You would open your Bibles to
Matthew chapter 5. We're going to continue our study
of the Beatitudes this morning in Matthew chapter 5. Before
we begin, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we come into your
presence this morning carefully, reverently, daring only to approach
your throne in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, pleading
his blood to cleanse us from our sin, pleading only his obedience
as our righteousness before thee. Father, I pray this morning that
you would give us a spirit of true heart worship, that you'd
enable us to lay aside the sin that does so easily beset us,
that you'd Enable us to lay aside the things of this life, both
joyful and sad. Enable us to worship you. Enable
us for this hour to be enabled by thy spirit to see and to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, to learn more of him, to be pointed to
him. Father, how we thank you for
this opportunity and a place that you've given us where we
can meet together and worship. And we pray that you would continue
to bless us for your great namesake and for the good of your people
for whom you sent your son to die. Father, what we pray for
ourselves, we pray especially for our children's classes that
you'd bless the teachers and you'd bless our children as they
have this opportunity to be taught the scriptures. May one day we
be able to say of them, as Paul said of Timothy, that from a
child you've learned the holy scriptures which are able to
make you wise into salvation. Father, for those that are sick
and afflicted and need you especially, Father, we pray for them. We
pray a special blessing in our sister, Jo Crabtree, and that
family that you undertaken a mighty way on her behalf, we pray. Father,
all these things we ask and we give thanks in that name, which
is above every name. Cause everything that is said
and done here this morning be done to the praise and honor
and glory of that great name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right, Matthew chapter five,
our text is verse six, and the title of the message is blessed
are the hungry. and a thirsty. I want to remind
us again, if I remind us every single time we look at one of
these Beatitudes, maybe by the time we're finished with them,
we'll remember this, that the Beatitudes are not the Lord telling
us how to be saved. You don't have to create this
hunger and thirst that the Lord speaks of here. The Beatitudes
tell us that the blessings that God gives his people whenever
he saves them, Before the Lord fills anybody, He will empty
them first. We don't empty ourselves, He
empties us first. Before the Lord clothes anybody,
He's going to strip them first. Before the Lord feeds anybody,
this bread of life, He's going to make them hungry first. He
makes them hungry. Before the Lord gives anybody
a drink of the water of life, He's going to salt them and He's
going to make them thirsty first. This hunger and thirst comes
from the Lord putting it in us. And we know that the Savior is
not talking about physical hunger, physical thirst. He's not talking
about someone so poverty stricken or lives in such a horrible area
geographically they can't get food or water. But understanding
something about physical hunger and physical thirst will help
us understand what the Lord is teaching us. The word hunger
he uses here means to be famished. It means for your body To have
gone without food so long, it's craving food. It's how our Lord
was after 40 days of not eating and drinking. His body craved
food. He's on the verge of starvation. That's what that word hunger
means. And thirst is to be so thirsty, to be so dry, that if
you don't get some water right now, you're going to die of dehydration. Now we typically don't think
if somebody lives in an area of famine or where there's no
water, we typically don't think of those people as blessed. We
think of the full as blessed. Those here who have plenty of
food and plenty of drink, we think those people are the blessed
people. But our Lord tells us that the person whose soul is
a famine of spiritual food, that's the blessed person. The person
whose soul is a desert, a dry, dead desert where there is no
water. That's the blessed person. A person who is empty of any
spiritual good. They have no spiritual good of
themselves. The Lord says that's the blessed
person. Now, everybody is empty of all spiritual good, aren't
they? Every son of Adam is. The problem is they just don't
know it. The hungry and thirsty know it. If we're, when we feel
hunger, there's a sense in our body of lack of food, lack of
nutrients that we need. When we feel thirst, it's our
body's way of telling us there's a lack of water in us. We feel
that need, that lack of something that's inside of us. And the
hungry and thirsty have a need that can only be satisfied by
something outside of them being put in them. They can't produce
it themselves. It's already not there. It has
to come from outside and be put in them. And if they don't have
it, they're going to die. Now hold your place and look
at Isaiah chapter 64. There is good news here because
all of us are empty. We're all empty of righteousness. There's good news for every one
of us here this morning because you're empty whether you know
it or not. Maybe God will be pleased to teach it to us. Isaiah 64 and verse 6. But we're all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do all
fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have driven us
away. Now, that's a description of
us by nature. It's not just that we've done, you know, some bad
things. We are an unclean thing. Through and through, we're unclean.
You know, we haven't done some good things and some bad things,
and we hope in the end, you know, the good outweigh the bad. We
don't have any good deeds. Our good deeds, our so-called
righteousnesses, God's word says, are filthy rags. They're defiled
with sin. And that's not like your dust
rag at home that gets looking a little dirty. What he's talking
about there is menstrual rags. It's defiled with our blood,
our very life's blood, the blood that we depend upon for life.
is defiled with sin. That's what it is. What he's
saying here is it's our nature. Our nature is nothing but sin. And if God would give us any
sense, we'll hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ.
But you know what? We won't hunger and thirst and
we won't seek Christ until God seeks us first. Look at verse
seven there in Isaiah 64. For there is none that call upon
thy name. There's none that stirth up himself
to take hold of thee, for thou has hid thy face from us and
has consumed us because of our iniquities. Now that's a pretty
miserable condition. It's a very miserable condition
and that is the condition of our nature. So why is it then
that the hungry and thirsty, those who are empty, why is it
that they are blessed? Let me give you five reasons.
Number one, the hungry and thirsty are blessed. because they're
the only people that God will fill. Matthew 5 verse 6, the
Savior says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled. Now, people who are
hungry for righteousness, they crave righteousness because they
don't have any of their own. And the Savior says they'll be
filled. And that word filled, it means satisfied. You can eat the proper amount
of food and be satisfied. I seldom do that. I seldom stop
when I'm satisfied. This word also means gorged,
gorged. These people who are empty, hungry
and thirsty for righteousness, they're going to be satisfied
because they're going to be gorged, filled, stuffed full of righteousness. They're going to be gorged because
they're going to be made full of Christ. They're going to be
filled with all the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
going to be filled with the fullness of everything that Christ is. Now, that empty center is the
blessed person. To be filled with Christ? That's
the blessed person. They're going to be made so righteous,
and I hate to say that word so righteous because there's no
degrees of righteousness, but they're going to be made righteous
and Some of how righteous are they? As righteous as God himself. For he that made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made what? The righteousness
of God, the righteousness of God in him. See those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, hunger and thirst because they're
full of sin and they're empty of righteousness. What does Christ
do for those people? He takes their sin away from
them. And he trades them his righteousness for their sin.
And he takes their sin into his own body upon the tree. And those
people are gorged with righteousness. They're completely satisfied
because they're made the righteousness of God. And you know what? That's the only righteousness
there is. There are no degrees of righteousness.
You are either as righteous as Almighty God, or you're completely
unrighteous. There's no in between. There's
no gray area. It's one or the other. And God can only accept
us if we're as holy as he is. God can only accept us if we're
as righteous as he is. We can't just do as good as we
can do. We've got to be as righteous
as God. Look just across the page there, Matthew 5 verse 20.
For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. It can't be as good as
man can do, as good as we can do. It's got to be as good as
God can do. And every believer who is hungry
and thirsty for righteousness, they're satisfied because they're
gorged with the righteousness of Christ, made as righteous
as God himself. Now, that person who hungers
and thirsts, who craves after righteousness, craves after Christ,
they're the blessed person, aren't they? See that? And I can honestly
say right now, at this very moment, I'm satisfied. I'm completely
satisfied. Now, I don't have everything
that I wish I had, but I am satisfied. I'm not looking for anything
else. I don't want any other righteousness than the righteousness
I have in Christ. I don't want anything else other
than what God's given me in Christ. I'm satisfied. But I also know
this. One day I'm going to be a whole
lot more satisfied than I am right now. God makes me perfect
body and soul. That's what our brother David
said. I should be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. That's
when I want to be satisfied. And every person who hungers
and thirsts after righteousness is going to be so filled with
righteousness, one day they're going to awaken glory in Christ's
likeness. You know more blessed person
than that? I don't. Okay, here's the second thing.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they're the blessed
people because God only justifies the hungry and the thirsty. Now
the word justified means the same thing as righteousness.
