Beatitudes 4

Blessed are Those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Matt 5:6 (NKJV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Hunger: from the same as  (penes) (through the idea of pinching toil; “pine”); to famish (absolute or comparatively); figurative to crave :- be an hungered.—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary

You know about craving for food like this bread.  You know about being so thirsty for water like this.  This morning we are going to talk about having hunger and thirst for something you can’t see.  We’re going to talk about craving Righteousness.

John 4:5-26 (NKJV)
⁵ So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
⁶ Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
⁹ Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
¹¹ The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
¹² Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." ¹⁵ The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
¹⁷ The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,'
¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
¹⁹ The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
²¹ Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
²² You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
²⁵ The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
²⁶ Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

John 4:27-34 (NKJV) ²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
²⁹ "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
³¹ In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
³² But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
³³ Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"
³⁴ Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

Remember Jesus’ Temptation to turn rocks into bread.

True bread:  do the will of father.  True bread was Righteousness

Bread of life: Remember Jesus feeding the multitude.  Afterwards the following event happened.

John 6:26-35 (NKJV) ²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." ²⁸ Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." ³⁰ Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " ³² Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." ³⁴ Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." ³⁵ And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Illustration of “bread Christians”.

John 6:25-27 (NKJV) ²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

This physical bread (show bread) will perish.  This bread was already at a reduced price when I bought it, because it was a day old and I bought it yesterday.  It wasn’t absolutely fresh then.  If I leave it sitting out, pretty soon you will see mold growing on it.  Soon it will not be fit to eat.  It is the food which perishes.  The righteousness that Christ can give you – that is the food that endures to eternal life.  Choose the food that will last.

Let’s look at what happened next in our story of Jesus and the woman at the well.  ‘the woman has gone and told others about Jesus.  In the meantime, Jesus disciples had come to him.  Listen to what he has to say to them:

John 4:35-42 (NKJV) ³⁵ Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
³⁶ And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
³⁷ For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'
³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

³⁹ And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."
⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
⁴¹ And many more believed because of His own word.
⁴² Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

Do you hunger and thirst for righteosness?

Psalms 37:4-6 (NKJV) Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.

Psalms 63:1 (NKJV)¹ A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

How long have you ever gone without enough to drink?  Your body soon craves water.  If the body is denied water, soon it is all a person can think of.  You want a drink and nothing else can satisfy you.  You have a thirst in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  That is the way you should seek God.  Thirst after His righteousness.

1 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV)¹ Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Do you know what happens to a baby when she is denied the milk she needs to satisfy both her hunger and her thirst?  She cries.  If she doesn’t get it she cries even louder and louder until hopefully she gets it.  But do you know what happens in times of famine when that child cries and cries and still does not get nourishment?  Eventually her cries will become quiet.  She is too hungry to cry anymore.  She has given up.  Without serious medical help, she will soon die.

This scenario is tragic during the time of a famine.  It is worse when there is plenty of food, but the babies needs are ignored.  Yet we live in a country where there is no famine!  The is plenty of spiritual food to go around.  How sad it is that so many parents deprive their children of the word of God that they need to grow spiritually.  How sad that so many adults starve themselves spiritually when they don’t have to do so.  All things are ready.  Come to the feast that Jesus has prepared!

John 6:35 (NKJV)
³⁵ And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. Only one true bread.  Only one way to be filled forever and never thirst again.

Luke 14:16-24 (NKJV) ¹⁶ Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷ and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' ¹⁸ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' ¹⁹ And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' ²⁰ Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' ²¹ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' ²² And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' ²³ Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' "

Jesus has invited us to his feast.  His word is readily available to all who live in this great land.  Have you made excuses to miss the feast?  It is a terrible thing to miss the feast of the Lord.  There is no hope for those who excuse themselves from it.

John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Rev 3:20 (NKJV)²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.