Blessed are they that mourn

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Introduction

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

And the Savior is here, as we noticed last night, describing his people and having begun with that which the world would consider to be a paradox or something they cannot enter into as far as happiness or blessedness is concerned, being poor in spirit. He is enlarging, we might say, on that and taking the matter further in describing what the world doesn’t know, what the world cannot see, that he sees and he knows and he has put into the hearts of his people. And by this they are known in the world, by this they may know one another, and by this they may know themselves. And indeed, by this they may derive and draw forth the consolations and the comforts of the promises. And that when they find their case in the Word of God described by the Lord himself, they may indeed draw comfort from that. And it doubtless that was a part of the design here for his apostles first of all, his disciples, who were to be preaching the gospel of the kingdom to others, and who were to be exposed to the enmity of the world on that account, and with many trials and temptations. As he was in the world, so were they to be. And as he is the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, as he was to carry his cross, so they were to take up their cross and follow him. And therefore, they were not to expect the world’s favor, they were not to expect the world’s approval. Rather, they were to know that afflictions were appointed for them in this world of sin, and yet they were to take heed to this: “Let not your heart be troubled, and neither let it be afraid.” He was giving comfort to them so that they could minister comfort to others. And that’s how it will be in the world in the Church of God that day, those who have found and tasted of the grace and comfort of the gospel can speak of it to those who are in need of it.

And it would almost appear in our generation that it’s a different religion altogether that the majority of people have in connection with what is described here of the characteristics of true Christians, true believers. Where do we meet with them who are indeed poor in spirit, who are broken and contrite in heart? Where do we meet with them in the professing Church of God? Are we meeting with them among ourselves? Do we know one another in this light? Can we discern something of these marks of the children of grace in the picture of a professed religion and professed spirituality in the day and generation in which we live? Blessed are the poor in spirit, yes, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. The world has invaded the thinking as well as the homes and the lives of the professing Church of God to such a degree that its very philosophy of comfort and its very philosophy of joy, its understanding of that superficiality which contents the outward emotions for a little, is now branded by the name of a religion. But here is a religion of the heart, a religion of the Holy Spirit, which Christ himself will produce and will work and maintain and preserve in this world. And blessed are they who have it, a blessed people they are. The world knoweth us not because it knew him not, but they are blessed indeed, oh greatly blessed, the people are the joyful sound that know who know the consolations addressed to those who have spiritual a poverty of their in their own eyes, and who spirit who know their own spiritual need, who are made to be beggars, who are made to be destitute and who come with all their needs and cries and cares and burdens and afflictions and trials and temptations to the one a resource from which all grace flows.

The Interconnectedness of the Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And so too, therefore, blessed are they that mourn. And so the one explains the other, and we might well say that each of these Beatitudes explains, explain each other. That is apparently perhaps a progression through them, an order of them from the inward man to the outward man. The soul’s dealings with God take the first place, the spiritual motions of the heart in connection with themselves and their case and their state and their sin take the first place. And then the Savior moves on to that which is more outward, to that which is affecting the outward relation to others in this world. And so he comes to the external calling and duty of religion among the people of God in relation to the world as well, and even to their enemies who are persecuting them. And so the whole life of grace is delineated. All its features, we might say, are carefully drawn, every word full of substance, every expression full of meaning, to be drawn in the light of the entire scriptures of truth, to be understood comparing spiritual things with spiritual, which the natural man cannot receive or understand. But he that is spiritual judge with all things and discerns these spiritual things.

Christ’s Office: Comfort for the Broken-Hearted

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Well, as we mentioned, it is indeed Christ’s office to bless, and he was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, and also this: to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and to appoint unto them that mourn in Sion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, to the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, they might be glorified. And this day is that scripture fulfilled in our ears, then when it may be found among those who are in the Zion of the Church of God that day, there is comfort to all that mourn and that they have beauty for ashes, they have comfort in their mourning, that they are blessed with this mourning and with this comfort, that they have the marks and evidences of grace upon them. Here is a marvelous thing indeed, the scripture concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and his office as the one anointed to preach the glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, that that office has its fulfillment among the people of God in every age and generation. All blessed people they are who are under that care, under that government, under that direction. The day he will lead them and bring them to Zion, he will lead them and bring them to Jerusalem. He shall lead them with sorrow and mourning and grief, with supplications will he lead them, and he will gather them together to Zion, there he will speak comfort to them that mourn.

