Happy of God's word, which I hope you have with you this morning and turn the gospel of Matthew chapter five.
! Our text for today will be Matthew chapter five, verse four.
And in case you've been with us for some time and you weren't here with us last week, I have not abandoned the plan to preach about the law and the Christian life, but I've delayed the plan a bit until we get to Matthew.
Matthew five, verses 17 through 20. So if you're scratching your head, it's OK.
We're doing just a little bit of a diversion before we get to that place.
And my hope is that studying through the Sermon on the Mount will serve you greatly over the coming months.
Last week, we looked at Matthew chapter five, verses one through three, where we noted first in verses one and two who it is that Jesus is teaching in this sermon.
And we can read 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.
So Jesus here is teaching his disciples, those who were already following him in his ways.
And he's speaking to those who are citizens of his kingdom.
Remember that the Sermon on the Mount is understood to be a declaration of the kingdom of God.
In the previous chapter, Matthew four, verse 17.
Matthew records for us from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying,
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The kingdom has come because the king has come.
Jesus here is teaching what those who are citizens of his kingdom will look like.
And he began teaching them by saying in verse three,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I spoke to you last week at length about what it means to recognize your spiritual poverty,
to see that you have no good thing to offer God and to throw yourself upon his mercy for the salvation of your soul.
Summarize this idea so well in the following line from the hymn, Rock of Ages.
Nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross.
I cling.
It is those who see their spiritual poverty who possess the kingdom of heaven.
And therefore, Jesus calls them blessed.
This idea of being blessed, I think, is often misunderstood.
The Greek word has a great deal of complexity to it.
It's sometimes translated as happy or joyful.
We could say doing well or thriving or the single word I like best, although I feel like all of these English words are lacking in some measure.
But the one I like best is flourishing.
Flourishing.
Flourishing are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Flourishing are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Flourishing.
Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of heaven enters into a world turned upside down by sin and seeks to turn it right side up.
So to the carnal mind, everything he teaches here will seem backwards.
It is the humble, sad, meek, merciful, peacemaking, persecuted pursuers of righteousness that are well and will do well forever.
So join me as we take a look at the second of Jesus' proclamations of blessing.
Before I read to you verse 4, which I've already done, but officially read to you verse 4.
Let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and for our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Matthew 5 verse 4.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Now this word, blessed, I'm going to keep trying across the coming weeks to unfold it maybe in further and further degree.
Help us better wrap our minds around it.
I think it's adequate to simply apply this idea of flourishing as we look through the text.
But I want to give you a little brief history of why we arrive at these being called the Beatitudes and why I prefer to call them the Blesseds.
In the Vulgate, which is the Latin translation of the New Testament, each of these blessings begins with the word Beate, Blessedness.
So blessed are the poor in spirit would be in Latin, Beate, Paperis, Spiritu.
This Latin noun, Beatitudo, was coined by Cicero, who had a great influence on the Latin language, to describe a state of blessedness.
So blessedness as a part of your being, Beatitudo, and was later incorporated within the chapter headings written for Matthew 5 in various printed versions of the Vulgate.
Now this word was Anglicagise, which Anglicanized, which means put into English, to Beatitudes in the Great Bible, the Great Bible of 1540,
which was the version authorized by Henry VIII to be used in the Church of England, spelled with a Y, Beatitudes, and has over time taken on a preferred spelling, more American English spelling, with an I instead.
So if you wonder, as your heading probably says in your Bible, the Beatitudes, you can replace that word, the Blesseds, right?
This proclamation of blessing.
Who is it that is blessed, who is flourishing in this world?
So our text today says, it is those who mourn.
What does it mean to mourn?
Is Jesus here simply talking about any kind of sadness?
Let's say, do you know.
And so let's look at this idea of mourning with two points.
Number one, the feeling.
What is this mourning that Jesus is referring to?
And secondly, the right kind of mourning or the reason for this feeling.
So number one, the feeling.
Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn.
Now, in the New Testament, there are nine different Greek terms to speak of sorrow.
Truly, sadness is woven into the very fabric of our human existence.
