Thirsting For Righteousness

Introduction

Good morning.

Everyone’s bright and awake today. Have you ever had a goal before? I want to be more specific. I know you probably have, so I want you to think of your more notable New Year’s resolutions. Has everyone got one in their mind? I want you to think of one. Okay. Now, how many of you have had a string of 100% getting done all of your resolutions, accomplishing exactly what you wanted? Raise your hand. No one? Who has accomplished 99% or 95% of all their New Year’s resolutions? If you only had two, that doesn’t count, by the way. Okay? Still no hands. Okay. Here’s my question. If you believe strongly in something, if you really want it, have you ever been successful? Raise your hand if you have been successful with a New Year’s resolution before.

No one’s ever been successful? Oh, we got a couple. Oh, this is sad. I have to retool my lesson a little bit, I think. If you were then to be successful with something, how would you do it? I was thinking going into this morning’s lesson that it would be through hard work, through really earnestly desiring to accomplish a goal, and then through your dedication, your motivation to change, a key factor, and then choosing to keep it as a priority in your life would allow you to accomplish your goal and to possibly sustain it, depending on what you were trying to accomplish. But as the results have shown from my ill-advised straw poll, sometimes goals and oftentimes don’t turn out the way that we would like. And I think there’s a reason for that.

It’s a break in the chain. I think as Christians, though, sometimes we lose sight of the motivation factor in the chain of accomplishing something. I hope you open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 5. We see a picture of a Christian here in Matthew chapter 5. We’re going to focus on one verse in this section, but look with me beginning in verse 2 of Matthew chapter 5. We are, of course, going to speak of the Beatitudes this morning. And in Matthew chapter 5, I’d like you to compare yourself with the reading with this text, the very words of Christ, and see, do you act? Do you come across as this person that Christ describes? Beginning in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 2. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you and others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Think about this list. Are you poor in spirit?

Are you meek? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are you merciful? Are you pure in heart? Are you a peacemaker? In times of persecution. Have you rejoiced and been glad? That’s the picture that Christ gives us of a Christian. You know how I know that. Look at the second part of each of those verses beginning in verse 3. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 4, for those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The meek shall inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God, and blessed are those who persecute are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

You see, there’s a big goal there. There’s something very important about each of those characteristics because they come with a promise. If you can get yourself to attain to that level of perfection, to be like Christ in those aspects, you have all that comes with it. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For you shall receive mercy. I think all of us understand we would desperately want the Lord’s mercy.

1. Hunger and Thirst: Dying for Food

Look with me there. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? For they shall be satisfied. Now, this type of hunger and thirsting isn’t your casual stop by 7 Eleven and get a big gulp type of thirst. This is dying for food, dying for something to drink. You are in a desert, you’re stuck, you’re lost. I don’t know where that would be in Florida, but you’re stuck there. You’re lost. And you desperately need food to sustain your very life. I hope you see the comparison that’s drawn very articulately and very plainly by our Lord. How bad do you want righteousness this morning? Table that thought. Look with me in your Old Testament to the book of Ezekiel. Let’s understand about righteousness. What is it that we should hunger and thirst for?

2. What Is Righteousness?

How do we attain it? What is it? So look with me in Ezekiel chapter 18. In Ezekiel chapter 18, we get a little bit of a picture. And you’ll see from verse 5 how that picture begins with an apt description of what we’re trying to figure out. In Ezekiel chapter 18, beginning in verse 5. If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of the Lord, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of minstrel impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge. Commits no robbery, gives bread to the hungry, covers the naked with a garment, does not lend it interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, execute executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes and keeps my rules by acting faithfully.

He is righteous. He shall surely live, declares the Lord God. You see, the power of the righteous man is in God. Because God has declared, if he is righteous, he is not righteous.