That’s what he’s doing, that’s what he’s doing at communion seasons. He’s gathering together those that mourn so that they have comfort. He’s gathering together those that mourn in Zion so that he might give them beauty for ashes. Is that your posture of soul today? Is that what you would have from him who was the man of sorrows, that you would know something of sorrow for sin and sorrow and mourning for sin as we believe is primarily in view here?

Mourning in Spirit and Contrast with Worldly Mirth

Now there’s no doubt that just as the previous beatitude is addressed to those who are poor in spirit, so too here the address here is to those who are mourning in spirit, who are spiritually mourning. But perhaps there is, if we compare it with the account we have of this sermon in the gospel of Luke, and we’ve come to the conclusion that it is in the same sermon, it is the same sermon, and if we compare the two, we can find that the Savior is indeed contrasting not only those who are poor in this world with those who are rich, so that the disciples will not be ashamed to be outwardly poor and rather they would know that there is a blessedness even there when they have what is here blessed of the poor in spirit. But also he warns those who laugh now, those who laugh now, that they will have sorrow. Woe to you that laugh now. And that is in contrast with those who are they have in their providence many times and oftentimes mourning.

The Psalmist in Psalm 73 was very troubled by that, that day his feet were almost gone when he saw the prosperity of the wicked and when he considered his own adversities and daily and all day throughout great great plagues, “I suffered have every morning I have knew the chastisement receive.” And it was a trial to him to understand, “If I when I this thought to know it was too hard a thing for me.” Why do they ungodly prosper? Why does the do the people of God experience so much outward even affliction and inward affliction? Until he went into the sanctuary of God and he said understood either end, “Assuredly thou didst them set a slippery place upon.” What the world esteems, “that which is highly esteemed among men,” the Bible tells us, “is abomination in the sight of God.” No more so than here in the mirth and pursuit of pleasure and the love of the pleasures of sin and the pursuit of them. “But for a season they shall lie down in sorrow.” And the people of God are to ponder it, they’re to not to be envious of the wicked, they’re not to desire the portion of the ungodly, they’re to consider their end. It is something of that we believe that the Savior is intending and brings out later in this very sermon to not to be pursuing after and seeking and coveting what the world has, whether of outward prosperity or of outward pleasure, because there is a blessing even in affliction to his people, and it is better to be in the house of mourning even in outward things than to be in the house of mirth. There the living lay it to heart, there they learn sobriety, there they learn to fear God, there they discover the comforts, the sweetness of comfort more and better far than the wealth of many such as lewd and wicked are.

Blessed are they that mourn. Do not be afraid of that, child of God. Do not do not envy the wicked their little time of mirth. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

Three Aspects of Blessed Mourning and Comfort

Well, we might consider firstly, the blessed mourning of believers.

1. The Blessed Mourning of Believers

Then it is they who are spoken of and they who are described, they have a mourning that is blessed. Blessed are they that mourn. It’s not simply in connection with the future that this blessedness is to be understood, it is now. They are now blessed, they are a blessed already here and now and presently. And though they mourn ye now therefore of sorrow and the world will rejoice, but “I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you.” That was said for this life as well as for the life to come. And so there is a blessed mourning that believers have.

2. The Blessed Comfort for These Mourners

You might think of that firstly. And then secondly, the blessed comfort for these mourners. “They shall be comforted.” There is an answer indeed to all their mourning. There is a comfort to be found by these mourners, to appoint to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, to a comfort all that mourn, is the great office of Christ.

