• Home
    • Resources
    • The Gospel
    • Statement of Faith
    • Church Finder
    • Homemaking Courses
    • Privacy Policy
  • About
    • About Me
    • My Church Home
    • The Bar Podcast Network
  • Start Here
  • Free Library
    • Sign Up for Access
    • Enter Library (password required)
    • Meal Planning PDF
  • Shop
    • Homemaking Courses
    • TH Gear
    • Bookstore
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Thankful Homemaker

Gospel-Driven Encouragement for Homemakers

  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Homemaking
    • Menu Planning Made Easy Course
  • Marriage
    • Marriage Series
  • Motherhood
  • Christian Living
    • Spiritual Disciplines Series
    • Sermon on the Mount
  • Homemaking Courses
  •  

EP 88: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Matthew 5:4 – Sermon on the Mount Series)

by Marci Ferrell
Bible Study Christian Living Podcast Sermon on the Mount Theology

150shares
  • Facebook 116
  • Twitter

I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

True spiritual mourning produces a hatred for our sin and a repentant heart that desires to be in a right relationship with the Lord. We should desire to be holy as God is holy.

True spiritual mourning produces a hatred for our sin and a repentant heart that desires to be in a right relationship with the Lord. We should desire to be holy as God is holy.

Mourning is to be our lifestyle. It’s not just a one time moment when we first came to a recognition of our utter spiritual poverty before the Lord—it is a continual part of our lives as believers

True spiritual mourning produces a hatred for our sin and a repentant heart that desires to be in a right relationship with the Lord.Click to Tweet

We want to cultivate hearts that are sensitive to the sin our lives and mourn over them. We want our mourning to be genuine not just an emotional reaction or because we got caught but that there is true confession and repentance and genuine mourning.

Listen in to the Podcast Below or Subscribe on Your Favorite App:

 

 

Related Quick Links:

Sermon on the Mount Series

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones

The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom by R. Kent Hughes

Read the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7

The Only Way to Happiness: Mourn Over Sin – Sermon by John MacArthur

An Exposition of Mourning – Treatise on Mourning by Thomas Watson

Blessed are those who Mourn @Thankful Homemaker YouTube Channel

Sermon on the Mount YouTube Video Playlist

You Might Also Like:
My Top 10 Books of 2020
EP 100: Showing True Biblical Love to Our Husband
EP 18: Putting on an Attitude of Love in Our Homes

All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon

Matthew 5:4 Blue Letter Bible

Mourning is to be our lifestyle. It’s not just a one time moment when we first came to a recognition of our utter spiritual poverty before the Lord—it is a continual part of our lives as believers Click to Tweet

Show Notes:

“Is Jesus, then, giving us a word of general encouragement in what he says here, assuring us that sorrow will eventually abate? Is he saying, ‘Keep going. It will soon pass. Time heals all wounds'? That would be far too superficial a reading of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is speaking about life in the kingdom of God. The poverty he describes is in a man's spirit, not his pocket. Similarly, the grief Jesus describes is man's mourning over his own sinfulness; it is regret that he has proved a disappointment to the Lord. Numbed by the discovery of his poverty of spirit, he learns to grieve because of it. Here, then, is another characteristic of the Christian. He does not excuse his sin, or belittle it, or ignore it…As with all spiritual graces, it is possible for us to be deceived about the real nature of this mourning. It is emphatically not to be equated with a heavy and depressive spirit. Some of us by nature are melancholic, and sink more easily in our spirits. We become introverted and develop a poor image of ourselves that surfaces in the way we look at or address others, even in the way we hold our heads and walk. But all of these things can be characteristics of a person who is absorbed in himself; rather than is poor in spirit. By contrast, the man who genuinely mourns because of his sin has been drawn out of himself to see God in his holiness and grace. It is this – his sight of God – that has made him mourn. Paradoxically, it is the same sight of God that will bring him comfort. The God against whom he has sinned is one who forgives sinners!”
~ Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount, Kingdom Life in a Fallen World

“In my morning devotions my soul was exceedingly melted, and bitterly mourned over my exceeding sinfulness and vileness.”
~ David Brainerd

How can one know they are mourning as Christ teaches?:  Knowing whether or not we have godly mourning is not difficult. First, we need to ask ourselves if we are sensitive to sin. If we laugh at it, take it lightly, or enjoy it, we can be sure we are not mourning over it and are outside the sphere of God’s blessing. The godly mourner will have true sorrow for his sins. His first concern is for the harm his sin does to God’s glory, not the harm its exposure might bring to his own reputation or welfare. If our mourning is godly we will grieve for the sins of fellow believers and for the sins of the world. We will cry with the psalmist, “My eyes shed streams of water, because they do not keep Thy law” (Ps. 119:136). We will wish with Jeremiah that our heads were fountains of water that we could have enough tears for weeping (Jer. 9:1; cf. Lam. 1:16). With Ezekiel we will search out faithful believers “who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed” around us (Ezek. 9:4; cf. Ps. 69:9). We will look out over the community where we live and weep, as Jesus looked out over Jerusalem and wept (Luke 19:41). The second way to determine if we have genuine mourning over sin is to check our sense of God’s forgiveness. Have we experienced the release and freedom of knowing our sins are forgiven? Do we have His peace and joy in our life? Can we point to true happiness He has given in response to our mourning? Do we have the divine comfort He promises to those who have forgiven, cleansed, and purified lives? The godly mourners “who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Ps 126:5–6).”

