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Mourning yet Happy! · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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Tonight we're going to be looking at verse 4, Matthew chapter 5 and at verse 4.
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We read through from the beginning of the chapter as far as verse 4.
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Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain.
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When he sat down, his disciples came to him.
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And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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And so on, Beatitudes as we call them.
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These verses in Matthew's Gospel as part of, or the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
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Verses which I think if you're my age you probably learned them in school.
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As was the practice at the time.
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But sadly that's no longer, at least commonly, the practice.
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However, the verses are very easy to remember.
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But there are verses which, as you very well know, are extremely challenging.
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And at first sight, some of them, such as this one, might even seem self-contradictory.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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How can you speak at the same time of someone or people who are mourning, actively mourning,
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and at the same time say they are blessed, or even happier, which is part of the meaning of that word blessed.
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Not happy in a worldly sense, but happy in a spiritual sense.
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And it's as you go on through the Beatitudes that you then really realize that what Jesus was speaking about
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were spiritual qualities or spiritual exercises.
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He doesn't just speak about the poor.
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In verse 3, he says,
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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And so it's obvious from these few verses themselves, hunger and thirst for righteousness,
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that he's talking about spiritual things.
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He's talking about spiritual appetite.
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Talking about spiritual movements of our hearts.
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Our spiritual vision.
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Our spiritual mourning.
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Our spiritual regard of those who are in need of our assistance.
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All of these things really are very much the practicalities of a Christian life,
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but they stem from the condition of our heart, the condition of our souls.
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And that inner spirit, that inner condition is really emphasized there throughout these Beatitudes then.
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And you can take that to this verse, verse 4.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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And as we're saying that this is primarily a spiritual thing,
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it doesn't obviously mean that mourning in the usual sense of it is something that never carries any blessing with it.
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That's not what we conclude from it.
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But this spiritual mourning, which we'll try and bring out in its meaning in a few moments,
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this spiritual mourning is something that is assured of comfort.
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And not just comfort sometime or other after it,
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but very often and almost always comfort along with it or alongside it.
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If you actually ask how that is so in the Christian life,
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well, we'll hopefully see that as we go through it.
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And in fact, it is an indicator of a work of grace in your heart
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or a mark of grace in your heart or in our hearts
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if we can actually follow these in a spiritual fashion.
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If you can have some experience or insight of what it is to mourn spiritually,
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then you have an idea as to what it is to hunger and thirst for righteousness
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and to be a meek who will inherit the earth and so on.
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They're all connected with the reality of sin.
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They are all connected in some way or other with the reality and the workings of sin.
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Because in this one, blessed are those who mourn,
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that reality of sin is behind the spiritual mourning with which we are familiar as Christians.
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That the Lord was directing the disciples here to consider their blessedness
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when they were able to mourn spiritually
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in every way in which that mourning is appropriate
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and in which we find a benefit from it.
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It's true for the individual, it's true for our society,
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it's true for our world, it's true for the church at large.
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That when we come to experience these beatitudes working
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or worked out through in our lives,
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then we know the blessings and the features of the blessedness
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that's actually mentioned along with them.
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So what is this mourning that Jesus spoke of here?
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Blessed are those who mourn.
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Well, the first thing to say is that it's the very opposite of worldly thinking.
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Worldliness and the ways of the world does not fit mourning into its package of what is necessary,
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what it is thought important.
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None of that enters into the thinking or the actions of worldliness.
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The world and its thinking and the culture around us in its worldliness
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actually lives for pleasure.
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It lives for self-satisfaction.
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It lives for entertainment.
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It lives for the workings of sin.
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It lives all too often in the seeds of debauchery.
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And it lives in such a way as is opposed willingly to holiness
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and to the things that God says ought to characterize our lives as human beings.
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The world has no place for the doctrine of sin.
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No place for teaching on the fallenness of man.