3. The Promised End to Mourning

And then thirdly, we might consider something of the promised comfort of an end to mourning. Yes, their mourning, the days of their mourning shall be ended, the days say on the wing, it’s not far away from any one of God’s children. The sands of time are sinking, and the dawn of heaven will break under the summer morn. They’ve sighed for that fair sweet dawn awakes. Though dark dark have been the midnight, the day spring is at hand and glory glory dwelleth in Emmanuel’s land. There is a comfort ahead, there is joy unspeakable and full of glory for Zion’s mourners. Zion’s mourners will have the beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. Oh, do not despise this morning then, this morning is a fitting, suitable, worthy introduction, preface, a porch to the Father’s house of many mansions. “If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself at where I am, there ye may be also.” These three things then: the blessed morning of believers, the blessed comfort for these mourners, and the promised comfort of an end to mourning. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

Mourning That Is Not Blessed

Well, clearly there is a morning that is not blessed, and that is manifest from the Bible and from the observation that we may make among men. There are many who mourn in this world, and the blessing of God is not upon them. They do not have the grace of God, they do not know the salvation that is in Christ. They are to be pitied.

Foolish, Worldly Mourning

Their mourning is indeed a bad day, the sorrow and the misery of sin. Oh, how many there are who mourn so foolishly, if they know not what for in their lab of the world and the things of it, and so entangled with its deceits and its delusions and its promises. They mourn for very little, they mourn for very little. And we are to be careful not to follow the ways in which this world thinks of joy, lest we be caught up in that kind of foolish, worthless, vain mourning and sorrow.

Natural Mourning Without God’s Grace

There is surely a morning which is natural, and that’s the lamentation that every family will have indeed in the time of death and sorrow, in sickness and pain and suffering. “Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward.” There is nothing essentially in that which is blessed. Indeed, it is the curse of sin coming into the world, death by sin and the death passing upon all men. And what a melancholy view of humanity it is that we have that a man is born unto trouble, that the mourners go about the street, that when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl is broken and the wheel broken at the cistern, the pitcher broken at the fountain, then the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, vexation of spirit, mourning, mourning, mourning, lamentation and woe written upon the inhabitants of the earth.

Fearful, Unsanctifying Mourning

And in natural, we might call it natural, we might call it in temporal things, we might look at it, “All that our heads were waters to see it, that her eyes were a fountain of tears, that we would weep night and day for the slain of the daughter of our people.” That we would be hurt for the mourning and sorrow and woe that is in this world, primarily surely they underlined by this that they know not their resting places, they know not the way to the city, they know not where to find comfort. Seeking rest and finding none, the world promising fair but giving nothing, a vanity written over all their schemes, all their plans to avoid pain and suffering, to evade the great enemy death. It’s all vain and empty, a mourning that has no blessing of heaven in it. What a fearful thing, “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation” to the Christless, to the godless, to the unregenerate sinner. Whatever his condition in life may be, there is nothing sanctifying in natural earthly sorrow without the grace of God.

Worldly Sorrow Leading to Death

There is worldly sorrow for the losses and the losses of their riches and their treasures and their pleasures and their profits and their prosperity, “a sorrow of the world which consumes and works death.” That’s not a blessed mourning.

Envious Mourning

There is an envious mourning, a grieving at the good of others, consuming men’s hearts. A man burning with envy one toward another, provoking one another, envying one another. Desire is of vain glory, seeking and pursuing it and not finding it and mourning over their loss, and they’re nothing but envy.

Devil’s Grief / Mourning for More Sin

Yes, there’s a mourning, yes, we might call it the devil’s very morning, that gnashing of teeth at his desire that is unsatisfied for sin. And the world has that too, longing to have more of their fill of sin, mourning that they cannot get more of sin. That’s the devil’s grief, and it’s in the hearts of men to their enmity against God. Oh, beware, beware of the power and corruption of sin in the heart that can lead to that, that can produce that mourning, yes, that sorrow, that very sorrow that is in the very heart of Satan himself.

Mourning in Lost Eternity

And there’s a devilish mourning, yes, and there’s a mourning in a lost eternity where the worm will never die, where the fire will never be quenched. Oh, the curse of God in the house of the wicked that are consumed in this mourning and sorrow. “Ye shall lie down in sorrow,” weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and forever in the fire that will never go out, in the pit that is bottomless, because of the love of sin and the hatred of God. These are not mourning that is blessed, they are cursed.

