In our last message, we learned how spiritual poverty leads to riches. As we continue in the Beatitudes, Jesus now tells us that sorrow leads to joy: how is this possible? The sorrow and mourning that Christ refers to is not worldly sorry, but the sorrow that results over our sin. Grief and devastation over sin furthers our walk in sanctification, changes us more and more into the image of Chris, and God himself will comfort and bless those who mourn in this way.
When Jesus died on the cross, he absorbed God's wrath for our sin in its entirety. Yes, Jesus took the penalty for our past,...