The word used by Jesus here of those nine carries the very strongest meaning.
This was a word in Greek literature, typically reserved for the sorrow felt for the loss of a loved one.
This is the mourning here that Jesus is talking about.
I'll give you an example from the New Testament, Mark 16, verse 10.
This is after Mary has seen Jesus resurrected, says she went and told those who have been with him.
They don't know yet of his resurrection.
She went and told of the resurrection as they mourned and wept.
She goes to the disciples who have found themselves together deeply sad because of the loss of Jesus Christ.
And so this feeling here that Jesus is talking about is to experience a deep sense of inner agony.
Many of us have felt this way.
If you've not, I feel happy for you this morning that you've not felt this kind of inner agony.
That your life could just end and you'd be fine because you have such a sense of sadness.
There is no light sadness that Jesus here refers to.
And he calls people that are that kind of inwardly sorrowful, agonizing blessing.
So what is the proper and right reason for such a feeling to be had?
Well, but our feelings can be so very fickle.
We can feel deeply.
And those feelings, although deep, can be very misdirected.
So we must consider if Jesus here is speaking of a particular morning.
Does he mean to say that anyone who is sad will one day be comforted?
I think not.
I'm suggesting to you this morning that it is a particular sorrow that will be comforted.
Paul makes a sorrow distinction in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10, where he says this.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.
So there's this kind of sorrow, godly grief, and it produces repentance.
Whereas worldly grief produces death.
Leads us not to the cross of Christ, but rather away from it.
So we can see there is a distinction made in the scripture between types of sorrow.
So we want to find ourselves in today's text with godly mourning.
We want to look at this text.
We want to see 5, verse 4, and say, yes, I am one of those who mourn.
I understand what this word means, and I feel this feeling, and it is placed on the proper reason.
So what is it that produces this godly mourning?
It follows from verse 3 that Jesus means that citizens of his kingdom will feel a deep sadness over their spiritual poverty.
They recognized how impoverished they are.
Nothing good to offer to my God apart from Christ.
This certainly follows.
It is true that this is part of this godly mourning.
And we're going to talk a bit more about this.
But I am of the opinion that it is too simplistic to pair verse 4 with verse 3 and leave it alone at that point.
Verse 3 is not merely the condition and verse 4 the resulting feeling.
These two certainly interconnect.
They definitely do.
But they also stand alone.
Can we read verse 4 and understand verse 4?
Not completely comprehending and wrapping our minds around verse 3.
I believe that we can.
Verse 4 has a depth that goes beyond verse 3.
In order to see this, we have to have a greater understanding of Matthew's gospel account as a whole.
Matthew sets in his gospel record as a backdrop the Old Testament book of prophecy, Isaiah.
He cites it often and he records Jesus' citation of it.
Now likely Jesus cited from all kinds of texts.
Matthew makes a particular point to cite Jesus' recitation of the book of Isaiah.
Let me show you what I mean.
You can flip with me if you want or you can just listen carefully.
I'm going to give you two examples and I'm going to tell you every place else that he references Isaiah.
So Matthew chapter 1, this is verse 22 and 23.
After Matthew's summary of the birth of Jesus, and here he's citing Isaiah 7, 14.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Isaiah.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
Another example, Matthew chapter 3, verse 3.
This is after Matthew's summary of John the Baptist's ministry.
Here he cites Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3.
For this is he who was spoken by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Okay, so there's two examples read to you.
Let me give you some others very quickly.
Matthew chapter 4, verses 14 and 15 is a reference to Isaiah 9, 1.
Matthew 8, 17.
Isaiah 53, 4.
Matthew 12, 17 through 21.
This is Isaiah 42, 1 and verse 4.
Matthew 13, verses 14 and 15.
This is Isaiah 6, 9.
Matthew 15, verses 7 through 9.
Isaiah 29, 13.
Matthew 21, verse 13.
Isaiah 56, verse 7.
I'm sorry to you note takers.
There's a lot there.
The point being, there's this backdrop placed here.