~ John MacArthur, Matthew 1-7 Commentary

“A wicked man will say he is a sinner, but a child of God says, I have done this evil.”                                      ~ Thomas Watson

“God's comfort is relational. It comes in the form of his divine companionship. He is our ally. He personally binds up our sorrows and consoles us. How comprehensive our comfort is! It is immediate. It comes to us alone. It comes personally in the Person of the Holy Spirit. And it is based on the forgiveness of our sins. That is why we are called “blessed.” What a stupendous paradox! Jesus stands truth on its head to get our attention, and he says, “Would you be comforted? Then mourn. Would you be happy? Then weep.” Only when a person mourns (and weeps) over his or her own sinfulness will that person be comforted by the only Comforter who can relieve their spiritual distress. To those who mourn God grants pardon, forgiveness, deliverance, strength and reassurance. Jesus Christ with His own precious blood has fully satisfied all our sins (1John 1:6, 7, 8, 9), and delivered us from all the power of evil. You can either sweep your sins “under the rug” or you can put them under the blood. The choice is yours beloved. Hughes asks “Have you experienced that in your life? Have you been flat on your face before God mourning over your sins and failures and found Him to come and place His hand on your shoulder and deep within your soul you know His peace that passes all understanding. If you are carrying a deep burden of sin and you sense that grief even to the point that it is beyond you to carry, drop it at the feet of Jesus and receive His pardon and grace. He speaks to the soul with pardon and release and assurance that all your sins are under His blood…The saddest thing in life is not a sorrowing heart, but a heart that is incapable of grief over sin, for it is without grace. Without poverty of spirit no one enters the kingdom of God. Likewise, without its emotional counterpart – grief over sin – no one receives the comfort of forgiveness and salvation. For Christians, mourning over sin is essential to spiritual health. It is significant that the first of Martin Luther's famous 95 Theses states that the entire life is to be one of continuous repentance and contrition. It was this attitude in the Apostle Paul that caused him to affirm, well along into his Christian life, that he was the chief of sinners (1Ti 1:15).

~ R. Kent Hughes, Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. 

Scripture References:

Matthew 5:4

Matthew 5:1-12

Romans 7:24-25

Psalm 130:3-4

Matthew 23:37

Isaiah 53:3

2 Corinthians 12:21

Philippians 3:18

2 Timothy 3:12

John 16:33

Genesis 39:9

Psalm 51:3-4

1 John 1:9

Romans 5:20

Isaiah 57:15

1 Corinthians 7:10

John 14:16

Resources:

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones

Sermon on the Mount The: Matthew 5-7 Expositional Commentary by James Montgomery Boice

Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur

Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew by J.C. Ryle

The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom (ESV Edition) by R. Kent Hughes

Sermon on the Mount by Sinclair Ferguson

The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 by Thomas Watson

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott

Sermon on the Mount Teaching Series by Sinclair Ferguson at Ligonier Connect

The Beatitudes by R.C. Sproul at Ligonier Connect

The Beatitudes from 50,000 Feet Sermon by Alistair Begg

The Beatitudes, Part 1 (Matthew 5:1-4) Sermon by R.C. Sproul

The Only Way to Happiness: Be Poor in Spirit Sermon by John MacArthur 

Rags to Riches (Matthew 5:3) Sermon by Pastor Ross Layne at Grace Community Church 

Logos Bible Software

Bible Memory App

Study Guide for Sermon on the Mount at Blue Letter Bible
 

Related posts:

  1. EP 87: The Riches of Poverty (Matthew 5:3 – Sermon on the Mount Series)
  2. EP 86: Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount Series {Matthew 5:1-2}
  3. Blessed are the Pure in Heart
  4. Podcast Ep. 28: Dealing with Our Anxiousness and Worry – (Matthew 6:25-34)


Free Resource Library

Get more posts like this in your inbox!

And while you’re at it, you’ll receive access to our FREE library of resources to help you in your homemaking!.

(I will not spam you. Read my privacy policy.)

« Directly from the Father’s Hand – {Psalm 31:15}
EP 89: Blessed are the Meek (Matthew 5:5 – Sermon on the Mount Series) »
WEEKLY HOME CLEANING SCHEDULE SIDEBAR AD

Welcome to Thankful Homemaker

So thankful you’ve stopped by for a visit. Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit a bit. I hope to remind you that contentment in our role as homemakers begins with finding our satisfaction in Christ.

read more…

MENU PLANNING MADE EASY SIDEBAR AD

Categories

  • Bible Study
  • Christian Living
  • Holidays
  • Homemaking
  • Marriage
  • Menu Planning
  • Motherhood
  • Podcast
  • Time Management

thankfulhomemaker

Marci Ferrell
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves.  We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣
⁣
Come take a listen to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self-Pity at the link in my profile (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your household is the most important schoolroom y "Your household is the most important schoolroom your children will ever know. And the lessons they learn don't begin and end when you crack open the family Bible. They are always watching and learning from your example—often without even realizing it. That's a tremendous responsibility and opportunity for Christian parents—one that we must make the most of, for God's glory and our children's good."⁣
 ~ John MacArthur⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 20: The Blessings of Loving Our Children at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"The visible church is where you will find Christ' "The visible church is where you will find Christ's kingdom on earth, and to disregard the kingdom is to disregard its King."⁣
~ Michael Horton⁣
⁣
Read - Building Loving Relationships In Your Church Family at the link in my bio @thankfuhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not a Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;  I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.⁣
⁣
Israel is being refined for the honor and glory of the Lord. I need the reminder that everything the Lord allows in my life is for my good and His glory. All that He does and allows is to further His eternal purposes. ⁣
⁣
He continues to remove the dross from my life in the furnace of affliction, and through each trial and circumstance of my life, the hope is I'm becoming more and more molded and shaped into the image of Christ. ⁣
⁣
Susan Huntington shared on this passage:⁣
"...if our blessed God sees that the disciple, like his Master, must be made perfect through sufferings, ought we not to welcome every means which will conduce to this blessed end? Can we desire to be babes in Christ all our days? If it is a proof of sonship to be chastised, may it not prove a special favor to be greatly chastised? ⁣
⁣
If we were asked what the greatest good is, should we not answer that it is conformity to God? If we were asked what the best circumstances are for the Christian to be placed in, should we not answer that they are those that will, most constantly and most effectually, promote his conformity to God? Shall we then pray for afflictions? By no means. We are weak, and are crushed before the moth. We should not pray for what we do not know that we could bear. ⁣
⁣
We should habitually pray for conformity to God, and quietly leave it to Him to determine by what means He will effect this blessed end."⁣
⁣
-Excerpt taken from my favorite devotional - Seasons of the Heart: A Year of Devotions from One Generation of Women to Another by Donna Kelderman (link to the book is in my profile @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows, and then this image).
Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we've all heard, and we all agree with, but deep down, we're like, okay, what does that look like? Or how do I make that practical in my day-to-day life when my marriage is hard? Or the kids are out of control? Or there's an illness in my family, or I'm just stuck in a sinful pattern? Or the house is in chaos, and I don't know where to begin? ⁣
⁣
The reality is we're always saying something to ourselves in our minds, especially in those moments of chaos or difficulty. ⁣
Is what we're speaking to ourselves centered on the truths of God's Word, or are we buying into the lies of the world? ⁣
We need to be talking to ourselves and not just listening to ourselves. But what do we need to be talking to ourselves about? ⁣
⁣
This is what we're going to work through together in EP 69: Preaching the Gospel to Yourself - link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are bey "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."⁣
~ Jerry Bridges⁣
⁣
Read more at God's Blessing Does Not Depend On Our Performance at the link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
How many times at church do you find yourself disc How many times at church do you find yourself discussing non-spiritual things? As believers, our relationships with others in the body of Christ are unlike anything non-believers will ever experience. It is such a joy when you come across another Christian that you haven't met before, and because of the common bond of Christ, it is as if you have known them forever.⁣
⁣
I have a favorite book that gets used quite often by Donald S. Whitney called Simplify Your Spiritual Life. In the section, Simplifying our Spiritual Life with Others, he guides us to drive the conversations into the spiritual. Wouldn't we all as believers like our conversations with other believers to be directed towards things related to knowing God, Bible reading and application, theology, evangelism, and prayer, to name a few.⁣
⁣
Mr. Whitney shares some questions that are a natural help in directing your conversations with your brothers and sisters in the faith to the spiritual.  This is a handy list to keep in your Bible, planner, or purse.⁣
⁣
The link to the questions is in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"If there is one maverick molecule in all the univ "If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."⁣
~R. C. Sproul
Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John M Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John MacArthur:⁣
The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of other truths.⁣
⁣
1. It gives evidence that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus arose precisely when and in the way He had predicted (see Mt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).⁣
⁣
2. The resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, and that He has power over life and death.⁣
⁣
3. The resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious.⁣
⁣
4. The resurrection proves that the church has been established. Jesus had declared, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt. 16:8)… His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from establishing His church.⁣
⁣
5. The resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father “has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22), and since the Son is now risen and alive, His judgment is certain.⁣
⁣
6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, “In My house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is now preparing a heavenly dwelling for them.⁣
⁣
~Above via John MacArthur - Matthew Commentary 24-28, Moody, 1989, p. 314-315.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Access the FREE Library!

Copyright © 2021 Thankful Homemaker · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy & Disclosure

Copyright © 2021 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email