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Produced by Simon Siew

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 A natural consequence of the first
Beatitude

 When we realized our

lack of righteousness,
we are filled with a
sense of unworth and
shame.

 This leads to a
profound sense of
sorrow and we mourn
over our sins.
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 Laughter versus mourning
 We live in world which likes
to laugh and thus the world
does not like mourners.
 However mourning is a very
essential part of life for it
awakens us to certain
realities and helps us to
reprioritize our lives.
 The Bible says these
mourners will be comforted
- who are these mourners?

Produced by Simon Siew

3/25
 What does mourning mean?
 It does not mean the
Christian is perpetually
morose, forever weepy.

 Illust: Little girl’s

exclamation upon
seeing a donkey

 “This donkey must be a

Christian, it has such a
long face!”

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 Greek word for ‘mourning’

 Penthein - the Greek word for mourning

 One of the strongest Greek words for mourning

 It is used for mourning for the dead

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5/25
 Two things about this kind of mourning

 It is the sorrow which

pierces the heart; it is
no gentle, sentimental
twilight sadness.

 It is the sorrow which

is visible; which can be
seen in a man’s bearing,
a man’s face and a man’s
tears - it is bound to be
shown.

Produced by Simon Siew

6/25
 What is Jesus saying?

 At the individual level, we are

to grieve our personal sin.

 This mourning is experienced by

the man who begins to realize
the blackness of his sin.

 This is especially when he is

exposed to the purity of God,
our true mirror of our lives.

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 The Confessions of David

 David prayed this famous

prayer upon being confronted
by the prophet Nathan.

 He realized what he had done

to his great shame and
sadness.

 He saw the blackness of his

heart and sorrow was the
result.

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8/25
 Psalms 51 - most famous penitent prayer
 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according
to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when
you judge.
 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother
conceived me.
 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in
the inmost place.
 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow.

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 Psalms 51 - most famous penitent prayer
 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit
within me.
 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit,
to sustain me.
 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back
to you.
 14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my
tongue will sing of your righteousness.
 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

Produced by Simon Siew

10/25
 Psalms 51 - most famous penitent prayer
 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
 18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up
the walls of Jerusalem.
 19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt
offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on
your altar.

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11/25
 Confession of Prophet Isaiah

 Isaiah 6:5 - Woe is me! For I am lost; for I

am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of people of unclean lips; for my eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

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 Confession of Apostle Paul

 Romans 7:24 - “Wretched

man that I am! Who will
deliver me from this body
of death?”

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13/25
Two things happen, the longer a
person knows Jesus

 Firstly, he is bound to see

more clearly the high
standard of God’s
perfection by which he
must judge his life.

 He therefore no longer
feels righteous but realizes
just how far short he is
from the standard of God

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14/25
Two things happen, the longer a
person knows Jesus

 Secondly, the more a man

knows Jesus, the more he
realizes the cost of sin.

 He sees the terribleness of

his deeds and the utter horror
of sin as he sees the innocent
Jesus hanging on the cross.

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15/25
 Broader consideration of this Beatitude
 Mourning can also be
stimulated by the sin of this
world, the lack of integrity, the
sense of injustice done, the
cruelty of tyrants.

 Such sadness and suffering are

bound to pile onto the
consciousness of a sensitive
man and they make him weep.

 Illustration: Little girl thrown

inside rubbish chute in
Singapore.

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 Jeremiah - the crying prophet

 Jeremiah was known as the ‘crying

or weeping prophet because he
wept over the sins of others
(Israel).

 The whole book of Lamentations is

a record of his crying over the evil
deeds of Israel.

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17/25
 The tears of Jesus over Jerusalem

 Matthew 23:37-38

 Jesus too provided us an

example of this sort of
mourning when He mourned
over the impending
destruction of Jerusalem.

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The man who lives in God’s light can’t help
but mourn over what he
sees
 He mourns for the sins and
blasphemies of his nation, he
mourns for the erosion of the
concept of truth.

 He mourns over the greed, the

exploitation and the lack of
integrity.

 He mourns the fact they are

so few mourners.

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 Mourning and sorrow - a blessing?

 There are things

which only sorrow
can teach.

 For this reason, it

has been said that
sorrow is the
source of the
great discoveries
in life.

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20/25
 Things discovered through sorrow
 Discovers the things that really
matter.
 Discovers the meaning of friendship
& love.
 Discovers whether our faith is
superficial or the essential foundation
of our life.
 Greatest of discoveries -- God. In our
blackest hour, the light of God
becomes brighter.

Produced by Simon Siew

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 Those who mourn will be comforted
 Parakalein - The Greek word
for ‘comfort.’
 It means more than just
alleviating someone’s pain for
this word is also the same
word used to invite someone to
a banquet.
 In other words, God not only
forgives the sinner but invites
him to his banquet as an
honored guest e.g. Prodigal son
- fatted calf.
 In other words from sorrow
comes rejoicing.

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 The comfort of God

 Mourners are comforted in the knowledge that there is God who

loves him and would not let him go despite his unfaithfulness.
 Mourners are comforted that it was for their sins, that Jesus
died on the cross to save them.

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 The greatest comfort of all

 Revelation 21:4
 God himself will wipe away all
tears from the eyes of those
who mourn as He makes all
things new when Jesus
returns to this world.
 The former things will be gone
and no more remembered.

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 Paraphrased Beatitude No 2

 Happy is the man

who is moved to
bitter sorrow at
the realization of
his sins for
through it, God’s
love and
forgiveness
shines out so
brightly and
warmly in his cold
and darkness.

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