June 25, 2025 • 37 mins
What does it truly mean to mourn in a way that brings blessing? In this profound exploration of the second Beatitude, we discover that godly grief reaches far beyond merely feeling sad about circumstances—it’s about recognizing sin for what it truly is and experiencing the transformative comfort that only God can provide.
Through the contrasting stories of King Saul and King David, we witness two fundamentally different responses to confrontation about sin. Saul’s desperate grasping at Samuel’s cloak represents worldly grief focused on consequences rather than true repentance. David’s straightforward confession—“I have sinned against the Lord”—shows us genuine godly sorrow that leads to restoration.
The spiritual posture of mourning invites us to stop whitewashing our sin like the Pharisees’ “whitewashed tombs” and instead to acknowledge our brokenness before a holy God. This vulnerability opens the door to experiencing God’s comfort—not as mere emotional soothing but as profound peace through reconciliation.
Just as Jesus restored Peter after his denial and healed the woman who touched his garment in faith, God extends comfort to those who mourn with honest hearts. Through Christ’s sacrifice, the veil has been torn, granting us direct access to God’s comforting presence even in our darkest moments.
The ultimate hope for mourners lies in Revelation’s promise of a new creation where God “will wipe away every tear” and where “mourning, crying, and pain” will be no more. This is our destination—a place where godly grief completes its transformative work and gives way to eternal comfort.
Have you allowed yourself to truly mourn your sin rather than merely its consequences? How might embracing godly grief lead you to experience God’s comfort in ways that superficial happiness never could?
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Episode Transcript
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Nick Prisco (00:04):
So we're going through the Beatitudes, as you
know, and tonight I have theprivilege to bring Blessed are
those who mourn, for they shallbe comforted Matthew 5, 4.
So my goal tonight is that theLord is going to use our
conversations afterwards, use mywords, to grow us all in our
(00:29):
faith that the Lord will speakthrough the words that I speak,
through his word that I read.
And I'm going to talk in myhalf, because it's going to be
broken up into about a half anhour of me talking, half an hour
of breakout discussion, and soin the first half I'm going to
(00:50):
kind of talk about the topic ofmourning and in the second half
it's going to be breaking outand we're going to kind of go
through the questions and talkabout comfort.
So that's kind of the plan fortonight.
And mourning is something thateverybody experiences in
(01:13):
different ways and I am by nomeans an expert in the topic.
I have gone through seasonswhere I have mourned, but I am
definitely a novice in thissubject.
But we do have role modelsthroughout the scriptures and we
(01:37):
can look to the scriptures togive us a lot of insight on the
topic.
Give us a lot of insight on thetopic Now.
Mourning can be in thetraditional sense, used in the
traditional sense, and thedictionary actually defines it
as the expression of deep sorrowfor someone who has died,
typically involving certain,involving following certain
(02:01):
conventions, such as wearingblack clothes, following certain
conventions, such as wearingblack clothes.
And we can mourn the loss ofsomebody.
But we can also mourn otherthings as well.
We can mourn the loss of arelationship with somebody,
maybe a loved one or a friend,maybe a relationship was severed
(02:22):
.
We can mourn the Maybe arelationship was severed.
We can mourn the expectationthat has been dashed by
something.
So why is mourning key to ourChristian faith?
And I would have to say thatthe answer to that starts way
(02:45):
back at the beginning.
In the Garden of Eden, adam andEve chose to eat the fruit that
they were told not to, and atthat first disobedience, sin,
entered the world.
And it's the trait that ispassed down generation to
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generation to generation andit's the one, it's one thing
that we are born into this worldand we have it.
We got it.
You might be missing you knowyour parents hair.
You might be missing an arm.
You could have some ailment,you know, naturally, but you
know you're going to have sin.
We're born into this world withit.
(03:30):
So what does I want?
To back up a second, and I wantto talk about how the world
mourns and to talk about thatfirst.
I'm going to go back into theOld Testament and I'm going to
go to 1 Samuel 15.
And if you want to turn in yourBibles with me, buckle up.
(03:53):
It's a good story.
And this is the story about theLord rejecting Saul.
As you get there in your Bible,so read along.
I'm going to be reading out ofthe ESV Saul as you get there in
your Bible, so read along.
I'm going to be reading out ofthe ESV.
(04:15):
This is the story about whenSamuel gave Saul instructions
and Saul didn't follow them tothe letter.
But I'll talk more about that.
All right, here we go.
15, verse 15.
And Samuel said to Saul theLord sent me to anoint you king
over his people, israel.
Now, therefore, listen to thewords of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of hosts.
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I have noted what Amalek did toIsrael in opposing them on the
way when they came up out ofEgypt.
Now go and strike Amalek anddevote to destruction all that
they have.
Do not spare them, but killboth man and woman, child and
infant, ox and sheep, camel anddonkey.
(04:56):
So Saul summoned the people andnumbered them to lay 200,000
men on foot and 10,000 men ofJudah.
And Saul came to the city ofAmalek and lay in wait in the
valley.
Then Saul said to the Kenitesgo depart, go down from among
the Amalekites lest I destroyyou with them, for you showed
(05:19):
kindness to all the people ofIsrael when they came out of
Egypt.
So the Kenites departed fromamong the Amalekites and Saul
defeated the Amalekites fromHavilah as far as Shur, which is
east of Egypt, and he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites,
alive and devoted to destructionall the people with the edge of
(05:42):
the sword.
But Saul and the people sparedAgag and the best of the sheep
and of the oxen and of thefattened calves and the lambs
and all that was good and wouldnot utterly destroy them.
All that was despised andworthless they devoted to
destruction.
And the word of the Lord came toSamuel.
(06:03):
I regret that I have made Saulking, for he has turned back
from following me and has notperformed my commandments.
