They Who Mourn
By Ferrell Griswold
The Beatitudes show the paradoxical nature of the Christian life. It is the poor in spirit that are members of the kingdom of God; the mourners that are comforted; the meek that inherit the earth; the hungry and thirsty that are filled with righteousness; the merciful that obtain mercy; the pure in heart that see God; the peacemakers that are called the children of God; and the persecuted that are called "blessed".Matthew 5:4 Every one of these concepts is contrary to the thinking of the natural man. The world thinks that the strong and the rich are the ones that God blesses. People characterized by that which Jesus has laid before us
here are laughed at and thought of as being weak.Keep in mind that the Beatitudes are not meant to show how one becomes saved. Rather, they serve as the hallmark of one who has been converted. They reflect the fruit of the Spirit working in one who has been made alive by effectual grace.
We are going to look today at Matthew 5:4: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." This verse has two parts: 1. The actionthey that mourn; and 2. The resultthey shall be comforted. These two will serve as the division for this message.
Action: They That Mourn
Let me point out first that this verse does not teach the doctrine of the so-called "mourner's bench", which is of human invention, it promotes the works-system for salvation. The mourning that Jesus is speaking of here is not the fleshly demonstration that takes place around the mourner's bench, where the seekers try to have an emotional experience on which they depend for salvation. The latter never look to Christ for redemption, but depend on their own praying and emotional display to gain eternal life.The type of mourning referred to in Matthew 5 is something that the natural man instinctively shrinks from. It is the work of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the elect, not only at the time of conversion, but throughout their pilgrimage to heaven. This mourning springs from a real sense of sin, a heart deeply saddened by having rebelled against the will of God. Such mourning always goes side by side with conscious poverty of spirit.
On this subject, A. W. Pink writes, "The Christian himself has much to mourn over. The sins which he now commitsboth of omission and commissionare a sense of daily grief to him, or should be, and will be if his conscience is kept tender. An ever-deepening discovery of the depravity of his nature, the plague of his heart, the sea of corruption withinever polluting all that he doesdeeply exercises him. Consciousness of the surging of unbelief, the swelling of pride, the coldness of his love, and his paucity of fruit, make him cry, 'O wretched man that I am.'"
Other sorrows. In Romans 8, Paul reveals that the whole creation has been groaning, waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay. He then writes in verse 23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." In other words, not only does the Christian mourn over the sin of his soul, but he groans within as he mourns over this body of humiliation.
The child of God also groans under the chastening rod of God, which is necessary for the shaping of the saint into the image of Christ. We read in Hebrews 12:6, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Again, the Christian mourns over the sins of others, and so with a heavy heart he witnesses to the loss. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psa. 126:5).
Believers also mourn for the lack of the glory that should be given to God. "My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears" (Jer. 13:17). And the Christian weeps and mourns with those who are suffering. "Weep with them that weep," Romans 12:15 commands.
Result: They shall be comforted
Under this point I quote fully Mr. Pink, whose thoughts are so excellent that I could not add anything to them:This gracious promise receives its fulfillment, first, in that Divine consolation which immediately follows a sound conversion (i.e. one that is preceded by conviction and contrition), namely the removal of that conscious load of guilt which lies as an intolerable burden on the conscience. It finds its accomplishment in the Spirit's application of the Gospel of God's grace to the one whom He has convicted of his dire need of a Saviour.From this we can see that the Christian life is one of mourning. If there is a spiritual mourning in your life, like that set forth above, you have reason to believe that you are a partaker of the life that is in Christ! oThen it is that Christ speaks the word of power, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Observe that His language clearly presupposes the feeling of sin to be a "burden" as that which impels to Him for relief: it is to the sin-sick heart that Christ gives rest. This "comfort" issues in a sense of a free and full forgiveness through the merits of the atoning blood of Christ. This Divine comfort is the peace of God which passeth all understanding, filling the heart of one who is now assured that he is "accepted in the Beloved." First God wounds and then heals.
Second, there is a continual "comforting" of the mourning saint by the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter. The one who sorrows over
his departures from Christ is comforted by the assurance that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). The one who mourns under the chastening rod of God is comforted by the promise: "afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. 12:11). The one who grieves over the awful dishonour done to his Lord in the religious world is comforted by the fact that Satan's time is short, and soon Christ will bruise him beneath His feet.Third, the final comfort is when we leave this world and are done with sin for ever. Then shall sorrow and sighing flee away. To the rich man in hell, Abraham said of the one who had begged at his gate, "now he is comforted" (Luke 16:25). The best wine is reserved for the last. The "comfort" of heaven will more than compensate for all the "mourning" of earth.
The late Rev. Ferrell Griswold was the pastor of Clairmont Reformed Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL.