The two most urgent physical
needs that we have would be hunger and thirst. Hunger. Maybe no one's hungry
right now, but you know what it is to be hungry. And when
you're hungry, you need to have that need met, don't you? Thirst. When you're thirsty, you have
to have that need met. Nothing supersedes those needs,
those cravings. cravings. And these are the words
used to describe the believers craving for righteousness. Blessed are they that do hunger
and do thirst after righteousness. Now the first order of business
in this message is seeing what is meant by righteousness. when
the Lord says, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Now, if you asked a dozen different
people what righteousness means, you'd probably get a dozen different
answers and it always would be some answer that makes them appear
righteous, wouldn't it? So I would like to read a scripture
that will exclude what most people think of when they think of righteousness. Now would you turn with me to
Isaiah 64. Isaiah the prophet, speaking
under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, says in Isaiah
chapter 64 verse 6, but we are all No exceptions to this rule. You
and I, we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Now that's God's testimony concerning
my personal righteousness and your personal righteousness.
Anything that you and I do that we would call righteous, God
says it is filthy rags. So obviously when our Lord says,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness
He's not talking about human righteousness. He's not talking
about something that you can do or something that you can
be that would make you righteous. What is righteousness? Well, we know it's not human
righteousness. Now turn to Romans 1. Verse 16. Paul says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, and I'm not either. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. I love the gospel. I'm proud
of the gospel. It's a gospel worthy of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a gospel worthy of His honor. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it, the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. Now here is the only righteousness
there is, the righteousness of God. That's the only righteousness
there is. That's why David said in Psalm
71 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. The reason he said thine only,
because that's the only one there is. There's no other righteousness
to mention. Blessed are they. who hunger and thirst after God's
righteousness. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Righteousness is the righteousness
of God. You see, righteous is who he
is. He is righteous. Righteousness is what he requires. And God doesn't negotiate with
sinners. He requires absolute perfect righteousness that has
no flaws, no faults, a perfect standing before his holy law. If I have any sin at all, God
will not accept me. How good do I have to be to be
accepted by God? I have to be as good as God himself. Now that can only be understood
in the gospel. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. That means I have to stand before
God's holy law without guilt. If I have even one breach of
one commandment, I'm guilty of breaking the entire law. Turn
to James chapter 1. I want to show you this from
the scripture. James chapter 1. I'm sorry, James chapter 2, verse
8. If you fulfill the royal law
according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. You do well. But if you have respect to persons,
if you show favoritism in an unjust way, you commit sin and
are convinced of the law. as transgressors. For whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all." For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said
also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery,
yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. Now would you turn with me to
Genesis chapter 7. I want us to look at the first time in
the Bible where the word righteous is used. And the first time in
the Bible where the word righteousness is used. Genesis chapter 7. Now God says this regarding a
man by the name of Noah. He says in Genesis chapter 7
verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou, and all thy
house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before
me in this generation. Now God saw Noah as righteous. And there's only one reason why
God saw Noah as righteous. Because Noah was righteous. He was righteous before God. Now, look in the previous chapter,
chapter 6, verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination... He's not even talking about the
works right now. He's talking about what passes through the mind. God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's God's testimony of
man. That's God's testimony of me. Now was Noah somehow different
from this? Was Noah a cut above all these
people God describes? No. Noah by nature was just as
bad. He was included in this group.
God saw man. Not all men but Noah. He saw
man in this light. But he saw Noah as righteous. How? Well, let's look at the
next time the word righteousness is used. That's the first time
righteous is used. This is the first time righteousness
is used. Turn to Genesis chapter 15. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram,
I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said,
Lord God, what will thou give me? Seeing I go childless and
the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram
said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born
in my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord
came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Now he didn't have a baby, didn't
have a child. His wife was an old woman and
had already gone through the process of menopause. How is
he going to have a child? Verse 5, And he brought him forth
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if
thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And he believed what God said. He believed in the Lord. He believed his word with no
evidence that it would take place other than God said it. God said
it. He believed what God said. Just his naked word. And he counted
it to him for righteousness. Righteousness. Righteousness. Abraham was just
as sinful as I am. He was just as sinful as you
are. He believed God. He believed the gospel. Turn
to the New Testament account of this in Romans chapter 4. Paul quotes this in verse 3 of
Romans chapter 4, for what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed
God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to
him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. If you can do something that would obligate God to save
you, that means salvation was a debt he owed you rather than
the gift of his grace. It really is that simple. Verse
five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly. Now that word justifies is the
verb form of the word righteous. When God justifies somebody,
you know what? That means they're righteous.