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The world will say,
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how can you say that I am fallen, that I am degenerate,
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that I am actually in some need of being put back together
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and lifted up and set on a platform of righteousness?
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I'm quite happy the way I am.
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I'm a master of my own life.
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Why should you seek that I would change from what I want to be
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and what I want to continue to be?
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You see, there's not even an evidence there of any desire to think otherwise
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than in those sinful, worldly, ungodly ways.
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So here, this idea of mourning and mourning in respect to sin
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and mourning over sin is absolutely foreign to the ways of the world.
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And I'm sure you and I will have to say, most of us will have to say,
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it was really something that we didn't want to find true of ourselves.
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We didn't see where on earth this could fit into any sensible human life or practice,
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what benefit it could be to us to think that what we were doing in our sinful lifestyle
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was actually wrong.
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How was it wrong?
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Why should it be wrong?
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Who was going to tell me that it was wrong?
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Well, here is the Lord.
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And remember, it's disciples that he's speaking to.
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He's not speaking here to the world.
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He's speaking to his disciples.
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And so when you take all of these Beatitudes together
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and you realize that it really, in a sense,
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summarizes most of the most important features of a Christian, of a believing life,
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that's when you begin to see how important they are, how foundational they are,
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but also how difficult, how impossible they are without the grace of God.
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And as the grace of God works in our lives,
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so we find that these things actually come to the fore in what we want ourselves to be.
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You don't want to go around anymore thinking that mourning over sin has no place in your life.
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You don't want to go along with the idea that because you're now a Christian,
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mourning over sin is no longer relevant,
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as if sin had suddenly disappeared, even though it is now forgiven sin.
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Nowhere do you find in the Bible, in Paul's teachings, for example,
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nowhere do you find him saying for a moment that being forgiven your sin means
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you no longer have to wrestle or fight with sin.
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You know, if he had said that, or if the Bible said that,
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or if we thought that the Bible meant that,
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we would actually be despairing because we find in our lives that sin is very much a feature,
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even though it's forgiven, it's still a powerful force.
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And that's why you come daily to God to seek his help in overcoming it
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and doing what Romans says,
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mortifying, put to death the deeds of the body.
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And it reminds us that even as the people of the church, as the people of God,
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it's very easy to lose sight of those features of the Christian life
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that are the most difficult to talk about, the most difficult to preach on,
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the most difficult to accept for ourselves, such as,
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blessed are those who mourn.
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A recent survey in America apparently found that 65% of people who call themselves evangelicals in the USA
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did not believe in the doctrine of original sin.
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65% of people who say they're evangelical Christians,
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they don't believe in the doctrine of original sin.
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In other words, they don't believe that we're born sinners.
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Now, we actually come into the world already in our hearts twisted against God.
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And, of course, the Bible tells us otherwise,
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that we are conceived in iniquity and in sin
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and come into the world already as sinners in need of forgiveness and cleansing and acceptance with God.
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We need a doctrine of sin that fits with the teaching of the Bible.
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We need a doctrine of ourselves as human beings
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into which we can find and place the doctrine of sin as the Bible does.
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Aren't you glad tonight that God has shown you what you're like?
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That God has shown you the workings of sin so that you will come to Christ for cleansing?
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That you will believe that Christ alone is able to deal with such a person as you are
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with your own inward and my own inward corruption?
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We need this doctrine of mourning over sin,
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the doctrine of sin over which we mourn,
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in order that our life, as we'll see, will develop properly.
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Because otherwise, if you leave this out of your life,
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if you leave this as if it were no longer relevant for a Christian to mourn
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in the spiritual sense,
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you're going to have a very lopsided view of life.
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You're going to have a very lopsided way of living the Christian life.
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And there will be some very obvious omissions in your progress as a Christian.
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Think of the example of Jesus himself.
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Of course, Jesus had no sin of his own.
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And it's all the more remarkable that you find him mourning over sin.
