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Psalms 119:140-149 Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it. I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.
Your righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness, And Your law is
truth. Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are
my delights. The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; Give me understanding, and I shall live. I cry
out with my whole heart; Hear
me, O LORD! I will keep Your statutes. I cry out to You; Save me, and I will
keep Your testimonies. I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for
help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on
Your word. Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O LORD, revive me
according to Your justice.
Father God, teach us to mourn so that
a true healing can take place. We pray for those in mourning to find healing through
Jesus. In Jesus name
we pray, Amen!
Matthew 5:4 NKJV
The
Beatitudes can be understood in at least four ways:
·
They
were a code of ethics for the disciples and a standard of conduct for all
believers.
·
They
compare Kingdom values (what is eternal) with worldly values (what is
temporary).
·
They
compare the superficial "faith" of the Pharisees with the real faith
that Christ demands.
·
They
show how the Old Testament expectations will be fulfilled in the new Kingdom.
These
Beatitudes are not multiple choice, we can’t pick what we like and leave the
rest. They must be taken as a whole. They describe what we should be like as
Christ's followers.
Each
beatitude tells us how to be blessed
by God. It implies the fortunate or happy state of those who are in God's
Kingdom whether here on earth or in Heaven. The Beatitudes don't promise
laughter, pleasure, or earthly prosperity. Being "blessed" by God
means the experience of hope and joy, not dependent on worldly things. Follow
Jesus no matter what the cost will result in blessed hope and joy.
With
Jesus' announcement that the Kingdom was near in Matthew 4:17 From that
time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.", people were naturally asking,
"How do I qualify to be in God's Kingdom?" Jesus said that God's
Kingdom is organized differently from worldly kingdoms. In the Kingdom of
Heaven, wealth and power and authority are unimportant. Kingdom people seek
different blessings and benefits, and they have different attitudes. Are your
attitudes a carbon copy of the world's selfishness, pride, and lust for power,
or do they reflect the humility and self-sacrifice of Jesus, your king?
4 Blessed are
those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
This Beatitude is capable
of two meanings:
1. People are blessed who are afflicted
with the loss of friends or possessions.
2. Or, they who mourn over sin are
blessed.
Happiness
comes to those that mourn over their own sins; Jesus came to preach repentance, to stimulate
people to mourn over their sins and to renounce sin. It is this that He is
alluding to, the sinful nature of man when He stated this Beatitude, but the
first will also bring happiness on a temporary basis. 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be
regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. At the time of mourning the gospel
only, can give true comfort to those in affliction, whether it be a sinful or
personal loss. Luke
4:18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO
HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF
SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED. Other
sources of consolation do not reach the deep sorrows of the soul. They may dull
the senses, but they do not point to the true source of comfort; the God of
mercy; the Saviour; the peace that flows from the hope of a better world, and true
consolation through Jesus Christ. 2
Corinthians 5:1 For we know
that if our earthly house, this
tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.
So those that grieve over
sin they have committed, and are sorrowful they have offended God, shall find
comfort in the gospel. Through the merciful Saviour our sins may be forgiven.
In him the weary and heavy laden soul shall find peace. Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all you
who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is
easy and My burden is light." The presence of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit in one’s
life will comfort a repentant heart. The phrase, “For they shall be comforted,”
refers to what the Holy Spirit will give to those who evaluate their spiritual
poverty with sincerity. John 14:26-27
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance
all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Dr. David Jeremiah states
this on the mourning over a sinful lifestyle: “Have you ever come to God so
brokenhearted over your failure that you wept? The Bible says that doing so is
a cleansing step toward holiness and happiness in life. Blessed are they who
mourn, for they shall be comforted. The man who cannot mourn over his own sin
can never know the comfort and forgiveness of God. The Lord doesn’t forgive sin
we won’t confess. But when we come to God, acknowledging what we have done and
weeping in realization that it was our sin which helped nail Christ to the
cross, God begins the healing process in our lives. Our hurt leads to the
blessing of God’s comfort.”
The Apostle Paul went from
a state of opposing Jesus to a close relationship with Jesus during his life. The
relationship he had with Jesus grew, and as it grew Paul realized what a sinner
he was. His ministry started out with himself proclaiming to be an Apostle, Galatians
1:1; seven years
later a letter to the Corinthians he viewed himself as the least of the
Apostles, 1 Corinthian 15:9;
eight years later to the Ephesians he viewed himself as least of the Saints, Ephesians
3:8; later in 1
Timothy 1:15 he
claimed he was a chief sinner. Just in a few years Paul went from an Apostle to
a chief sinner. The closer he got to the Lord, the more he realized what the
sin nature does to the soul. Blessed are those who mourn and weep over their
own sin, but also know the great joy and peace knowing that God cares and
forgives them, they shall be comforted. This is the main point of this Beatitude!
