July 9, 2025 • 22 mins
What do you truly hunger for? In this study of Matthew 5:6, we uncover the powerful distinction between worldly happiness and divine satisfaction. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” isn’t just a religious sentiment—it’s a revolutionary approach to fulfillment that directly contradicts our culture’s relentless pursuit of happiness through acquisition and self-gratification.
The world constantly tells us that happiness comes through possessions, status, and doing whatever feels good regardless of consequences. But Jesus offers a radically different perspective. When He uses “blessed” in these Beatitudes, He’s describing a true, lasting joy that only comes as a byproduct of pursuing something greater—righteousness itself. This isn’t about rule-following or religious perfectionism; it’s about hungering for right relationship with God with the same intensity we feel when physically starving.
Think about this: most of us would never consider feeding our physical bodies just once a week, yet many believers attempt to sustain their spiritual lives on nothing more than a weekly church service. We meticulously plan three meals daily for our bodies while allowing our spirits to starve. As the teaching reminds us, “What you feed grows, and what you starve dies.” Which appetite are you feeding—your flesh or your spirit?
Pursuing righteousness means actively making time to engage with Scripture until it transforms you from within, surrounding yourself with others who share your spiritual hunger, and specifically asking God to reveal unhealthy appetites while increasing your desire for Him. The beautiful promise attached to this Beatitude isn’t that you’ll get everything you want—it’s that your deepest soul hunger will finally be satisfied through right relationship with God. Will you join us in this countercultural pursuit of hungering for what truly satisfies?
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Joshua Gruber (00:04):
So blessed.
We're in Matthew, chapter 5.
If you brought your Bibles, youcan go ahead and open up there,
and I'm going to go ahead andread through the first six
verses and then we're going tocamp out on verse 6 tonight.
Okay, matthew, chapter 5.
Starting in verse one, seeingthe crowds, he went up on the
(00:29):
mountain and when he sat down,his disciples came to him and he
opened his mouth and taughtthem, saying blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted of
heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for theyshall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
(00:53):
for they shall be satisfied.
Heavenly Father, thank you somuch for your word.
Thank you for this evening.
Lord, I just give you all thepraise and all the glory right
now we give you this time.
I pray that you would moveright through me, lord.
I pray that your word would beheard tonight, nothing that I
(01:16):
have to say, but only what youwant us to hear through your
word.
Lord, we love you, we thank you.
I thank you for everyone that'shere and I just pray that you
would just let your will be donetonight in Jesus' name, amen.
So we're going to camp out inverse six.
(01:39):
Like I said, the series iscalled Blessed and I'm going to
repeat this verse several timesBlessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, forthey will be satisfied.
This is the fifth week of thisstudy on blessed, so I'm going
to start off by asking you allat this point we should have
some sort of an idea of whatblessed means.
Right, what does blessed mean?
(01:59):
It's not rhetorical, you guyscan answer.
What does blessed mean In thiscontext, in these verses that
Jesus is speaking, what do youthink blessed means?
Anyone, it's not a trickquestion.
Spiritually prosperous, that'sgood, that's good.
Blessed, given grace, okay,it's good as well.
(02:23):
Who said that?
You nailed it.
That's exactly what I waslooking for Happy.
I know it doesn't seem right,it doesn't necessarily fit right
.
And why is that?
Why do we think that doesn'treally fit well with us?
Because I think we have askewed view of what happiness is
(02:45):
okay.
In these verses, I believe Jesusis saying blessed are those.
He means happy.
Happy are those who are poor inspirit.
Happy are those, but not justhappy, truly happy.
You see, there's a differencebetween happiness that this
world tells us and happinessthat can only be found in the
(03:09):
gospel, through Jesus.
Right Now, let me prefaceHappiness, it's not a bad thing,
it's not when it's in itsproper place.
When happiness is in its properplace, it's a very good thing,
right.
But happiness, we have tounderstand, is just a byproduct,
(03:32):
it's a bonus, right?
