Ron Dunn Podcast - Birthmark Of Mourning

Episode Date: January 27, 2021

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series "Birthmarks Of A Believer"

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is defining what it means to be a Christian. In the Sermon on the Mount, he is demonstrating that Christian as he lives in this world. So we're going to read the fourth verse, the Beatitude, and then we will read verses 27 through 30. Verse 4, Jesus says, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Now let's turn to the 27th verse and read through the 30th verse. And in these verses, Jesus is illustrating what it means to mourn. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her

hath already committed adultery in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. When man seeks to build a better world, he does it by trying to change conditions and circumstances.

Man believes if you can change conditions, then the world will be better. And that's the way man operates. That's the philosophy upon which man operates. Change conditions. When God seeks to make a better world, he does it by changing character. And the basic difference between the way man operates and the way God operates is this. Man thinks that changed conditions will improve character. God knows that only changed character will improve conditions. Man starts on the outside, and this is the way God, man always works, and you need to hang on to this thought because we're going to see it as we progress in the message, man always begins on the outside and seeks to gain entrance to the inside.

God always starts on the inside and works his way outside. That is the basic difference between the way man believes and operates and the basic difference between the way God operates. And by the way, that is the basic difference between religion and salvation. Religion starts on the outside and seeks by changing the outside to gain access to the inside. God knows that that is a futile attempt. God starts on the inside, and when the inside is changed, the outside will take care of itself. This is why the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount are so important. Because what Jesus is doing in these verses is describing to us the character change that man wants to effect in our lives. Really God is not primarily interested in conditions. Now he is interested in conditions

and circumstances, but not primarily. Man is primarily interested in conditions. For instance, you and I many times will sacrifice the truth of God, compromise convictions in order to improve our circumstance and our condition. When Jesus was here on earth, there was a great moral and social evil present in the world. And yet Jesus never said one thing against it. That condition was slavery. And I really cannot think of a greater moral and social evil than that, can you? And if Jesus had patterned his ministry after some of us, he would have come on the scene leading his disciples with placards

saying, Abolish slavery! And yet Jesus never said a word against it. Jesus rather sought to change men's hearts, change their character. You know, there is more than one way to kill a tree, and I've mentioned this to you previously. You can kill a tree by just chopping it down, doing it directly, suddenly. There's another way to kill a tree, and that's by stripping the bark from it, and death is just as certain, only it comes a little bit later. What Jesus did was strip the bark from slavery, and it ultimately died. But if Jesus Christ had come only to change conditions, he might have abolished that condition, but another one would soon have come to take its place. You know, several years ago in the United States, we sought to abolish racial discrimination.

If we could just change that condition and change that circumstance, man, we'd have it made. Is there anybody here that will deny this morning that we probably have more racial hatred and have had more racial violence since we sought to change that condition than we've ever had before in modern times? Now, don't go out here and say that the pastor here doesn't think we ought to have racial equality. The condition ought to be changed, but what I'm saying is that is a great illustration of the fact that merely trying to change conditions with unchanged character never really is successful. And what God is primarily interested in this morning is not changing your conditions and nor changing your circumstance, but he wants to change your heart, change your character. And what he's doing in these Beatitudes is describing to us the character change that comes when a man follows Jesus Christ. I call this series of messages, by the way, the birth marks of the believer, for they are the result of trusting in Jesus Christ. They are the result, as well as the condition of being born again.

Now, Jesus started off by saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. And what that simply means is that if a man is going to come to God and know forgiveness of sins and know the fullness of salvation in his life, he first of all must recognize and acknowledge that spiritually he is a bankrupt before God, that there is absolutely nothing in him to commend himself to God. He stands before God as a bankrupt beggar, absolutely broke spiritually. Spiritually, man has nothing to commend him to God. He is dead in sins and trespasses. That's the starting place, and nobody comes to God and finds God and experiences salvation and experiences fullness of salvation

unless he is willing to realize, as far as God is concerned, he is nothing but a beggar. He has absolutely no spiritual resources to fall back on. Now, what is the second? What is the response and the reaction? Notice what Jesus says. Blessed are they that mourn. The word blessed means happy, and that's a contradiction, isn't it? What a paradox. Happy are those who mourn. Now what's Jesus talking about here? The word that he uses for mourn is the strongest word in the Greek language that depicts sadness and sorrow. It is a word that means to lament over a dead loved one, or it means to weep over a severe, painful loss.