The World’s Avoidance of Sorrow

And so when he says, “Blessed are the more are they that mourn,” he has in view others, his dear children, his dear disciples, who have learned what it is to mourn after a godly sort. There is, of course, the prevailing thirst and pursuit of our generation and the heart of man to put away sorrow from their eyes, to fill their lives with mirth and joy and jollity and frivolity and vanity, and they would live without any mourning at all, they would they scorn to mourn for anything. There is a way of man’s life which is a one of the, we might well call it, the judgment of God upon them, that they spend all their days in that pursuit. They can’t speak and they can’t think without laughing, without joy and jollity. And it’s like “the crackling of thorns under a pot,” the laughter of fools. And it’s a fearful thing to witness, it’s a curse on the world that cannot mourn, they cannot be sober-minded, they cannot take anything seriously. “Beware, young people, rejoice, oh young man, in thy youth, let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, rejoice in the light of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Put away sorrow from a man heart, put away the evil from mine but before thine eyes.” Seek rather this, seek the portion of God’s people, the blessing, the blessed morning of the saints of God. Do not disregard it, do not scorn it, do not fear it, they rather seek to know it and to discover it and to know the blessedness of this spiritual morning.

The Holy Spirit’s Work: Spiritual Mourning for Sin

Then well, we were reading in the chapter, were we not, of that day that was going to come to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the Lord was going to pour out the spirit of grace and of supplication, the result of which would be that they would mourn. And that really is what explains what is here a spiritual morning, where the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured out by the God of heaven, the Holy Spirit who works this morning in the hearts of men. And it’s Christ’s great and glorious work, it’s Christ’s great and glorious office to lead his people in that way. And they pouring out his spirit, he has given the hope, he will give the Holy Spirit in that way. He’s promised to do it. “The father will send the spirit in my name. And when he has come, he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.” And this is the consequence: they shall mourn. They shall discover the nature of sin, and they shall mourn for it, they shall have bitterness for sin. “They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them and I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble for I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

Here is say the Lord’s grace and the Lord’s goodness to any soul to bring them into this way, this right way, to put his hand upon them in that manner, to bring them law for sin, to make them a mourn for sin, to have put that spirit of mourning upon them, to deal with them in a way of a dispensation of providence perhaps, but certainly in a way of the application of his word to the conscience, to convince of sin and misery, to show them themselves, to show them their danger, their load, and they to discover to them by his word sin and the nature of sin, the true nature of it, doing that which we ought not to do and not doing that which we ought to do. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.

Examples of Mourning for Sin

And here is a mourning for sin which is identified in the word of God throughout it, brought to view in the lives of God’s people everyone more or less. Here is the morning which the Savior is describing in the parable, for example, where the son who wasted his substance with riotous living, when he had spent all in the far country, he came to himself, “I will arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and I am no more worthy, I am no more worthy.” The man in the temple who was praying, “have been brought by that the rivers of water in a straight way to mourn for sin with supplications was he led.” He asked away to Zion with his face to their word going and weeping, asking for mercy. Was he not, was he not looking for deliverance from sin because he saw sin as sin? He could not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, he smote upon his breast and he said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” He discovered his need of mercy because he was a sinner. The sinner Saul of Tarshish in his mad course of sin, was he not read led in the right way? Was he not brought with supplications and weeping who was on the road to Damascus and he saw a great light from heaven, “Ah, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Thy conscience Paul as race all is raging, thy conscience convinces and convicts thee of sin, of sin against my law, of sin against your own your own conscience, of sin against the people of God. “Why persecutest thou me?” It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And so it is he is describing his case not once, twice, three times, four, maybe five, six times in the Bible as a pattern to them who should hereafter believe unto life everlasting.

