The following three sermon excerpts show that mourning for sin is an act of genuine kingdom citizens according to Jesus. They mourn their own sins, the sins of the nation and world.
This is one of the marks by which kingdom citizens might recognize one another. Furthermore, if a true kingdom citizen were transported in time to another century, the true kingdom citizens living there would have this mark in common.
In one of the sermons, you will hear an example of God condemning the 70 elders in Jerusalem for worshipping idols in the temple of God.
The following example is what God did to the 70 elders…in Jerusalem for worshipping idols. The first 15 chapters of Ezekiel are about God judging idolatry. Shortly after the following passage, God’s glory left the temple.
(If you are unfamiliar with this section of scripture, you should read it to become acquainted with Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God and His throne, the shekinah Glory: see categories, Bible Key Word Study, The Angel of the Lord, A Scriptural Conceptualization. Therein, Dr. Duane Spencer takes listeners throughout the Bible, explaining scriptures about the Angel of the Lord. He talks about the Shekinah Glory in the process.)
Eze 9:4 He said to him, “Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city.”
Eze 9:5 Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity!
Eze 9:6 Kill them all—old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders.
[Other scripture speaking of the Mark of God: Rev. 7:3; 9:4; 14:1; and 20:4]
[Note: false teachers will suffer the greatest torment in hell.]
The following sermons indicate that true kingdom citizens are mourners.
I placed pastor Timothy Bixby’s 47 minute sermon first. I couldn’t find an excerpt that contained sufficient information, but his examples from start to finish are necessary to the topic. If you don’t have sufficient time, then go to the next two which are 11 and 15 minutes in length. However, I think pastor Bixby did the most complete job on this beatitude.
The following sermon excerpt 13 minute excerpt is by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.
The following sermon 15 minute excerpt is by Dr. Nelson Kloosterman:
The following is Dr. Kloosterman’s complete sermon:
The following is Dr. Ferguson’s complete sermon on beatitudes 1 — 3:
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Listen through a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount that you might understand the biblical standard for new and mature Christians. The preaching of mainstream Christianity is thoroughly diluted; the false modern gospel message is totally unlike the true biblical gospel (see, categories, Gospel Message, Modern False Gospel, an 8 part series identifying numerous false gospels of the past 200 years).