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That you find him coming at times to be described in the Gospels
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as deeply moved in his spirit and even weeping
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in circumstances in which he himself found himself faced with the sinfulness,
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with the rejection of the world of his offer, of his preaching, of his person.
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Think, for example, of John chapter 11 and at verse 33 and verse 38.
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We've referred to this at other times in other contexts,
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but you remember that's when Jesus came to the grave,
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the sepulcher of Lazarus in John chapter 11.
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And you see there at verse 33 where Jesus came,
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having spoken with his sister
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and given that wonderful confession of himself as the resurrection and the life.
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And now when Mary came to where he was and saw him,
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she fell at his feet and said to him,
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Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
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When Jesus saw her weeping
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and the Jews who had come with her also weeping,
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he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
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And he said, where have you laid him?
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They said to him, Lord, come and see.
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Jesus wept.
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So the Jews said, see how he loved him.
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Then Jesus, deeply moved again,
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came to the tomb.
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What is all that indicating?
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It's indicating far more than that Jesus was with these two sisters,
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sharing in that grief.
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He was.
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He was with them.
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He was beside them.
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He spoke to one of them.
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He stood alongside of Mary.
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No question of whether or not he was sympathetic,
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whether he was filled with a sense of their need
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and was there to support them.
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That is absolutely true.
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But the main thing in these verses that we've read
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is that he was moved and deeply agitated in his spirit
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over the fact that there was a human being in that sepulcher who was dead.
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He was mourning over the wages of sin,
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as he saw it in that grave that was holding the body of Lazarus,
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which was returning to corruption.
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He was mourning over the fact that the human beings
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that he had created in the beginning,
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let's remember Jesus, the Son of God,
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was very much involved in the creation
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and in the creation of human beings as well.
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And he was seeing that that wonderful creation
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and that creature,
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that human being that he had created,
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is now lying in the throes and in the grip of death.
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Why?
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Because he became a sinner.
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And a sinner who needs to face and pay the wages of sin,
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which is death.
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That's why Jesus wept.
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That's why he was sorrowful.
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Because he saw, as nobody else can see,
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how awful a thing sin is.
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What a tragedy it is for a human being
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who's become a sinner,
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having created wholly by God.
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And you find the same thing,
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or similarly in Luke chapter 19,
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and verses 41 to 44,
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where you find Jesus coming to Jerusalem,
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and as he beheld the city,
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he wept over it.
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Why did he weep over the city?
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Because he was clearly aware and seeing
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and experiencing their sin of rejecting him.
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Their sin of casting him out, as it were.
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And refusing to acknowledge him
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as in any way relevant to their needs as human beings.
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The rejection of him as their saviour.
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He was mourning over the nature of sin.
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He was mourning over the effects of sin.
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And that's where this text takes you and me as well.
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That we too have to mourn
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as we become familiar with the nature of sin,
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the kind of thing that sin is,
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the kind of thing that sin has done
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and is doing to human lives,
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the kind of thing that sees the effects of sin,
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even in that world out there,
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in this community that we live in.
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The effects of sin and the workings of sin
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are all too obvious.
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When you open your eyes,
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I know we can't go beyond our own hearts.
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It's there.
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That's where we begin.
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That's where we start the process of thinking
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seriously about what sin is
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and what sin has done.
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But then as you work out from that
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and see the world in which we live,
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what does it actually do for us?
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What effect does it have on us?
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Are we becoming immune to it?
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Are we so used to it
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that we no longer hear the noise of sinfulness?
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It's possible.
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It can become used to even such things
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as God regards us debauched
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and sinful and twisted and wrong.
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Just in these very days,
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you'll find celebrities
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accused of serious wrongdoings.
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I'm not going to go into details
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as they're very obvious already
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in the media reports.
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But you look at the number of followers
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such people have on social media,
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eight million followers
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of somebody who lives that debauched sort of life.
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What is that saying about our world?
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It's saying certainly that our world
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is in its nature sinful,
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but it's saying here is something to weep over.