If you’re seeking eternal life this morning, if you’re seeking a relationship with God, and that’s not first on your priority list, and I don’t mean as a cliche or on a board somewhere in your house. I mean you are truly living for it. Can you say you are righteous? Can you say more to the point that you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Are you spiritually starved this morning? Do you wake up each day wishing to be satisfied, longing, seeking to be satisfied with the food and the drink that God alone can offer. Brother Curtis Pope had a lesson entitled, And Such were some of you, and he took it from 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Please look with me there. Just briefly this morning. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Beginning in verse 9. In Paul’s letter, he has some strong words there, beginning in verse 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, no adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

But such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. God is good. Amen. If he is good, you admit and acknowledge that you are nothing in His presence, and beyond that, you should submit all to Him because it is through Him and Him alone that you can enter the kingdom of God. At some point in our lives, just like the Corinthians spoken of by Paul there in verse 11. If you’re a Christian this morning, you recognized a need. You recognized that on your own, you were nothing. You had no chance, no eternity, no hope, no promise. But with God there is everything. At some point you got down on your knees, whether in actuality or in your mind, and said, God, I give all to you.

To you I trust. To you I give my faith. There’s something about this spot on this stage that this is not like. I’m going to stay over here now.

3. Give All to Him the Rest of Our Lives

That’s better. There is something about giving yourself over to God that is very clear when you’re in a moment of need, when you recognize all the sin, all the filth that has covered you. Why? Because you recognize that God alone can forgive your iniquity. God alone who promised in Jeremiah that he would remember your sins no more as part of the new covenant. God alone can do that. And so you give all to him. But my question this morning is do we give all to him the rest of our lives? You see, when Jesus describes in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is a picture of people who weren’t just at one point satisfied, just like at one point he doesn’t bless those who are peacemakers.

You’re not a peacemaker one time and then you’re fine. You don’t mourn one time and then you’re fine. You need to hunger and thirst for righteousness. What does that mean? You want it more than anything. Because it’s your everything. And looking back at Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6, thinking about the idea of hungering and thirsting. It is not like the little boy Zach, who’s six years old, said, if you do right, it means you won’t get hungry or thirsty. It means that you want it. And you want it bad. Have you ever been around a Thanksgiving dinner or lunch or whatever it is that your family does for a meal on that day? Have you ever been so excited to eat? As one of those lucky people who does little to contribute to the lunch or the dinner and then gets to eat a big portion of the lunch or dinner, I thoroughly enjoy Thanksgiving food.

And I gotta tell you, the longer it takes to prepare, the more I want it. Mainly because it smells good, because after all, I can I am around it. I’m probably not helping, but I am around it. But beyond that, I’m saving room for that delicious food. I’m saving room for what the chef who I know will produce some really good things that will make me feel really good and give me a really good benefit is coming. And because I know that that time, that food appointment time is near, I wait. And then naturally someone has to ruin it and perhaps show up late to Thanksgiving dinner, throwing off my hard earned lunch.

And I get hungrier. Have you ever been hungrier for Thanksgiving dinner as time goes by? And it takes longer and longer. But you wait. But you really want it while you’re waiting. In fact, eventually it becomes what you are seeking most. You cannot wait for the command to say, Come down, it’s time to eat. That’s, boy, isn’t that such a great time of your day? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness, though? Can you wait? Can you put it off? Can you wait even just one moment to be righteous? And as defined by Ezekiel chapter 18, that someone who seeks God and seeks to obey God, Jesus says in John 14 and verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Is that your primary goal? Because when you’re hungry, when you’re thirsty in the way that Jesus is implying it, it’s your everything. If you’ve ever been starving, if you’ve ever gone several days, perhaps you’ve fasted, perhaps you just haven’t been around food, perhaps you’ve worked a very long shift, you know how strong physical hunger is. Beginning of a sentence from Paul Earnhardt goes like this. Even the most insensitive people are moved by the hunger of the body. And I’d like to add on to that, and yet there are a lot of people who are not moved in the slightest. They aren’t moved even a little bit by their spiritual starvation. If we recognize that God has everything, if you did recognize it, why don’t you continually?

I can suggest a reason. Because all of a sudden, all that sin and all that guilt that was on us, it’s been forgiven. And we trust God, and God is faithful to keep his promises. I am in no way, shape, or form questioning the promises of God, or is he faithful to keep them? I am questioning, are we faithful to keep up the dedication, the true meaning of repentance that we had before obeying our Almighty Heavenly Father. Because if you are a Christian, you chose to be like Christ. An idea we’ll examine in just a moment. But it’s not really what you want. Is it what you want more than anything? More than a job.