Samuel was angry and he criedto the Lord all night and Samuel
rose early to meet Saul in themorning.
And it was told Samuel, saulcome to Carmel and behold, he
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set up a monument for himselfand turned and passed on and
went down to Gilgal.
And Samuel came to Saul andSaul said to him blessed be you
to the Lord, I have performedthe commandment of the Lord.
And Samuel said what then isthis bleeding of sheep in my
ears and the lowing of the oxenthat I hear?
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Saul said they have broughtthem from the Amalekites for the
people spared the best of thesheep and of the oxen to
sacrifice to the Lord, your God,and the rest we have devoted to
destruction.
Then Samuel said to Saul Stop, Iwill tell you what the Lord
said to me this night.
And he said to Saul stop, Iwill tell you what the Lord said
to me this night.
And he said to him speak.
(07:08):
And Samuel said though you arelittle in your own eyes and you
are not the head of the tribesof Israel, are you not the head
of the tribes of Israel?
The Lord anointed you king overIsrael, and the Lord sent you
on a mission and said go, devoteto destruction the sinners, the
Amalekites, and fight againstthem until they are consumed.
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When they did not obey.
Why, then, did you not obey thevoice of the Lord?
Why did you pounce on the spoiland do what was evil in the
sight of the Lord?
And Saul said to Samuel I haveobeyed the voice of the Lord.
I have gone on the mission onwhich the Lord sent me.
I have brought Agag, the kingof Amalek, and I have devoted
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the Amalekites to destruction.
But the people took of thespoil sheep and oxen and the
best of the things devoted todestruction to sacrifice to the
Lord, your God.
And Gilgal and Samuel said hasthe Lord as great delight in
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burnt offerings and sacrificesas obeying the voice of the Lord
?
Behold, to obey is better thansacrifice and to listen than the
fat of rams, for rebellion isas sin as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquityand idolatry.
Because you have rejected theword of the Lord, he has
rejected you from being king.
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Saul said to Samuel I havesinned, for I have transgressed
the commandment of the Lord andyour words, because I feared the
people and obeyed their voice.
Now, therefore, please pardonmy sin and return with me that I
may worship the Lord.
And Samuel said to Saul I willnot return with you, for you
have rejected the word of theLord and the Lord has rejected
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you from being king of Israel.
And Samuel turned to go away.
Saul seized the skirt of hisrobe and it tore.
And Samuel said to him the Lordhas torn the kingdom of Israel
from you this day and has givenit to a neighbor of yours who is
better than you and also theglory of Israel will not lie or
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have regret, for he is not manthat he should regret.
Then he said I have sinned, yethonor me now before the elders
of my people and before Israel,and return with me that I may
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bow before the Lord.
Your Samuel said bring here tome Agag, the king of the
Amalekites, and Agag came to himcheerfully.
Agag said surely thisbitterness of death has passed
and the end of this is notreally great for children's ears
, probably.
So I'm going to kind of skippast that.
(10:04):
But we know that Samuel had tofinish what Saul didn't finish
and he took care of Agag the waythat the Lord commanded it.
So that's a long story.
I hope you were able to followwith it.
But verse 27, somethinginteresting popped up to me that
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you know.
As Samuel turned to go away,saul sees the skirt of his robe
and tore it, and Saul was unableto let go of his control by
attempting to force Samuel toreturn with him.
And Saul, saul was having amoment where he was mourning
(10:59):
because of his sin and he wasdesperate for Samuel to to undo
what had been done.
But that just wasn't Saul's lot.
He was not going to get that,and a big reason was because in
verses 24 and 30, we see thatSaul was more worried about what
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the people and the eldersthought than what God thought.
So he decided that he was goingto take matters into his own
hands.
And we see in verse 35 that theLord, he, said that he
regretted making Saul king overIsrael.
So this is a was to me a goodpicture of you know how the
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world can choose to mourn,because so often we can.
Well, I guess, before I get moreinto that, I want to take a
look at a way that Christiansshould mourn and what the Bible
says about mourning.
So I want to go over to 2Corinthians, 7.
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Verse 10.
For godly grief produces arepentance that leads to
salvation without regret.
I guess I should preface thisby saying paul's writing to the
(12:38):
corinthians and he's expressingthe joy that he has from the
hard rebuke of the Corinthianchurch, I believe, and that this
rebuke produced a grief andthen allowed the Corinthians to
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turn away from their sins thatthey were doing.
So Paul says in verse 10, forgodly grief produces a
repentance that leads tosalvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief producesdeath.
And so to understand godlygrief, we have to be able to
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understand repentance, andrepentance is something that I
think that we can see in I don'tknow if that's the right word
we can see back in the OldTestament.
(13:49):
Right after Samuel is a story ofthe next king, king David,
which we all know the story.
So I don't think I'm going toread the whole story, but we
know I'm going to summarize itthat David and Bathsheba.
David, he saw Bathsheba out onthe roof when it was the time of
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year where kings go out tobattle and David wasn't there
and he stayed back and Bathshebawas there and he fell into
temptation and she ended uppregnant.
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So he had to come up with thisclever scheme about trying to
make it look like UriahBathsheba's husband.
I could just read it, couldn'tI, after I go through all this
trouble to talk about it.
So let's just take off where Iam.
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So David sent word to Joab andsend me Uriah the Hittite, and
that was Bathsheba's husband.
And David is now trying toconceal the pregnancy from Uriah
and others.
And Joab sent Uriah to David andwhen Uriah came to him, david
(15:21):
asked how Joab was doing and howthe people were doing and how
the war was going.
And David said to Uriah go downto your house and wash your
feet.
And Uriah went out of theking's house and there followed
him a present from the king.
