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We're continuing our series in the book of Matthew and in particular, we are looking at Matthew chapter 5, a series called 'the King's speech'. It's the speech of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords Jesus Christ.

This is also popularly known as the sermon on the Mount, and our King, Jesus Christ is going to teach about His Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven. It's a kingdom that is very different from the kingdoms of this world and it's a kingdom that He sought to bring people to, and He's going to describe to us the kingdom, the people there, the principles there, the precautions there and we are going to learn a lot in these three chapters from Matthew 5 to 7, but we began in the King's speech by looking at the kind of people that will make up the Kingdom of heaven, what are the people like, what are their characteristics, that's what we focused on in the first 12 verses or so in Matthew chapter 5 in the King's speech. He's going to describe to us the kind of people in God's kingdom, what Christians should be like, what are the people of God to be like.

If you are a Singaporean today, you would immediately identify with several of these characteristics that we see. In Singapore, we have people who are seen as friendly, kiasi ['afraid of dying' in Hokkien dialect], you know what that means right, for foreigners, you have to Google and find out more alright, kiasu ['scare to lose out' in Hokkien dialect], kiasi ['afraid of dying' in Hokkien dialect], we are Singaporeans, seen as , pragmatic, money minded, competitive, busy, so these are the various characteristics that generally characterize Singaporeans.

But what about the people of the Kingdom of heaven, what are they like. Jesus Christ tells us, what they are like, in a summary, He gives it to us in these eight beatitudes, these eight statements.

These are statements of blessings, but they also statements that describe the people in the Kingdom of God. There are eight of them, we began last week by looking at the first one, "blessed are the poor in spirit" [Matthew 5:3], the people of God, Christians should be characterized by the poverty of spirit, poor in spirit, that is not referring to material or financial poverty, this is about the mindset, this is about knowing that I am a beggar before God, knowing that I am a spiritual bankrupt before God, because there is no credit or merit in my own works.

I cannot stand before a Holy God and say, "God, you've got to accept me because I am rich in good works", God says, "no", we all men are filthy, all our works are like filthy rags, there is none good and when a man knows that, accepts that, recognizes that, he is blessed, because he will now come to God in the right spirit, he will now come to God in the right attitude, he comes to God as a beggar and when he comes to God pleading God's mercy, he receives God's, God's amazing mercy and grace, he receives the Kingdom of heaven.

So no wonder Jesus says, "blessed are such people" and the Kingdom of heaven is made up of people who know they are spiritual bankrupts.

Today, we move on to the second beatitude and it is simply, "blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" [Matthew 5:4]. Now I want you to realize that these qualities in men, in the people of God, are not qualities that we do to gain entrance into heaven, no these are qualities of someone who God has changed, God has worked in their hearts in such a way that with this new life, new heart, new spirit, they are poor in spirit, they are those who will mourn.

The question now is what does it mean 'to mourn', well simply in the English word, or even in the Greek, it means 'to sorrow', 'to cry', 'to weep', 'to lament', that's what it means, blessed are those who cry, blessed are those who sorrow, blessed are those who are sad, blessed are those who lament. You say, this is very strange, it doesn't seem very attractive. You're right, to many cultures, many kingdoms, this is not attractive. To the Greeks, in the times of Jesus, this is not attractive, it is clear from their literature and even for Chinese people, I'm a Chinese and even for Chinese people, this is not very attractive.

When I was growing up, my dad would tell me, "nan zi han da zhang fu liu xue bu liu lei [written in han yu pin yin]" (男子汉大丈夫，流血不流泪)[written in Chinese characters], so when I fall down and I want to cry, my dad will say, "nan zi han da zhang fu liu xue bu liu lei [written in han yu pin yin]" (男子汉大丈夫，流血不流泪)[ in Chinese characters], in other words, if you are truly a macho man, like me, if you're truly a macho man, you don't shed tears, you shed blood. So I rather have the blood flowing than my tears flowing, I keep back my tears, cannot cry because if I cry, that's a sign of weakness, I'm sissy, I'm wimpy, not only Chinese but in Cantonese we say 'hum bao' ['crying baby' in Cantonese dialect], don't be a 'hum bao', don't be a cry baby, don't be a bag of tears, literally, that's what it means.

