Grosey's Messages

Jesus was talking to and about Christians when he said those words. At heart, he was describing the enormous difference between the rules and the way of life in the kingdom of heaven and the rules and the way of life in the kingdom of earth. It is such an astonishing difference. It is upside down to how the world works. Mourning is deep sorrow. 9 Gk words "sorrow" agony of soul, grief which cannot be contained, the kind of grief that cannot be hidden from others.

Isaiah 61:1-3. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion--- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

It is a mark of a Christian to see sin as God sees sin. Our own sin: "I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned" (Psalm 51:3-4). "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15).

THE DESCRIPTION OF MOURNING 

CARNAL laments outward losses. sorry for getting caught out rather than for the sins we have done.  'The sorrow of the world works death' (2 Corinthians 7:10). Ahab mourned for Naboth's vineyard, "So Ahab went home angry and sullen. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat!' (1 Kings 21:4).  

despairing kind of mourning. Judas: remorse  'I have sinned!'  restitution the money was 'the price of blood', and he 'brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests' (Matt 27:3. regret is in the mind. Remorse goes past the mind to the heart. Sin and its consequences.. Repentance looks beyond the sin to Calvary. A person filled with remorse is one who loves his sin and hates himself at the same time. A person who has repented is a person who hates his sin because he loves his Saviour. Simon Peter cursed and swore and denied the Lord Jesus Christ "went out, and wept bitterly." (Matthew 26:75; Luke 22:62)

hypocritical mourning. Saul looks like a mourner, 'And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord' (1 Samuel 15:24) 'honor me before the elders of my people'  (30). he made excuses 'because I feared the people' (24).

It is spontaneous and free.  Gospel-mourning is spiritual; 'My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51:3). The offence against God troubled him.   Prodigal son? 'I have sinned against heaven, and before you' (Luke 15:18,21). He does not say, 'I am almost starved among the husks'—but 'I have offended my father'.  We must mourn for sin, as it is an act of hostility and enmity against God. Hebrew word for 'sin' signifies 'rebellion'.  ingratitude against God. It is a kicking against God's mercy: it takes away our fellowship with God; it  keeps God from us.   "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." Psalm 51:4, 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me  The mourning for the loss of God's favour— (Psalm 51:4). 'I have done this evil!'  Gospel-mourning must be joined with hatred of sin. 'What indignation!' (2 Corinthians 7:11).  Psalm 51: 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 We must not only abstain from sin, but abhor sin.  'Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded' (James 4:8). The Description of mourning over The Guilt of Sin.

2. THE DEGREE OF MOURNING.  The Grief Over Sin

'They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one that mourns for his only son. In that day there shall be great mourning, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon' Zechariah 12:10,11

The opposite to mourning is 'hardness of heart', which in Scripture is called 'a heart of stone' (Ezekiel 36:26). insensibility. 'Having lost all sensitivity.' (Ephesians 4:19).

inflexibility. It is 'always resisting the Holy Spirit' (Acts 7:51).    'Harden not your hearts' (Hebrews 3:7,8). 'Because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath' (Romans 2:5).

'They are not blessed' (says Chrysostom) 'who mourn for the dead but rather those who mourn for sin.'

The Grief over sin.  Gospel-mourning is an evidence of grace. 'I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace, and they shall mourn . . .' (Zechariah 12:10).

3. THE DESIGN OF MOURNING.   The Grace that Comforts.  "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (Psalm 34:18) Guilt convicts us; then grief that consume us;  and then, God is gracious to comfort us:  : com-­, meaning "with," and -­fort means "strength"

Ransom is about God being prepared to set us free and paying the price to set us free. Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Reconciliation is about being restored to the comforting presence of God Luke 15:11-24.  The prodigal son, the waiting father, the celebration of reconciliation.

HORATIO G. SPAFFORD My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!  My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Gospel-mourning sends the soul to God. When the prodigal son repented, he went to his father. 'I will arise and go to my father' (Luke 15:18). Evangelical mourning is a spur to prayer. The child who weeps for offending his father goes to his presence and will not leave until his father is reconciled to him. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world."  "An advocate." (1 John 2:1)

 "The world tries to change a man from the outside in, but Jesus changes a man from the inside out" ("Joy"). Proper actions externally will come only after God has changed us internally so that we mourn over our sin and repent. On the other side of mourning, there is hope, even joy. As a result of our mourning over personal sin and the sinful world in which we live, divine comfort and grace flow in our direction (cf. 2 Cor 1:3-11). Having broken us, a good and gracious Father now blesses us with a holy comfort. Sinclair Ferguson reminds us, "The child of the kingdom knows higher joys as well as deeper sorrows, more sensitive mourning but also more profound comfort, now that he is the Lord's". "The sorrow of the sinner's exile from God will be replaced by the joy of His presence," the presence of a kind, loving, and perfect heavenly Father (Quarles, Sermon, 54). D. A. Carson says, "The great lights in church history learned to weep".