But Uriah slept at the door ofthe king's house with all the
servants of his Lord and did notgo down to his house, house
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with all the servants of hisLord and did not go down to his
house.
When David told Uriah Uriah didyou not go down to, did you not
go down?
Uriah did not go down to hishouse because they told him that
David said to Uriah have younot come from a journey?
Why did you not go down to yourhouse?
Uriah said to David the ark andIsrael and Judah dwell in
booths and my lord Joab and theservants of my lord are camping
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in the open field.
Shall I then go to my house,eat and to drink and to lie with
my wife.
As you live and as your soulslive.
I will not do this thing.
And David said to Uriah remainhere today also, and tomorrow I
will send you back.
So Uriah remained in Jerusalemthat day and the next and David
(16:28):
invited him and he ate in hispresence and drank so that he
made him drunk.
And in the evening he went outto lie on his couch with the
servants of his Lord.
But he did not go to his house.
So in the morning David wrote aletter to Joab and sent it by
the hand of Uriah.
In the letter he wrote setUriah in the forefront of the
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hardest fighting and then drawback from him that he may be
struck down and die.
And as Joab was besieging thecity, he assigned Uriah to the
place where he knew there werevaliant men.
And the men of the city cameout and fought with Joab and
some of the servants of Davidamong the people fell.
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Uriah the Hittite also died.
Then Joab sent and told Davidall the news about the fighting
and he instructed the messengerwhen you have finished telling
all the news about the fightingto the king, then if the king's
anger arises and if he says toyou why did you go so near the
city to fight?
Did you not know that theywould shoot from the wall?
(17:33):
Who killed Abimelech, the sonof Jerubasheth?
Did not a woman cast an uppermillstone on him from the wall
so that he died at Thebes?
Why did you go so near the wall?
Then you shall say your servantUriah the Hittite, is dead also
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.
So the messenger went back andcame and told David all that
Joab had sent him to tell.
The messenger said to David themen gained an advantage over us
and came out against us in yourfield.
But we drove them back to theentrance of the gate.
Then the archer shot at yourservants from the wall.
Some of the king's servants aredead, and your servant, uriah
(18:15):
the Hittite, is also dead.
David said to the messenger.
Thus shall you say to Joab donot let this matter trouble you,
for the sword devours one nowand now another.
Strengthen your attack againstthe city and overthrow it and
encourage him.
And when the wife of Uriah heardthat Uriah, her husband, was
dead, she lamented over herhusband.
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And when the morning was over,david sent and brought her to
his house and she became hiswife and bore him a son.
But the thing that David haddone displeased the Lord.
Now, in chapter 12, the prophetNathan comes to David and he
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calls David out for his sin, forhis sin, and basically, um,
david, he, um.
Well, david calls himself outtruthfully.
So, um, he tells a story aboutum, a poor man.
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Let me just read it also,because it's and the Lord said
to Nathan, sent Nathan to David.
He came to him and said to himthere were two men in a certain
city, the one rich and the otherpoor.
The rich man had very manyflocks and herds, but the poor
man had nothing but one littleewe lamb which he had bought,
and he brought it up and it grewup with him and with his
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children.
It used to eat his morsel anddrink from his cup and lie in
his arms and it was like adaughter to him.
Now there came a traveler tothe rich man and he was
unwilling to take one of his ownflock or herd to prepare for
the guest who had come to him.
But he took the poor man's lamband prepared it for the man who
had come to him.
But he took the poor man's lamband prepared it for the man who
had come to him.
Then David's anger was greatlykindled against the man and he
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said to Nathan as the Lord lives, the man who has done this
deserves to die, and he shallrestore the lamb fourfold.
Because he did this thing andbecause he has no pity, he's had
no pity.
Nathan said to David you are theman.
Thus says the Lord, the God ofIsrael.
I anointed you king over Israeland I delivered you out of the
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hand of Saul and I gave you yourmaster's house and your
master's wives into your armsand gave you the house of Israel
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and Judah.
If this were too little, Iwould add to you.
He says Now.
Therefore, the sword shallnever depart from your house
because you have despised me andhave taken the wife of Uriah
the Hittite to be your wife.
Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I will raise up evilagainst you out of your own
house and I will take your wivesbefore your eyes and give them
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to your neighbor, and he shalllie with your wives in the sight
of the sun.
For you did it secretly, but Iwill do this thing before all
Israel and before the sun.
David said to Nathan I havesinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said to David, theLord also has put away your sin.
You shall not die, nevertheless, because this deed you have
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utterly scorned the Lord.
And the child is born.
The child who is born to youshall die.
And then Nathan went to hishouse and then, as most of us
know that David's child did dieand we know that David um wept
for his child and fasted for hischild, but the child still
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didn't make it.
And the big difference betweenSaul and David here is that
David, although he did wrong andit was wrong what he did when
he was found out, when his sinwas found out, he did not deny
that it was wrong.
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He, uh, he, he said it was whatit was.
And um, instead of uh, graspingat Nathan's cloak like Saul,
grasped at um at Nathan's cloak,like Saul grasped at Samuel's
cloak.
He accepted the consequences ofhis sin and trusted God, that
(22:53):
God would do what he was goingto do.
And it didn't make him feel anybetter.
It wasn't through this time ofmourning for his child, it
wasn't something that you know.
He felt the guilt, he felt theI mean, I can't say what he felt
, but it appears that he did so.
(23:19):
Alright, I know that was a lotof reading and hopefully you're
still awake, but learning tomourn.
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Mourning glorifies God.
I mean there's a promise thatyou know those who mourn will be
comforted.
God is not sin and he's notdeath and he came to destroy
those things.
Now the importance of mourningis that it's less about our
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circumstances and more aboutseeing sin for what it really is
and seeing that God is holy.
In 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16.