So we think it's a sign of weakness to weep, but Jesus tells us, the people in the Kingdom of God are weakest, they are cry babies, they are hum baos. Wow, this is very strange, this is very different, indeed the Kingdom of heaven is very counter cultural, it goes against what the world is all about. The Greeks parade themselves as powerful people, the Romans parade themselves as powerful people, they are sufficient, they are capable, but Jesus says the Kingdom of heaven are made of people who are recognizing that they are bankrupts. Ah, the world today, you must live and enjoy life, but Jesus says, "blessed are those who cry, who mourn".

So why, what does this mean, well, this is what my job here is all about, I hope to share with you from this one verse, what this means and hope at the end of the day, you recognize for yourself, are you truly a mourner, a cry, crying person spiritually and are you truly bless, alright, so that's my task.

First of all, I want to tell you what this mourning is not about alright, what this is not about. I don't think this mourning is about saying Christians should be a very depressive, joyless people. This is not saying that Christians should always pull a long face, everywhere you go, you are just that unpleasant, sad picture, no, I don't think that's what it is all about. The Bible talks about rejoicing in the Lord and so on, so there ought to be joys and there are also sorrow. So this is not about the permanent state, a Christian should be in.

I also don't think this mourning, is mourning over every single thing in life, like if you lost money, you mourn and you think that's blessed, bless, I don't think so. I don't think this is about losing someone or losing comfort or, or being in a difficult situation.

There was a story told of a man who was at the cemetery, during Qingming [also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day)] (清明) [written in Chinese characters] and he saw another man crying intensely at the tomb. He was amazed at how deeply that man grieves and so he went over and said, “Sir, I've never met anyone grieve so hard like you do, this person must be very important to you, oh who is he? What did he do, that you should cry so hard, is he your brother, is your father?" "No, he's none of these things, but when he died, he left me in such a mess." "So, sir, who is he to you?" "He is my wife's former husband, this take some time to digest, I know, he's my wife's former husband, alright."

Now, we will mourn over many things alright, natural, there's nothing unusual, everybody mourns, you lose some money, you mourn, you get into a road traffic accident, you mourn, you have a difficult boss, you mourn. Everybody naturally mourns, nothing wrong with that, but I don't think that is the kind of mourning referred to here by Jesus, because in and of itself there's nothing blessed there and there's nothing unique about the people of God if they should only mourn about these things.

Moreover, the Bible tells us to count it all joy when we fall into all kinds of trials. The Bible tells us to glory in our tribulations, James 1 and Romans 5. So I don't think this is about being sad, over difficult circumstances. You say then, what is it about ?

I think it's very specific, the blessing of mourning is very specific, it's only, I believe, applied to those who are of the kingdom, who will mourn over their "snake ah", who will mourn over their sins, who will mourn over their sinfulness, who will mourn over their spiritual bankruptcy. Verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, they know they are, that they are spiritually bankrupt and this takes it to a deeper level.

You see, the first beatitude deals with knowing, recognizing, being aware, but the second beatitude brings it deeper to the emotional level, you're not just aware of it, you are not just conscious of your spiritual bankruptcy before God, but you're grieved, you feel guilty, you're contrite, you are broken, you feel really bad about it.

The people of the Kingdom of God, are not just people who say, yah, theoretically I'm a sinner, but they are grieving, they are sad, they are sorrowful over sin and not just because they are caught, not just because, you will be thrown into prison, not just because someone has found out, even if no one sees, they are grieved in their hearts for sinning against God, such is the Kingdom of God, that's what makes this unique.

The psalmist tells us, "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise" [Psalm 51:7]. Those who come to God and those who God is drawing, they come with a broken and contrite spirit.

In Isaiah 57, I dwell, God says, "I dwell, look at this, I dwell in the high and holy place but then, I also dwell with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit" [Isaiah 57:15], I'm with those who are broken, who are grieving over their sins, that is what this is all about.

Isaiah 66, "but this is the one to whom I will look", who are the people I look for, "he who is humble, spiritual bankrupt", he knows it "and contrite in spirit and who trembles at My Word" [Isaiah 66:2], he who mourns over his sins.