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Here is something to build into our prayers
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and into our weepings as Jesus did with his.
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It's not become so familiar with the world out there
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that we fail really to give it
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the notice that we require to give it.
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Because if we do,
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then we ourselves
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will to some extent
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cease to mourn over our own sins
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as well as those of the world.
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In other words,
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what we're saying is
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it's actually a mark of godliness
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to mourn over sin
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in the way in which we're describing
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and which the Bible means
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mourning in this context,
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mourning over sin
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and in respect and relation to sin.
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It's a mark of godliness.
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It's not a mark of
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somehow or other being
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so
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constrained by
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something that you just see
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as a very negative view of the world.
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It's a mark of godliness.
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Think of how Jeremiah, for example,
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who is known, of course,
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in many ways
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as the weeping prophet.
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Well, when Jeremiah was speaking
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or thinking of
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the sinfulness of his own age,
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you see how he began chapter 9,
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for example,
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what you have in chapter 9,
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my joy is,
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chapter 80,
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he's saying,
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my joy is gone.
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Grief is upon me.
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My heart is sick within me.
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Behold the cry of the daughter of my people.
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That's his people.
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From the length and breadth of the land.
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Is the Lord not in Zion?
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Is her king not in her?
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Why have they provoked me to anger
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with their carved images,
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with their foreign idols?
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The harvest is past,
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the summer is ended,
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and we are not saved.
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For the wound of the daughter of my people
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is my heart wounded.
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I mourn,
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and dismay has taken hold of me.
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Is there no balm in Gilead?
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Is there no physician there?
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Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
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not been restored?
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Oh,
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that my head were waters,
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and my eyes a fountain of tears,
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that I might weep day and night
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for the slain of the daughter of my people.
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There's a prayer for you.
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There's a man who is mourning
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over the state of things in his own day.
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He's not holding back and saying,
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well,
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they're doing that,
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that they're going to pay for that someday.
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No,
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he's taking it to himself,
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and he says,
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these are my people.
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These are the people that I belong to,
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and I must mourn for them
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if they don't mourn for themselves.
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Go back along to chapter 13.
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You'll find a similar emphasis there,
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verses 16 and 17 in chapter 13,
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where you find him addressing the people this way,
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hear and give ear.
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Be not proud,
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for the Lord has spoken.
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Give glory to the Lord your God
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before he brings darkness,
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before your feet stumble
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on the twilight mountains.
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And while you look for light,
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he turns it into gloom
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and makes it deep darkness.
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But if you will not listen,
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my soul will weep in secret
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for your pride.
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My eyes will weep bitterly
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and run down with tears
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because the Lord's flock
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has been taken captive.
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I can't say that I've myself
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been in that state of mind recently
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where I found profound thinking
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on my part of the state of the world,
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of the needs of the world,
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of the sinfulness of those around us,
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or even looking into my own heart
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so that like Jeremiah,
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I could say,
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Lord,
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my eyes are shedding tears
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when I see the state of things.
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Blessed are those
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who mourn,
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who mourn
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as part of their godly.
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And of course,
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when you go
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into the likes of the book of Psalms,
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you'll find it all over the book of Psalms,
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these references to the psalmist's own
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weeping,
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to his sorrow,
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to his Psalm 102,
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for example.
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You think he's beginning there
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talking about how deeply moved he is,
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how bitter he is in his soul,
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the wrenchings of his soul,
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and you think he's talking there
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about his own sinfulness,
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surely,
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or something like that.
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Well, he's not leaving that out of it,
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but as the psalm goes on,
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you begin to realize
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he's talking about Zion
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and the state of Zion.
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And even though the light of day
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and of promise
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breaks in upon his soul,
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and he says,
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you will yet have mercy upon Zion.
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You will come to hear
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the prayers of the afflicted.
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You will rebuild Zion.
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That's preceded by his mourning,
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by his discomfort,
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by his coming to remember his people
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as he mourns with them.
