MAIN SCRIPTURE:

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

BIG IDEA: Mourning is blessed because it leads us to comfort in Jesus. 

OUTLINE: 

1. There are two types of mourning
   1. Mourning sin - Grieving the ways we rebel against God and His commands. 
   2. Mourning suffering - Grieving the brokeness in our lives and world caused by sin. 
2. God comforts those who mourn sin
   
   •  "Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies." Isaiah 6:5 
   • My eyes pour out streams of tears because people do not follow your instruction. Psalm 119:136
   • "Godly grief is to be genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more and more, and to run away from it.” Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
3. The cross is God’s comfort for those who mourn their sins.
   • Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
   • As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
4. God comforts those who mourning sufferings
   • I am weary from my groaning; with my tears I dampen my bed and drench my couch every night. My eyes are swollen from grief; they grow old because of all my enemies. Psalm 6:6-7
   • See the themes of mourning, weeping, and comfort in the story of Lazarus. John 11 
5. The resurrection is God's comfort for those mournings sufferings.
   • Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:56-57
6. Applications
   • Grieve your sins
   • Grieve your sufferings
   • Find comfort in the cross (forgiveness of sins) and the resurrection (hope of eternal life)

BOTTOM LINE: Mourning is blessed because it leads us to comfort in Jesus.