He says, he says but as he whowas called, he who called you,
(24:28):
is holy, you also be holy in allyour conduct.
Since it is written, you shallbe holy, for I am holy.
We serve a holy God and sin isnot compatible with this holy
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God.
And repentance is not treatingsin like a little oopsie.
It's not treating it like youknow, it's a little imposition
and you know it's no big dealand we're forgiven.
But it was our sin that nailedJesus to the cross and in that
story of David you see that herealized oh no, like I have done
wrong before the Lord.
And repentance is acknowledgingthat sin is not compatible with
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the Lord and turning away fromthat.
In 2 Corinthians 5.10, it talksabout how we're going to appear
before a judgment seat ofChrist and you know we're going
to be held accountable for oursins if we don't repent and turn
away from the Lord, which isobviously.
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I mean, if we're Christians, weunderstand that to some degree.
But the point that I'm tryingto make is that sin is not a
joke, which should also beunderstood, but kind of like
Mark's sermon on Sundaysuggested, we shouldn't look at
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sin externally by the letter ofthe law, but we should look at
the spirit of the word of God.
And in Matthew 23, 27, jesus istalking to the Pharisees and he
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says Woe to you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for you
are like whitewashed tombs whichoutwardly appear beautiful but
within are full of dead people'sbones and all uncleanness.
So you outwardly appearrighteous to others, but within
you are full of hypocrisy andlawlessness.
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The outside and theconsequences of sin.
From the outside, then we riskbeing, um, appearing good,
appearing whole, appearing right, looking good from the outside,
but we're actually dirty andbroken on the inside and um, you
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know that's the, that's thetrap, that, and you know that's
the trap that Saul fell into bytrying to please others there.
So I want to talk about howGod's comfort is available,
because this is like has beenvery heavy, but God does promise
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his comfort to those who mourn.
So an example of how is in John21.
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And Jesus is talking to Peterafter Jesus has revealed himself
.
And and John 21, 15, and we seePeter and Jesus and there's
this healing happening.
And I would I would, I mean Isee it as comfort to Peter.
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It was and it goes when he hadfinished breakfast, jesus said
to Simon Peter, simon, and Iguess you all know that Peter
denied Jesus like Jesus had saidhe would, and so he was wrecked
with guilt.
And so it says when he hadfinished breakfast, jesus said
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to Simon Peter, simon, son ofJohn, do you love me more than
these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
And he said to him feed mylambs.
He said to him a second timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
And he said to him yes, lord,you know that I love you.
He said to him tend my sheep.
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He said to him a third timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
Peter was grieved because hehad said it to him a third time
Do you love me?
And he said to him Lord, youknow everything and you know
that I love you.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
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So there's an example of Jesusextending comfort to one of his
closest friends.
Now I want to talk about howthis comfort is extended, and to
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do that I want to go over tothe book of Hebrews, 10, verse
19 and 20.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
holy places by the blood ofJesus, by the new and living way
that he opened for us throughthe curtain, that is, through
his flesh, and since we have agreat priest over the house of
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God, let us draw near with atrue heart and full assurance of
faith, with our heartssprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washedwith pure water.
Let us hold fast the confessionof our hope, without wavering
for he who promises faithful,and let us consider how to stir
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up one another to love and goodworks, not neglecting to meet
together, as is the habit ofsome, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as yousee the day drawing near and we
can be comforted from ourmourning, because Jesus was
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willing to come for us and dieon that cross, and he shed his
blood, and his blood made a wayfor us to enter into his
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presence, so there will be anend to mourning and we do have a
hope that is in Jesus Now.
David's life was a good example.
You know God said that he was.
I'm actually escaping me whathe said about David.
Somebody help me out.
What did he say about David,man after God's own heart, thank
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you, and that was encouragingto me.
There was another story in theNew Testament that was also
encouraging to me and that wasMatthew 9, 22.
Sorry and behold, a woman whohad suffered from a discharge of
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blood for 12 years came upbehind him and touched the
fringe of his garment.
She said to herself if I onlytouch the garment, I will be
made well.
Jesus turned and, seeing her,he said take heart, daughter,
your faith has made you well.
And instantly the woman wasmade well, and I was.
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You know, I was going throughthis and I was thinking of Saul
and how he tore at Samuel's tore, at Samuel's cloak, and tore it
apart because he was sodesperate that he would change
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his mind, and that he and thatthis woman was so desperate but
didn't try to take it into herown hands and force the Lord's
hand, but all that she had leftin her was to just touch his
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garment and not try to rip itand do it in our own strength,
and I thought that was a goodexample for us, that you know,
if we could have the same faithto believe that God would
comfort us when we mourn.
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To try and wrap up my side ofthings up here, basically I want
to go to Revelation 21, 1, 7.
And we see here that there willbe a place of no more pain and
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no more suffering.
So 21, verse 1,.
Then I saw a new heaven and anew earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passedaway and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, newJerusalem, coming down out of
the heaven from God, prepared asa bride adorned for her husband
, and I heard a loud voice fromthe throne saying Behold, the
dwelling place of God is withman, he will dwell with him and
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they will be his people and Godhimself will be their God.
He will wipe away every tearfrom their eyes and death shall
be no more, neither shall theirmourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore.
There should be no moremourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore.
There should be no moremourning, crying or pain anymore
.
For the former, things havepassed away.
(35:48):
And he who was seated on thethrone said behold, I am making
all things new.
Also, he said write this down,for these words are trustworthy
and true.
And he said to me it is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,the beginning and the end To the
thirsty.
I will give from the spring ofwater of life, without payment,
(36:13):
to the one who conquers willhave this heritage and I will be
his God and he will be my son,this heritage and I will be his
God and he will be my son.