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And the chapter we read
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in 2 Corinthians,
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what's that about?
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Well, it's about a report
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that came to the Apostle Paul
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as a report came back
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by Titus.
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And Titus brought a report
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about the Corinthians
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that really gladdened
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the Apostle's heart.
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You see, the Apostle had written
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a letter to them
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in very, very strong terms.
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We don't have that letter.
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Some think it was
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1 Corinthians,
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but I think it was another letter
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which doesn't belong
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in the Scriptures.
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but he says,
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this is how I was comforted
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in you,
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by you,
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as he told us
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of your longing,
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your mourning,
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your zeal for me,
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so that I rejoice still more.
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For even if I made you
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grieve with my letter,
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I do not regret it,
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though I did regret it.
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For I see that that letter
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grieved you,
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though only for a while.
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As it is,
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I rejoice not because
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you are grieved,
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but because you are grieved
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into repenting.
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For you felt a godly grief,
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so that you suffered
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no loss through us.
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And then there's
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this wonderful text.
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For godly grief
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produces a repentance
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that leads to salvation
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without regret,
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whereas worldly grief
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produces death.
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See, there's the difference
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between the Christian,
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between the believer
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and the person
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who has absolutely
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no sense of purpose
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in grief of any kind.
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blessed are those
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who mourn,
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those who actually come
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to mourn either
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over their own sins
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or the sins of the society
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they belong to,
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such as Jeremiah was,
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such as the apostle was
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with that letter.
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He was concerned
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for a time
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after he sent that letter,
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before Titus returned
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with a report
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on how the Corinthians
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had received that letter,
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he was concerned
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somehow perhaps
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maybe that that letter
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had been counterproductive.
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Maybe he had gone too far,
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maybe he had used words
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that were too strong,
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too critical.
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Then when Titus came back,
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he realized,
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no, that's not the case.
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Yes, I made you weep,
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I made you grieve,
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I said some very harsh things,
23:38
some very hard things
23:40
you needed to know,
23:41
but I rejoice
23:43
that that led
23:44
to your repentance.
23:46
And that's what godly sorrow
23:47
always does.
23:50
Godly sorrow
23:50
always leads
23:52
leads to something positive,
23:55
something to do with life.
23:57
Whereas,
23:57
as Paul put it,
23:59
the sorrow of the world
24:00
worketh death.
24:03
There is no purpose,
24:05
no life about it,
24:07
no meaningfulness.
24:08
It's just sorrow.
24:10
It's just a prelude
24:13
to death forever.
24:17
So be thankful tonight
24:18
that God has shown you
24:20
something
24:21
of the spiritual mourning
24:24
that's so important
24:25
in our lives.
24:26
And that he says,
24:27
for your assurance,
24:28
blessed are those
24:30
who mourn.
24:31
And when you come to
24:32
be before God,
24:34
and when you pray to God,
24:36
and when you lament
24:37
before God,
24:37
Lord,
24:38
why am I still
24:40
so conscious
24:40
of these sins
24:41
that I confessed
24:42
to you previously?
24:43
Why am I still
24:44
so aware
24:45
of the fact
24:46
they are still with me?
24:48
And they're still
24:48
grievous to me.
24:50
Why can't I get rid
24:51
of them?
24:53
And the Lord
24:54
turns to you
24:54
and say,
24:55
blessed are those
24:56
who mourn,
24:56
for they shall be comforted.
24:59
Blessed are those
24:59
who,
25:00
with a sense
25:01
of their own sinfulness,
25:02
bring things to me
25:03
so that I can
25:05
comfort them.
25:07
And that's the second thing
25:09
in the text,
25:10
that's the other half of it.
25:11
We have to keep it balanced,
25:12
of course.
25:12
Blessed are those
25:13
who mourn,
25:14
for they shall be comforted.
25:16
And here's the strange thing.
25:18
Strange,
25:19
but not strange
25:19
to the Christian.