You know there are different kinds of mourning and different kinds of sorrow. Many of us have mourned but we've been able to repress it and hide it and hold it in. But this particular word that Jesus uses indicates this kind of mourning is so painful and so severe that it cannot be hidden, it cannot be held back, but it is a sorrow, a pain that grips a man's heart, and he bursts out in loud lamenting and crying and mourning. Jesus says, happy is the man that does that. And that's a present tense verb, which means it is a characteristic of his life. It's not just one, but it is his life is characterized by this severe, painful loss, this lamenting for something

that has caused him great loss. Now, what's he talking about? Is he speaking about mourning and sorrow in general at a funeral? Not at all. Each beatitude grows out of the previous one what jesus is saying here is this first of all you come and you realize that spiritually you are dead in sins and trespasses spiritually you recognize that you are a bankrupt before god and your reaction to this is mourning sorrow grief over your spiritual poverty. And what Jesus is saying is this, that man must come to the place where he not only knows that he's a sinner, but he has sorrow, godly sorrow, and mourning over it. And you know, this just cuts across the grain of our modern day philosophy.

The world says enjoy, and most of us believe that when you come to church, you ought to have a happy time. And we think that meeting God and knowing God and worshiping God is an exhilarating, ecstatic experience. Not always. King David had much rather play on his harp and sing sweet little songs than have Nathan the prophet come to him and point his finger and say, Thou art the man. King David had much rather write Psalm 1,

Blessed is the man, than write Psalm 51, Against thee and thee only have I sinned. But I'll be honest with you this morning, I don't think there's anything that our age and our church needs any more than what Jesus is talking about right here. See, Jeremiah said that one of the indictments God had against his people was they had lost their ability to blush over sin. They had lost their sin consciousness. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands, but many of you would if you'd be honest this morning, and I ask you to. How many

of you this morning are doing things and accepting things that 10 years ago you would have recoiled from in disgust. You think just a moment, how have your moral and spiritual standard changed in the last ten years? We are gradually losing our sin consciousness. And God is not going to be able to do His work in us and bring about a spiritual awakening until, first of all, there is a baptism of sin consciousness. James says, Let your joy be turned to heaviness and your laughter be turned to mourning. There is a time when God says his people are to be broken, and they are to weep, and their hearts are to be heavy. And that is when God begins to spotlight in our lives our spiritual bankruptcy. And so Jesus says,

Blessed are those that mourn over their spiritual poverty. Well, now, why should we mourn? What is it about sin that ought to cause us to lament as though we have suffered some severe painful loss? There are three reasons that I want to share with you this morning. Three reasons why you and I ought to this morning be mourning over the sin that's in your life and in my life. Number one, we ought to mourn over it because of the penetrating power of sin. The penetrating power of sin. In verses 27 and 28, Jesus is comparing the Old Testament law with salvation, with Christianity. Jesus says, you've heard that it was said by them of old time,

that you ought not to commit an act of immorality. But he said, I say unto you that it is not enough merely to refrain from committing an act of impurity. He said, if there is a desire, you have already committed the act as far as God is concerned. I'll tell you, four of the most condemning

words in the New Testament are the last four words in verse 28, already in his heart, already in his heart. Here is a man who in his heart has a desire for the impure thing, but that desire has never been translated into a deed so he thinks he's alright. He thinks then that he's pure before God. Jesus says already in his heart. You see, most of us think that sin lies on the surface of our lives and can be just plucked up like lint off a blue suit. But it's not that way at all.

Sin does not lie on the surface of the life but sin is like lye soap that leads each into the very tissues of our life and goes right to the very heart and many of us this morning would size ourselves up as pretty good christians because our surface life is acceptable to our peers. Man looketh upon the outward appearance, God says, but I, the Lord, search the heart. Jesus said out of the heart are the issues of life. In Romans chapter 7, Paul is giving to us his personal testimony of when he became really convicted of his sin. And if you'll read Philippians chapter 3, you'll find that Paul says,

as touching the law, I was what? Blameless. Paul lived an impeccable life. His behavior was immaculate. You couldn't throw a stone at him. He kept all the commandments. He had never committed the act of immorality. He had never committed the act of murder.

By his own testimony, he had never borne false witness. There was one commandment, though, that slew him, he tells us in chapter 7. Do you know what commandment that was? Number 10. Oh, I tell you, it's just pure genius the way God ties it all together. In Exodus chapter 20, God lists the Ten Commandments. And all of them practically are surface commandments. And you can look at a man on the surface of his life and evaluate whether or not he's keeping the Ten Commandments. But God, with pure divine genius, ties it all together. When he makes the last commandment, this,

Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. And covet has to do with desire, with what's in the heart. And so Paul says in Romans chapter 7, I was going along just fine. So far, so good. Number one, kept it. Number two, kept it. Number three, kept it.

