Turn with me, if you would now,
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I would like for us to use Matthew
chapter 5 verse 6 for a text one more time today. And I don't
want to labor you on the subject that we're looking at. I don't
want this to be laborious to you. I put a lot of thought into
that. finished the Bible study this
week, and I don't always prepare a Bible study Sunday morning,
Sunday night. However I feel led, I do, whichever
one. But I started with the Bible study, and I thought, well, all
right, we'll go somewhere else for the message. And the Lord
would not allow me to go anywhere else for the message. We were
in Matthew 5, verse 6 for the Bible study. And then we were
in Matthew five, verse six for the morning message. And I thought,
okay, we'll go somewhere else now for the evening message.
And the Lord wouldn't allow me to go somewhere else. So we're
going to use this verse for a text one more time. And I pray that
this will be extremely encouraging to you because this is extremely
encouraging to me. This is, uh, there is something
in this that has blessed my heart so much. And I feel like anyone
who struggles with the things that God's people struggle with.
This is going to be a help and this will be a blessing. I pray
that the Lord will make it a blessing. Matthew five, verse six says,
blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness
for they shall be filled. Now, in our Bible study this
morning, we looked at the difference in man's righteousness and God's
righteousness, of which man doesn't have a righteousness. Isaiah
wrote, all of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. Man does not
have a goodness before God, anything that he can offer God. God's
righteousness is the only righteousness that will justify man. And then
in the morning message, we looked at the great blessing of desiring
God's righteousness. He said, blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. The great blessing of being brought
to a place that God would cause us to know our need of the righteousness
of Christ. Because if you don't, have the
righteousness, you hunger and thirst for it. You don't hunger
and thirst for something that's already here. So to hunger and
thirst for righteousness means I don't have it in my flesh,
but I need it. That privilege of hungering and
thirsting, that's something God has to do to a sinner. Tonight, I want us to enter into
the fulfillment of God's righteousness. the filling of that hunger and
that thirst. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for it. Tonight, I want us to look at
God filling that hunger and that thirst. Verse six says, blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled. He said, they shall be filled. with righteousness. And this
is amazing. This is honestly so amazing.
They'll be filled with righteousness. He said that the centers against
God that receive this great blessing from God, the blessing of salvation,
the blessing of redemption, the blessing of life, the blessing
of a quickened heart that even desires Christ at all and the
things of Christ at all. He said, those very people are
going to be changed from sinners to saints. They're going to go from loathing
what they see in themselves to loving what they see in themselves. And I'm telling you, this is
amazing. They're going to be filled. with righteousness. And that's what I want us to
get ahold of. God's people who are sinners. You know, Romans
says that, you know, scarcely for a righteous man will one
die per adventure for a good man. Some would dare to die,
but Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Christ died
for the ungodly. So if Christ died for us, that's
what we are. We are men and women who ought
to loathe everything we see in ourselves. But God said, I'm
gonna fill them with righteousness. I'm truly gonna put righteousness
in them. That's amazing to think about.
If something is filled, I mean truly filled, then there is no room for anything
else. If something is truly filled,
we'll say, ah, it's full, but it's not really full. If you can put something else
in it, it's not filled. If something is filled, if this
is filled with water, then that's the only thing that can go in
there. Try to put something else in there and it'll run over. David said, My cup runneth over. And our Lord does not just stop
when he gets to the brim of filling. Our Lord fills and fills and
fills. He keeps filling so that there's
no doubt it's full. It's full. Now let's see our
Lord's promise of this in a few places. Go with me to Psalm 81. Psalm 81 verse 10. It says, I am the Lord thy God
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth
wide and I will fill it. Open thy mouth wide and I will
fill it. How can a dead man open his mouth
wide? How can a dead man do that? Ephesians
2 says, you have the quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. How can a dead man open his mouth
wide? He can't, he has to be made to
open his mouth wide. He has to be quickened. He has
to be given life to open his mouth wide. But if that blessing
is given to him. And if he's caused to open his
mouth wide, God said, if I start the work, I'll finish it. If I cause a man to open his
mouth wide or a woman to open her mouth wide, I'll fill it. He said, God said with my command will
come the ability. and with the ability will come
the reward. Open your mouth wide, he said,
and I'll fill it. Turn with me to Psalm 104. Psalm
104, verse 27. It says, these wait all upon
thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That
thou givest them, they gather. What you give to them, that's
what they gather. Thou openest thine hand, they
are filled with good. He said, you're doing it. and it's done. You're filling
and they are filled and they are truly filled. They truly
are filled and you get the glory for it. You get all the credit
for it. It's all at the work of your
hand. He said, your hands doing it
and you get the credit for it. Look with me at Psalm 107. Psalm 107 verse 1 says, O give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and
gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way, They found no city to dwell in, hungry and
thirsty." They were hungering and they were thirsty. Their
soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
and their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses.
And he led them forth by the right way that they might go
to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he satisfied the longing
soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. He's the one who
does it. And when he does it, they're
failed. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Now don't turn to these, but
in Psalm 71 verse eight, David said, let my mouth be filled
with thy praise and with thy honor all the day. He said, let
me be filled with that. Psalm 72 19 says, let the whole
earth be filled with his glory. Scripture says everything declares
His glory. Romans 15 verse 13 says, now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Filled, filled with good, filled with praise, filled with honor,
filled with glory, filled with joy, filled with peace. What
does all that mean? What are God's people filled
with? They are filled with Christ. They are filled with Christ. They're filled with the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. Turn with me over to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints,
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,
grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's the one who did
it. He's the one who has blessed. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. He chose his people
to be that way. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will." He's the one who did it. "...to
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace, the riches of His free gift, wherein He hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He
hath purposed in Himself." It was His will, His pleasure, His
purpose. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in
him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." that we should be to the praise
of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted,
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory." What that's saying is, He started it, He did it,
He finished it, it's all because He wanted to, and it's all to
the praise of His glory. Verse 15, "'Wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion,
in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His
feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church."