So that's about all thestrength I have to, because this
, this to me, this was reallylike this was a lot going
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through the morning, and so Ikind of had this thought that if
I shared the morning, I thoughtthat we could kind of shared,
kind of what I saw about morning.
If then we could go around inthe tables and maybe talk about
the comfort that God can bring.
And so these questions are justconversation questions and I
(37:03):
thought that they might be goodand hopefully I didn't bring us
down so much that we can't askthem, but there we go.
So we're going through the Beatitudes, as you
know, and tonight I have theprivilege to bring Blessed are
those who mourn, for they shallbe comforted Matthew 5, 4.
So my goal tonight is that theLord is going to use our
conversations afterwards, use mywords, to grow us all in our
(00:29):
faith that the Lord will speakthrough the words that I speak,
through his word that I read.
And I'm going to talk in myhalf, because it's going to be
broken up into about a half anhour of me talking, half an hour
of breakout discussion, and soin the first half I'm going to
(00:50):
kind of talk about the topic ofmourning and in the second half
it's going to be breaking outand we're going to kind of go
through the questions and talkabout comfort.
So that's kind of the plan fortonight.
And mourning is something thateverybody experiences in
(01:13):
different ways and I am by nomeans an expert in the topic.
I have gone through seasonswhere I have mourned, but I am
definitely a novice in thissubject.
But we do have role modelsthroughout the scriptures and we
(01:37):
can look to the scriptures togive us a lot of insight on the
topic.
Give us a lot of insight on thetopic Now.
Mourning can be in thetraditional sense, used in the
traditional sense, and thedictionary actually defines it
as the expression of deep sorrowfor someone who has died,
typically involving certain,involving following certain
(02:01):
conventions, such as wearingblack clothes, following certain
conventions, such as wearingblack clothes.
And we can mourn the loss ofsomebody.
But we can also mourn otherthings as well.
We can mourn the loss of arelationship with somebody,
maybe a loved one or a friend,maybe a relationship was severed
(02:22):
.
We can mourn the Maybe arelationship was severed.
We can mourn the expectationthat has been dashed by
something.
So why is mourning key to ourChristian faith?
And I would have to say thatthe answer to that starts way
(02:45):
back at the beginning.
In the Garden of Eden, adam andEve chose to eat the fruit that
they were told not to, and atthat first disobedience, sin,
entered the world.
And it's the trait that ispassed down generation to
(03:10):
generation to generation andit's the one, it's one thing
that we are born into this worldand we have it.
We got it.
You might be missing you knowyour parents hair.
You might be missing an arm.
You could have some ailment,you know, naturally, but you
know you're going to have sin.
We're born into this world withit.
(03:30):
So what does I want?
To back up a second, and I wantto talk about how the world
mourns and to talk about thatfirst.
I'm going to go back into theOld Testament and I'm going to
go to 1 Samuel 15.
And if you want to turn in yourBibles with me, buckle up.
(03:53):
It's a good story.
And this is the story about theLord rejecting Saul.
As you get there in your Bible,so read along.
I'm going to be reading out ofthe ESV Saul as you get there in
your Bible, so read along.
I'm going to be reading out ofthe ESV.
(04:15):
This is the story about whenSamuel gave Saul instructions
and Saul didn't follow them tothe letter.
But I'll talk more about that.
All right, here we go.
15, verse 15.
And Samuel said to Saul theLord sent me to anoint you king
over his people, israel.
Now, therefore, listen to thewords of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of hosts.
(04:36):
I have noted what Amalek did toIsrael in opposing them on the
way when they came up out ofEgypt.
Now go and strike Amalek anddevote to destruction all that
they have.
Do not spare them, but killboth man and woman, child and
infant, ox and sheep, camel anddonkey.
(04:56):
So Saul summoned the people andnumbered them to lay 200,000
men on foot and 10,000 men ofJudah.
And Saul came to the city ofAmalek and lay in wait in the
valley.
Then Saul said to the Kenitesgo depart, go down from among
the Amalekites lest I destroyyou with them, for you showed
(05:19):
kindness to all the people ofIsrael when they came out of
Egypt.
So the Kenites departed fromamong the Amalekites and Saul
defeated the Amalekites fromHavilah as far as Shur, which is
east of Egypt, and he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites,
alive and devoted to destructionall the people with the edge of
(05:42):
the sword.
But Saul and the people sparedAgag and the best of the sheep
and of the oxen and of thefattened calves and the lambs
and all that was good and wouldnot utterly destroy them.
All that was despised andworthless they devoted to
destruction.
And the word of the Lord came toSamuel.
(06:03):
I regret that I have made Saulking, for he has turned back
from following me and has notperformed my commandments.
Samuel was angry and he criedto the Lord all night and Samuel
rose early to meet Saul in themorning.
And it was told Samuel, saulcome to Carmel and behold, he
(06:26):
set up a monument for himselfand turned and passed on and
went down to Gilgal.
And Samuel came to Saul andSaul said to him blessed be you
to the Lord, I have performedthe commandment of the Lord.
And Samuel said what then isthis bleeding of sheep in my
ears and the lowing of the oxenthat I hear?
(06:47):
Saul said they have broughtthem from the Amalekites for the
people spared the best of thesheep and of the oxen to
sacrifice to the Lord, your God,and the rest we have devoted to
destruction.
Then Samuel said to Saul Stop, Iwill tell you what the Lord
said to me this night.
And he said to Saul stop, Iwill tell you what the Lord said
to me this night.
And he said to him speak.
(07:08):
And Samuel said though you arelittle in your own eyes and you
are not the head of the tribesof Israel, are you not the head
of the tribes of Israel?
The Lord anointed you king overIsrael, and the Lord sent you
on a mission and said go, devoteto destruction the sinners, the
Amalekites, and fight againstthem until they are consumed.