25:20
Strange to the person
25:21
who doesn't know the Lord
25:23
or has not been converted
25:24
and hasn't come
25:25
to experience what it is
25:26
to live by faith in Christ.
25:28
This is a strange thing,
25:29
isn't it?
25:29
That you find
25:30
a person
25:31
who is mourning
25:32
in this sense
25:33
is actually really happy.
25:35
I don't mean happiness
25:36
with the glibness
25:38
or the frivolity
25:39
of the world's happiness.
25:41
But the happiness
25:42
that comes from
25:43
the contentment of heart
25:44
that knows
25:45
in Christ for you
25:47
everything is well.
25:50
It is well,
25:51
it is well
25:52
with my soul,
25:54
as one N. Wright
25:55
had put it,
25:56
even though he had lost
25:57
most of his family
25:59
in a tragedy at sea.
26:00
It is well
26:03
with my soul.
26:07
And the path
26:08
to happiness
26:09
and the actual experience
26:12
of happiness,
26:12
and again,
26:13
it's a thing which
26:14
even we ourselves
26:15
as Christians
26:15
can't fully understand
26:17
at this point,
26:18
but it's because
26:20
you know
26:20
of this mourning
26:22
that you appreciate
26:23
the happiness
26:24
that a Christian life
26:25
contains.
26:26
If you didn't have
26:28
this mourning over sin,
26:29
your happiness
26:30
would be a different kind.
26:31
It would be a worldly happiness.
26:34
But because this is
26:35
a proper spiritual mourning,
26:38
the word blessed
26:39
is attached to it.
26:40
Jesus is saying,
26:41
you're in a very happy place.
26:44
You're in a very,
26:44
in a very,
26:46
a comforting position
26:49
when you can say
26:51
that the mourning
26:53
with which you mourn
26:54
over sin seriously
26:55
is something
26:57
that God calls blessed.
27:00
The path to happiness
27:02
begins
27:04
at the point of mourning.
27:08
In other words,
27:09
put it in other words,
27:10
you cannot experience
27:11
the happiness,
27:12
the blessedness
27:13
of which this verse speaks,
27:15
or the blessedness
27:16
in any way
27:16
in which the Bible speaks it,
27:18
if you simply leave aside
27:19
the mourning
27:20
as no longer relevant.
27:22
It just doesn't
27:23
fit together,
27:24
does it?
27:25
But here,
27:26
this mourning,
27:27
this is promised,
27:28
this comfort,
27:29
they shall be comforted.
27:30
And we don't actually
27:32
need to think about
27:33
comfort
27:34
in when this world
27:36
is over,
27:36
when you get to heaven,
27:37
when you're on the other side,
27:39
when you're with the Lord.
27:40
Of course that's comfort.
27:41
And of course
27:41
there is no sorrow
27:42
then at all.
27:43
There is no mourning
27:44
whatsoever.
27:45
But the blessedness
27:48
and the comfort
27:49
doesn't begin then,
27:51
it begins here.
27:53
It begins in the heart
27:54
that knows what it is
27:55
to mourn,
27:56
but also knows
27:57
what it is to rejoice
27:58
at the same time
27:59
in Christ.
28:00
As you mourn
28:01
over your sins,
28:02
you give thanks to God
28:03
that he has forgiven
28:04
these sins.
28:05
And that his word
28:06
assures you
28:07
when he has forgiven
28:08
your sins,
28:09
they are covered.
28:09
They will never again
28:10
condemn you.
28:11
There's something
28:12
to be happy
28:13
and something
28:14
to say that
28:14
it belongs
28:15
to your blessedness
28:16
even though
28:17
you're still conscious
28:18
of the workings
28:19
of sin
28:19
that you need
28:21
to confess
28:21
to God every day.
28:24
So what it's saying
28:25
is we can only
28:27
appreciate our joy
28:28
because it's connected
28:30
with this godly mourning,
28:32
this godly sorrow.
