1. WHAT DOES ‘MOURN’ MEAN…

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

— Mourning our own affliction and loss (death, tragedy, sad situations) When difficulty comes and tragedy strikes it is true that God comforts us in those seasons
[2 Corinthians 1:3-5] 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
[Isaiah 43:2] “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
[2 Thessalonians 2:16-17] “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”

— Mourning for others
A. Mourning for others loss/tragedy/affliction
- Jesus and Lazarus...[John 11:33-36]“33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
B. Mourning for others sin (individuals or corporate...countries, groups)
- OT prophets mourning for Israel and their sin (Jeremiah)
- Jesus mourning over Israel’s rejection of him as the Messiah...[Luke 19:41-44]“41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

— Mourning OUR SIN…(GODLY SORROW)
- The consensus in all that I read (commentaries/theologians/pastors) that Jesus wasn’t addressing specifically the first two definitions above in this verse, but he was specifically addressing the third one…that happy are those who mourn for their own sin.
- This is a natural progression from the first beatitude. Once we have come to a place of agreement with God that we are spiritually bankrupt (poor in spirit) then the next natural step would be to acknowledge the reason we are spiritually bankrupt…it is because of our sin

2. WHAT DOES MOURNING OUR SIN PRODUCE…(REPENTANCE)

[2 COR 7:10]
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…”

- How does mourning our sin lead to repentance? By acknowledgment and agreement, that God is telling the truth and that we need a Savior!
- What does repentance look like? It isn't just behavior modification, REPENTANCE is a change of “mind”…what I “believe” that leads to a change of behaviors…

There are two types of repentance, POSITIONAL AND RELATIONAL…

—> POSITIONAL REPENTANCE…
(JUSTIFICATION: saved from the PENALTY of sin)

FIRST TIME: REPENTANCE LEADING TO SALVATION
- Creation/Fall/Redemption/Restoration
---> Genesis: Adam/Eve/sin broke everything
---> Jesus: birth/life/death/resurrection…
[John 19:30] "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

- Because of our sin, we need to acknowledge it, repent of our sins and believe in Jesus for our forgiveness...this is where it starts...

- The Roman Road…
[Rom 3:23]
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
[Rom 6:23]
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
[Rom 5:8]
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
[Rom 10:9-10, 13]
“9 …if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved…13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is an initial agreement with God’s assessment of our condition, repenting and believing the truth, Jesus does a miraculous work in us and forgives us, makes us new…it is his work.

Result of positional forgiveness?
[Ephesians 1:6-8]
“6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ”
[Colossians 2:13-14]
"13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."
[Hebrews 7:27]
“[JESUS] has no need, like those [Old Testament] high priests, to offer sacrifices daily . . . since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
[Hebrews 9:26]
"He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
[Hebrews 10:14]
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

—> RELATIONAL REPENTANCE…
(SANCTIFICATION: being saved from the POWER of sin)

REPEATED: REPENTANCE AS A BELIEVER
Q: Why is there still a need to confess if I am forgiven already?…

- We have been forgiven of our sin and no longer will be judged for it, all of that Judgment went on Jesus, paid in full. But, we are in a relationship now with God, who has given us a standard to live by, to be holy, to take up our cross, die to ourselves and follow him, to prove our love for him by our obedience. The problem is obvious…even though we have been forgiven ‘positionally’ for our sin…we still are sinners, everyday. So God has placed some things in place for us to continue to pursue him, to acknowledge our sin, the thing that continues to affect our relationship with him (familial type relationship, father and son, if son sins against father it doesn’t make him no longer a son, just results in a broken fellowship between the two)

[1 John 1:8,10]
"8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
- Once sin has been acknowledged, confessed…the finished work of Jesus restores our fellowship and we have forgiveness from the Lord and restored fellowship with each other
[1 John 1:9]
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
[1 John 1:7]
"7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin…"
- So when we sin, we need to take time to confess our sin and acknowledge it so that we might again have fellowship again with the Father

- Q: Are you taking regular time to assess your life and acknowledge sin before the Lord? Big ones and little ones, sins of ‘commission’ as well as sins of ‘omission’?
- Q: What is your pathway, your pattern in your repentance? Do you act quickly in your repentance and return? Do you act slowly? Do you believe God is wanting to forgive you or do you feel he is waiting to say “gotcha!”?
- Q: Do you really believe that Jesus will accept you, accept your confession and love you still, even if it is the 1000th time you have come to him confessing the same sin?

[John 6:37]
“37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
- He is gentle and understands our weakness

[Hebrews 4:15-16]
“15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

[Hebrews 5:8]
“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

- So...run to Jesus, confess your sins and be restored…and we are promised some awesome things…

3. WHAT DOES REPENTANCE PRODUCE…(OUR HAPPINESS AND HIS COMFORT)

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

- Our true happiness is achieved as we repent of our sin...
1. We are saved from the penalty of sin
2. We are restored relationally and are being saved from the power of sin
- This is where true happiness is found…understanding our spiritual bankruptcy (poor in spirit) and mourning and confessing our sin we end up forgiven!
- We are comforted by him (we are given the kingdom of heaven, all the blessings of God!).

And ultimately comfort is not just an emotion we experience, it is a person that we can know…the Holy Spirit, the Comforter

- Jesus promised he would send to us the Holy Spirit, and He did (recorded in Acts) and that is the most amazing blessing we can have!

Quote: (Got Questions WebPage)
“Paraclete, like many Greek words, is hard to translate into English because there is no perfect English equivalent. Basically, a paraclete is “one who is called alongside”; the implication is that a paraclete gives support or help of some kind. Used only by the apostle John in his gospel and first epistle, the word paraclete refers to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7). In each case, the word can be translated as “Helper,” “Counselor,” “Comforter,” or “Advocate.”

[John 14:16]
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper (Comforter), to be with you forever…”
[John 14:26]
“But the Helper (Comforter), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you…”
[John 15:26]
“But when the Helper (Comforter) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
[John 16:7]
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter) will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

- The Holy Spirit will do so much to help us, guide us, comfort us as we strive to live in a right relationship with the Lord…even in our sin, even in our suffering, God has a plan to restore and comfort us…

[1 Peter 5:10]
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

PRAYER AND COMMUNION…

1. Have you confessed your sins to Jesus, repented, believed the truth about what God says about us and what sin has done to our relationship with him? If you haven’t, don’t wait, do it today (prayer team, me) reach out, we want you to know the forgiveness of Jesus for your sins…it is where you will find true happiness and joy!

2. As a follower of Jesus…are you serious about sin in your life? Are you confessing sin honestly, quickly, and agreeing with God that your sin affects your fellowship with him? What do you need to confess right now? Sins of commission, sins of omission?

3. Communion is a time that we have been given so that we might examine ourselves and remember all that Jesus has done to forgive us and restore us to God…Examine yourself, confess your sins and be restored…

[1 COR 11:27-32]
"27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."