4. Study the Word and Practice Righteousness

If you’ve ever had a long-term goal, whether it’s weight loss or saving up enough money to buy a house, anything, saving enough money to buy a car. You know it takes time and it takes effort. And even more than that, as verses 11 and 12 of Matthew chapter 5 suggests, it even takes some suffering in a sense. Now I will say, our version of suffering to save money is a lot different than the suffering that was implied by our Lord and Savior in verses 11 and 12. But we know it takes some sort of sacrifice. But I can tell you a way to parlay that is to study the word of God. Study the very words that help us become righteous. Look with me in 1 John chapter 3.

In 1 John chapter 3. Beginning in verse 1. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are.

He is pure. But now look really closely. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Do you want to know how? Look closely. Are you of God or are you of the devil? Look. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Conversely, we understand it is those who are righteous, those who do practice righteousness, those who do obey our Lord and our God. They are the children of God. They shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Just as Jesus said they would all that time ago in Matthew chapter five, beginning a sermon on the mount. You see, there’s something about total sacrifice. There’s something about wanting something. But I’ll tell you, it’s not just deciding you want it.

You have to do something with it. Look with me in Hebrews chapter five. See if you can figure out what it is you need to do. You can identify that you need God, and you can even identify in your mind that God’s who I want to serve. But there’s more on the table. Look at Hebrews chapter five. Beginning in verse 11. About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. Why? Verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. What is there on the table? Growth. If you’re devoted to something, if you’re devoted to righteousness, if you truly hunger and thirst for it, you’re going to work for it. You’re going to study the word of righteousness. You’re going to practice being a peacemaker, being someone who comforts others, being someone who lives for others. God first, others second, and you put yourself a very distant last. I can tell you that is a very hard thing to do. I can preach, I can yell, I can scream, I can whisper. But we have to do it ourselves. You have to have the commitment, and that’s why it’s so important to recognize where you came from.

5. The Salt of the Earth and a Light

What does Paul say? And such were some of you. We had sin, we had guilt, and Jesus came to take it away. And he did it for you. So we owe our lives to him. We don’t owe a moment of gratitude, a moment of repentance or of some some sincere turning to God. We owe him a lifetime of sincere service. And if you’re truly serving, it becomes very easy in one sense. Becomes easy to commit. And frankly, it would be easy to distinguish those who are from those who are not committed to hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Look back in Matthew chapter 5. Notice the illustrations Jesus gives in verses 13 and 14 and then 15 and 16. What does he talk about? He talks about being the salt of the earth and being a light.

These two great examples. Why? What’s the importance of that? Why? Why say that? What’s his point following up the Beatitudes? You are the salt of the earth, verse 13, but if Saul had lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Thought about beginning the lesson this way.

But I think it applies now as well. How many times have you, don’t admit this, have you thought, said, or heard something to the effect of the following? The world today just does not care about the words of God. The world today just does not care about right and wrong. The world today just isn’t like it used to be. Here’s my question. Instead of worrying about the world, is this church, are you like you used to be? Because at some point you were so moved by your sin, so moved by the power of God that you committed your life to him. Are you the same? What about our church today from ten years ago? Have we grown in the faith? Have we studied, hungering and thirsting for righteousness?

Because Jesus promises, if you do, you will be satisfied. But there is a condition upon that satisfaction, and it is that you seek, you hunger and thirst for it. God says He will provide. Jesus says it will be provided, but you have to go for it. You have to want it. You have to do it. Have you grown? Are you on solid food now? Have you grown in matching that list of characteristics that Jesus has given us? Have you grown to be more poor in spirit? To be like one of those who mourn, to be more meek, to be more merciful, to have a purer heart, to be more of a peacemaker. Have you perhaps even been persecuted or reviled because of your belief? Because after all, in a world of darkness that it’s aptly stated, as Jesus says in verse 15, people don’t light a lamp and put it up, put it on a stand.