Nature of Godly Sorrow: Sin Against God

It’s these that are being described here then, blessed are they that mourn, who were taught, who were taught by the Holy Spirit to mourn for sin and to see sin as sin. “Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and in thy sight done this ill.” As against God. David’s sin was against Bathsheba, it was against Uriah, it was against the child, it was against his servants, it was against his nation and his people, it was against the Church of God, it was against the heathen who were made to blaspheme, it was against every person who has ever read the story. Yes, but he’s saying, “Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that when thou speaks thou mayest be just and clear in judging still.” That’s a mourning, that’s a deep mourning as a sorrow for sin, a grief for sin, yes, and a grief for all sin. Mourning for sin as sin is indiscriminate as to sin, it’s all sin. Here is mourning which is against God and there is grief and sorrow and shame for it. “They shall ask the way to Sion, they shall be led with supplications and weeping and in the right way.” That is how the psalm describes in such vivid and various terms the experience so true to the life of God’s people.

Awakening to Sin and God’s Deliverance

They are being awakened to sin. “If when straights them press they cry unto the Lord. When straights them press, such as shut up in darkness deep and in death shade abide, oh strongly as affliction bound and irons fast of tide. Because against the words of God they wrought rebelliously, and they the council did contend of him that is most high. Their heart he did bring down with grief, they fell no help could have.” Did you ever mourn like that? Did you do you know the blessedness of being brought into that morning, of being shown yourself and being discovered for having you having your sin discovered to you and they’re being awakened to the reality of it? It became a burden to you, it became a grief and a sorrow and a pain to your heart. “This grief I have because thy wrath is forth against me gone.”

Distinguishing Godly Sorrow from Worldly Sorrow

It did not leave you there, child of God. There is “a sorrow of the world which worketh death,” a legal fear, a legal bondage spirit of bondage to fear. And men left to that they proceed to death and despair and despondency, or else they return back and they serve the world in more vigor and more zeal of enmity to God. It’s a fearful thing to cast off legal fear and legal convictions, but legal convictions are not salvation. The sorrow of the world works death.

Godly Sorrow unto Repentance

Paul in writing to the Corinthians makes that distinction plain and clear. “I rejoiced,” he said, “not that you were made sorry, but that sorrow done to repentance, that you might receive damage by us and nothing.” He wrote unto them for that very purpose to bring down their heart with grief and sorrow, not unto death, but unto repentance. They would sorrow after a godly sort, and they sorrowed unto repentance. And what a beautiful picture he gives of it. Can you enter into any of the delineant, delineate any of the lines of a thought that he is delineating there and sign a second Corinthians chapter 7? “Though I made you sorry by a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. But I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. For you were you made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us and nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented off. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this self same thing that he sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it brought in you. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. Yea, what indignation. Yea, what fear. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, what revenge. In all things you have approved yourself to be clear in this matter.”

These are the evidences, these are the marks of this blessed sorrow, these are the blessed marks of godly sorrow: a zeal, vehement desire, an earnest longing to be delivered from sin in its pollution as well as its penalty, sin in its power as well as its wages, yes, and in all its aggravation, sin in all its evil, sin as a corruption, sin is against God, to be clear, to be removed, to have sin removed, and to have to pursue after this very one against whom we have sinned, to return to the one from whom we have so deeply revolted.

Repentance: Turning from Sin to God

Godly sorrow, God ward unto repentance. Repentance is not then a mere turning from one sin or from some sins or from sin in general from some sins to other courses. It is turning from sin unto God, God ward unto the way of holy obedience, a new obedience. That’s the godly sorrow that’s here. Blessed are they that mourn. What are they pursuing? What are they looking for? What is the awakened conscience looking for? What is the conscience defiled by sin, the conscience alive to sin, awakened to sin, the conscience stirred up to the condemnation of the soul for sin? What is it seeking? It’s seeking rest, it’s seeking just a deliverance, it’s seeking peace, peace with the one against whom it is sinned.

The Source of Blessed Mourning: Looking to Christ Crucified

And that’s the glorious discovery that the spirit of grace and supplications makes to those who mourn and to those who are on whom it is poured out: “They shall look upon me, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him.” Yes, it is faith’s view of Christ indeed that gives spirit this spiritual morning and which gives this blessed morning. It is faith’s view of Christ, a fruit of the faith that sees Christ as the remedy, Christ as the propitiation, Christ as the satisfaction of justice. “Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd.” Did you ever see Christ in that light, friend? Did you ever see a smitten, wounded, broken, bruised, afflicted Savior bearing sin? Is that the view you your soul got and gets and does seek and looks for in the glorious gospel coming to the worship of God today as the publican in the temple who said, “God be merciful to me a sinner”?