Jesus is saying blessed arethose or happy are those that
hunger and thirst forrighteousness.
But that's counter to what theworld tells us.
Happiness is?
What does the world tell us?
Happiness is Stuffcircumstances, right.
(03:55):
Getting what you want, that'sgood.
Yeah, happiness, whatever feelsright, whatever feels good to
you, do it.
Whatever makes you happy, itdoesn't matter the cost, it
doesn't matter if it puts you indebt, it doesn't matter if you
have to slack on yourresponsibilities to achieve it.
If it makes you happy, do it.
(04:18):
That's what the world says andit couldn't be more contrary to
the gospel and what Jesus issaying.
When you put happiness in theplace of righteousness, you will
never achieve it.
When you put happiness in theplace of righteousness, you will
never achieve it, because whenwe put happiness first, it
(04:42):
leaves us completely unsatisfied.
We're always wanting the nextthing, and the world is really
good at that, striving for justthe next thing.
And if we're not careful we,the church, do it as well.
We find ourselves jumping fromone spiritual high to the next,
and we were never meant to justlive off these spiritual highs
(05:07):
searching and longing forhappiness.
The scripture does not sayblessed are those who hunger and
thirst for happiness althoughthat's what we tend to do
sometimes Blessed or happy arethose who hunger and thirst for
righteousness.
It is a byproduct.
(05:28):
Happiness comes after or whileyou are hungering and thirsting
for righteousness.
And we see this all throughoutScripture.
Scripture never wants, not oncedoes it say, pursue happiness.
You won't find it.
You won't find it in Scripture,but throughout Scripture it
(05:54):
does tell us to pursuerighteousness.
In Matthew 6, verse 31 through33,.
If you have your Bibles and youwant to turn there, go ahead.
Some of you will know thisverse.
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
(06:14):
shall we drink or what shall wewear For the Gentiles.
Seek after all these things,and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them all, but seekfirst the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(06:36):
So, again, it's not to pursuehappiness or the things that the
world tells you will make youhappy.
All of the things right, theclothes, the title position,
platform, money Don't worryabout those things.
That's what the world worriesabout.
(06:58):
Instead, seek first the kingdomof heaven, the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and allof these things will be added to
you Hunger and thirst forrighteousness.
What does it mean to hunger andthirst, to hunger and thirst, to
truly hunger and thirst?
(07:19):
I believe Jesus used thesewords because everyone can
relate with being hungry andthirsty, right when he was on
the mountain speaking to thedisciples and the crowds around
him.
They knew what it was like tohunger and thirst.
They knew it then and we knowit now as we're reading this
scripture.
We know what it is like tohunger and thirst, so we can
(07:40):
relate.
We know what it means to behungry, to be thirsty Maybe not
as much as those on the otherside of the world say
impoverished countries andthings like that but we all can
relate to this right and Ibelieve that's exactly why Jesus
used this to hunger and thirst.
(08:02):
Now I remember when I firststarted dating my wife, about 11
and a half 12 years ago.
It was absolutely electric.
It was exciting, it was amazing.
We met at a ministry school inFort Myers, florida, and we both
had quite a bit ofresponsibilities on our plate,
(08:23):
some of mine.
I was the stateside coordinator, and so I drove a bus with
about 20 to 25 college-agestudents all over the United
States, with an evangelist, aworld-renowned speaker, who
would just go around and wewould do programs for schools,
churches, big events, and itwould require me to be gone for
(08:44):
days and even weeks at a time.
Now, mind you, this is when Ijust started dating my wife.
That makes things a littledifficult.
However, it was so new and itwas so fresh.
I remember waking up everymorning and she was the first
thing on my mind.
All the way till I went to bedshe was on my mind.
(09:06):
If I had any free time, she wason my mind.
How could I get to be with her?
What little section of the daycould I make time to be with her
, to get to know her, to hearher?
I hungered for her attention, Ithirsted for time with her.
I was hungry, I was thirsty, Iwas hungry, I was thirsty.