Excuse me. Verse 15, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. People don’t light a lamp and cover it. If you are a light, you will shine. And if you shine, you will be seen. And perhaps that’s why Jesus and the New Testament writers consistently and constantly tell you, beware, be ready for persecution, but rejoice in it. Because so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

6. Walk in the Same Way in Which He Walked

You have to work at it, and finally, you have to know exactly what it is you’re going for, and the Bible tells us what that is. Look back at 1 John chapter 2. In addition to the many lists that you could take out of the New Testament, beginning perhaps foremost with Matthew chapter 5. 1 John chapter 2 gives us a hint. An all-encompassing hint at how we should act. What long-term hungering and thirsting for righteousness perhaps ends up looking like. Beginning in verse 1 of 1 John chapter 2, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And by this we know that we have come to him if we keep his commandments. But keep reading. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. How are we to walk? Like Christ did. Now that’s a challenge. You want to know what long-term hungering and thirsting for righteousness is like? What long term dedication, self-sacrifice is? It’s walking like Christ. It’s bearing your cross daily like Christ. It’s having humility like Christ. As the little boy had said, as I counted earlier, if you do right, you won’t get hungry or thirsty.

That’s not quite what it’s about. Unless, of course, he had a very spiritual perception behind that phrase. It’s more about are you committed? Are you getting more to the form of Christ or are you not? First John chapter 3 makes it clear, you are of the devil or you are of God. And you can be known based on whether or not you practice righteousness. And so I ask you, are you conforming to the image of his son? Because if you’re not, you’re wrong. Either you’re not conforming to anyone, which is not conforming to Christ, or you’re conforming to something else, which is certainly not Christ. I’m asking you this morning, are you conformed or conforming yourself, your image, your characteristics to those of Jesus? If you’re not, why not?

What will stop you from the kingdom of heaven? What will stand in your path? What will make your way difficult? What is so important in this life that will keep you from eternal life? It seems strange to me a little bit. And I struggle with this myself intensely. Christ was so focused on the poor and the downtrodden and the rich and the whole world and the sinners. And sometimes Christians who are his followers, sometimes we kind of miss out. We struggle with that aspect of emulating Christ. How can that be? If we’re conforming to the image of his son, wouldn’t we act like him? There’s a country song that talks about a boy who wants to be just like his dad, and it talks about how he even says some things perhaps he shouldn’t, because of his dad’s example.

We get that when it comes to a son and a father, a daughter and a mother. We get that if you have a goal, if you ever had a mentor, if you ever had someone you tried to learn from, you tried to be like them in certain ways. Maybe not always, but here or there. But we need to conform to the image of the Son. We need to walk in the way that He walked. Sometimes we practice church, we practice our lives, trying to be like a 21st century Christian rather than the one and only Jesus Christ. Hopefully, that those would be the same. But sometimes our practices pull us apart. We shouldn’t try to act like other people. We should try to act like the Son of God.

Conclusion

If you want to act like a person, make it the person who took up his cross and died for the forgiveness of your sins. If you want to hunger and thirst for righteousness, make it your goal today. Recognize your spiritual destitution is still there if you don’t have God, and you can only have God if you’re seeking after Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness shall be added unto you. Has His righteousness filled you this morning? Have you been satisfied? Or perhaps are you found not hungering or not thirsting in the way that we truly have need for. Let’s go to God in prayer. Our dear God, we praise you, for it is just with your spoken word that you have made all that we see, all that we are.

Oh God, we praise you, for it is your plan that has allowed all of this world which we can’t even begin to understand, to not only form an existence, but continue on in self perpetuation. Oh Lord, forgive us when we do wrong. Help us to seek after you. Oh God, you are so great. You are so merciful, so gracious. You have forgiven us of our sins. Help us to be comforted by your hand. But help us to realize that sacrifice is needed of us. Lord, help us to say what is thy will, not ours. Help us to live a life that is pleasing and conforming to the image that you have given us and of your son. Oh Lord, please forgive us of our wrong. Help us to do right.

And it’s in your son’s name we do pray. Amen. You’re now dismissed to Bible class.