So Jesus is talking about this unique characteristic of the people of the kingdom, they grieve over their sins, do you grieve over your sins? In 2nd Corinthians, "you were grieved into repenting", now this grieve does not stay as mere emotions, if you are sufficiently sorry for your sin, broken over your sin, you are not going to stay there, you won't, I mean, you're really affected by it, you say, I want to change, I want to do right, I want to turn from my wicked ways, yup, that's what it is, "you will grieved into repenting for you felt a godly grief... for godly grief produces a repentance" [2 Corinthians 7:9], a change of mind, a change of your heart, a change of your ways "that leads to salvation" [2 Corinthians 7:10] and that is the beauty of how God gives us a new heart.

The Old Testament tells us about the reality of the new covenant. We went through this in the book of Hebrews, God is going to do an amazing work in the hearts of men, men over the history of thousands of years have proven themselves incapable of loving God, incapable of truly obeying the Word of God, they can't, and so, God when when man is proven to be totally incapable of doing so, says this is what I would do, "I will give you a new heart, I'll give you a new spirit, I'll take away the heart of stone and I'll give you a heart of flesh" [Ezekiel 36:26], a heart now that beats for Me, a heart now that cares, about what I care for, a heart that loves Me and loves My Word and that's why a person who is of the kingdom is someone whose heart, God has changed and is someone who would grieve over their sins, because he now cares for what God cares for, he now cares for what God thinks, he sees sin for what it is, it's not just some fun stuff I do that if I could get away without the consequences, I will. No, now he see sin for its wickedness, its filth, its ugliness, its offense before God and therefore he is sorrows, he recognizes sin for what it is.

You know, the word used, mourn in the Greek is a very intense word. In the Greek language, there are nine different words, Greek words for the one word we have, mourn or sorrow. Of course in English we have different kinds of words too, like sad, sorrow, very sad, I do not know what, I'm limited in my vocab, but in the Greek, there are nine words, and Jesus chose the one that is most intense, a child of God, the child of God, someone whose heart, God has changed, sees sin, looks at sin in a totally different way.

The world, if I can get away with it, why not. The Christian, I care about my Father and how He feels, even when no one is watching. And that's the attitude, the tax collector had isn't it, we looked at him, our friend last week, the Pharisee, the religious leader, is full of himself, he either doesn't feel sad about his sin at all, he doesn't even see his sins, he's not grieved, he's full of himself, he's very happy with himself, he's very happy, nothing wrong.

But the tax collector comes, he knows everything wrong in, is in him, he sees himself as a spiritual bankrupt, he sees himself as a filthy sinner and he is grieved because the Bible says he smote his breasts, his chest, he was grief strickened and he, and he just comes to God and says, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner", that's all he said.

And I think for anyone to really know God, he must have such an attitude towards sin and himself. So the Bible tells us in James, if you're someone like this today, you say I need to be saved, I'm glad you say you need to be saved, but you know Jesus is not just a Santa Claus you come to, you are coming to God, the holy and high God and and you are a filthy sinner like myself, who is totally incapable of earning any merit and credit, I, I say to you, like myself, come as a beggar to God, come as a beggar who is really sad about your own state, "cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom" [James 4:8,9].

He goes on to say, humble yourself and He will exalt you. The only way you can come to Jesus Christ, the only way you can come to God is when you recognize your total unworthiness and is wretched and broken and contrite over your sin, then fly to Jesus because He is gracious to forgive, blessed are those who mourn.

Now this is a message not just for seekers, not just for those who are not Christians, that, oh, this is an encouragement for seekers to come to Christ, that's, that's true, but that's more than that. I think this is also applicable to every Christian, because when Jesus spoke this, it was in a continuous sense, we, the Greek scholars will call this, the present active participle. Basically, it means, this is a continuous action, this is a continuous state, it would be probably more accurately reflected as, blessed are those who mourn continually for they shall be comforted.

So this mourning, this attitude of brokenness is not just once off, when you came to Jesus, but is to be a repeated attitude and posture of life, that we would be broken over our sins, over and over and over and over again, that we would come to God in humility and in confession, over and over and over again.