(09:31):
Scripture says it even betterthan I do In Psalm chapter 41,
or, excuse me, 42, verse 1,.
As a deer pants for flowingstreams, so pants my soul for
you, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, forthe living God.
When shall I come and appearbefore God?
My tears have been my food dayand night, while they say to me
(09:56):
all the day long where is yourGod?
These things I remember as Ipour out my soul.
These things I remember as Ipour out my soul to hunger and
thirst.
This is what it means to hungerand thirst.
David says it best as a deerpants for water.
So my soul longs for you.
(10:21):
You guys know what it's like tohunger and thirst in the
physical realm.
This is the spiritual.
My soul longs for you, lord.
What do you hunger and thirstfor?
What do you hunger and thirstfor?
You see, I believe it's aboutappetites.
(10:42):
It's about appetites, hungeringand thirsting.
It only goes well with talkingabout appetites, right, and I
believe we have two appetites.
There's the appetite of ourflesh and the appetite of our
spirit.
And I know it's been said thatwhat you feed grows and what you
(11:02):
starve dies.
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
As Christians, as believers,what appetite are you feeding?
What appetite are you feedingIn a physical sense, to get
(11:26):
stronger, to get more fit, toget healthier?
You're not going to do it bythe Krispy Kreme diet.
I'm sorry, it's just not goingto happen.
You're not going to get morefit.
You're not going to get morehealthy by chowing down on
artificial products, on trash,on garbage.
It's just not going to happen.
You've got to change your diet.
You've got to eat things thatwill sustain you, things that
(11:50):
are good, things full ofnutrients right, and it's the
same thing.
Celery, celery is good.
Beef now we're talking.
Now we're talking Red meat allright, we don't need to go off
on that rabbit trail but thingswith sustenance, right.
With nutrition, not only do youhave to eat the right things,
(12:14):
you have to eat often.
Do you feed your physical bodyonce a week?
Do you live off of one meal aweek?
Some of you see where I'm goingwith this.
We have to eat three meals aday, every day of the week, if
we're going to be healthy andstrong, right?
Why on earth do we, asChristians, only feed our spirit
(12:39):
once a week and that's churchon Sunday.
Not all of you I can't say thatas a blanket statement, but the
church as a whole.
Right, like there's a lot of usthat do that.
We come to church on Sunday, weworship, we pray, we listen to
the pastor and if it's here, man, our pastors give a great
(13:02):
sermon.
It's amazing, it's good, butthey'll tell you themselves it's
not meant to last you the wholeweek.
You got to get it for yourself.
You got to get in the word.
You got to spend time in prayer.
You got to get hungry.
You got to get in the word.
You got to spend time in prayer.
You got to get hungry.
You got to get hungry andthirsty for the word for
(13:22):
righteousness.
Are you with me?
Is this okay?
Keep going.
All right, we're going to keepgoing.
So we figured out, or have anunderstanding of what blessed is
.
We discussed what it means tohunger and thirst, to truly
hunger and thirst.
Now I want to talk aboutrighteousness.
(13:44):
It's only right.
How do we hunger and thirst forsomething that we don't even
know what it is?
What is righteousness?
What is righteousness?
I know these are.
These are kind of questions, soyou don't have to yell it out,
because I'm going to give youthe answer anyway, but if you
want to, what is righteousness?
Was that?
(14:07):
You, let's go.
That's beautiful.
You jumped ahead of me, butthat was good.
It was really good.
That's my fault, because Iasked the question.
I just wasn't expecting theright answer right away.
That was beautiful.
So Webster's dictionary definesrighteousness as acting in
accord with divine moral law,free from guilt or sin, morally
(14:28):
right or justifiable, arisingfrom an outraged sense of
justice or morality.
From an outraged sense ofjustice or morality.
It's pretty good, it's got itsplace.
The Hebrew word forrighteousness is oh man, I don't
even know why I'm trying Tz'dek, tz'dik.
(14:50):
What is it, pastor Neil?
Thank you.