Both of those words come from the same Greek word. I'm told
that one's a verb and one's a noun. I'll believe that. But I do know
they come from the same Greek word. Now look over at Luke chapter
18. And the only people that God justifies, that He makes
sinless and righteous, are those people who hunger and thirst
for righteousness. They crave it. Luke chapter 18,
verse 9. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess and the publican Standing afar
off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. But
smote upon his breast, he smote upon the problem, his heart,
his sinful heart, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
should be abased, and he that humbleth himself should be exalted. Now, who was the justified one
there? Not the one that we'd pick, looking at it with our
natural eyes. The justified one was not the
one who's full of himself. The justified one was not the
one who could point to all of his good works. The justified
one was the one who's empty and who craved Christ. That person
was justified. That's the only people God ever
justifies. Those who are empty, hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Now that's who God justifies.
But I think it's worth our time to consider this question. How
is a sinner justified? How can a sinful man or woman
like you and me, how can we be made righteous? Well, there's
several ways. At first, we won't turn to all
these scriptures. Why don't you turn to this one,
Romans chapter 8. I learned something this week
that just fascinated me. I hope it fascinates you like
it fascinated me. Here's the first thing. A sinner
is justified in Christ. Romans 8, 30. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Now I look this phrase up, he
also justified. The word he and the word justified
are the exact same Greek word. They're the exact same Greek
word. Literally translated, that is justified, also justified. The he is justification. You see that? You cannot separate
Christ from justification. People talk about justification
and make it sound like this idea that you've got to be a
genius to understand. No, you don't. Justification
is Christ. And I tell you how we have it
by being in him. When the body is joined to the
head, we're made the same thing the head is. He is justification. And if we're going to be justified,
it's going to be in Christ by being joined to Christ. All right,
second, now we're not going to turn to the rest of these scriptures
for time's sake, but you can jot them down, go back and look
at them later if you want. But a sinner is justified by
faith, not by the law. You know, we cannot make ourselves
righteous by our obedience to the law because we can't keep
it. The only way a sinner can be
made righteous is in Christ, who came and kept the laws of
representative for his people. Righteousness was earned by the
Lord Jesus Christ under the law, and it's received by faith in
Christ. I'll give you a few scriptures,
Romans 3, 28. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. Pretty plain, isn't it? Romans
4.13. The promise was not to Abraham
and his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. The righteousness that's received of faith. Romans 9.31. Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Why not? Because they sought it not by
faith, but they sought it by the works of the law. We're justified
by faith in Christ, not our works of the law. Thirdly, a sinner
is justified by grace. It's got to be by grace. Romans
3, 24, being justified by his grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. The only way a sinner can possibly
be justified is by God's grace. We can't earn it. Fourthly, a
sinner is justified by a free gift of God's grace. Romans 5,
17. For if by one man's death, or
one man's offense, death reigned by one, much more, they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Fifthly, a sinner is
justified by the blood of Christ. Romans 5, 9. Being now justified
by his blood what we say from wrath through him. Six, a sinner
is justified by imputation. Romans 4.3 says, what saith the
scripture? You know, you want to find any
answer, what saith the scripture? Whatever the scripture says,
that's the answer. Here's what Paul says scripture saith. Abraham
believed God, and it was counted. It was imputed. It was reckoned
unto him for righteousness. Abraham wasn't righteous because
he obeyed God. It's because he believed God. That's why. Romans 4.22 says,
therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness. A sinner
is made righteous by imputation. What a blessing that this is
the blessed person. To have the Lord Jesus Christ
be willing to have our sin be imputed to him and have his righteousness
imputed to us. That's the blessed person. But
here's the thing about imputation. It's not just that we are guilty
and we are unrighteous, but God imputes righteousness to us,
so now we're righteous. No, that's not how imputation
works. God can only impute what's already
there. Impute is counted. It's counted
as righteous. The best illustration I can think
of is my bank account. I can't take my bank ledger and
impute $100 to it. until I go and actually put $100
in at the bank. When I put $100 in there, then
I can impute $100 because it's already there. See what I'm saying? God imputes righteousness to
his people because that's what he made them. He made them righteous. He imputes it to them. That's
the blessed person. And then last, a sinner is justified.
by a new nature born from God. Ephesians 4.24, Paul says, put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. The new man born of God in the
new birth is created in righteousness and holy. He is righteous. He
is holy. That's how he was created. Now, when God saves a sinner,
He gives them a new righteous nature in the new birth. There's
a new nature born in them. So the rest of their time on
this earth, they're going to have two natures warring in them.