Now, I want to be absolutely clear here alright, I want to be crystal clear here. What I just said, does not mean that when I sin, I come to God and say, "God please forgive me, save me, don't let me go to hell", I'm not saying that.

I'm not saying that you are mourning over the fear of condemnation, because Romans 8 verse 1 tells us clearly, there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So when we come to God in brokenness, well I'm not saying, that you come to God saying, "God sorry aah, because I know if you if I don't ask for forgiveness, You are going to send me to hell, You are going to forsake me". No, God will never forsake those who are His, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, nothing will separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:39, nothing.

So this is not about mourning, about going to hell, this is not a mourning of condemnation, this is a mourning of conviction, I'm sad and broken over my sin, I'm confident of the grace of Jesus Christ, I'm not go to hell, but nonetheless, I'm sad that I've sinned against God, I'm sad, that's what it means.

So why should we mourn, I mean this is very strange, we, we, we look at this, I know this is very depressive sermon, you almost want to cry already, but the Bible tells me, no, no, no, this is, this is not depressive. This is actually very encouraging, because the first word here is blessed, supremely happy, why are mourning people to be happy. Actually, if you look at it in simple English, it is happy are the sad, right, happy are the sad, it's very strange, why, because they shall be comforted. The blessing there, is that when we come to God in humility and in brokenness, we will receive His comfort.

So the mourning in and of itself is not very pleasant, not pleasant to cry, I know, but the effect of it the result of being broken before God is very good, is very comforting. Let me give you an example, supposed a man, has a progressive problem in his body, he feels this tummy pain and this bloatedness for many weeks and many months and it gets worse and worse and worse until such a point that he has a big tummy, it's very uncomfortable, he can't eat much, he's a lot of problems with his tummy, so he goes to see the doctor. He doesn't like to see the doctor because he's scared the doctor will do something unpleasant but he goes to see the doctor and the doctor did some x-ray scans and says, "Sir, I'm afraid you have a big whopping tumour inside and you need to remove it if you want to get well". The man says, "huh? Got to remove it aah, is it very painful". The doctor says, "yah, very painful, of course I'll put you under anesthesia but after the surgery you have a big wound there, a big scar there, it's going to be painful, you can't do very much for about two or three weeks, even a month but there's no other choice."

The man says, "yah I agree with you, there's no choice. I don't want to live with this distention, I don't want to live with this pain, it's too uncomfortable for me, I rather die, so I will go through the surgery". After that surgery, he had experiences that pain for that one full month but two, three months, four months later his friend comes in and says, "hey, you look slimmer aah, you, you diet, exercise", "no, no, no, I had a surgery, I took that out." "How was your surgery?" "Very good", "Huh? Very good, for us who has known, his (....can't hear) say very good, I thought the surgery is very painful." "No, it was very good, I thought very painful, no, very good", "why?", "because after the painful surgery, I now feel very good". Now, let me ask you, wasn't the surgery painful. Yes, but it was a blessing for the man to go through the surgery, because now he could be cured, he is now comforted and that's I think what it means here, you hold onto your sin, you don't want to confess your sins, you don't want to come clean before God you like living with this tumor in your soul, painful, distended, uncomfortable, and sometimes you feel like you want to die, you're so ashamed of yourself, but you only get relief if you're willing to come to the spiritual surgeon right, when you say, "Lord, I'm not to hide from You anymore, it's painful to confess, it's painful to grieve over my sin, but I'm going to do it because I believe that if I do it right, You forgive me and I'll be comforted".

That's why in er sorry in 2nd Corinthians 7:9 to 10 it says, "you were grieved into repenting", it's a good thing, "that you will have this grieve that will produce this repentance", that you may turn from your ways, so that you may be cured, this is a painful process, but it's good for you.

Proverbs 28 tells us, "whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtain mercy" [Proverbs 28:13]. Transgressions means sins and again, in Psalm 32, "I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity", I came to you, I came clean, I, "I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord", and You forgave the iniquity of my sin" [Psalm 32:5]. "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long" [Psalm 32:3], miserable to live with unconfessed sin, miserable. David experienced this for a whole year when he sinned against God in the case of Bathsheba and if you're Christian today, you know exactly what I mean, and so the psalmist says, "blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered", it's a blessing.