Commonly translated as justice,straightness, honesty, the path
of truth.
In the Greek again, I'm noGreek scholar dikeasuni, or
something like that, alsomeaning justice, equity,
(15:11):
well-ordering, so a legal term.
Right, it sounds like this issome sort of legal term or at
least some sort of attachmentwhich has its place with
righteousness.
It does, but I don't believeit's the only thing.
I believe it's that.
And, like you said, rightstanding with God, right
relationship with God.
(15:33):
To hunger and thirst forrighteousness is to hunger and
thirst for right standing orright relationship with God.
A right relationship or rightstanding with God in the life of
(15:57):
the believer looks like adesire to be free from sin and
its power.
That is the only way we stand achance through Jesus Christ,
through his perfect life,through his death and
resurrection.
We know this.
God no longer sees you, nolonger sees me as a sinner, but
(16:23):
a forgiven sinner, made whole,made righteous through Jesus
Christ.
It's only by faith, it's onlyby grace, it's only through
Jesus Christ that we now canwalk in that righteousness and
have that right standing.
So it is the pursuing ofrighteousness, it is the
(16:46):
pursuing of right standing,right relationship with God by a
desire to get rid of sin andits power.
So we basically just tore upand broke up that entire
(17:06):
scripture, one section at a time.
Now I want to just give you somepractical application points
that we can take and use asbelievers.
Now I have three points and I'msure there's plenty more and
you can discuss that at yourtables.
But what I feel like the Lordhas put on my heart to share
with you this evening.
(17:27):
But first I want to share aquote, and this is by Dr Martin
Lloyd Jones.
He says.
It is amazing how we make timeto do the things we truly want
to do.
If you and I are trulyhungering and thirsting for
righteousness, a good deal oftime every day will be spent
considering it.
(17:47):
If you and I are trulyhungering and thirsting for
righteousness, a good deal oftime every day will be spent
considering it.
How much time do you spend aday considering righteousness?
This is kind of a heavy topic.
At the same time, it'sextremely liberating for the
(18:08):
Christian, for the life of abeliever, understanding that we
don't have to do this alone.
We don't have to strive.
It's not by anything that youcan do.
Christ did it for you.
It's done and we can lean onthat.
And that's what's liberatingabout this whole thing.
It's beautiful.
(18:29):
So some practical applicationsthat we can use as believers, to
pursue righteousness, to hungerand thirst for righteousness.
Number one make time to get inthe word and the word to get
into you.
It's not enough to just readscripture, to read words on a
(18:50):
page.
You've got to let it get intoyou, let it convict you, let it
speak to you.
Number one make time to get inthe word and the word to get
into you.
Number two you've got to getaround others that are hungry
and thirsting for righteousness.
(19:11):
Have you ever tried to do adiet or a new workout plan or
anything of the sort on your own?
It's kind of difficult.
It can be done, but it's notfun.
It's so much better to do lifewith someone, and there are so
many amazing people in thischurch, in this room, that are
(19:32):
hungering and thirsting forrighteousness.
We've got to do this together.
We were never meant to do italone.
You were never meant to do italone, christian.
We've got to get together alone, christian.
(19:54):
We've got to get together.
Number three pretty simple Pray, pray.
Ask the Lord to reveal to youthe appetites that you're
feeding, that you should bestarving.
Ask the Lord to give you a truehunger and thirst for
righteousness.
And once you've prayed, listen,yield, take a moment, take a
(20:16):
moment and just listen and thenobey.
Obedience is key.
It's not enough to just prayand sit there and listen and
read scripture.
We have to obey when the Lorddoes reveal those things,
because he will.
The spirit will reveal thosethings to you if you ask him.
(20:38):
We then have to be obedient andact on it.
We have to be obedient and acton it.
We have to be obedient and acton it.
Well, church, that's all I'vegot for you tonight.
So we're going to take the next30 minutes and answer these
questions that are on the tablethere in front of you, with your
(21:00):
group, and don't be afraid toget into it, don't be afraid to
go deep.