So far, so good. And he said, I had no real conviction of sin until I came to that last commandment when he said, Thou shalt not covet. Paul knew he had never committed an immoral act, but he had wanted to. Paul knew he had never borne false witness, but he had wanted to. Paul knew he had never taken anything

that did not belong to him, but there was the desire to have what somebody else had in his heart. And he said, This commandment slew me, thou shalt not covet. I read the testimony of a Catholic priest who said for 20 years, I have heard confessions of sin. He said, I've heard every sin in the book confessed, save one. In 20 years of listening to confessions, he said,

I have never heard anybody confess the sin of covetousness. Now, why? Is it because nobody ever commits the sin of covetousness? No, not at all. It's that we don't realize it's a sin. We evaluate our lives purely on surface Christianity. We think that as long as we don't do certain's a sin. We evaluate our lives purely on surface Christianity. We think that as long as we don't do certain things that we're clean and right before God,

we're not aware that covetousness is a sin in the sight of God, so we do not confess it. The penetrating depths of sin, the penetrating power of sin, it would be so simple if sin just lay on the surface of our life. You know, most of us have what I like to call a surface Christianity. And so we tell a man that he's going to live a victorious life and he's going to be spiritual as long as he does the acceptable things, as long as he gets involved in the total church program.

And let's say there are five. Read your Bible, be faithful in church, tithe, pray, and witness. And as long as you do these things, you'll be a good spiritual Christian. And the truth of the matter is that is not so. Man needs something that will take care of what's in his heart. And many of you could testify to this. You know that activity and involvement doesn't make you spiritual. I don't care how much time you spend praying. I don't care if you are the biggest tither in this church. You know that in your heart there is something hideous there.

You know what you are in your heart. Jesus says we ought to mourn over our sin because it penetrates to the very depths of our hearts. You see, this is why rules and regulations just won't do any good. They just won't do any good. Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 that rules and regulations look good, but they have no value. Let me read Colossians 2, 23 and 22 out of the Living Bible. I would read it out of the King James Version,

but even I can't understand that. But what Paul is talking about in Colossians 2 is rule book religion. And there were some people, Judaizers, who thought that if you just had the right rules and the right regulations, the right do's and don'ts, that you could make it in your Christian life. Here's what Paul says,

verses 22 and 23 of Colossians chapter 2. Such rules are mere human teachings, for food was made to be eaten and used up. Now notice verse 23. These rules seem good, and they do. Doesn't it seem good? Doesn't it look good when a young person walks down the aisle and says, I'm going to rededicate my life, and I'm not going to do these things anymore? For rules of this kind require strong devotion and are humiliating and hard on the body.

Amen, brother. They are. I've tried to live rule book religion since I was 15 years old, really got serious about being a Christian. And I can say amen to what Paul said. Man, it takes strong devotion and it's humiliating and it is hard to live rule book religion. There's only one thing wrong with it. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires. They only make him proud. You know what the word Pharisee means?

One who is separated. We all know that a Pharisee was the most proud, egotistical religious person in the world. And when I set rules and regulations and I say, I'm not going to do this and I'm not going to do that, and my whole Christian life is summed up in do's and don'ts, you know what that does? That makes me proud. I'm better than you because I've got some don'ts that you don't have. There's only one thing wrong, Paul says, they have no effect when it comes to conquering what's in your heart.

We ought to mourn over our sin because of the penetrating power of sin. Secondly, we ought to mourn over our sin because of the perverting power of sin. Notice what Jesus says in verses 29 and 30. And if I write, I offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if I write, hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee,

for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Now Jesus says this. He says sin is of such nature that it can take your right eye and take your right hand and do such a work in that that you ought to pluck it out and cut it off. Now, why did Jesus designate the right eye and the right hand? Because in biblical terminology, the right hand is more important than the left. Always God places emphasis on the right hand. He laid his right hand upon him and said, Fear not, Revelation chapter 1.

He upholdeth all things by his right hand, the psalmist says. His right hand shall guide me, the psalmist says. The right hand or the right eye is the most precious of all of man's possessions. And the eye symbolizes the pleasurable things of life, the enjoyable things of life. The hand represents the useful things of life. In the Old Testament, when a man committed a robbery, many times they cut off his right hand because a man without a right hand had no ability to earn a living for himself. And here's what God is saying. The right eye and the right hand are the most precious possessions of life.