So not only would Matthew's original readers been familiar with the language of Isaiah,
picking up his book, they would have already had Isaiah rolling around in their minds,
but Matthew also clearly makes reference to what God spoke through the prophet.
So he himself is loading this kind of thinking as people are picking up and reading this book.
So, with that in mind, turn with me to Isaiah chapter 61.
As you're getting there, let me just give you an aside.
There's a hermeneutic danger in going to the computer and typing in words like mourn
and just looking for all of the places that it exists in the scripture
and making direct connections between them.
I would encourage you not to do such a thing.
Our English words do not always relate to each other directly,
nor do they in their original language.
My hope is that I've showed you what Matthew's intention likely was here, right?
As he sets up this backdrop, as he's putting up a stage to say,
listen to Isaiah.
Reference Isaiah.
I'm drawing your minds to the things that Isaiah prophesied.
And then he tells us about this sermon that Jesus preaches,
who would have also been very, very familiar with the book of Isaiah.
So I hope you catch the connection that I'm making there.
So Isaiah 61, and I'll read verses 1 through 4.
I want you to pay careful attention to the word mourn.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
to grant those who mourn in Zion,
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit,
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins.
They shall raise up the former devastations.
They shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
Now, note the phrases in verses 2 and 3.
There's three of them.
End of verse 2,
to comfort all who mourn.
You see the direct connection here.
Matthew's original reader's minds would have gone right to this place.
Is he talking about the year of favor of the Lord?
He certainly is.
To grant to those who mourn headdresses instead of headdresses of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of this mourning.
Now, Isaiah is writing for the sake of an exiled Israel.
So why are they mourning, right?
Isaiah 61.
Why is Israel mourning?
They're mourning the loss of their kingdom.
And this prophecy is meant to cast their gaze forward to a time
when the kingdom will be restored.
This is the mourning that Jesus is referring to in today's text.
The blessed mourners are those who see their sin
and the effect of sin in the world
and long for the coming kingdom of heaven.
So it's not just their sin.
It's sin.
Includes their sin.
Includes their own spiritual poverty.
But it includes the spiritual poverty of the place in which we live.
Beloved, if we rightly understand the world,
we will mourn the brokenness of it.
We, like exiled Israel, will long to see restoration and to go home.
Do you see how this mourning goes even deeper?
It broadens beyond just our spiritual poverty
to all of the spiritual poverty of the world.
Jesus had no sin of his own to mourn over,
but he did mourn.
John records the resurrection of Lazarus at the hands of Jesus,
but before Jesus raised him from the dead,
John records in John chapter 11, verse 33 and following,
When Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews had come with her also weeping,
he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
And he said, Where have you laid him?
They said to him, Lord, come and see.
And then verse 35 records for us, Jesus wept.
Here is Jesus.
He's about to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Clearly he loved this man.
Why is it that he was weeping
when he had the very power to raise him from the dead?
Wouldn't all of us just go,
Well, that's cool. That's fine.
I can just raise him from the dead.
It's not a problem at all.
Because Jesus had the right perspective of the world, didn't he?
He saw the brokenness of it.
These people shattered because of death brought about by sin.
Generally, sin in the world brought about this thing called death
and the brokenheartedness of people and the destruction of sin in the world.
And so Jesus joins with them as he's moved to also mourn.
So Jesus wept over death and over the sorrow that death brings.
Luke accounts for us Jesus' approach to Jerusalem in Luke chapter 19, verse 41 and following.
This is another example for you.
It says,
When Jesus drew near and saw the city,
he wept over it, saying,
Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you
and surround you and hem you in on every side
and tear you down to the ground, you and your children with you.
And they will not leave one stone upon another in you
because you did not know the time of your visitation.
So he knows of the coming judgment
placed on Israel and the city of Jerusalem
when Rome would overthrow.
And he weeps over it.
Ah, the effect of sin.
That you would just believe and turn from it.
And this causes a great mourning on his behalf.
Martin Lloyd-Jones in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount wrote this,
It is the very antithesis of the spirit and mind and outlook of the world,
which, as our Lord puts it, laughs now.
Look at the world outside, even in a time of war.