Some of you have been comingsince we started this and you're
really getting to know eachother.
That's awesome.
That's amazing.
If this is your first night andyour first time, it's up to you
.
All right, but I'm going topray and then we'll dive into
(21:20):
the discussion questions.
Heavenly Father, thank you somuch.
Thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word, lord.
I just pray right now, god,that you would give us hearts
that hunger and thirst afteryour own.
That you would give us a mind,a mindset of hungering and
(21:44):
thirsting after righteousness.
That, lord, we would beobedient when you reveal the
things in our lives that we'vebeen pursuing, that we shouldn't
.
And, lord, we're so gratefulfor you, we're so grateful for
you.
It says in your word that whenwe do hunger and thirst for
righteousness, we'll besatisfied.
And so, lord, we look forwardto that.
We love you and we thank you.
(22:04):
I pray that this time would becentered and focused on you.
We give you all the praise andall the glory in Jesus' name,
amen.
So blessed.
We're in Matthew, chapter 5.
If you brought your Bibles, youcan go ahead and open up there,
and I'm going to go ahead andread through the first six
verses and then we're going tocamp out on verse 6 tonight.
Okay, matthew, chapter 5.
Starting in verse one, seeingthe crowds, he went up on the
(00:29):
mountain and when he sat down,his disciples came to him and he
opened his mouth and taughtthem, saying blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted of
heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for theyshall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
(00:53):
for they shall be satisfied.
Heavenly Father, thank you somuch for your word.
Thank you for this evening.
Lord, I just give you all thepraise and all the glory right
now we give you this time.
I pray that you would moveright through me, lord.
I pray that your word would beheard tonight, nothing that I
(01:16):
have to say, but only what youwant us to hear through your
word.
Lord, we love you, we thank you.
I thank you for everyone that'shere and I just pray that you
would just let your will be donetonight in Jesus' name, amen.
So we're going to camp out inverse six.
(01:39):
Like I said, the series iscalled Blessed and I'm going to
repeat this verse several timesBlessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, forthey will be satisfied.
This is the fifth week of thisstudy on blessed, so I'm going
to start off by asking you allat this point we should have
some sort of an idea of whatblessed means.
Right, what does blessed mean?
(01:59):
It's not rhetorical, you guyscan answer.
What does blessed mean In thiscontext, in these verses that
Jesus is speaking, what do youthink blessed means?
Anyone, it's not a trickquestion.
Spiritually prosperous, that'sgood, that's good.
Blessed, given grace, okay,it's good as well.
(02:23):
Who said that?
You nailed it.
That's exactly what I waslooking for Happy.
I know it doesn't seem right,it doesn't necessarily fit right
.
And why is that?
Why do we think that doesn'treally fit well with us?
Because I think we have askewed view of what happiness is
(02:45):
okay.
In these verses, I believe Jesusis saying blessed are those.
He means happy.
Happy are those who are poor inspirit.
Happy are those, but not justhappy, truly happy.
You see, there's a differencebetween happiness that this
world tells us and happinessthat can only be found in the
(03:09):
gospel, through Jesus.
Right Now, let me prefaceHappiness, it's not a bad thing,
it's not when it's in itsproper place.
When happiness is in its properplace, it's a very good thing,
right.
But happiness, we have tounderstand, is just a byproduct,
(03:32):
it's a bonus, right?
Jesus is saying blessed arethose or happy are those that
hunger and thirst forrighteousness.
But that's counter to what theworld tells us.
Happiness is?
What does the world tell us?
Happiness is Stuffcircumstances, right.
(03:55):
Getting what you want, that'sgood.
Yeah, happiness, whatever feelsright, whatever feels good to
you, do it.
Whatever makes you happy, itdoesn't matter the cost, it
doesn't matter if it puts you indebt, it doesn't matter if you
have to slack on yourresponsibilities to achieve it.
If it makes you happy, do it.
(04:18):
That's what the world says andit couldn't be more contrary to
the gospel and what Jesus issaying.