You know sometimes when you hear a good preacher, when you hear good preaching, sound preaching, which confronts men with sin and reveals the grace of God in Jesus Christ, when you hear preaching about sin and forgiveness, you will be affected, if you really listen properly, you will be affected, I believe the Spirit of God will take the Word of God and convict your heart.

You know what, when you feel convicted, you'll feel sad right and I've, I've known people over the years who, after hearing the Word of God, they feel sorry for their sin, they cry, they cry, they grieve over their sorrow, but after that, they, they feel very happy and so they will go to the preacher and say, "pastor, thank you for scolding me" and say, "pastor, can you scold the church more, we need more preaching", I say, "what, are you crazy, you like to cry, you like to weep", "yah, because when I weep over my sins, I get comfort".

Today, many people don't like to go through this necessary journey of mourning, grieving over our sins, we like to skip it, we like to pretend that there's nothing going on, but the Bible tells us the only way is when we come clean before God, grieving and confessing our sins and this is such a joy when the Bible tells us, it tells us in 1 John 1:9, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness", not just once off, in the Greek, this is continuous as well, if we keep confessing our sins, He is, He is faithful and just to keep forgiving us.

Now of course a true child of God does not take advantage of this, abuse it and say, "Aah, I can sin all I want". No, a true child of God hates his sin, but should he sin, he is comforted to know that this is the amazing grace of God, this is the amazing justice of God, that Jesus paid it all, and if I were to confess, it will always be forgiven. I'm, I'm comforted to know that. So, God is looking for people who are broken and contrite and there's always forgiveness for them, who would come to God, broken and contrite.

Just recently my son, did a really bad thing, he sin in an obvious way, he tried to hide it, he wouldn't and we had to confront him with the sin and, and he had to cry. I mean, there was, I'm sure it was intense for him make that he, he had to cry. What I do when my son cry, well, I hope he could, I, I hope he was crying because he recognized the mischief, he recognized the ugliness, he recognized the wrong in what he did. When my son cries, what does the father do, do I say, "because of this wrong, I will never love you anymore, son". Oh no, I'm just, you know what, as I was talking to him, I'm just waiting for the time he would say, "I'm really sorry for my sin, I'm really sorry for what I have done", I'm just waiting for tears to flow, not because he's in an awkward situation, but because he really is broken and the moment he would show that repentance, daddy is all ready to embrace my son. Never one moment, never one moment in my mind that says, "he did a terrible thing, he's not worthy to be your son", never one moment.

You know when you sin against God, never one moment, if you're truly in Christ never one moment will your God say, "I will never forgive you anymore", but if you're willing to just say, "I'm sorry, I really am wrong in this", if you have a true grief that leads to repentance, your Father immediately comforts you and the thing about this forgiveness, this comfort is so amazing.

The word comfort, we always say this in the Greek it's the word 'parakaleo', which means 'to call beside', it's to come near, comfort means someone come near and sayang ['to comfort' in Malay language], you know idea right, aah, don't cry anymore I come and sayang you, it's the same idea, God comes to comfort us and it's very graphic when you look at Psalm 34:18, "God is near", now I'm not saying that when I confess my sin I actually see God beside me and sayang my head. No, no, no but I can know His intimacy, I can know His forgiveness, I can know that my communion with Him is restored, because Psalms 34 says, "God is near to the brokenhearted, He saves the crushed in spirit" [Psalm 34:18], in Isaiah 57 which, which we have looked at, God lives in a high and holy place, but at the very same time He's near to those who are of a contrite and lowly spirit, that intimacy is, is given by God in His Word, I'm near to you if you are willing to turn. I'm not going to stay far away, I'm not going to, I'm not going to reject you at an arm's-length, the moment you're willing to, I come and I think that's a story in the prodigal son.