They're righteous. Now this ungodly man is righteous
before God. This is how God saw Noah as righteous. Now how can that be? Does that
mean faith is counted for righteousness? If you believe that's your righteousness
before God? No, that's not what it means.
Faith didn't die for your sins. Faith didn't keep the law for
you. Christ did. Christ's righteousness is the
believer's righteousness before God. Faith believes that. His
faith is counted for righteousness. Now, the Savior says, before
we get into this, there's two things I got to understand. Righteousness,
number one, it's not in man. It's not in me or you. You don't
even have the potential for it. Second, it's God's righteousness. That's the only righteousness
there is. Now, the Savior says, blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Now you think about when you're
hungry and thirsty, why are you hungry and thirsty? Because you
don't have any food in your stomach. It's gone. It's all been digested. You've got an empty stomach.
It growls. You almost feel nauseous. You feel hungry. You need food. You feel weak. You need food. You feel thirsty. You need water. And you can't come up with this
food. You can't satisfy your own hunger by anything in you.
You can't satisfy your own thirst by anything in you. It must come
from without you. Hunger and thirst is a perceived
absence of that which you need and you crave it. Blessed are
they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Do you know that
most men never experience this thing of hungering and thirsting
after righteousness? I love what Mary said. He filled
the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent away
empty. Most people feel like they've
got some righteousness, or at least the potential to be righteous.
And they never hunger and thirst after righteousness. The only
way you ever hunger and thirst after righteousness is if you
feel that you don't have any and you have a great need for
it. Now, they hunger and thirst for God's righteousness. Turn
to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians the third chapter.
Here's this hunger and thirst that our Lord is talking about. Paul says in verse 8, Yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss, but garbage, for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dumb, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. Now look at this next statement.
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. Now that's the righteousness
I want. I don't want to have anything to do with my own personal
righteousness, because I really believe if my fingerprint's on
it, it's filthy rags. It's filthy rags. I need His
righteousness, and I hunger and thirst for His righteousness.
righteousness. I hunger and thirst for a right
standing before God so that when He sees me, He sees one who is
altogether righteous, just like His Son. I hunger and thirst
for that. I hunger and thirst for right
conduct before God and before men. I hunger and thirst to be
righteous." Not simply to avoid hell or gain heaven, but to be
righteous as He is righteous. We hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now, if you're hungry and thirsty,
this is not a matter of indifference with you. It's not a take it
or leave it thing. When you're hungry, you've got
to have food. When you're thirsty, you have to have something to
drink. You must have food. You must
have water. You must have righteousness. This hungry man craves righteousness. Now, hunger. Hunger. Think of
that thought of hunger. If you set bread on the table
and somebody doesn't eat it. Let's say you put down white
bread and he prefers whole wheat and he doesn't eat the white
bread. He passes on. One thing you can conclude about
that fellow, he's not hungry. If he was hungry, he would eat. If I come to hear the gospel
hungry, the Lord is not going to send me away empty. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. If a man
is really hungry, Will he be concerned about the place setting?
Now, I like a good place setting. I like a nice presentation of
a meal. I really do. I love the way everything
is set on the plate when it's done right at a nice restaurant
or this nice restaurant. And I like the nice plates. And I don't much like to eat
or drink out of a paper cup. I sure don't like plastic utensils.
I mean, I really don't. I like the presentation of a
meal, right, but I tell you what, if I'm hungry, I don't care.
I really don't. If I'm thirsty and you give me
some cold water in a paper cup, I'll take it and I'll be thankful
for it. I'll rejoice in it. I won't care if it's paper plates
and plastic forks. I won't care if the food is put
down on the plate in an unattractive manner. No, I'll eat it because
I'm hungry and because I'm thirsty. Blessed are they who hunger and
who thirst after righteousness. There's only one thing that'll
satisfy this hunger. Righteousness. The very righteousness
of God. Now, the Savior says, blessed. Blessed by God. They've reached
the highest state of blessedness. I love the beatitudes. The word
means the highest state of happiness. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Now, this is what is known as
a paradox. Since when is it a blessed thing
to be hungry? It's a painful thing. It's a thing that makes
you feel very uneasy. Since when is it a blessed thing
to be thirsty? It seems more like a painful
state, the state of need. How is this blessed? Well, first
of all, because the Savior said it was. That's the only reason
we need it, isn't it? You know, if the Lord said, blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, you know
what? Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
They've been blessed of God. God's done something for that
individual. Turn with me to Luke chapter
six. Verse 21. Blessed are you that hunger now,
for you shall be filled. Look down in verse 25. Woe unto
you that are full, for you shall hunger. Hunger and thirst causes weakness. I mean, you're weak when you're
hungry and you're thirsty. You tremble. You can't do anything. That's a good thing. Because
Paul said, when I am weak, then am I strong. You see that one
who hungers and thirsts is somebody who knows the truth. He knows
the truth that he does not have any personal righteousness. He
has been made to realize that. He's been made to see that. He
knows the truth about himself. And he knows righteousness is
going to have to come from without him. He can't produce it. He can't come up with the goods.