When you put happiness in theplace of righteousness, you will
never achieve it.
When you put happiness in theplace of righteousness, you will
never achieve it, because whenwe put happiness first, it
(04:42):
leaves us completely unsatisfied.
We're always wanting the nextthing, and the world is really
good at that, striving for justthe next thing.
And if we're not careful we,the church, do it as well.
We find ourselves jumping fromone spiritual high to the next,
and we were never meant to justlive off these spiritual highs
(05:07):
searching and longing forhappiness.
The scripture does not sayblessed are those who hunger and
thirst for happiness althoughthat's what we tend to do
sometimes Blessed or happy arethose who hunger and thirst for
righteousness.
It is a byproduct.
(05:28):
Happiness comes after or whileyou are hungering and thirsting
for righteousness.
And we see this all throughoutScripture.
Scripture never wants, not oncedoes it say, pursue happiness.
You won't find it.
You won't find it in Scripture,but throughout Scripture it
(05:54):
does tell us to pursuerighteousness.
In Matthew 6, verse 31 through33,.
If you have your Bibles and youwant to turn there, go ahead.
Some of you will know thisverse.
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
(06:14):
shall we drink or what shall wewear For the Gentiles.
Seek after all these things,and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them all, but seekfirst the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(06:36):
So, again, it's not to pursuehappiness or the things that the
world tells you will make youhappy.
All of the things right, theclothes, the title position,
platform, money Don't worryabout those things.
That's what the world worriesabout.
(06:58):
Instead, seek first the kingdomof heaven, the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and allof these things will be added to
you Hunger and thirst forrighteousness.
What does it mean to hunger andthirst, to hunger and thirst, to
truly hunger and thirst?
(07:19):
I believe Jesus used thesewords because everyone can
relate with being hungry andthirsty, right when he was on
the mountain speaking to thedisciples and the crowds around
him.
They knew what it was like tohunger and thirst.
They knew it then and we knowit now as we're reading this
scripture.
We know what it is like tohunger and thirst, so we can
(07:40):
relate.
We know what it means to behungry, to be thirsty Maybe not
as much as those on the otherside of the world say
impoverished countries andthings like that but we all can
relate to this right and Ibelieve that's exactly why Jesus
used this to hunger and thirst.
(08:02):
Now I remember when I firststarted dating my wife, about 11
and a half 12 years ago.
It was absolutely electric.
It was exciting, it was amazing.
We met at a ministry school inFort Myers, florida, and we both
had quite a bit ofresponsibilities on our plate,
(08:23):
some of mine.
I was the stateside coordinator, and so I drove a bus with
about 20 to 25 college-agestudents all over the United
States, with an evangelist, aworld-renowned speaker, who
would just go around and wewould do programs for schools,
churches, big events, and itwould require me to be gone for
(08:44):
days and even weeks at a time.
Now, mind you, this is when Ijust started dating my wife.
That makes things a littledifficult.
However, it was so new and itwas so fresh.
I remember waking up everymorning and she was the first
thing on my mind.
All the way till I went to bedshe was on my mind.
(09:06):
If I had any free time, she wason my mind.
How could I get to be with her?
What little section of the daycould I make time to be with her
, to get to know her, to hearher?
I hungered for her attention, Ithirsted for time with her.
I was hungry, I was thirsty, Iwas hungry, I was thirsty.
(09:31):
Scripture says it even betterthan I do In Psalm chapter 41,
or, excuse me, 42, verse 1,.
As a deer pants for flowingstreams, so pants my soul for
you, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, forthe living God.
When shall I come and appearbefore God?
My tears have been my food dayand night, while they say to me
(09:56):
all the day long where is yourGod?
These things I remember as Ipour out my soul.
These things I remember as Ipour out my soul to hunger and
thirst.
This is what it means to hungerand thirst.
David says it best as a deerpants for water.
So my soul longs for you.
(10:21):
You guys know what it's like tohunger and thirst in the
physical realm.
This is the spiritual.