(07:30):
When they did not obey.
Why, then, did you not obey thevoice of the Lord?
Why did you pounce on the spoiland do what was evil in the
sight of the Lord?
And Saul said to Samuel I haveobeyed the voice of the Lord.
I have gone on the mission onwhich the Lord sent me.
I have brought Agag, the kingof Amalek, and I have devoted
(07:55):
the Amalekites to destruction.
But the people took of thespoil sheep and oxen and the
best of the things devoted todestruction to sacrifice to the
Lord, your God.
And Gilgal and Samuel said hasthe Lord as great delight in
(08:16):
burnt offerings and sacrificesas obeying the voice of the Lord
?
Behold, to obey is better thansacrifice and to listen than the
fat of rams, for rebellion isas sin as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquityand idolatry.
Because you have rejected theword of the Lord, he has
rejected you from being king.
(08:37):
Saul said to Samuel I havesinned, for I have transgressed
the commandment of the Lord andyour words, because I feared the
people and obeyed their voice.
Now, therefore, please pardonmy sin and return with me that I
may worship the Lord.
And Samuel said to Saul I willnot return with you, for you
have rejected the word of theLord and the Lord has rejected
(09:00):
you from being king of Israel.
And Samuel turned to go away.
Saul seized the skirt of hisrobe and it tore.
And Samuel said to him the Lordhas torn the kingdom of Israel
from you this day and has givenit to a neighbor of yours who is
better than you and also theglory of Israel will not lie or
(09:22):
have regret, for he is not manthat he should regret.
Then he said I have sinned, yethonor me now before the elders
of my people and before Israel,and return with me that I may
(09:43):
bow before the Lord.
Your Samuel said bring here tome Agag, the king of the
Amalekites, and Agag came to himcheerfully.
Agag said surely thisbitterness of death has passed
and the end of this is notreally great for children's ears
, probably.
So I'm going to kind of skippast that.
(10:04):
But we know that Samuel had tofinish what Saul didn't finish
and he took care of Agag the waythat the Lord commanded it.
So that's a long story.
I hope you were able to followwith it.
But verse 27, somethinginteresting popped up to me that
(10:27):
you know.
As Samuel turned to go away,saul sees the skirt of his robe
and tore it, and Saul was unableto let go of his control by
attempting to force Samuel toreturn with him.
And Saul, saul was having amoment where he was mourning
(10:59):
because of his sin and he wasdesperate for Samuel to to undo
what had been done.
But that just wasn't Saul's lot.
He was not going to get that,and a big reason was because in
verses 24 and 30, we see thatSaul was more worried about what
(11:25):
the people and the eldersthought than what God thought.
So he decided that he was goingto take matters into his own
hands.
And we see in verse 35 that theLord, he, said that he
regretted making Saul king overIsrael.
So this is a was to me a goodpicture of you know how the
(11:51):
world can choose to mourn,because so often we can.
Well, I guess, before I get moreinto that, I want to take a
look at a way that Christiansshould mourn and what the Bible
says about mourning.
So I want to go over to 2Corinthians, 7.
(12:14):
Verse 10.
For godly grief produces arepentance that leads to
salvation without regret.
I guess I should preface thisby saying paul's writing to the
(12:38):
corinthians and he's expressingthe joy that he has from the
hard rebuke of the Corinthianchurch, I believe, and that this
rebuke produced a grief andthen allowed the Corinthians to
(13:02):
turn away from their sins thatthey were doing.
So Paul says in verse 10, forgodly grief produces a
repentance that leads tosalvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief producesdeath.
And so to understand godlygrief, we have to be able to
(13:28):
understand repentance, andrepentance is something that I
think that we can see in I don'tknow if that's the right word
we can see back in the OldTestament.
(13:49):
Right after Samuel is a story ofthe next king, king David,
which we all know the story.
So I don't think I'm going toread the whole story, but we
know I'm going to summarize itthat David and Bathsheba.
David, he saw Bathsheba out onthe roof when it was the time of
(14:15):
year where kings go out tobattle and David wasn't there
and he stayed back and Bathshebawas there and he fell into
temptation and she ended uppregnant.
(14:38):
So he had to come up with thisclever scheme about trying to
make it look like UriahBathsheba's husband.
I could just read it, couldn'tI, after I go through all this
trouble to talk about it.
So let's just take off where Iam.
(14:58):
So David sent word to Joab andsend me Uriah the Hittite, and
that was Bathsheba's husband.
And David is now trying toconceal the pregnancy from Uriah
and others.
And Joab sent Uriah to David andwhen Uriah came to him, david
(15:21):
asked how Joab was doing and howthe people were doing and how
the war was going.
And David said to Uriah go downto your house and wash your
feet.
And Uriah went out of theking's house and there followed
him a present from the king.
But Uriah slept at the door ofthe king's house with all the
servants of his Lord and did notgo down to his house, house
(15:43):
with all the servants of hisLord and did not go down to his
house.
When David told Uriah Uriah didyou not go down to, did you not
go down?
Uriah did not go down to hishouse because they told him that
David said to Uriah have younot come from a journey?
Why did you not go down to yourhouse?
Uriah said to David the ark andIsrael and Judah dwell in
booths and my lord Joab and theservants of my lord are camping
(16:06):
in the open field.
Shall I then go to my house,eat and to drink and to lie with
my wife.
As you live and as your soulslive.
I will not do this thing.
And David said to Uriah remainhere today also, and tomorrow I
will send you back.
So Uriah remained in Jerusalemthat day and the next and David
(16:28):
invited him and he ate in hispresence and drank so that he
made him drunk.
And in the evening he went outto lie on his couch with the
servants of his Lord.
But he did not go to his house.
So in the morning David wrote aletter to Joab and sent it by
the hand of Uriah.
