Lasting Comfort

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

1. God promises us lasting comfort.

The person who mourns for sin and looks to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit will find comfort. 

There is no comfort without mourning. Christ promises to us His presence.

2. Jesus provides lasting comfort when we grieve over our sin. 

Our grieving must be so real that we cannot hide it with a mask.

A. We must not mourn for things that we should not have. 

B.  Appropriate mourning is mourning for things such as death, distance, and disappointment.

2 Corinthians 7:9-10  (NKJV)

9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Mourning over sin is not being engulfed in despair. We are to see a purpose in our pain for God's glory.  It focuses on God not self. We must be sorry for what we did not just the result of it.  We must find comfort as it's consequence. 

2 Corinthians 1:3  (NKJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

3. What tends to keep us from mourning of our sin?

Do we love our sin?  Do we love our sin more than we love our Lord?  Do we presume that God will forgive our sin regardless of our unrepentance?  Do we put off repentance?  Have we presumed on the grace of God?

Are we sensitive to our sin and the sin of others?  Are we truly walking in the wonder of God's forgiveness?  We must ask His forgiveness, and thank Him for it by faith.

Darryl Craft, Whitesburg Baptist Church

http://www.whitesburgbaptist.org/sermons/lasting-comfort/