My soul longs for you, lord.
What do you hunger and thirstfor?
What do you hunger and thirstfor?
You see, I believe it's aboutappetites.
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It's about appetites, hungeringand thirsting.
It only goes well with talkingabout appetites, right, and I
believe we have two appetites.
There's the appetite of ourflesh and the appetite of our
spirit.
And I know it's been said thatwhat you feed grows and what you
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starve dies.
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
Which appetite is gettingstronger while the other
malnourished?
As Christians, as believers,what appetite are you feeding?
What appetite are you feedingIn a physical sense, to get
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stronger, to get more fit, toget healthier?
You're not going to do it bythe Krispy Kreme diet.
I'm sorry, it's just not goingto happen.
You're not going to get morefit.
You're not going to get morehealthy by chowing down on
artificial products, on trash,on garbage.
It's just not going to happen.
You've got to change your diet.
You've got to eat things thatwill sustain you, things that
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are good, things full ofnutrients right, and it's the
same thing.
Celery, celery is good.
Beef now we're talking.
Now we're talking Red meat allright, we don't need to go off
on that rabbit trail but thingswith sustenance, right.
With nutrition, not only do youhave to eat the right things,
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you have to eat often.
Do you feed your physical bodyonce a week?
Do you live off of one meal aweek?
Some of you see where I'm goingwith this.
We have to eat three meals aday, every day of the week, if
we're going to be healthy andstrong, right?
Why on earth do we, asChristians, only feed our spirit
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once a week and that's churchon Sunday.
Not all of you I can't say thatas a blanket statement, but the
church as a whole.
Right, like there's a lot of usthat do that.
We come to church on Sunday, weworship, we pray, we listen to
the pastor and if it's here, man, our pastors give a great
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sermon.
It's amazing, it's good, butthey'll tell you themselves it's
not meant to last you the wholeweek.
You got to get it for yourself.
You got to get in the word.
You got to spend time in prayer.
You got to get hungry.
You got to get in the word.
You got to spend time in prayer.
You got to get hungry.
You got to get hungry andthirsty for the word for
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righteousness.
Are you with me?
Is this okay?
Keep going.
All right, we're going to keepgoing.
So we figured out, or have anunderstanding of what blessed is
.
We discussed what it means tohunger and thirst, to truly
hunger and thirst.
Now I want to talk aboutrighteousness.
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It's only right.
How do we hunger and thirst forsomething that we don't even
know what it is?
What is righteousness?
What is righteousness?
I know these are.
These are kind of questions, soyou don't have to yell it out,
because I'm going to give youthe answer anyway, but if you
want to, what is righteousness?
Was that?
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You, let's go.
That's beautiful.
You jumped ahead of me, butthat was good.
It was really good.
That's my fault, because Iasked the question.
I just wasn't expecting theright answer right away.
That was beautiful.
So Webster's dictionary definesrighteousness as acting in
accord with divine moral law,free from guilt or sin, morally
(14:28):
right or justifiable, arisingfrom an outraged sense of
justice or morality.
From an outraged sense ofjustice or morality.
It's pretty good, it's got itsplace.
The Hebrew word forrighteousness is oh man, I don't
even know why I'm trying Tz'dek, tz'dik.
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What is it, pastor Neil?
Thank you.
Commonly translated as justice,straightness, honesty, the path
of truth.
In the Greek again, I'm noGreek scholar dikeasuni, or
something like that, alsomeaning justice, equity,
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well-ordering, so a legal term.
Right, it sounds like this issome sort of legal term or at
least some sort of attachmentwhich has its place with
righteousness.
It does, but I don't believeit's the only thing.
I believe it's that.
And, like you said, rightstanding with God, right
relationship with God.
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To hunger and thirst forrighteousness is to hunger and
thirst for right standing orright relationship with God.
A right relationship or rightstanding with God in the life of
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the believer looks like adesire to be free from sin and
its power.
That is the only way we stand achance through Jesus Christ,
through his perfect life,through his death and
resurrection.