Here was not a mercy that was a mere act of sovereignty. No, here is not mercy that was the mere dispensation of a judge passing over an offense, but here was mercy that was by a propitiation, by a blood-shedding sacrifice, by a lamb taking away sin, by a satisfaction of divine holy inflexible holy justice. “They shall look upon me, they shall look upon me.” That is where sin was punished, that is where sin is put away. There is no putting away of sin but there, there is no atonement but there, there’s no remission of sin but there. And all sin must be taken there, your sin must be taken there if it’s ever going to be put away. And glory to God, the spirit of grace and of supplication shows to sinners that the one whom they pierced, whom their sins crucified, the one whose sins who bore their sins in his own body on the tree, that is what faith is brought to: a look to Christ for, to look to Christ for that salvation that is from their sin, my sin. And you are warranted to a poor sinner to take Christ as yours on account of the warrant you have in the Word of God inviting you to take salvation freely. You are invited to trust to the merit of this sacrifice, you are invited, yes, you are exhorted to be reconciled to God on the basis of this atonement. And it is the warrant of the gospel freely offered to you a child of God that the spirit of grace and supplications that was poured out they brought you to look by faith to him as yours. It was on the warrant of his word, no other access to Christ but on the warrant of his free invitation. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” “Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth.” Ah, you say, Christ died for his people. Yes, but the warrant of his word is giving you sinner, and gave you child of God in the day of your effectual calling, gave you a discovery of mercy and gave you a view of the crucified one who bore his people sins. And you as it were were putting your hand upon the head of that sacrifice, you were by faith brought to rest and to commit the soul that you have with all its sin to that surety, that substitute, on the warrant of his invitation, on the warrant of the promise of the gospel that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And that put a mourning in your heart, not the legal mourning, not the spirit of bondage, but that gave you a mourning for him, a mourning for him. Seeing sin in the light of Calvary is the sin-slaying view of him which the people of God have, which is a blessed morning. It’s the true godly sorrow unto repentance, it’s that which works the vehemence, the zeal, the revenge, the longing desire to be delivered. It’s that view of Christ smitten, crucified for you, the Lamb of God taking away your sin. “Behold, behold me, behold me, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn every family apart, mourning apart, bitterness as one is in bitterness for a firstborn.” Because here is here is the true picture of sin, here is the true discovery of the holiness of God, here is the true discovery of the large hearted compassion and mercy and grace of the God of salvation, a blessed morning indeed, a blessed morning to be found in the Church of God alone, to be found wherever the gospel in its purity is embraced and where Christ is embraced. They are mourning for sin who believe on Christ for the salvation of their souls from sin. They’re made to mourn now for sin in a way they never mourned before. They have their hearts now with a taste of grace that brings them to hate sin and to desire holiness. And that is indeed the pursuit that they are on. They have a comfort and a mourning together. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

The Blessed Comfort for Mourners (Deeper Dive)

There is a comfort for the mourners then, there is appointed to them comfort to those that mourn. The Comforter of the desired and sought by the awakened conscience. That spirit of bondage to fear has been there, we might say in this way that the as the Apostle does to the Romans, they have not received that spirit of bondage again to fear, but they have received the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, “Abba, Father!” And the Spirit bears witness with their spirit they are the children of God. They have received the spirit that is of God to know the things freely given to them of God, and to know the comfort of forgiven sin and pardon sin by the blood of sprinkling that speaks peace. They know something of a reconciliation with God through this peace speaking blood. “My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” And that peace which the world cannot know and does not have is the comfort of mourners in Sion. And it’s the comfort of those who are here described as blessed, and a comfort consistent with most beautifully harmoniously consistent with life of mourning over and for sin.

