 So we cannot be kind of cold, presbyterian people. 00:28:08.719 --> 00:28:12.719 No, not at all. 00:28:12.719 --> 00:28:16.559 So when someone asks you, A, what is reform theology? 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:20.279 Why are you a member of a reformed church? 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:27.680 Just remember the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and also the first question 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:31.039 and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:35.839 Very affectionate answers we see in those Catechisms. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:40.839 The first question is about the glory of God and because it's about the glory of God, we 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:47.000 glorify God when we enjoy Him forever. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:54.799 And at the same time now here, when we enjoy God, but also it's about comfort. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:59.599 So what's your only comfort both in life and death? 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.480 And this is the essence of comfort. 00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:08.319 So please, I'm just finishing right now that I am not my own, but I belong to Jesus Christ. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:10.640 So think about this. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:16.799 True comfort is about possession, not about imagination. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:27.759 So comfort, an old preacher said, its very essence is therefore the strengthening, satisfaction 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:31.399 of man's heart in the face of any evil. 00:29:31.399 --> 00:29:40.879 So it is this satisfaction in the face of every or any, even in the midst of a bad day. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:49.480 And how is that because we are possessed by someone who is the goodness himself, the beauty 00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:55.760 himself and the truth himself, because we belong to God. 00:29:55.760 --> 00:30:01.280 As Corey preached to us on this ago, about these three virtues, about the beauty, about 00:30:01.280 --> 00:30:02.840 truth and about goodness. 00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:12.240 So in God, we belong to God, to God, the one who is the very, the goodness himself, the 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:18.039 beauty himself and the truth himself, as Jesus declares of himself. 00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:24.159 So comfort is about to whom we belong. 00:30:24.159 --> 00:30:29.919 And in this case, or try on God. 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:36.640 So dear brothers and sisters, friends, amigos, we do not belong to our sins. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.000 You are free. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:43.960 You are free, not because of something that you have done, but you and I, we are free 00:30:43.960 --> 00:30:51.039 people because of what Jesus did for us. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:56.360 Because of what Jesus is doing right now for us, praying at the right hand of the Father. 00:30:56.359 --> 00:31:02.559 We are free people, free people that belongs to the try on God. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:09.159 So we do not belong to circumstances, sins, temptation, people, agendas and so on. 00:31:09.159 --> 00:31:15.879 We belong to the most beautiful and blessed being and that is God himself, a blessed being 00:31:15.879 --> 00:31:21.159 that is above the universe, that is bigger than the universe. 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:29.480 The universe is just a single cell compared with our God. 00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:37.720 The beauty of the universe is nothing compared with the beauty of our God. 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:44.000 And that being that God is yours. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:49.160 You do not belong to your secret sins, your temptations. 00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:53.880 You and I, we belong to God. 00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:58.960 A blessed being that is above the universe, but at the same time so close to us, even 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:05.040 more than our skin or every single cell of our body. 00:32:05.040 --> 00:32:07.040 We belong to the try on God. 00:32:07.040 --> 00:32:11.040 So this help us to avoid a legalistic mourning. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:19.279 That is to live with faces full of sorrow all day long. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:28.159 I know that I emphasize sin in order only to emphasize God's beauty and God's grace. 00:32:28.159 --> 00:32:35.440 But if we think that true mourning is just to live every single day with a poker face, 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:39.480 with a sad face, that's not true mourning. 00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:45.400 That's a legalistic mourning because it's according to your own standard and not according 00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:47.960 to God's holiness. 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:54.759 The holiness that reveals not only your sin, but also the amazing grace of God. 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:59.279 So third, we are blessed because we are comforted. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:00.860 And this is so important. 00:33:00.860 --> 00:33:02.279 We belong to your try on God. 00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:09.960 And here you see our try on God because we are comforted by the Holy Spirit. 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:17.480 So the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son as the love that comforts every mourning 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:19.240 heart. 