I've entitled the message for
tonight, The Blessed Hunger and Thirst. How blessed of God you are if
you're poor, and you have nothing but Christ. That makes you rich,
doesn't it? Only that makes you rich, and it's only If you're
poor, that you have him as all. How blessed are those who mourn
over their sin? Not indifferent about sin, but
mourn before God over sin. This is not something you try
to make public to everybody and show how sorrowful you are, but
before God, you mourn over your sin. How blessed is that man? That woman who's meek before
God. They believe that everything
he does is right. And they find their satisfaction. If even if
things are not going their way, they're going his way and they're
fine with that. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Now this hungering and thirsting
spoken of in our text is in the present tense, this fourth beatitude. As a matter of fact, the Lord
said in Luke 621, blessed are ye that hunger now, not yesterday. This is not something from the
past. This is in the here and the now. As you're listening,
as I'm preaching, there must be a hunger and a thirst. Hunger and thirst is a conscious
awareness of a need. A conscious awareness, you feel
it, of a need of food and water. Now, when you're hungry and thirsty,
you know you can't satisfy that hunger by yourself. Something's
gonna have to come from without you. to satisfy that hunger.
When you're thirsty, you know you can't, of your own self,
in your own body, produce a satisfaction for that thirst. It's going to
have to come from outside of you. It's not in you. Now the thirst the Lord is speaking
of here is a spiritual thirst. The hunger the Lord is speaking
of here is a spiritual hunger. At some point every day, I get
hungry. At some point every day, I get thirsty. I think I need
something to eat. I need something to drink. That's
not like this. This is a hunger that makes me
know that if I don't have what it is I'm hungry for, I'm going
to die spiritually. This is a thirst that makes me
know that if I don't have that which I'm thirsting for, I'm
going to die. This is not like time for breakfast.
I'm hungry. This is a hunger, a spiritual
hunger and a spiritual thirst. It must come to me from the only
one who can give it to me. Hunger and thirst are painful. feelings. It doesn't feel good
to be hungry. It doesn't feel good to be thirsty. It's a state of need. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Come unto me all ye that are
weary and heavy laden. That's not pleasant. and I will
give you rest. I have the power to give you
rest. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the water, he that hath no money. You don't have
anything to buy anything with. That's the only one who's called
upon to come. He that hath no money, come ye,
buy and eat. Buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Now here's what a living soul,
you know it takes life to be hungry and thirsty, a dead man
not hungry and thirsty. And it takes spiritual life to
have this hungering and thirsting. A man dead in sins does not have
this hunger and this thirst that we're speaking of. This is the
pain that's associated with spiritual life. And here's what I'm hungering
for, righteousness. If I don't have this righteousness,
I'm gonna die. A righteousness acceptable to
God. A righteousness that you know
you can't produce, but you hunger and thirst for this righteousness,
knowing you will die if it's not given to you. This righteousness
is the very righteousness of God. Now this is foreign language. to somebody dead in sins. It
doesn't even make sense. I know what it is to want to
do right and hunger to be right and hunger and thirst to be a
righteous person, but this hungering and thirsting is absolutely foreign
to a man or a woman who's dead in sins. This hungering and this
thirsting for righteousness. Look what the Lord said in verse
20 of this same chapter. For I say unto you that except
your righteousness shall exceed the best human righteousness
there is, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And
as you know, that best righteousness is actually quite evil. But he
says, except your righteousness exceed, far surpass the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom of heaven. Look what he says in Matthew
chapter six, verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and what's next? His righteousness. His righteousness. Now, is this something you hunger
and thirst for? Is this something you're seeking? His righteousness? Let me tell you when you seek
His righteousness. When you really believe that
you have none of your own, you really believe what Isaiah says
about our righteousnesses. When he says our righteousnesses,
are as filthy rags." If that's your righteousness, you will
seek His Righteousness. Now this is the righteousness
Paul spoke of in Romans 1 16 and 17 when he said I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the
Greek for therein in this gospel I'm not ashamed of the very righteousness
of God is revealed. Now if you ask the average person
what Does the gospel reveal about God that reveals His love? It
does. I wouldn't deny that, but that's
not the word Paul used, is it? He said therein in the gospel
is the very righteousness of God revealed, His righteous character,
His righteousness in condemning me and I can't argue against
it or say that's not fair. His righteousness in saving me
where His righteous law demands my salvation. Oh, the righteousness
of God. The same righteousness Paul spoke
of when he said, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Let me quote this scripture to
you. Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. Has my mouth been stopped? No
excuses. All my sin is all my fault. I don't blame Adam. I don't blame
my circumstances. I wasn't just in a bad place.