Remember the prodigal son, he, he hated his father, he says give me all that I deserve, I don't want you and he ran to a far country, wasted his life until he had to live among the pigs and when he was in misery, he suddenly came to himself, he said, "I have sinned against heaven, I've sinned against my father, I'm wrong, I need to turn, I want to repent" and that's what he did. He got up and turned and was on the way back home and guess what, the Bible tells us, he did not make it home by himself because the father who was far away has, I think been looking out of the window every day, just watching for the first sign of turning from his son and when he saw his son turned, the father ran to the son, he didn't wait for the son to come back, he ran to the son, he ran to the son, hugged him, kiss him, gave him the ring, gave him the shoes, gave him the robe, gave him a calf, hosted a party to celebrate the son's return. What did the son do, nothing, he was just broken that's all. But the father is near to the brokenhearted, my friends, this is the amazing love and grace of our Father, sin over and over and over and over again until I'm disappointed, even with myself, but our God is still faithful and just to forgive me and to draw near to me, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted, amazing.

So it was Spurgeon who said, "Our griefs are blessed, for they are our points of contact with the divine Comforter", we know the comfort of God, when we mourn over our sins and we now experience more deeply the radical grace of God, that God's grace is given to us, not because we deserve it, not because we were good boys, God's grace is given to us when we were naughty boys.

Kent Hughes puts it very simply, "Would you be comforted?" You want to experience the comfort of forgiveness, "then weep for your sins, would you be happy", you really want to live in the fullness of joy, "then weep".

But I like it best from William Barclay, I think he summarizes it perfectly, "The way to the joy of forgiveness, is through the desperate sorrow of the broken heart", beautiful, precise, exactly what this beatitude is all about.

This joy is not a joy of circumstances, it's the joy of forgiveness and the way to this joy of forgiveness is only when we mourn, the desperate sorrow of the broken heart.

I pray we will learn more of this in our lives, you know we live in a day and age, I think where people love entertainment, right, I think, hundred, two hundred years ago, entertainment is not such a big deal, today entertainment is the deal. You want to make money, be in entertainment, except TCS, I mean, everything else okay, entertainment line, all of the Hollywood blockbusters, they earn big bucks, people are in entertainment, people are in the business of making one self happy.

I think that has also crept into the church. What is church about for many people? I come to church to be happy, I come to church, so that it can be happy clappy. No, I'm not against clapping, by the way, but I'm against this whole philosophy, that church is about making me happy, because you say wow, life in Singapore is very hard, I got to work from Monday to Friday or Saturday, so in church, I need to decompress, I need to, I need to enjoy I need to have a rocking good time. "So pastor, don't preach to me about heavy stuff like this, it makes me sleep, tell me good things I want to hear, tell me about positive things, I want a happy, clappy church".

But you know, all these superficial things are not going to give you real joy, because you have what, you have a whopping big spiritual tumor in your life. So you have a big tumour you can see I'm very happy, I eat food but after you eat, you still feel very distended right. So you can come to church, and can sing all the happy songs, hear all the nice things but you know what it never gets rid of the real spiritual problem.

I, I think it's almost like someone who has this big tumor, he doesn't want the surgery, so he takes painkillers, painkillers, painkillers, then he takes opium, he gets himself addicted but the tumor is still there. The Kingdom of God doesn't rush over these things superficially, it deals with the issue right on. And Jesus says, "blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted".

So, I'm thankful in this church, our worship team has thought through and said that, "no, that's not what we want, we don't want a happy clappy church". Now there are songs of joy, we sing that with joy, of course, we do, but we are not going to avoid songs of lament, songs that bring out truth, a true spectrum of emotions because that's what the Psalms are all about. The book of Psalms has a lot of joyous songs but there are also a lot of lamenting songs and true worship is worshiping God across these emotions.

I'm thankful for a worship team that says we need to have a time of silent reflection, a repentance cycle that we will not casually and flippantly come to God. So be careful, because these things can so easily creep into church.

So let me, let me be clear again, I'm not saying that as a church we can't clap, alright, I am not saying that as a church we can't sing with joy, I wish you guys will sing with joy when it's happy songs and I, I hope that when it comes to lamenting songs, you would, you would think and reflect about your soul, be appropriate but be balanced.

For those of you who are new with us, the Bible, says, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep". You know there are people I know in my life that I want to share the Gospel with, friends, classmates. But whenever I talk to them about the Bible, they say, "Aiyah, you holy man, you holy man don't talk to me lah, I am God", he says that you know. I have friends who say, "I'm God, I don't need God". They are absolute, I don't blame them in a sense, because they don't know better but, but they want to keep this attitude where it's okay, life is funny, God is funny, Bible is funny, Jesus is funny, I don't really have a care.