They are gifts from God. But sin can take the most precious possessions you have and pervert them and make them your enemies. Did you know the greatest evils in America today are not things the devil originated? The most horrible evils in America today are the good gifts that have been perverted. America has gone hog wild over sex. And enthroned and exalts immorality. One of the most precious gifts God has ever given to man.

What has happened? It has been twisted and perverted. Useful things. Anybody who's ever been in the hospital, who's ever had surgery, who's ever known what real physical pain was, knows that drugs is one of the most useful things that man has ever received from God. But one of the greatest evils today is a perversion of something that is useful. Fire can be a blessing. It can warm you in the winter. It cooks your food, provides energy. But yet if that fire is perverted and fristed, it can destroy your

life. Automobile is a great invention, a useful thing, a wonderful thing, but it can be twisted and perverted and becomes an instrument of death. What's Jesus trying to say? Jesus is saying this, friend, if you don't realize and if you do not start mourning and taking seriously the sin that's in your life, it will take the most precious things you have and pervert them and twist them. I've seen it happen to young people. The greatest gift God has ever given them is their youth, their future, the illimitable potentials of their life, and they allow sin to take root in their life and flourish. And what does it do? It can absolutely destroy their life. There's more hell on earth in marriages and homes than any place else, I suppose, this side of

eternity. The greatest gift God has ever given to man is marriage in the home. But I tell you, some of you would stand up this morning and testify that if you could just get away from your home, you'd be satisfied and happy because your home is a literal hell on earth. You know why? Because there's sin in the life of one of the members. And that sin will take the most precious things of your life and pervert it. This is a warning that Jesus is giving and a warning that

I'm saying to you this morning. Some of you treat that sin in your life as something flippant, lighthearted, not to be taken too seriously. After all, the preacher is the only one who ever gets excited about it. But I want to say to you this morning, if you continue to harbor that thing in your home, in your marriage, in your heart, in your life, it's going to destroy you. It'll take the most precious things that you possess and twist them and pervert them. And Jesus says you ought to mourn over that. Then there's one final thing and we're through. We ought to mourn over our sin because of the perishing power of sin. Sin has the ability, the horrible ability, to cause us to perish. Here's what Jesus says, if your right eye offends thee, if your right hand offends thee, get rid of it, because

it would be better for you to go through life without an eye, without a hand, than to go to hell. Sin ultimately will cause a man to go to hell. That's how powerful it is. And the only cure is a surgical cure. Cut it off. That's the only cure. And some of you, there is a sin that's keeping you from Jesus. There is a sin.

It may be the sin of selfishness. It may be the sin of pride. It may be the sin of pride that It may be the sin of pride that refuses to admit that you need Jesus, but that sin will ultimately damn your soul to hell unless you cut it out and get rid of it. And every lost man and woman and boy and girl in this place this morning ought to mourn over their sin because it has the power to cause your whole soul and body to perish in hell. The only cure is to get rid of it, cut it out, to mourn over it. Jesus said, blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted. You know what that word comforted really means?

I was amazed when I discovered what that word meant. I thought it meant, you know, that God would come and pat you on the back and say, now that's all right. That word is the same word that is translated in 1 John 2, 2 as having an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. It's the Greek word for advocate or paraclete. The Holy Spirit has come, the Comforter has come, which means one who comes to stand with us and strengthen us is what the word means. Jesus, our heavenly advocate who intercedes for us and takes all our sins away. That's what that word means. What a beautiful picture.

Jesus says, listen, when you mourn over your sin and you realize that there is sin in your life, whether you're saved or lost, and you come to the place where you mourn over that sin and you're willing to turn from it, he said, there'll be one standing beside you who will be an advocate and he will intercede for you with the father and he will strengthen you he will strengthen you that's what the word comfort really means doesn't mean to

be consoled it means to have someone to come and meet your need that's exactly what it means you're never going to have that need met until you realize there is a need though but when you recognize the need and you get concerned about it, he says, you'll have an advocate, one who will come to you and meet that need. And Jesus is here this morning to meet your need, whatever that need is. Some of you've never been saved. And Jesus stands this morning and says, whosoever will may come. Some of you need to come and make other decisions that God lays on your heart. Whatever that decision is, you come and he stands ready to meet your need. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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