There is a natural progression in the order of these beatitudes. They are like a stack of dominoes that are carefully erected. When you push the first one over the rest come tumbling down. The first domino is poverty of spirit which we looked at last time. You can never mourn over sin or be gentle if you don’t see yourself for what you are before God. Having been convicted of our sin leads naturally to being contrite over our sin. Poverty of spirit leads to godly mourning. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and to mourn over it.
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN
During WW II people responded to hardship by singing a little song. “So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.” Very often that is how we respond to sin in our lives. We just ignore it. That is not the pathway to true blessedness in the Christian life. We would be better advised to change the ditty to “unpack your sins before God and mourn, mourn, mourn.” In the OT David serves as an example of the danger of covering up sin in our lives. In Psalm 32:3-4 he tells us, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. By packing up his sins in his old kit bag and ignoring them led to feelings of overwhelming guilt. Far better to mourn our sin. In Psalm 32:5 David continues by saying, then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. In Psalm 38:18 David teaches the lesson that Jesus wants us to learn today, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. The natural response to poverty of spirit is to mourn over our sinful hearts. In Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Both of them went up to the temple. The Pharisee went to congratulate himself. In vrs 12 he says, God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. No poverty of spirit nor spiritual mourning here. The tax collector is different. He knows that he stands as a beggar before God and cries over his sin. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.
FOR THEY WILL BE COMFORTED
In 2 Corinthians 7:10 we are told that, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. There is only one path that leads to happiness and that is genuine sorrow over sin. The 18th century missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd, wrote the following in his journal on 18 October 1740. “In my morning devotions my soul was exceedingly melted, and bitterly mourned over my exceeding sinfulness and vileness.” Tears like this are the holy water which God is said (Psalm 56:8) to store in his bottle. Such mourners, who bewail their own sinfulness, will be comforted by the only comfort which can relieve their distress, namely the free forgiveness of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This word comforted is a precious word. It is parakaleo which literally means the one called alongside to help. Who is the one that is called alongside a Christian who is grieving over sin? Our triune God. God the Father is frequently referred to in the OT as the comforter of His people. God the Son is also referred to as our comforter. When Paul describes the ongoing struggle, he has with his sinful nature he despairingly cries out “wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Then of course God the Holy Spirit is described as our comforter. In John 14, Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death. To encourage them he said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor.” Part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to come alongside God’s people and comfort them in their distress. He imparts us with hope. Yes, we grieve over our sin, but the Holy Spirit continually redirects us to the cross and reminds us of how our sin was dealt with and forgiven. What greater blessing is there to a Christian grieving over sin than to know that the Holy Spirit is alongside us not to accuse us but to comfort us.