28:34
And whatever
28:35
modern theology
28:36
might tell you,
28:38
never actually
28:40
give place
28:40
to the thought
28:41
that says,
28:42
mourning over sin,
28:44
that's puritanish,
28:46
that belongs
28:47
to an age
28:47
that's past.
28:49
That's no relevance
28:50
now today
28:51
as we understand
28:52
things.
28:52
We've come such
28:53
a long way
28:53
in understanding
28:54
human psychology,
28:56
come such a long way
28:57
some theologians
28:58
will tell you
28:58
in understanding
28:59
the Bible,
29:00
what lies behind
29:01
the letters
29:02
and the books
29:02
of the Bible.
29:03
If they had known
29:04
the things
29:05
that we know today,
29:06
you wouldn't have
29:06
a verse like that,
29:07
blessed are those
29:08
who mourn.
29:09
Well, don't give
29:11
even the slightest
29:14
place to that
29:15
thought in your heart.
29:17
This is Jesus.
29:19
This is 100%
29:21
accurate
29:22
of the words
29:23
of Jesus
29:23
as he spoke them.
29:26
And they will
29:27
last for his people
29:29
right through
29:30
to the end
29:30
of the world
29:31
in their meaningfulness.
29:33
Blessed are those
29:34
who mourn.
29:35
and of course,
29:38
to finish with,
29:39
we can say
29:40
that they shall be
29:42
comforted
29:42
most of all
29:44
in heaven.
29:47
It's a wonderful
29:48
thought.
29:49
It's something
29:50
I can't quite
29:50
make the connection
29:52
in my mind with,
29:53
but there is a connection.
29:55
And it's that
29:56
the songs
29:57
of heaven
29:58
would be
30:00
much less sweet
30:02
if they weren't
30:04
preceded
30:05
by the songs
30:06
of mourning
30:07
in this life.
30:09
Again,
30:10
it's the principle,
30:11
you see,
30:12
as you know
30:13
mourning over sin,
30:14
as you know sorrow
30:15
as a Christian
30:16
in your life,
30:17
as you look forward
30:18
to the place
30:19
where there is no sorrow,
30:20
where there is no death,
30:21
where there are no partings,
30:22
where there is nothing
30:23
at all
30:24
to cause our tears
30:25
to fall
30:25
and weep
30:26
in sorrow
30:27
and in mourning,
30:28
that wonderful
30:31
experience of heaven
30:32
is made all the more
30:35
possible and real
30:36
by the fact
30:38
that you've known
30:38
mourning in this life.
30:41
And it is those
30:43
who have given place
30:44
to this particular
30:46
doctrine
30:46
and to this great truth
30:49
about the Christian life
30:50
that are more,
30:53
or are better positioned,
30:54
if you like,
30:55
to look forward
30:57
to the wonderful comfort
30:59
that heaven brings
31:01
to us.
31:04
They shall be
31:05
comforted.
31:07
The Bible is full
31:09
of that as well.
31:09
Romans again,
31:11
chapter 8,
31:12
where Paul says
31:13
that you are saved
31:14
in hope,
31:16
hope towards
31:18
what is to come.
31:20
Revelation 21,
31:22
verses 1 to 4,
31:23
speaks about the wonders
31:24
of that blessedness
31:26
of heaven
31:27
where there is no sorrow,
31:28
where there are no tears,
31:29
but they're all preceded
31:30
by a life of mourning
31:32
and tears
31:33
and sorrow before that.
31:35
And perhaps the psalm
31:36
that we sang together,
31:38
as much as any,
31:40
really brings into
31:40
our view
31:41
the prospect
31:42
and the reality
31:43
of that wonderful
31:45
final comforting
31:46
of God,
31:49
where the psalm,
31:51
as you remember,
31:52
speaks about,
31:52
even though weeping
31:55
may last
31:55
for a night,
31:58
joy comes
32:00
with the mourning.