He can't work to make himself righteousness. He knows it has
to come outside of him just like when you're hungry. You don't
feed upon yourself unless you're sick. I remember 25 years ago,
I had what's called nephrotic syndrome. And when I had that,
I lost all this weight. I got down to 140 pounds. And
they said, what happens is your body eats itself. That's a horrible
way to do it, but that's what happens. Your body eats all your
protein. You lose all your muscles. Now, that kind of nourishment
is no good. As a matter of fact, it'll kill
you. If you got to look to yourself
for righteousness, all it will do is kill you. If a man hungers and thirsts
for righteousness, he values the right thing. Now, this world's
hungering and thirsting after a lot of things. Hungry and thirsting
after security, after pleasure, after power, after prestige,
after this world. Hungry and thirsting. Everybody
has a hunger and thirst. But there's one thing I need. I don't have to be healthy. I
don't have to be wealthy. But I have to be righteous before
God. And I hunger and I thirst to
be righteous before God. The man hungering and thirsting
is the man that has not been deluded by the great delusion. And what is the great delusion?
Self-righteousness. That's the biggest delusion that
there is. And everybody naturally has this
great delusion. Like the Pharisee, he trusted
himself that he was righteous. That's self-righteousness. Any
righteousness that comes from you is self-righteousness and
filthy rags. Now the people who see they have
no righteousness, Oh, they hunger and thirst after his righteousness. Satisfaction for hunger must
come from somewhere other than me. Now, these people who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, I know this about them. I know
this. I know this. They hunger and thirst for free
grace. Go hand in hand. You thirst for
righteousness. You know you can't make yourself
righteous. And you hunger and you thirst for free grace. Like I said this morning, if
you believe yourself to be a sinful man or woman, full of sin, What
we call the doctrine of grace is not just something you agree
with and see the scripture teaches. You need it. You need God to
elect you. You need Christ to die for you
and put away your sins. You need God's grace to not take
no for an answer. To be invincible and irresistible. You need him to preserve you.
You hunger and thirst for the freeness of his grace. Now these
people are blessed. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Oh, how blessed they are. And
what's the Lord say about them? They shall be filled. Filled with what? Filled with
righteousness. Filled with the very righteousness
of God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, all the fullness of righteousness, all
the fullness of holiness, all the fullness of whatever God
is. It all dwells in His body and you are complete, filled
to the full in Him. That person who hungers and thirsts
after righteousness shall be filled. Now here's the big question.
If I am a sinner, How can I be righteous? How can a man be just with God?
That means how can a man be righteous before God? If I am a sinner,
and I am, I am, I'm not, when I use this term of me being a
sinner, I'm not just using the language because I know it's
the time to use it. I know that's what I am before
God. Now, if I really am a sinful
individual, you can just take that as far as you want, how
is it that I can be righteous before God? Most important question
you or I could ever consider. How can a sinner be righteous?
Well, first of all, in God's sight,
There's a very real sense in which he can never have been
a sinner, but has always been righteous before God. What I'm
talking about is union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteous
by union. This is mysterious. It can only
be believed. It can't be so much understood.
But if I'm one with Him, if I'm united with Him, whatever He
is, I am. Was He righteous before time
began? So was I. Righteous by union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Union with Christ means I'm in
Him. That's what it means. Very simply, I'm in Him. Jessica's
got a child in her. It's in her. Wherever she goes,
that child goes. When she walks out of the room,
that child walks out of the room. The child is in her. The child
is united to her. All that child has comes from
her. Brad, you don't participate in
feeding that child. It all comes from her. The child
is in you. Every believer is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. As He's righteous, so am I. Righteous
by imputation. Turn back to Romans chapter 4. Verse 5, But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith
is counted for righteousness, even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without their works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, here's the reality. of the imputation of righteousness. I've got these sins, these transgressions,
these iniquities, but they've been covered for Christ's sake.
