SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 5:6
THE HAPPY HUNGRY
#5 - SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Hunger and thirst
express two basic needs. The need for food and the need for
water.
In
But for you and I to be truly happy, we must learn what it means to hunger
and thirst. Not that we need to hunger and thirst after food and water to be
happy. We must learn to hunger and
thirst after righteousness in order to be happy.
Hunger and thirst
are basic responses to needs.
The Lord Jesus is
telling us here that the happy individual is one who hungers and thirsts after
one of man's basic needs - the need to be right with God - righteousness!
To be right with
God is more essential than having food to eat and water to drink.
Therefore our Lord
is telling us to have true hunger and true thirst for righteousness,
that is, being right with God.
In the original
language these words are expressing a continuous hunger and a continuous
thirst. We should be continually hungry and continually thirsty, and the result
is we will continually satisfied.
What is going to
happen when we hunger and thirst after righteousness?
We will lean
on God.
We will learn
from God.
We will live
for God.
We will love
with God.
LEANING ON GOD
When we lean on God
we are expressing a reliance or faith in God. Hebrews 11:6
We must lean on
God for RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We must lean on
God for righteousness because we have no righteousness of our own. Romans
3:10-12
We are unrighteous
before God.
We need
forgiveness.
We need cleansing.
We need guilt
removed.
We need eternal
life.
We need
righteousness.
Do you know why
Jesus Christ died?
Yes, He died for
your sins, and the sins of the whole world.
Yes, He died so
you can be forgiven.
Yes, He died so
you can go to Heaven, if you trust Him as your Savior.
But He also died
so God could declare you righteous, or right with Him!
2 Corinthians 5:21
You see, when our
sins are dealt with
When are sins are paid for
When are sins have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ we
have the opportunity to be made right with God!
We are declared
righteous by God, when we place our faith in that shed blood of Christ.
Romans 5:1
Because Christ
already died, has already been buried, and has already risen from the dead, all
I must do for righteousness is to lean on Him by faith.
Have you leaned on God by putting your
faith in Christ for righteousness?
Those of us who
have leaned on Christ for salvation should not stop learning. We are to hunger and thirst after
righteousness in such a way that we continue to lean on Him!
1 Corinthians 1:30
Just as I could
not be right with God apart from leaning on Christ by faith, I can not live a
righteous life, apart from leaning on Christ now.
He is my
righteousness. Galatians 2:20
See yourself as
dead!
When Christ died,
you died.
See yourself as
alive.
When Christ rose
from the dead, you rose from the dead with Him.
See yourself as
having Christ alive and living inside of you.
Christ liveth in me!
See yourself as
leaning on Him for a righteous life!
…The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Our hunger and
thirst should be such that we simply trust Christ who is in us to live His life
through us.
Be hungry enough
to totally rely on Christ for your righteous Christian life. Be thirsty enough
to lean entirely on Him who lives in you, for everything!
LEARNING FROM
GOD
You, dear
Christian, come with an operator's manual. It tells you how to live your new
life in Christ. It tells you how to adjust and let Christ run your new life.
It tells you how
to maintain your new life in righteousness.
And the real
enthusiast as a Christian, the one who will hunger and thirst after
righteousness, is going to hunger and thirst after this book in order to learn
from God.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Just as a baby
craves milk, so should we crave the Word of God.
For it will teach
us who we are in Christ, and how we should act in Christ.
LIVING FOR GOD
If you hunger and thirst
after righteousness, it means you want your life to count for God.
You want your life
to count for God not just on Sunday, but all week.
In living for God,
there are two verses I suggest you pray over this week: Matthew 5:16, Psalm
LOVING WITH GOD
Because Christ
lives in you, he wants to love through you!
Jesus Christ gave
the greatest expression of love when He went to the cross.
1 John 4:10
And now Christ
wants us to express Christ's love to an unsaved world and even to our enemies.
Christ especially
wants us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. John 13:34-25