In the letter he wrote setUriah in the forefront of the
(16:50):
hardest fighting and then drawback from him that he may be
struck down and die.
And as Joab was besieging thecity, he assigned Uriah to the
place where he knew there werevaliant men.
And the men of the city cameout and fought with Joab and
some of the servants of Davidamong the people fell.
(17:11):
Uriah the Hittite also died.
Then Joab sent and told Davidall the news about the fighting
and he instructed the messengerwhen you have finished telling
all the news about the fightingto the king, then if the king's
anger arises and if he says toyou why did you go so near the
city to fight?
Did you not know that theywould shoot from the wall?
(17:33):
Who killed Abimelech, the sonof Jerubasheth?
Did not a woman cast an uppermillstone on him from the wall
so that he died at Thebes?
Why did you go so near the wall?
Then you shall say your servantUriah the Hittite, is dead also
(17:53):
.
So the messenger went back andcame and told David all that
Joab had sent him to tell.
The messenger said to David themen gained an advantage over us
and came out against us in yourfield.
But we drove them back to theentrance of the gate.
Then the archer shot at yourservants from the wall.
Some of the king's servants aredead, and your servant, uriah
(18:15):
the Hittite, is also dead.
David said to the messenger.
Thus shall you say to Joab donot let this matter trouble you,
for the sword devours one nowand now another.
Strengthen your attack againstthe city and overthrow it and
encourage him.
And when the wife of Uriah heardthat Uriah, her husband, was
dead, she lamented over herhusband.
(18:37):
And when the morning was over,david sent and brought her to
his house and she became hiswife and bore him a son.
But the thing that David haddone displeased the Lord.
Now, in chapter 12, the prophetNathan comes to David and he
(18:58):
calls David out for his sin, forhis sin, and basically, um,
david, he, um.
Well, david calls himself outtruthfully.
So, um, he tells a story aboutum, a poor man.
(19:25):
Let me just read it also,because it's and the Lord said
to Nathan, sent Nathan to David.
He came to him and said to himthere were two men in a certain
city, the one rich and the otherpoor.
The rich man had very manyflocks and herds, but the poor
man had nothing but one littleewe lamb which he had bought,
and he brought it up and it grewup with him and with his
(19:46):
children.
It used to eat his morsel anddrink from his cup and lie in
his arms and it was like adaughter to him.
Now there came a traveler tothe rich man and he was
unwilling to take one of his ownflock or herd to prepare for
the guest who had come to him.
But he took the poor man's lamband prepared it for the man who
had come to him.
But he took the poor man's lamband prepared it for the man who
had come to him.
Then David's anger was greatlykindled against the man and he
(20:11):
said to Nathan as the Lord lives, the man who has done this
deserves to die, and he shallrestore the lamb fourfold.
Because he did this thing andbecause he has no pity, he's had
no pity.
Nathan said to David you are theman.
Thus says the Lord, the God ofIsrael.
I anointed you king over Israeland I delivered you out of the
(20:32):
hand of Saul and I gave you yourmaster's house and your
master's wives into your armsand gave you the house of Israel
(20:58):
and Judah.
If this were too little, Iwould add to you.
He says Now.
Therefore, the sword shallnever depart from your house
because you have despised me andhave taken the wife of Uriah
the Hittite to be your wife.
Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I will raise up evilagainst you out of your own
house and I will take your wivesbefore your eyes and give them
(21:21):
to your neighbor, and he shalllie with your wives in the sight
of the sun.
For you did it secretly, but Iwill do this thing before all
Israel and before the sun.
David said to Nathan I havesinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said to David, theLord also has put away your sin.
You shall not die, nevertheless, because this deed you have
(21:47):
utterly scorned the Lord.
And the child is born.
The child who is born to youshall die.
And then Nathan went to hishouse and then, as most of us
know that David's child did dieand we know that David um wept
for his child and fasted for hischild, but the child still
(22:07):
didn't make it.
And the big difference betweenSaul and David here is that
David, although he did wrong andit was wrong what he did when
he was found out, when his sinwas found out, he did not deny
that it was wrong.
(22:28):
He, uh, he, he said it was whatit was.
And um, instead of uh, graspingat Nathan's cloak like Saul,
grasped at um at Nathan's cloak,like Saul grasped at Samuel's
cloak.
He accepted the consequences ofhis sin and trusted God, that
(22:53):
God would do what he was goingto do.
And it didn't make him feel anybetter.
It wasn't through this time ofmourning for his child, it
wasn't something that you know.
He felt the guilt, he felt theI mean, I can't say what he felt
, but it appears that he did so.
(23:19):
Alright, I know that was a lotof reading and hopefully you're
still awake, but learning tomourn.
(23:39):
Mourning glorifies God.
I mean there's a promise thatyou know those who mourn will be
comforted.
God is not sin and he's notdeath and he came to destroy
those things.
Now the importance of mourningis that it's less about our
(24:05):
circumstances and more aboutseeing sin for what it really is
and seeing that God is holy.
In 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16.
He says, he says but as he whowas called, he who called you,
(24:28):
is holy, you also be holy in allyour conduct.
Since it is written, you shallbe holy, for I am holy.
We serve a holy God and sin isnot compatible with this holy
(24:52):
God.
And repentance is not treatingsin like a little oopsie.
It's not treating it like youknow, it's a little imposition
and you know it's no big dealand we're forgiven.
But it was our sin that nailedJesus to the cross and in that
story of David you see that herealized oh no, like I have done
wrong before the Lord.
And repentance is acknowledgingthat sin is not compatible with
(25:18):
the Lord and turning away fromthat.
In 2 Corinthians 5.10, it talksabout how we're going to appear
before a judgment seat ofChrist and you know we're going
to be held accountable for oursins if we don't repent and turn
away from the Lord, which isobviously.