They've been forgiven for Christ's sake. And God didn't charge me
with my sin. That's my hope. God didn't charge
me with it. He charged it to His Son. That's
why His Son died. My sin became His sin. That's
why His Son died. So a believer is righteous by
imputation and righteous by gift. Romans 15, 17 speaks of the gift. of righteousness. I think of
that poor woman at a well, the Lord speaking to her. He said
to her, in her ignorance, if you knew the gift of God, righteousness is His gift. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you'd ask. And he'd give. If you knew the
gift, and who it is that's talking to you, you'd ask. Now if you know that righteousness
is a gift, and you know he's the giver of it, you know what
you'd do? You'd ask him for it. And you know what he'd do? He'd
give it to you. There's nobody who ever asked
for righteousness that he says no to. Everyone, without exception,
who asks for this glorious gift, righteousness, His righteousness,
He gives it to. And then we're righteous by nature,
in the sense of the new birth. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous. There's a new nature that God
gives us, what's called being born again, born of the Spirit.
A new nature, a holy nature. and righteous by faith. Now,
righteous by faith doesn't mean, understand this, righteous by
faith doesn't mean faith is righteousness. Here's what it means. How do
I know that I'm united to Christ? What's the only evidence? Faith.
How do I know that his righteousness has been imputed to me? I believe
the gospel. That's how I know. How do I know
that he's given me this gift? I believe the gospel. How do
I know that I have a holy and a righteous nature? Is it because
my heart's good, I'm real righteous? No, because I believe the gospel. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, would you turn with me in
closing to Luke chapter 18. All this is going to be spelled
out for us. Blessed is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
He shall be filled. Now, we're going to look in this
passage of Scripture at a fellow who did not hunger and thirst
for righteousness because he already had his own righteousness. And we're going to look at a
fellow who actually hungered and thirsted after righteousness. Verse 9, And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous. And the inevitable result of
that mistaken notion, they despised, they belittled, they looked down
their nose at others. You see, if you believe in a
human righteousness, What you're going to do is you're always
going to find somebody that you can compare yourself to and come
out on top of. That's what this fella did. You
can always find somebody that you're a little bit better than,
if that's what you're doing. You can find someone that you
feel like you've got a little bit more morality. Now, it's all
a lie. It's all a lie. It's just because
you're deceiving yourself. But if you have any personal
righteousness, you're always going to find somebody that you
can look down your nose at. And that's what bolsters you
up. Verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray. Both
these men believed God, both saw their need of his blessing,
and they prayed. The one, a Pharisee, a very religious
man. It means separated one, separated
one. and the other a publican, the
most despised, disrespected man of his day, a dishonest man who
fleeced others, taking and collecting taxes for the Roman government
and overcharging. And you can imagine how despised
this man was. He was a traitor to the Jews.
He was a Jew employed by the Roman government. He'd rip people
off. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood, notice his posture. standing,
and he prayed thus with himself." He wasn't praying to God. He
thought he was, but he wasn't. It didn't get any further than
the ceiling. I love the way the Lord points this out about this
man's prayer. He prayed thus with himself. He wasn't praying
to God. He prayed thus with himself. God, I thank Thee. Oh, here's a humble man. He gave
God all the credit. God, I thank thee. I'm not giving
myself to the credit for this. I thank thee, not that Christ
died, not that salvation is by the freeness of your grace, not
for your covenant mercies, but I thank thee that I'm not as
other men are. And then he proceeded to tell
a bunch of lies. Understand this, self-righteousness
is the biggest self-delusion that there is. What this man
said was totally untrue. He said, I thank thee that I'm
not as other men are, indeed he's not. Extortioners, he was
an extortioner, unjust. He was unjust in his thoughts
of himself. Adulterers, why he was an adulterer
in his heart continually and he committed spiritual adultery.
Or even as this publican, I'm not like him. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, what did he need? He need
grace? Did he need righteousness? Not
at all. He didn't need these things. Verse 13. And the publican, standing afar
off, he would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, his heart,
the place of his trouble, his evil heart, saying, God, be merciful
to me! The sinner. This man had no personal
righteousness. None. By his own admission, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, verse 14, this man
went down to his house, look at that next word, justified. the verb form of the word righteous. This man who is by his own confession
a sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ said he went down to his house
justified, rather than the other. The other fellow went down to
his house condemned, still in his sins, still under the judgment
and the wrath of a holy God. But this man who had no personal
righteousness, went down to his house justified. And I think
it's so glorious how the Lord makes no more comment about it. He doesn't tell how. He just
says it happened. And it takes the entire Bible
to tell how. The whole Bible is used to tell
how that publican was justified. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst for righteousness. And hear the blessed Savior's
blessed promise, they shall be filled. You find me anybody who before
God hungers and thirsts for righteousness. That's a perceived absence. You
know, you can't come up with the goods. That person, the Savior
says, shall be filled, filled to the full. Now, if you're poor,
if you mourn over your sin, if you're meek before God, Here's
something else. You will hunger and you will
thirst after righteousness. Let's pray.