00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:23.160 So the Holy Spirit, this is what the Holy Spirit does. 00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:31.759 The Holy Spirit presents to our hearts the blessedness of God, bringing true joy to our 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:38.200 hearts in the midst of difficult days, in the midst of our mourning. 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:47.400 The Holy Spirit shows us in a more degree every single day, especially in our bad days 00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:52.799 about the work of Christ, the one who we are united with. 00:33:52.799 --> 00:34:00.759 The Holy Spirit shows us the true man of sorrows. 00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:10.880 That's why the Holy Spirit is the best preacher in bad times because he presents to your heart 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:19.800 in an intimate way about the person and work of Christ, the man of sorrow, the one who 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:26.639 wept for his friends, the one who just who didn't have a place to lay down his head to 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:27.639 rest. 00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:34.159 The one forsaken by his friends in the most terrible context, the one who on the cross 00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:39.079 cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:50.000 Here is the man of sorrows that brings true comfort and freedom and joy. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:56.239 The Holy Spirit inflames our heart with joy when he shows us that Christ is full with the 00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:57.239 Spirit. 00:34:57.239 --> 00:35:05.039 So think about this, the Holy Spirit presents to your heart our Savior, full of the Spirit, 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:12.559 the same Spirit that in this very moment is filling our hearts with a conviction of sin, 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:16.879 but at the same time with the glorious hope of the gospel. 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:27.480 The Holy Spirit presents you Christ, a Christ that has a heart full of the same Spirit that 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:34.440 is here with us right now. 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:37.320 That brings true comfort. 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:47.559 In that way, the Savior, the Holy Spirit, shows us not only our sin, but also the grace of 00:35:47.559 --> 00:35:48.559 Christ. 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:56.400 Those, the Savior, lead us more closer to the Father's heart, in the heart of Jesus. 00:35:56.400 --> 00:36:03.920 It is in the heart of God where we find true comfort, in which context, in the midst of 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:05.660 adversities. 00:36:05.659 --> 00:36:11.119 So we are blessed because we are comforted in the midst of the wilderness in order to 00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:17.399 be fully blessed and comforted in life, in heaven, sorry. 00:36:17.399 --> 00:36:24.079 So we are blessed finally because we are sanctified to be fully comforted in heaven 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:27.399 by the beatific vision of God. 00:36:27.399 --> 00:36:32.879 But I don't want to expand on that because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall 00:36:32.879 --> 00:36:33.879 see God. 00:36:33.880 --> 00:36:38.960 It is not another sermon, not for today, but only remember that in heaven, God will wipe 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:49.200 away every tear from our eyes because we will see God. 00:36:49.200 --> 00:36:55.960 God will look at your eyes to wipe away every tear. 00:36:55.960 --> 00:37:01.599 And you will see the eyes in the human nature of Christ. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:07.679 You will see the eyes of the most beautiful person in the whole universe. 00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:16.079 And you will see the hands that were pierced for you in order to be truly comforted, blessed, 00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:18.639 and happy forever. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:20.639 Let's pray together. 00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:21.639 Amen. 00:37:21.639 --> 00:37:29.880 Father, God, help us to have a clear picture. 00:37:29.880 --> 00:37:37.559 First of all, of who you are, of your holiness. 00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:48.079 And we ask this because this is your word and you said that blessed are those who mourn 00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:52.480 for they shall be comforted. 00:37:52.480 --> 00:38:02.800 Help us to mourn because of our indifference towards others. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:10.599 Help us to mourn for our sin. 00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:19.920 Help us to mourn because sometimes we are not living according to what we believe. 00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:28.119 And this is about your grace so help us to mourn in this very moment. 00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:30.320 And this is not about being emotional. 00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:33.820 This is about true mourning. 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:40.000 To have pierced heart in order to have healed hearts by your grace. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:43.000 And for that help us to see your holiness. 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:49.880 A holiness that at the same time, in a holiness that help us to see also your grace. 00:38:49.880 --> 00:39:06.720 If we, and finally, just pray that if we have been living as Christians, but maybe we haven't 00:39:06.720 --> 00:39:11.079 rest upon your heart. 00:39:11.079 --> 00:39:18.440 Holy Spirit, living breath of God, we ask that in this very moment and during the rest 00:39:18.440 --> 00:39:29.519 of the week, help us to rest upon the Father's heart through your Son Jesus in the power 00:39:29.519 --> 00:39:31.880 of the Holy Spirit. 00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:33.679 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:49.719 Amen.