It still tries to go on not looking at the true situation,
ignoring it and being happy.
Let us eat, drink, and be merry is its motto.
It laughs and says,
Don't dwell too much upon these things.
To mourn is the exact opposite.
The Christian's attitude is essentially different.
So, questions for you today.
Do you mourn over this sin, broken world?
Do you mourn first over your own sin?
Being part of that very system.
And when I ask that question,
I don't mean to ask,
Do you beat yourself up and punish yourself
in an effort to try to pay for your sins?
I'm not asking,
Do you do penance for your sins?
If you think this is the way that you pay for your sins,
that's self-righteous pride.
You can do nothing to atone for your sins.
So, I don't mean that.
Don't forget Jesus' very first lesson in this sermon.
You're meant to be poor in spirit.
We're meant to recognize our spiritual poverty.
But does that spiritual poverty make us sad?
Does it grieve you to see the blasphemous front
to a holy God that your sin is?
Does it grieve you to see your sin bring about the opposite
of wholeness and flourishing in your life
and in your relationships?
When you see brokenness,
that's not a direct result of your sin.
Do you lament your part in the rebellion
that brought it about?
We live in a system that's infected by sin.
What about the sin of others?
What is your immediate reaction
to the sin of another committed against you
or otherwise?
Is it to stand your ground and your rights?
Or do you feel a sense of loss?
Oh, the sadness when others sin against us.
Many of you don't know this,
and that's okay.
I'm going to inform you in brief.
But do you know that I get criticized as a pastor?
And I get criticized by outsiders as a pastor?
Did you know that from time to time,
I get emails that are so fun to read,
criticizing things I've said
or things that I've done.
Do those things puff me up?
Stand my ground.
How dare someone speak to me like this?
Or do they make me sad?
They ought to make me sad.
They don't always.
They ought to make me sad.
Oh, this poor soul.
Who thinks they know better.
Who thinks they're walking in the truth.
Who thinks they have a leg to stand on
in criticism of me, fine,
but of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So what is your immediate reaction
to these types of things?
What's your immediate reaction to tragic news?
Take, for example,
the most recent school shooting in Florida.
Do you immediately begin to engage
in fruitless debates?
Is this where your mind goes?
Do you feel any sorrow
for the wretchedness of this world?
Sorrow for both victim and perpetrator?
Exiles in this strange land
should be longing for the restoration
of all things.
We hear news like this.
It should break our hearts.
When you're sitting in traffic,
do you feel oh so very inconvenienced
because your schedule
is extremely important
or are you concerned
for what may have happened
at the head of that traffic?
When you roll by the accident,
are you more interested
in seeing what went on
or are you concerned
for the people
who may have been hurt?
Do you care about the very souls
that may have been lost
in that tragic accident?
So many of us aim so much
at ourselves.
What about the sin of the cross?
The goodness of God to us
and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
on the cross
paid the debt of our sins.
Yours and mine.
When you think of the cross,
you ought to mourn.
There ought to be a part of you
that mourns
because you put him there.
He bore the wrath of God
for you.
Isaac Watts,
the great hymnist,
wrote the following,
Alas,
and did my Savior bleed
and did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes I have done
he groaned upon the tree?
Thus might I hide
my blushing faith
while his dear cross
appears?
Dissolve my heart
in thankfulness
and melt mine eyes
to tears.
There is altogether
a lack of mourning,
seriousness
in the American church.
We are caught up
in so much frivolity
and silliness.
John MacArthur wrote,
There is a great need
in the church today
to cry instead of laugh.
The frivolity,
silliness,
and foolishness
that go in the name
of Christianity
should themselves
make us mourn.
God's counsel
to the frivolous happy,
the self-satisfied happy,
the indulgent happy is,
this is from James 4,
verse 8 and following.
Draw near to God
and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands,
you sinners,
and purify your hearts,
you double-minded.
Be wretched or miserable
and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter
be turned to mourning
and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will exalt you.
This is what it means
to mourn.
This is what Jesus
is here talking about.
And he calls
these mourners
blessed.