Is there any doubt that God has declared Christ to be all. I mean, Christ is all, it's all
of him, to him, through him, for him. Christ is all, he's
all of it, right? Now look at verse 23, which is
his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He is the filler of his people. And he is what fills his people. Now, if the Lord will open our
hearts to this, this will, I hope this does for you what it's done
for me. I really do. He is the filler
of his people and he is what fills his people. Go with me
over to Colossians chapter one. Colossians 1, this is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 19 says, for it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. Anything that is fullness. Please
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. He is the fullness. Christ is the fullness. And if
you look down at the end of verse 27, Paul said, Christ in you
is the hope of glory. You want to know what the hope
of glory is? Christ in you. all the fullness
in you. To be filled with the righteousness
of God is to be filled with Christ. To be filled with the goodness
of God is to be filled with Christ. To be filled with the praise
of God is to be filled with Christ, to be filled with the honor of
God and the glory of God and the joy of God and the peace
of God. All of that is to be filled with
Christ. Now we are full of sin. All right. That's what we're full of. That's
what I'm full of. We are full of sin. We are full of sin. We are the fullness of sin. Christ is the fullness of righteousness. He's the fullness of God. He's
the fullness of all things. All right, now see if you can
enter into this. God filled Christ with us. And God filled us with Christ. All right. God filled, let's
just enter into what we are and what he is. And God filled Christ with us. And God filled us with Christ. God made Christ to be sin for
us. God the Father filled him with
the fullness of sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was filled with our sin that
we might be filled with his perfection and filled with his holiness. Now here's the amazing thing
about this whole transaction. When God looked at Christ as
He hung there on the cross, He hung there in our sin, filled with our sin. When God
looked at Christ, He saw the fullness of us in Him. The Father did not see one speck
of the purity of His Son, because His Son was filled to the fullest. with our sin. There wasn't any
room for one drop of anything else. He was filled to the fullest. His cup, you know, He said, if
I must drink this cup, His cup was filled to the fullest with
our sin. That's why the Father killed
Him. That's the very reason why the Father killed Him. There
was nothing worthy of redeeming. Had there been something there,
He would not have killed Him. There was nothing worthy of redeeming.
Because of that, when God the Father now looks at his people,
all he sees is the fullness of Christ in us. He does not see
one speck of the vileness of our sin because we've been filled
to the fullest with the righteousness of Christ. We look at ourselves
in the flesh and we think, you know, based on what I see
in myself, all right? You get a glimpse of yourself
every now and then. And you talk about the holiness
of God, the fullness of the righteousness of God. You look at your flesh
and you say, I just don't see how that's possible. This substitution, This trading
of places, that's what happened on the cross. This trading of
places, you know, this, His righteousness in me, filled with the holiness
and righteousness of God. I look at this flesh right here,
and I just don't see how that's possible. All right, well, when
we look at Christ's flesh, do we see how it's possible? This
transaction, this trading of places, saying that he bore the
fullness of our sin. When we look at everything about
him, do we see that in him? I say no. This is a man who knew
no sin. This is a man who never sinned,
spotless. And you could say, when you look
at his flesh, I just don't see how that's possible. God the Father's judgment of
Christ, and this is what I pray will really help. I pray this
will be such a blessing. God the Father's judgment of
Christ was not based on what he saw in Christ's flesh. That was a man who knew no sin. God the Father's judgment of
the Lord Jesus Christ was not based on what he saw in Christ's
flesh. It was based on what God the
Father filled him with. That's what it was based on.
It pleased the Lord to do that to him. God filled him with our sin.
That's what based God's judgment on him. And God, the Father's
judgment of us is not based on what he sees in our flesh. We judge ourselves because of
what we see in our flesh, but God the Father's judgment of
us is not based on what He sees in our flesh. It's based on what
He filled us with. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that's amazing to me. That
is amazing to me. It's amazing to think that God's
people have been filled with the very righteousness of Christ
himself. And we, you know, the God gives
faith and we do believe it. He says it and we believe it,
but we don't see it. But here's the thing we will,
the righteousness of Christ will bear fruit. Some now very little,
maybe now, but all of it later. Philippians 1 says, all of God's
people will be filled with the fruits of righteousness. And
they will, they have been, and they will. Galatians 5 tells
us what the fruit is. It's love, joy. It's the love
of God. It's love for God, love for His
people. Joy in His word, joy in His salvation,
peace in His blood, peace with God, peace with His people. Patience,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We'll see
some of that now. We'll see all of that later when
we're with him in glory. If he's put it there, it will
manifest itself. So as a, we'll call it a benediction,
as a closing blessing to all of God's people for everything
that we've seen today, this whole day has been on the righteousness
of God. As a closing statement, we'll
end the whole day with this. Go with me to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians 3 verse 14. It says, for this cause, I bow
my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, this
is his prayer, and this is my prayer, our prayer, that he would
grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Amen. Honestly, may God bless us by
giving us a hunger and a thirst for Christ. And with that hunger
and thirst, may we be filled, truly filled, filled with the
very righteousness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What
a glorious thought. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.