All my sin is all my fault. That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world stand guilty before God. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. It's what was taught
in the Old Testament scriptures. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. You know what the righteousness
of God is? It's the faith, the faithfulness,
the righteous obedience of Jesus Christ. Unto all and upon all
them that believe. Paul called it, Romans chapter
five, verse 17, the gift of righteousness. Now, do you hear that? Not something
you achieve, not something you do, something God gives you. the gift of righteousness. And
he gives it to you in such a way that it really is your righteousness
now. Let me show you a scripture that
I quote quite often, but I'd like us to go ahead and look
at it and read it because it's so, uh, what I'm saying, Philippians
chapter three. verse 7, but what things were
gained to me that I counted in the plus column? Those I counted loss for Christ. Now he's talking about his religious
Heritage, look in verse four, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh, I more. You think
you've got something to trust in? I've got more than you do.
Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, is touching the law
of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Talking about
some things in the plus column. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss, garbage, refuse. For Christ, yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things and do count them but done. Now, hold on there. I've heard people say, well,
I've sacrificed this and I've sacrificed that. Paul said, yeah,
I've sacrificed done. That's what I consider it. That's
not much of a loss, is it? all these good things, I count
to be nothing more than dung, that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God, by faith. Do you have this desire? Do you, when God looks into your
heart, does He see somebody who, in your heart, you want to win
Christ and be found in Him? You want it to where all God
sees when He sees you is Jesus Christ, nothing else. Is that
you? Not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now that's what the Lord is talking
about when he's talking about hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. His righteousness. That's not all there is to this
hunger and thirst. If I stop the message now, I would fail
to give what the scripture means by hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. You see, James speaks of the
fruit of righteousness, and Paul speaks to the Philippians of
the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. And if I hunger after his righteousness,
I hunger after the fruits, the fruit in one place, the fruits
in another place of his righteousness. And the fact that I'm hungering
after the fruits of his righteousness means I don't feel like I have
it. Well, I feel like I've got sufficient
humility. I feel like I've got sufficient
love. I'm hungry and I'm satisfied now. I'm where I need to be.
I think I'm satisfied with my faith. I'm satisfied with my...
No, when you hunger and thirst after something, it's because
of a conscious need that you don't have it. That's how you
feel. You're hungering and thirsting
because you feel you do not have it. But you want it and you know
you can't be satisfied without it. The fruits of His righteousness. You hunger and thirst to hunger
and thirst. You hunger and thirst to be poor
in spirit. and have nothing but Christ.
That's where you want to be. You hunger and thirst to mourn
over your sin. That's something. Do you feel
good about how you mourn? You hunger and thirst to be meek
before God. You hunger and thirst to be a
merciful person. You don't want to be one of those
people who says, ah, they made their own bed, let them sleep
in it. No, you want to be merciful as He is merciful to you. You
hunger and thirst to be pure in heart. You hunger and thirst
to be a peacemaker. You hunger and thirst to be persecuted
for righteousness. You would find it an honor that
you don't deserve, a grace that you don't deserve if you're allowed
to be persecuted for his righteousness. You hunger and thirst for love,
joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, Temperance,
the fruit of the Spirit. You hunger and thirst. You don't
look at any of the fruit of the Spirit and say, well, I'm satisfied
where I'm at. No, you hunger and you thirst. You feel like, if anything, you
don't have any of it. And you hunger and thirst for
it. You hunger and thirst for humility. You hunger and thirst for boldness. You want to be bold in Christ.
You hunger and thirst to be nonjudgmental and to not hold people's feet
to the fire and make people uncomfortable around you for your judgmental,
arrogant attitude. You hunger and thirst to be gracious,
to be zealous for the glory of Christ, to be no respecter of
persons. You hunger and thirst for a broken heart. You hunger
and thirst for generosity. You hunger and thirst to have
a good motive. You have a hunger and thirst to love folks as you
ought to love them. You have a hunger and thirst
to be delivered from your fleshly appetites, from your selfishness. You hunger and thirst to be delivered
from the fear of man. You hunger and thirst to be delivered
from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of
life. You hunger and thirst for more
grace. You hunger and thirst for greater faith. You hunger
and thirst for a deeper repentance. You hunger and thirst for good
works that glorify God. You hunger and thirst for faith
that's more simple, not complicated. You hunger and thirst to be more
content in Christ. You hunger and thirst to be a
servant to God's people, to take the lowest seat in the house
and believe you really deserve it, not demonstrating to everybody
how humble you are. Where there is a hunger for righteousness,
his righteousness, there is also a hunger for the fruits of his
righteousness. Philippians 1.11 being filled
with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. Hungering and thirsting. You know, we hunger and thirst
for a new heaven and a new earth. Wherein dwelleth righteousness.
We pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're like Lot whose righteous
soul, and every believer has a righteous soul, given them
in the new birth. were like Lot whose righteous
soul was vexed from day to day in Sodom by their unlawful deeds.
Now that's not talking about some kind of self-righteous,
holier-than-thou attitude, but you're grieved. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for His righteousness, the fruit of His righteousness,
and the world that we'll live in one day, they'll be righteous.