We know this.
God no longer sees you, nolonger sees me as a sinner, but
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a forgiven sinner, made whole,made righteous through Jesus
Christ.
It's only by faith, it's onlyby grace, it's only through
Jesus Christ that we now canwalk in that righteousness and
have that right standing.
So it is the pursuing ofrighteousness, it is the
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pursuing of right standing,right relationship with God by a
desire to get rid of sin andits power.
So we basically just tore upand broke up that entire
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scripture, one section at a time.
Now I want to just give you somepractical application points
that we can take and use asbelievers.
Now I have three points and I'msure there's plenty more and
you can discuss that at yourtables.
But what I feel like the Lordhas put on my heart to share
with you this evening.
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But first I want to share aquote, and this is by Dr Martin
Lloyd Jones.
He says.
It is amazing how we make timeto do the things we truly want
to do.
If you and I are trulyhungering and thirsting for
righteousness, a good deal oftime every day will be spent
considering it.
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If you and I are trulyhungering and thirsting for
righteousness, a good deal oftime every day will be spent
considering it.
How much time do you spend aday considering righteousness?
This is kind of a heavy topic.
At the same time, it'sextremely liberating for the
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Christian, for the life of abeliever, understanding that we
don't have to do this alone.
We don't have to strive.
It's not by anything that youcan do.
Christ did it for you.
It's done and we can lean onthat.
And that's what's liberatingabout this whole thing.
It's beautiful.
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So some practical applicationsthat we can use as believers, to
pursue righteousness, to hungerand thirst for righteousness.
Number one make time to get inthe word and the word to get
into you.
It's not enough to just readscripture, to read words on a
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page.
You've got to let it get intoyou, let it convict you, let it
speak to you.
Number one make time to get inthe word and the word to get
into you.
Number two you've got to getaround others that are hungry
and thirsting for righteousness.
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Have you ever tried to do adiet or a new workout plan or
anything of the sort on your own?
It's kind of difficult.
It can be done, but it's notfun.
It's so much better to do lifewith someone, and there are so
many amazing people in thischurch, in this room, that are
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hungering and thirsting forrighteousness.
We've got to do this together.
We were never meant to do italone.
You were never meant to do italone, christian.
We've got to get together alone, christian.
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We've got to get together.
Number three pretty simple Pray, pray.
Ask the Lord to reveal to youthe appetites that you're
feeding, that you should bestarving.
Ask the Lord to give you a truehunger and thirst for
righteousness.
And once you've prayed, listen,yield, take a moment, take a
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moment and just listen and thenobey.
Obedience is key.
It's not enough to just prayand sit there and listen and
read scripture.
We have to obey when the Lorddoes reveal those things,
because he will.
The spirit will reveal thosethings to you if you ask him.
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We then have to be obedient andact on it.
We have to be obedient and acton it.
We have to be obedient and acton it.
Well, church, that's all I'vegot for you tonight.
So we're going to take the next30 minutes and answer these
questions that are on the tablethere in front of you, with your
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group, and don't be afraid toget into it, don't be afraid to
go deep.
Some of you have been comingsince we started this and you're
really getting to know eachother.
That's awesome.
That's amazing.
If this is your first night andyour first time, it's up to you
.
All right, but I'm going topray and then we'll dive into
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the discussion questions.
Heavenly Father, thank you somuch.
Thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word, lord.
I just pray right now, god,that you would give us hearts
that hunger and thirst afteryour own.
That you would give us a mind,a mindset of hungering and
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thirsting after righteousness.
That, lord, we would beobedient when you reveal the
things in our lives that we'vebeen pursuing, that we shouldn't
.
And, lord, we're so gratefulfor you, we're so grateful for
you.
It says in your word that whenwe do hunger and thirst for
righteousness, we'll besatisfied.
And so, lord, we look forwardto that.
We love you and we thank you.
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I pray that this time would becentered and focused on you.
We give you all the praise andall the glory in Jesus' name,
amen.
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