Blessed are those
who mourn
for they shall be
comforted.
Why are mourners
blessed?
Because.
You can replace
the word because
in the place of four
in the text.
Because they will be
comforted.
This promise refers
to both present
and future comfort.
So it is a long view,
end of all things,
comfort,
to be sure,
but it also refers
to comfort now.
Turn with me
to 2 Thessalonians 2
and let me show you this.
Paul writes here
a bit of a benediction
at the end of the chapter,
verses 16 and 17.
He says,
Now may our Lord,
Jesus Christ himself,
and God our Father
who loved us
and gave us
eternal comfort
and good hope
through gates,
comfort your hearts
and establish them
in every work
and word.
So we see verse 16.
Jesus Christ himself,
God our Father,
loved us
and gave us
eternal comfort,
long view,
final comfort.
And then Paul prays,
verse 17,
that he would also
comfort their hearts
now,
future and present
comfort.
And we see that God
is the source
of all present
and future comfort.
Paul states elsewhere,
2 Corinthians 1,
verse 3,
Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord,
Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies
and God of all comfort.
And he has promised
everlasting comfort
at the setting
of all things
right side up.
John writes in Revelation
chapter 21,
and verse 4,
He 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.
And so Jesus says,
Blessed
are those who mourn
!
For they shall be
comforted.
Now I said to you
at the very beginning
of this sermon
that the word blessed
is a complex word.
And we've said flourishing,
but it also
can mean
happy or
joyful.
So if we
insert the English word there,
joyful are those
who mourn.
It can be a bit
of a head-scratcher.
Christians, beloved,
ought to be
altogether
at the same time
the most sad
and the most happy
people
on earth
because of these
promises
to us.
2 Thessalonians 2,
2 Corinthians 1-3,
Revelation 21-4,
Matthew 5,
and verse 4,
Isaiah chapter 61.
Because of the
sure promises
that we have
in Christ.
Mourning over
the sin of this world
and even our own sin,
but yet having been
delivered
from the bondage
of it.
Sorrow
mixed
with joy.
Grieved
over the things
we see happening
in the world,
but knowing
that one day
God will set it
all straight.
Sorrow
mixed
with joy.
Sad
that we see
so much
vileness
poured out,
but knowing
that one day
God will judge
both the living
and the dead.
Sorrow
mixed
with joy.
The Christian
is an
odd
person.
being altogether
sad
and altogether
happy
at the same
time.
I want to
close by
reading the
lyrics to you
from a song
we sing
fairly often.
I think we're
singing it this
morning,
called
On Jordan's
Stormy Banks.
The author
of this
song
uses
metaphorically
Israel's
crossing into
the promised
land to speak
of our
present
morning
in this
world
and a
longing
for the
kingdom
to come.
On Jordan's
stormy banks
I stand
and cast
a wishful
eye
to
Canaan's
fair
and happy
land
where my
possessions
lie.
All
o'er
those
wide
extended
plains
shines
one
eternal
day.
Their
God
the sun
forever
reigns
and
scatters
night
away.
No
chilling
winds
nor
poisonous
breath
can reach
that
healthful
shore.
Sickness,
sorrow,
pain,
and death
are felt
and feared
no more.
When shall
I reach
that happy
place
and be
forever
blessed?
When shall
I see
my father's
faith
and in
his bosom
rest?
I hope
that you
can
rejoice
with me
in singing
the chorus
of this
song
I am
bound
I am
bound
I am
bound
for the
promised
land.
Jesus
wants you
to rejoice
with us.
He lived
a perfect
life that
by faith
you may
be found
righteous
in him.
He died
a sinner's
death
your death
that by
faith the
dead of
your sin
would be
forgiven.
He is
now seated
at the
right hand
of the
father
and has
given to
us the
comforter
great spirit
that we
have that
by faith
our hearts
would be
comforted
and one
day he
will return
and make
all things
new so
that all
of us
who believe
in him
will live
with him
and be
comforted
by him
forever.
Blessed
are those
who mourn
for they
shall be
comforted.
Please join
me in
prayer.