Well you can laugh all you want, but one day, you will really mourn and weep forevermore because sin is not to be trifled with, God is not Santa Claus, He is a holy and angry God against sin and sinners.

So I tell you, if you have time, whilst you still may, the call of the Gospel is repent and believe in Jesus and you will be saved, mourn now and you will be comforted, laugh now and you shall mourn. I think it's a blessing for you and I today to be able to have an opportunity to mourn over our sins. I think it is God's grace, God's grace that is giving you the sense of conviction and convincement, so don't brush it aside please, but come to God humbly. You see, it is Jesus who gives us this healing. I close with this verse, Isaiah 61 that says, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted..." I've deleted some words in between just to bring out this motif a bit stronger, "to comfort all who mourn... to give them... the oil of gladness instead of mourning" [Isaiah 61:1-3], you say, how is Jesus qualified to give this, I mean, who is going to pay for this.

I believe Jesus, in this verse is saying, "I'm going to pay for it, I'm going to pay for it", what gives sinners the right to rejoice, "I'm going to pay for it". How can these people who are filthy be forgiven, "I'm going to pay for it" and this is such a difficult task, I, I can't do it by Myself, it's the Holy Spirit who anoints Me, empowers Me to do to die on the cross for sinners.

My friends you can be comforted today because your Savior was afflicted on the cross. I say to you, this is the most amazing message in the world isn't it, that the righteous God will be made sin for us and eternally joyful God would now suffer for us, that you who are sinful may now be righteous and be comforted.

May all of us today respond to the Gospel, to this Good News in repent and faith. I pray Christians this morning, whatever sin you're holding onto in your life, whatever tumor you're carrying in your soul, you would be willing to humble yourself and come to that Spiritual Surgeon and say, "Lord, forgive me, cut that off from my life", and experience the amazing comfort from heaven.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. The world says, "enjoy, laugh, live it up now", Jesus says, "mourn, humble yourself, that is the way of the kingdom". The Kingdom of heaven is not entered in by people who are full of themselves, is not entered in by people who say, I just want the good stuff of Christianity, but I don't want to face up to my sin, the Kingdom of heaven is only for those who are poor in spirit and those who mourn.

This morning, if God has been working in your heart, how would you respond to His Word today, would you still rebellious, stubbornly say no or would you bow yourself, bow your heart and say, "Lord, I need You, I thank You for Jesus, who went to the cross and paid for my sins. I'm a beggar pleading for mercy, have mercy upon me".

If you are willing to, the Bible says God is near to the brokenhearted, He's so near if you would just repent and believe, I pray this morning this will be a day of amazing comfort for your soul, I, I have this comfort of my soul some 20 over years ago and still today, I'm being comforted over and over again, by the grace of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

Maybe some of you have been in church, you grew up in church, but you never really felt grief over your sin and today you know for yourself, you are not a believer, you are not a citizen, a member of the Kingdom of heaven. I say to you, like apostle Paul, count all your church attendance as dung, count all your professions in the past as dung because you never really made it with understanding.

But today you say, I count upon Jesus Christ and His righteousness alone, I come as a beggar before my King and say, "Lord, have mercy on me, save me this morning", it might be the day of your real salvation.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, you are living in sin, maybe it's pornography, maybe it's pride, maybe it's covetousness, maybe it's bitterness, maybe you just won't forgive someone in your life, your husband, your wife, whoever that may be, I tell you must be a miserable person, I'm sure about that, the Bible tells me so, you are miserable. Would you want to keep on being miserable or would you be grieved over your sin, like God is grieved over your sin, confess, repent and experience the comfort of God in your life, would you be healed today.

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word, bless each one with a humble heart to respond to it Biblically, we thank you that there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Jesus' veins and we sinners can plunge beneath that flood and lose all our guilty stains. Or, may we today, be washed, be cleansed, be forgiven, be comforted. Draw men and women to Yourself today, we ask and pray all this in Jesus' Name, Amen.

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