What about number one
above, “People are blessed who are afflicted with the loss of friends or
possessions”? As adults we are grieved over many things beside the loss of
loved ones/friends and possessions, such as our children and grandchildren in
certain things that happen in their lives. I will touch on this farther down in
today’s lesson, but the answer it is always Jesus that comforts all situations.
When
we sacrifice the present for the future, happiness is found; It is the Holy Spirit within our
heart that provides comfort for all types of mourning. It’s knowing what joy
awaits us in God’s world. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich
man in torment cried out to Abraham for help, but Abraham’s response to the
rich man was, you had your glory when you lived on earth. Students can relate
to this scripture, because when they have a final exam coming up they can
choose to be studious and study hard or not take the exam seriously and go
party. When the test day comes those that studied will rejoice with a passing
grade, while those that partied will be in the misery of failing and facing
parents, friends, and having to retake the semester. Jesus understood this
human character; happy are the hurting, for they shall be comforted. Happiness
is discovered when we sacrifice the present for the future.
We
discover happiness when we sympathize with those around us who suffer; How can we find happiness through
sympathy? This sounds slightly strange, but Jesus was often portrayed as having
compassion for those around Him. It is through love for others that we hurt for
their conditions and the things they go through. Sorrow is a product of love. Matthew 19:19 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER,' and, 'YOU SHALL LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' It is this commandment that Jesus
obeyed and practiced throughout His ministry. It is the love He had for the
humans that He created that caused Him grief because of their sinfulness and
separation. As a person grows in their relationship with Jesus, they develop a
deeper love for their fellow human beings. It is through this love and
relationship that a person learns to sympathize with others, other than their
family and close friends. They find themselves listening and consoling those
that are going through a tribulation. It is the love of Jesus that shines
through, and the person doing the consoling finds happiness by being able to
help even if it is just listening.
As we go through life we
gain many experiences by the trials and tribulations we go through. Going
through these life events we can comfort and console those that go through the
same type of tribulations. Just as God helps us through our troubles we can
then help others. 2
Corinthians 1:3-4 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 tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who
are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by
God. Happy are those
who can sympathize with the sorrowing people around them.
Happiness
is discovered when we suffer the losses and the crosses of life; We learn from sorrow and take it for
granted, like a true friendship may develop between two people because of the
loss of a loved one and the support given by someone. We may learn how deeply
rooted our faith is in God through some type of tribulation. We may have found our
faith is shallow when all along we thought it was deeply rooted in Jesus. The
saddest thing in the world is not a soul that sorrows, but a heart so selfish
and dull nothing touches it.
How do you deal with
sorrow and grief, whether it be the loss of a loved one, divorce, loss of job,
disease, etc.? Many times we are told or think it must be God’s will for this
to happen, when in reality we are the ones that bring on the situation. God
doesn’t want us to be inflicted with sorrow and pain, His original creation
plan was for everlasting life until the serpent showed up on the scene. I would
venture to say that what happens in our lives is a result of the way we live,
thinking we have all the answers. We should examine our life often and
determine if the way we are living is based on scripture and what scripture
truly means, not what we think it means. God has not changed with time, and His
precepts are what we are to live by. For instance if we disregard living
according to good health practices, and we are inflicted with disease, then, is
it God’s will or our way of living that caused the situation? Are the things
that happen in our lives a wakeup call for us to deny ourselves and accept
Jesus whole heartily as our Saviour?
Don’t
suppress your grief, express it;
Jesus expressed His grief several times, He wept over the death of Lazarus.
Expressing feelings is and emotional release, offering cleansing and freeing us
to begin the journey toward hope.
Don’t
replace you loss, face your loss; many
times society says to get busy and take your mind off of your loss. This only
allows the person to bury the loss and never come to closure. We need to think
it through, and talk to friends and Jesus about our losses, and then the
healing will take place.
Don’t
retreat from others, reach out;
again society leans toward leaving a person alone to grieving. We need each
other during a grieving period. The Apostles did not grieve alone after Jesus
death they grieved with each other, for three days they were together and then
Jesus appeared to them? Of course some alone time with our Lord is needed also,
otherwise it is too busy with people around all the time and the busyness may
actually keep the person from truly getting through the situation. There has to
be a balance of support and alone time.
Don’t
depend on the calendar, depend on the Comforter; the old saying is, “time heals all
things”, but the Bible says the Holy Spirit is the healer of all things and all
situations. Heal means to grow sound; to return to a sound state; to be made
strong. Many times, if we could recognize the little messages from God, we
might realize through mourning He is making us stronger for what lies ahead in
our lives.
One thing is for sure, at
some point in time there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain. Revelation 21:4 And God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no
more pain, for the former things have passed away."
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe
it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus
I know I am a sinner. I confess my sins
to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all
of my sins. I believe that only you can
forgive sin. I commit my life to you and
ask you to come into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.” (John 3:16,17;
Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
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