The old man and the new man. They're going to war against
each other. Now that sinner, God says, doesn't have any righteousness
of his own. And he's got to be righteous
if God's going to accept him. So God causes it to be born in
him. He causes a new nature to be
born in him that is holy, that is righteous. And that's a blessed
person. And I'll show you how blessed
it is. Look back at Psalm 7. I said we wouldn't turn to it.
We'll turn to this one. Psalm 7. David makes an astounding
statement in Psalm 7, verse 8. The Lord should judge the people.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according
to mine integrity. that is in me. Now that is one
bold statement to stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
the all seeing eye of God and say, judge me according to my
righteousness and mine integrity, which is in me. Now there's just
one way that David can make such a bold statement. Only one way
is he knew he was righteous in Christ, that God had caused a
new nature to be born in him that was righteous. Because David
said that, didn't he? But you know what David also
said? He said, I'll speak of thy righteousness, even of thine
only. David said, I'm only going to
talk about your righteousness because that's the only righteousness
that there is. This same man said, as the heart pants after
the water broke, so my heart pants after thee, O God. David was a hungry man, a thirsty
man. He said, my heart is panting
after thee. That's the man God makes righteous. He fills him with the righteousness
of Christ. He causes a new nature to be
born in him that's holy, that's righteous. That's a nature that
God will accept. That's why David can confidently
face judgment because he knew his righteousness was Christ
and he can call it his. He can call it his because God
gave it to him and God put it in him. It's not something he
earned. God put it in him. That man who's justified, that's
the man who's blessed of God. All right. Thirdly, the hungry
and thirsty are blessed because God only gives eternal life to
the hungry and the thirsty. Look at Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, verse 21. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Life reigns, grace reigns unto
life through righteousness, by righteousness, by the righteousness
of Christ. Look over a couple pages at Romans
8 verse 10. And if Christ be in you, The
body's dead because of sin. Our flesh is dead because of
sin. But the spirit, that new nature born in you is life because
of righteousness. God makes his people righteous. Then they have to have eternal
life. They cannot die if God has made them sinless. Now, what
a blessing. This is the blessed person who
has eternal life. Eternal life is not just to live
forever. an eternal life, not just to avoid hell. Eternal life
is to have eternal life with Christ. That's the blessed person. And the only person who's blessed
like that is the hungry and the thirsty. All right, fourthly,
look at Revelation chapter seven. The hungry and thirsty are blessed
because only the hungry and thirsty, only the righteous will endure
to the end. Revelation 7 verse 9. After this I beheld and lo a
great multitude which no man could number of all nations and
kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before
the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and
they cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which
sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb. Now these people are
clothed with white robes, they're righteous. How'd they get that
way? Look down at verse 13. And one
of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these which
are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. 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 these people in the white
robes, they're righteous. And they've been made righteous
in Christ. That's what those white robes
represent. The white linen, chapter 19,
verse 8 tells us, is the righteousness of the saints. But the only people
who are going to endure to the end, the only people who are
going to sing God's praises around His throne are people who've
been made righteous because they're washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Now that's the blessed person, the one who's been washed in
the blood of the Lamb. They came through great tribulation. They're not blessed because they
had everything just wonderful here in the flesh, here in this
life. That's not why they're blessed. They're blessed even
though they came through great tribulation because they were
washed in the blood of the Lamb. And those people are eternally
satisfied. By nature, they're hungry and
thirsty, but now They're satisfied and I can show you that. Look
next page over chapter 16 or verse 16. These ones who are
hungry and thirsty, they've been washed in the blood of lamb.