32:03
You may find
32:04
your whole life
32:05
is blighted
32:07
by darkness.
32:09
You may find
32:10
that the whole
32:10
of your life
32:11
from beginning to end
32:12
will need to be described
32:13
as a time of mourning,
32:14
a time of tears.
32:16
I'm not suggesting
32:16
that it will be so
32:17
all the time.
32:18
but God is assuring you
32:21
mourning is coming.
32:25
And when mourning comes
32:27
and the daylight
32:28
of eternity
32:29
and blessedness
32:30
dawns
32:31
and scatters
32:33
the darkness,
32:35
then we will come
32:36
to appreciate
32:37
this text
32:38
more than we can ever
32:39
appreciate it
32:40
in this life,
32:41
when the comfort
32:43
of heaven
32:43
is a reality
32:45
to us.
32:47
Blessed
32:47
are those
32:49
who mourn.
32:49
Whatever it is
32:50
today or tonight
32:52
that's causing
32:52
your own heart pain,
32:55
bring it into line
32:57
with what Jesus
32:58
is saying here.
33:01
It may not be sorrow
33:02
primarily over
33:03
your own sin,
33:04
though I'm sure
33:04
that's part of
33:05
your experience
33:06
as it is mine.
33:08
It may not be sorrow
33:09
over the state
33:10
of the world,
33:11
though there may be
33:12
some of that in it.
33:13
Maybe it's sorrow
33:14
over something
33:15
that's happening
33:15
at your work
33:16
or something
33:16
that's ongoing
33:17
in your life,
33:18
wherever it is
33:19
you work from day to day.
33:20
Maybe it's a sorrow
33:21
over family.
33:23
Maybe it's a sorrow
33:24
over your concern
33:25
for those related to you,
33:27
for friends,
33:28
for neighbours,
33:28
for immediate family.
33:30
It doesn't really matter
33:31
because it's all
33:34
encapsulated
33:35
and summarised
33:36
in this wonderful text.
33:38
Blessed
33:39
are those
33:40
who mourn,
33:42
for they shall.
33:42
be comforted.
33:45
Let's pray.
33:48
Oh Lord,
33:49
our God,
33:49
our hearts
33:50
need your comfort.
33:52
Our lives
33:52
in this world
33:53
need that comfort
33:54
that you alone
33:55
are able to give.
33:57
Lord,
33:57
we thank you
33:58
for the reality
33:59
of that comfort
34:00
which you bring us
34:01
to taste off
34:02
in this life.
34:04
We thank you
34:05
that there are
34:05
many anticipations
34:06
of heaven,
34:08
just as there are
34:08
many anticipations
34:09
of hell
34:10
in this life.
34:13
But we thank you
34:13
especially
34:14
for that anticipation
34:15
of the comforts
34:17
of heaven
34:17
that you have
34:19
already caused
34:20
to begin
34:20
in the experience
34:21
in the hearts
34:22
of your people.
34:24
And help us,
34:25
Lord,
34:25
we pray,
34:25
as we come
34:26
to mourn
34:26
over our own sin,
34:28
over the state
34:29
of our world.
34:30
Help us
34:31
to draw
34:31
our comfort
34:32
from your great
34:34
assurance
34:34
that we will
34:35
be comforted
34:36
and that your
34:37
comfort is like
34:38
no other.
34:40
So bless to us
34:41
your word,
34:41
we pray again
34:42
this evening.
34:43
Help us to go
34:44
forth from here
34:44
with a greater
34:46
resolve to be
34:47
contented,
34:48
happy,
34:49
vibrant Christians.
34:51
And enable us
34:52
to communicate
34:53
and convey
34:54
to the world
34:54
that ours is a life
34:57
that they ought
34:58
to envy
34:58
and a life
35:00
for which we are glad.
35:01
blessed and we pray
35:03
these words to us
35:04
for Jesus' sake.
35:06
Amen.
35:08
We're going to conclude now.