(25:38):
I mean, if we're Christians, weunderstand that to some degree.
But the point that I'm tryingto make is that sin is not a
joke, which should also beunderstood, but kind of like
Mark's sermon on Sundaysuggested, we shouldn't look at
(26:02):
sin externally by the letter ofthe law, but we should look at
the spirit of the word of God.
And in Matthew 23, 27, jesus istalking to the Pharisees and he
(26:36):
says Woe to you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for you
are like whitewashed tombs whichoutwardly appear beautiful but
within are full of dead people'sbones and all uncleanness.
So you outwardly appearrighteous to others, but within
you are full of hypocrisy andlawlessness.
(26:58):
The outside and theconsequences of sin.
From the outside, then we riskbeing, um, appearing good,
appearing whole, appearing right, looking good from the outside,
but we're actually dirty andbroken on the inside and um, you
(27:22):
know that's the, that's thetrap, that, and you know that's
the trap that Saul fell into bytrying to please others there.
So I want to talk about howGod's comfort is available,
because this is like has beenvery heavy, but God does promise
(27:45):
his comfort to those who mourn.
So an example of how is in John21.
(28:10):
And Jesus is talking to Peterafter Jesus has revealed himself
.
And and John 21, 15, and we seePeter and Jesus and there's
this healing happening.
And I would I would, I mean Isee it as comfort to Peter.
(28:31):
It was and it goes when he hadfinished breakfast, jesus said
to Simon Peter, simon, and Iguess you all know that Peter
denied Jesus like Jesus had saidhe would, and so he was wrecked
with guilt.
And so it says when he hadfinished breakfast, jesus said
(28:55):
to Simon Peter, simon, son ofJohn, do you love me more than
these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
And he said to him feed mylambs.
He said to him a second timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
And he said to him yes, lord,you know that I love you.
He said to him tend my sheep.
(29:15):
He said to him a third timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
Peter was grieved because hehad said it to him a third time
Do you love me?
And he said to him Lord, youknow everything and you know
that I love you.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
(29:51):
So there's an example of Jesusextending comfort to one of his
closest friends.
Now I want to talk about howthis comfort is extended, and to
(30:20):
do that I want to go over tothe book of Hebrews, 10, verse
19 and 20.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
holy places by the blood ofJesus, by the new and living way
that he opened for us throughthe curtain, that is, through
his flesh, and since we have agreat priest over the house of
(30:42):
God, let us draw near with atrue heart and full assurance of
faith, with our heartssprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washedwith pure water.
Let us hold fast the confessionof our hope, without wavering
for he who promises faithful,and let us consider how to stir
(31:02):
up one another to love and goodworks, not neglecting to meet
together, as is the habit ofsome, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as yousee the day drawing near and we
can be comforted from ourmourning, because Jesus was
(31:24):
willing to come for us and dieon that cross, and he shed his
blood, and his blood made a wayfor us to enter into his
(31:44):
presence, so there will be anend to mourning and we do have a
hope that is in Jesus Now.
David's life was a good example.
You know God said that he was.
I'm actually escaping me whathe said about David.
Somebody help me out.
What did he say about David,man after God's own heart, thank
(32:08):
you, and that was encouragingto me.
There was another story in theNew Testament that was also
encouraging to me and that wasMatthew 9, 22.
Sorry and behold, a woman whohad suffered from a discharge of
(33:08):
blood for 12 years came upbehind him and touched the
fringe of his garment.
She said to herself if I onlytouch the garment, I will be
made well.
Jesus turned and, seeing her,he said take heart, daughter,
your faith has made you well.
And instantly the woman wasmade well, and I was.
(33:29):
You know, I was going throughthis and I was thinking of Saul
and how he tore at Samuel's tore, at Samuel's cloak, and tore it
apart because he was sodesperate that he would change
(33:51):
his mind, and that he and thatthis woman was so desperate but
didn't try to take it into herown hands and force the Lord's
hand, but all that she had leftin her was to just touch his
(34:11):
garment and not try to rip itand do it in our own strength,
and I thought that was a goodexample for us, that you know,
if we could have the same faithto believe that God would
comfort us when we mourn.
(34:41):
To try and wrap up my side ofthings up here, basically I want
to go to Revelation 21, 1, 7.
And we see here that there willbe a place of no more pain and
(35:03):
no more suffering.
So 21, verse 1,.
Then I saw a new heaven and anew earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passedaway and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, newJerusalem, coming down out of
the heaven from God, prepared asa bride adorned for her husband
, and I heard a loud voice fromthe throne saying Behold, the
dwelling place of God is withman, he will dwell with him and
(35:26):
they will be his people and Godhimself will be their God.
He will wipe away every tearfrom their eyes and death shall
be no more, neither shall theirmourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore.
There should be no moremourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore.
There should be no moremourning, crying or pain anymore
.
For the former, things havepassed away.
(35:48):
And he who was seated on thethrone said behold, I am making
all things new.
Also, he said write this down,for these words are trustworthy
and true.
And he said to me it is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,the beginning and the end To the
thirsty.
I will give from the spring ofwater of life, without payment,
(36:13):
to the one who conquers willhave this heritage and I will be
his God and he will be my son,this heritage and I will be his
God and he will be my son.
So that's about all thestrength I have to, because this
, this to me, this was reallylike this was a lot going
(36:38):
through the morning, and so Ikind of had this thought that if
I shared the morning, I thoughtthat we could kind of shared,
kind of what I saw about morning.
If then we could go around inthe tables and maybe talk about
the comfort that God can bring.
And so these questions are justconversation questions and I
(37:03):
thought that they might be goodand hopefully I didn't bring us
down so much that we can't askthem, but there we go.
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