They're satisfied. They shall hunger no more. Neither
thirst anymore. Neither shall the sunlight on
them nor any heat for the lamb, which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them and shall lead them under living fountains
of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
That's the blessed person. And the only person who's blessed
like that is the hungry and the thirsty, those who are empty
of any spiritual good. All right. Lastly, look in Matthew
chapter six, the hungry and thirsty are blessed because God will
give them everything. Matthew six, verse 33. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow. I'm sorry, verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you. Now, if you're hungry and thirsty,
here's what I have to say to you. If you're hungry and you're
thirsty, you're empty. Seek Christ. Seek Christ and
seek him urgently. Urgently. Seek Him because you
crave Him. Because you've got to have Him
and you've got to have Him right now or you will die. Seek Him. If you do that, you
know what God said? God said, He'll bless you. He'll
fill you. You seek Christ like that, you'll
find Him. And the day that you seek for
Him with all of your heart, you'll find Him. When you crave Him,
you'll find Him. Don't seek Him because You want
him to take away your troubles in this life. But brother, that
ain't happening. It's just not happening. Matter
of fact, the Lord promised us trouble. You count the cost.
He said there'll be trouble for following me. Don't seek him
because you want him to make you rich. More likely he won't. More likely he'll keep you poor.
So you look to him. This is just the way of the flesh.
Let's just be honest with each other. This is the way of the
flesh. When we're full, physically, in need of nothing, how often
do you pray? How often do you call on God?
But when God takes away everything and drives you to your knees,
it's automatic to call on Him. More than likely, He's not going
to make you rich in this life. He'll make you rich in grace.
He'll make you rich in mercy. You seek Christ because you've
got to have Him. The only way you can be righteous
is in Him. The only way you can be accepted
of God is in Him. And our Lord says He'll supply
everything else you need along the way too. Seek Christ first
and you'll have Him. And He'll add all these other
things to you. Now you know good and well the Savior is not saying
He's going to give you everything your heart desires because He's
not going to do that. But this is what He will do.
He'll give you grace sufficient for whatever it is you're lacking
physically. He'll give you grace sufficient. Now that's the blessed
person. to think that Almighty God is
going to look out after you. Of all the people on the earth,
God's going to look out after you and supply your need to give
you grace for the hour. That's the blessed person. Now
I want to end with this. It's my heart's desire that somebody
here is thinking, I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I crave Christ. I am tired of trying to go through
this life, making God happy with me, figure it all out myself.
I crave Christ. I want to cry with the songwriter,
give me Christ or else I die. Preacher, where can I find him?
Where can I find this righteousness? Where can I find what will satisfy
my soul? Can you tell me? Yes, I can. It's in the gospel. Look at Romans
1. Verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it's written, the just shall
live by faith. Now, if you're hungry and thirsty,
the only thing that'll satisfy your cravings is Christ. And
I can tell you where Christ is revealed. Only in the gospel. It's the only place He's revealed.
God uses the gospel to reveal Christ to and in his people,
then if you crave Christ, you crave righteousness, my advice
to you is this, don't let anything stop you from being where Christ
is preached. Just don't do it. If I get, Janet
doesn't let me get hungry very often, but if I get hungry, I'm
telling you this, nothing stopped me from getting the refrigerator,
nothing. Be that way about seeking Christ. You know, I remember
being a boy in the hot summer, and we would play outside all
day long. And we got thirsty. I didn't
risk going inside to get a drink of water. Number one, because
I didn't want to waste that time. But I was also afraid my mom
would make me do something. So I just avoided that situation,
and I stayed outside. You know what I did? I drank
out of the water hose, out of the garden hose. And, you know,
we didn't care if the water tasted kind of funny. Because I'm telling
you, we were hot and thirsty. And we just drank out of that
thing anyway. Now, today, I think I have a
little more sense, I drank a whole lot of filtered water. But I
would still drink from the water hose if I got thirsty enough. If God's made you thirsty, buddy, you'll come to Christ.
Because nothing will satisfy Him but you. And the preacher
that you're going to hear from may be just no water hose. But
I'm telling you, the water that comes out don't taste funny.
It's the water of life. And if God's made you hungry
and thirsty, seek him with all you got. Because that's the person
that God will fill with Christ. That's a blessed person. Lord
bless you.