“A broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice.” That language is used by David concerning all the worship that he was to engage in every time he came to the tabernacle of the congregation. That was the spirit in which he was to come, with a broken and a contrite heart. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: to this man will I look, to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, who trembles at my word.” That’s now their posture, that’s now their life. It’s their whole manner of worship and approach. They have a tender sorrowful spirit, they made so by the view they get of salvation, the view they get of a crucified Savior. It’s what they desire indeed, they’re desiring it and coming to the worship of God, “All that my heart were made soft, that my heart were broken, were bruised, were contrite.” There’s nothing so great a plague to the people of God than hardness of heart, looking on Christ and looking on hearing of Christ without a tear, without a sorrow, without grief, without sorrow for sin. There is no joy, we might say, like it in this world at least, like the joy of a broken and contrite heart, a melting at Christ’s feet.

And that’s the Holy Spirit’s work, that’s the Holy Spirit of grace and supplication giving comfort to mourners, giving the very joy of mourning, appointing to them that mourn beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. In mourning with mourning, the days of their mourning will be ended. Yes, and we see the time has gone, but the Holy Spirit is that Comforter who dwells in them and who works in them a godly sorrow and a godly sorrow unto repentance. And in all their sorrows in the world, this is the the sorrow that they’re desiring, a sorrow which is of a godly sort where they have the Spirit of God so softening, so affecting, so influencing, drawing their hearts away from sin and away after Christ and his fellowship and his communion and nearness to him. And their hearts to be burning within them when he talks with them of his sufferings and his sorrows and his glory and his intercession and his grace and his power and his sin-bearing substitutionary atonement, oh then the heart burns. There’s something of the spirit of adoption there too, to cry “Abba, Father!” in that comfort which the people of God have in a pardon sin. They are walking softly in the tender a walk and they’re desiring to walk in that light as he is in the light and to a fellowship with him and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleansing them from all sin. You see the two are always going to be together. “I walk in the light of fellowship with God the Father.” “If we say we a fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.” If we’re living in some known sin and claiming to have the fellowship of the Father and communion with him, we are grievously deceived. “But if we walk in the light, that is in the light of holiness and the light of fellowship with him and the light of truth as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.” Why does John add that? Because that’s the very that’s the very point of communion, that’s where the communion is, that’s where the glory of the God in the face of Jesus Christ is seen, his blood cleansing from all sin. You’ll never be rid of sin, child of God, you’ll never be rid of the fountain of corruption that is within your own heart, but there are stream a mighty river to swallow up all the streams and fountains of corruption, the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleansed us from all sin. That’s the sorrow for sin that is blessed because it has a comfort in it and a comfort with it. And they enter into that fellowship and communion. Ah yes, their hearts begin to burn. We were singing in the psalm, “Rejoice thy servant’s soul, for Lord I lift my soul to thee. For thou art gracious, oh Lord, I’m ready to forgive and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to relieve.” So they’re crying and praying and asking there for that fresh view and fresh discovery of their pardon and their peace and their reconciliation, a view of their justified state. Not that they can be justified a second time, but they want to see it, they want the certificate, as Bunyan has it, to carry with them, and they can’t think of losing it. If they lose it, they must find it again, they must have a knowledge, an assurance of that love. They can’t live long in this world without pursuing that assurance of his love, peace in their conscience, yes, and joy in the Holy Ghost. They proceed from the accompany and they flow from their justification. And so they are seeking that comfort daily constantly, they cannot live without it. It’s the very cordial of joy and the wine of joy and the wine of fellowship in the family of God to have that restored to them when they lose it. “Restore me thy salvation’s joy with thy free spirit me stay. Then will I teach thy ways unto those that transgressors be, and those that sinners are shall then be turned unto thee.”

The Promised End to Mourning: Heaven

Well, the promise of comfort that ends all mourning is heaven, is it not? Where grace buds into a flower and where glory makes an end of sin and it brings an end to all sorrow and sighing. It all flees away and the tears shall be wiped from their eyes. No more grief, no more pain, because no more sin. Is that what would have make heaven heaven to you, to be like him and to be with him who bore your sins in his own body on the tree, “but you being dead to sin would live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you are healed.” Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. May the Lord bless his word. Let us pray.

Speaker: Rev David Campbell

Congregation Santa Fe

Text: Matthew 5:4

Date: 5 June 2025

Series: Texas Communion June 2025