You know, we're strangers here. We're looking forward to that
coming world. Now, back to our text, this hunger
and thirst, blessed are they that hunger and thirst, look
at the promise to those who hunger and thirst. Matthew chapter five,
verse seven. I mean, verse six, blessed are
they, highly favored of God are they, which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled, satisfied, satiated. Now that doesn't mean you'll
cease to hunger and thirst in this life. You know, Paul said
in Philippians 4, 12, Listen to this. I know both how to be
abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry. Full in Christ,
hungering after his righteousness. to abound and to suffer need. I want to stay hungry and thirsty
in this life for Christ, like David said, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. You know, it's a sad spectacle
when somebody loses their hunger and their thirst. It's kind of
like losing your first love. I guess the same thing. I want
to stay hungry. I want to stay thirsty. Lord, keep me hungering, keep
me thirsting, deliver me from this state of lukewarmness. I want to be, you know, being
hot or cold are both uncomfortable ways to be. Lukewarm is comfortable.
You're okay. Rich, increase with good and
have need of nothing. I want to stay hungering after
Him, thirsting after Now, here's the promise. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Turn
with me for a moment to John chapter four. Verse four, and he must needs
go through Samaria. One of his elect is there. That's
why he's going. There was no necessity for him
to get there that way. One of his elect was there. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour, about noon. There cometh
a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me
to drink. You know, I would have said,
may I have something? Can you give me some water? I
love the way the Lord does not ask for things. He commands,
give me to drink. If me or you acted this way,
it'd be wrong. It would be presumptuous. It
would be rude. Not the Lord. He says, give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy bread. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to
drink, Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. I love the simplicity of this.
If you knew the gift of God, no strings attached. Do you hear
that? No strings attached. This is the gift of God. And
if you knew who's speaking to thee, here's what you'd do. You'd ask. and he would give
unto you living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then hast thou that living water? She had no idea what he was talking
about. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave
us this well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and
his cattle? She demonstrates her ignorance when she asks this
question. Are you greater than Jacob? Yeah, infinitely so. Verse 13, Jesus answered and
said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. And it's not just talking about
this H2O. I don't care what it is. You
drink of this, you'll thirst again. Whatever it might be,
you'll thirst again. But, whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing
up into everlasting life. Now, if you drink this water,
you'll never thirst. Now, in my experience, I'm thirsting. If you drink of Christ, If you
believe on Christ, that means you won't be looking for anything
else. You will be satisfied to be saved by Him. And you're not looking for anything
else. You find complete fulfillment
in just being found in Him, having His righteousness. You're satisfied
with that. Somebody says, I'm looking for
something else. Well, you haven't seen it. You haven't heard, you
haven't believed, you haven't seen the glory of being saved
by His righteousness, because if you ever drink of the water
of His righteousness, being saved simply by Him, with no additional
works on your own, He did it all. You ever see that, you won't
be looking anywhere else. If you look somewhere else, you
just haven't seen. Look in John chapter six, verse 35. And Jesus said unto
them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now somebody says, what's it
mean to come to Christ? It means to believe on Christ. Coming and
believing is the same thing. You come to Christ, you'll never
hunger. You believe on Christ, you'll never thirst. What it
is, you'll be satisfied to be saved by Him. You won't be satisfied
with yourself, but you are satisfied to be saved by Him in a way where
He gets all the glory. You get no glory, and you like
it that way. And you rest in that. That makes
you realize that He did it all. It is finished. I am satisfied. God is satisfied with what Jesus
Christ did. I am too. That's the satisfaction
he's speaking of. To never hunger and to never
thirst coming to him. If I do, I'll never hunger for
something else. I am complete in him. You know the word complete
means full. Nothing can be added to you.
Complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Accepted in the beloved. I am
full, I'm satisfied, I'm satiated in Him. Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Now, they shall be filled. I'm not
going to experience the fullness of this, although I have it.
I'm not going to experience the fullness of this as long as I'm
still in this body. this sinful body. I can't experience
utter satisfaction as long as I still commit sins. Can't do
it. I love what David said in Psalm
17 verse 15. He said, as for me, I will in
the future behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness. When you close your eyes in death,
you're going to wake up in the very likeness of Jesus Christ. That's what you were predestinated
for, to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now I'd like to close
by reading a passage of Scripture out of Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter seven, beginning
in verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying then to me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes,
and whence came they? He'd seen this glorious multitude
of people in white robes. And I said to him, sir, thou
knowest. Wise answer, John. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them." Now look at this. They shall hunger
no more. Neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. There's no hungering and thirsting
in heaven. It's hard to imagine that, isn't
it? Complete satisfaction all the time. And I know there are
not days and nights there, and I'm speaking in the weakness
of the flesh, but every day will be better than the day before.
No hunger, no thirst. For the lamb, which is in the
midst of the throne, shall feed them. and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Let's pray. Lord, we're very, very grateful. That you have given us a hunger
and thirst after the righteousness of thy son, we want nothing else. Lord, we're grateful for this
hunger and thirst after the fruits of righteousness, which are by
Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. We thank you for
this hunger and thirst we have for this new world wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And Lord, how we look forward
to spending eternity beholding thy face in righteousness, being
satisfied with awaking in thy very likeness. Bless this message
for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray.