"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled," MAT 5:6.

In our previous message we saw the distinction between hungering and thirsting. Hungering and thirsting are distinct cravings that cannot be mistaken. They are not mystic. They are very genuine. It is so blessed how in bringing forth His Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus gave us something that we can so positively identify. No person, including the smallest babe, has lived without understanding the pangs of hunger. The result of hunger is a cry. It is the same with thirst.

Hungering and thirsting are two totally separate appetites. You may die of thirst with an abundance of food in front of you. You can also die of hunger beside an ocean of clean, pure water. They are totally distinct from each other.

Now let's look at the blessedness of those who have these unmistakable cravings. Hunger is genuine. A hunger grows to a given point, where it becomes a matter of life and death. Thirst does too.

We hunger after the bread of life, which is the broken body of Christ; this points us to justification before the courts of heaven. Water is the symbol of the Spirit. Thirsting points us to purification, the work of repentance, or the work of sanctification. REV 2:14 warns against teaching the doctrines of Balaam, i.e., a desire to die the death of the righteous, but no desire to live the life of the righteous.

Your salvation cannot only be based upon the blood of Christ for justification, without any knowledge of sanctification, nor can we have a religion that is all works and sanctification, without the blood of Christ to justify us before the courts of heaven. Justification and sanctification cannot be separated; they are co-essential.

A complete salvation desires both justification and sanctification. It is very important that we learn to identify and understand these distinct cravings. We must understand how the Lord Jesus pronounced those blessed who have both cravings after justification and sanctification. Those who hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ are blessed.

The man, whom Jesus here calls blessed, asks the question over and over. He has such a longing and craving to know: How can I be made righteous in the sight of God? He hungers after full satisfaction of being able to feed upon that bread of life, i.e., the broken body of Christ. He hungers to know that he is justified before the courts of God. This distinct hunger is undeniable. He is unsatisfied with anything but food. The only food for such a hunger is when the Spirit of God comes with a revelation of the blessed Redeemer who has come to pay the price of sin. This hunger and thirst never ends in the souls of those that Jesus calls blessed.

In 1CO 1:30 we read, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." We hunger and thirst after Christ as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We hunger for the wisdom of Christ. We hunger for the righteousness of Christ, to be found pardoned and justified before the courts of heaven. We also thirst after sanctification.

There is a distinction between purchasing and redeeming. When you buy a farm on the market, it has a price tag. To buy the farm, you pay the price. This is purchasing. Redeeming is when you already owned the farm, but had a debt which you could not pay. Because of the debt, you lost the farm. The law says that you have a year to redeem the farm. Redeeming a farm means that you are redeeming something that you own but lost by debt. Purchasing means to buy.

Christ purchased our salvation with the price of perfect obedience. The covenant that God made with Adam said to do this and live. By the act of obedience, he could purchase eternal life. Now there is a lean against that. There is a debt that we cannot pay. We need a Redeemer to pay the debt.

If the debt is paid for us, the purchase still must be completed. It is completed through the perfect obedience of Christ. He purchased our salvation through His obedience. He redeemed us with His blood from a debt that we cannot pay and brought us into justification before the courts of heaven. Through His perfect obedience, He purchased our salvation.

With those two elements in mind, look at 1CO 1:30. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." It was of God. It was not of us, because by nature we are spiritually "...dead in trespasses and sins," EPH 2:1. By nature we would have never chosen the Lord. We would have fled from Him all the days of our life. If we are in Christ, it is because God has chosen us and because the Spirit has quickened us. Christ has become our wisdom. He has become our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

The Lord satisfies that hunger and thirst in our soul by giving us to feed upon that bread of life and to drink of those living waters, JOH 4:10. This satisfaction becomes personal in our soul. That is the hunger and thirst that Jesus said is very blessed. The quickening of the Spirit generates the hunger and thirst. Nothing short of Christ's righteousness will satisfy this hungry soul.

If the true hungering and thirsting after righteousness have been implanted in the heart by the Spirit of God, no good works can ever satisfy it. Nothing can satisfy it, except the broken body of Christ. Our best works are nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God. Only one thing will justify us before the courts and tribunal of God--the perfect redemption of His Son. The perfect redemption is what we hunger and thirst for.

2CO 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." It is so blessed when we want to have a part in His righteousness. We have such a hungering and desire to know that we have part in His righteousness. Then I need to know that He became sin for me! When it concerns our own salvation, it becomes personal.

Nothing but holiness will satisfy the thirsty soul. There is a distinction between hungering and thirsting. HEB 12:9-10 says, "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." We hunger and thirst after becoming partakers of His holiness.

In our own hearts we see rebellion, pride, and so much against the holiness of God. When we see how far we have fallen, we thirst all the more after holiness. We long for the work of sanctification and the Spirit of Christ. When we long to have our rebellion taken out of our hearts together with all our pride or anything which comes against the work of grace, then we thirst after righteousness.

The Lord uses His chastening hand to discipline His children. This is found in PSA 73. Asaph saw how the wicked are not in trouble like other men. They have their portion in this world. If we are truly one of Christ's, however, the Lord will not leave us to destroy ourselves. He comes with His chastening hand.

The peaceable fruits of righteousness are spoken of in HEB 12:11. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." The soul longs for the peaceable fruits of righteousness through the work of sanctification. We have such a desire for the Lord to cleanse our heart and soul.

These peaceable fruits are found in HEB 12:12-14. "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees," V:12. This is speaking of those who are weak in themselves. Those whose hands hang down and are feeble in their knees and who cannot walk in their own strength, are the ones who cannot do the things they would, and who do the things they would not, ROM 7:15. They are so dependent upon the Lord. Their strength has been broken down.

V:13, "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." That is a blessing. The feeble hands will be lifted up and the feeble knees will be strengthened. The crooked ways will be straightened. So often we walk in ways that are not pleasing to the Lord. By nature we have so many times that we error, but God says He will make us straight paths. What are they? The straight paths are found in the Word of God.

Then we come to the point where the Word of God is the only authority of our life. Every decision that we make is based upon the Word of God, "...lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."

The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He says in EZE 33:11, "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

In HEB 12:13-14 He said, "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." We cannot come into the presence of God without holiness. Holiness is the work of sanctification in the heart by the Spirit of God. Sanctification is that which we thirst after; it is the longing of the heart which Jesus calls blessed in our text, MAT 5:6.

If we are among those who are blessed, then we hunger and thirst after holiness. We hunger and thirst after the image of Christ and the Spirit of Christ without which no man shall see the Lord. ROM 8:9 says, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

This hungering and thirsting is a matter of life or death. The Lord brings us to the ends of the earth. He prunes everything that is outside of Himself. The Lord chastens His children to work sanctification in their soul; that is the token of His love. HEB 12:11 says, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous [It is grievous to the flesh when the Lord comes with His chastening hand.]: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." That means that after the Lord chastens us we start walking in the ways of the Lord. He will wean us from the ways of the world.

When hungering and thirsting are combined into one craving, they are an unquenchable, restless craving. If you have been without food and water while you labored in the heat of the day, you come to where you can go no further. This becomes a matter of life and death. You must have food and water.

The Lord brings His people to where they can go no further. They cannot go on. He brings them to see the sinfulness of sin. He brings them to see that they need to be justified before the courts of heaven. He also shows them that they have to be cleansed by the work of the Spirit. They have to have the working of sanctification.

PSA 63:1 says, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." The Psalmist compares the dry and thirsty land to the thirsting of the soul. The Psalmist saw that he could go no further. He cried unto the Lord from the ends of the earth. He had to have some token of the Lord's love.

He needed the righteousness of Christ. He needed to have it applied in his heart. He said, "O God, thou art my God...." He didn't question that the Lord was his God. The Lord had withdrawn, and the Psalmist needed the blessedness of the Spirit. He needed the Lord's nearness. He said, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."

Until a hungry man is fed, his wants will continue to devour him. If you give a hungry man anything but food, you won't quench his hunger. You cannot turn his hunger away. PSA 38:9 says, "Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee."

PSA 143:6 says, "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah." The Lord gave him such a craving after God. JOB 23:12 says, "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." The word of God was so precious to Job. He esteemed the words of God more necessary than his own food. The hunger in Job's soul could not be satisfied with anything but the words of God. He needed the Lord's presence. He needed the Lord to come.

You may give a hungry man the finest music, but you do not soothe him; you only mock him. If you give him anything but food, you are only mocking him. The poor man is starving and in need of food. For a man who is hungry after righteousness, no music will ever conquer the hunger. Nothing except a glimpse of the perfect righteousness of Christ will conquer it. PSA 73:25 says, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Nothing upon the face of the earth can satisfy a hungry soul, if it is true hunger after the righteousness of Christ.

1PE 2:2-3 says, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." That is so precious. If you have once had a taste of the blessed food, heavenly manna, you will crave and desire for the Word to be applied to your soul. If the Lord has ever before blessed your soul with His word, you cannot be satisfied with anything else. You crave for and desire the Word of God as a newborn babe desires milk.

The verse says, "As newborn babes...." In the very earliest stages of grace, they will understand that hunger after righteousness. If we are strangers to this, we must question if we understand the work of salvation. Those hungerings and thirstings after the righteousness of Christ are the first true signs of spiritual life in the soul. They not only crave a pardon for their soul, so they can stand righteous before the tribunal of heaven, but they desire to be washed and cleansed from their sin---to be purified by the work of sanctification. They are as a newborn babe who desires the milk of the Word; this is speaking of the very infants in grace. They already desire after the sincere milk of the Word. Verse 3 said, "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." If you have had a taste of the blessed righteousness of Christ, you will hunger and thirst after more.

Our FIRST POINT established that hungering and thirsting are two singular appetites and was covered in our previous message.

FOR OUR SECOND POINT, let's consider Christ's remarkable declaration, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst."

FOR OUR THIRD POINT, let's consider the special satisfaction, "For they shall be filled."

See the remarkable declaration in MAT 5:6, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst...." Christ called hunger and thirst a blessing. With no hunger or thirst after righteousness, we are spiritually dead. Having these spiritual cravings is a great blessing. If we understand what it means to long to be justified before the courts of heaven and to be sanctified from the pollution of sin, Jesus says we are blessed.

Just as hunger and thirst follow you home, follow you to bed, follow you to work, follow you everywhere with their imperative demands, so does the heart cry after purity, integrity, and holiness when Christ feeds us with a true hunger and thirst after righteousness. The hunger and thirst after righteousness follows us home to bed and back to work in the morning. It follows us wherever we go. Our hearts could be meditating on the Lord while we are doing our daily chores or while we are riding on a tractor. No matter where we are, the hunger follows us.

Spiritual hunger cannot be fulfilled with vain music or entertainment. If the hunger and thirst is true, it will follow us wherever we go. Jesus says those who have this hunger and thirst are blessed. Even if we have not come to the full attainment of sanctification or assurance of justification and are only babes in grace, Jesus says we are blessed.

One of the bitterest pangs in the soul is the dread that the soul's utmost needs can never be met. For a man who is truly starving to death, his most grievous anxiety is that he will not find food in time. For a man who is wandering through the desert and dying of thirst, the worst anxiety that fills his breast is the concern that he may perish before he finds water. One of the great pangs of hunger and thirst after righteousness is fear that those demands will never be met.

The great question in the soul is: How can a man be just with God? There is such a desire that the Holy Spirit should speak in the soul as in 2CO 5:21. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Isn't it blessed when the Lord comes with His Spirit and applies that in our soul? Suddenly the soul is satisfied; all the cravings are satisfied with the Lord's bread of life and water of life!

We must understand what it means to receive the Word of God with power. What does it mean to receive the power of the Spirit applying the Word to your soul? Just as power causes a train to move, the load is moved away when the Spirit comes with power and applies the Word. We must understand that we hunger and thirst for this righteousness. When the power of the Spirit comes and applies the Word into our soul, the burden is removed. The load of sin, the hunger, the curse is conveyed away. The Spirit brings the Word of God with power.

The soul can find no rest until the burden is removed. Until the Word of God comes with power in the heart, there is no rest. Oh, beloved, how often we can read the Word of God, but it seems as a sealed book. The burden remains, and we cannot find any comfort. The burden is gone, however, when the Word comes with the power and application of the Spirit. When the burden is removed by the visits of Christ's love, we know we did not steal God's promises because He took the load away.

HEB 12:14 says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." The pardoned sinner desires to be right in conduct, language, and thought; he hungers and thirsts after holiness. When we learn to know ourselves, we find that everyday we must come back before the Lord and confess that we have spoken unadvisedly. We must say, "Lord, set a watch before the door of my mouth. Keep my lips, and refrain me from speaking any evil."

We desire to be right in our conduct, but by nature we tend to be rash and harsh. We tend to speak hard things which abuse and wound other people. Then we come home and our heart smites us, and we desire for the Lord to make us gentle and loving. We crave for Him to give us the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are love and meekness. This desire of the heart becomes the hunger and thirst of the soul.

We desire to have right thoughts. Love not only covers sin, but love "...thinketh no evil," 1CO 13:5. How often do we pray at night saying, "Lord, I have had such hard thoughts against a person today." With these horrible thoughts we became judgmental; we began judging our fellow man, and now we stand condemned in the court of our conscience. In our thoughts we find such impurity. We must come back before the Lord day after day longing for Him to give us right thoughts and true love, so we may show love, cover evil, and think no evil. We hunger and thirst after a heart of love to our fellow man. Oh, beloved, how guilty we all are!

When the Spirit identifies our sins, we are just like the Pharisees who took the adulterous woman and brought her unto Jesus. She was guilty and by law could be stoned to death. The Pharisees thought as touching the law they were blameless. What did Jesus say? "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," JOH 8:7. They all turned and walked away because the Lord threw just a glimpse of light into their own souls; they saw that they didn't have one stone to throw.

Look at the book of JUD V:9, Michael the archangel "...durst not bring against [Satan] a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Isn't that beautiful? He turned it over to the courts of heaven! He said, "The Lord rebuke thee!" i.e., God will be the judge. We find Jesus did the same in 1PE 2:23, "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."

We are all fallen creatures. We wouldn't have one stone to throw if we were righteous as Michael the archangel. When we have such evil in our own heart, how can we throw stones? When we realize this, we have such a desire for rightful thoughts and for the Lord to cleanse us from our evil thoughts, conduct, and language.

In ROM 7:19 the apostle Paul said, "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." The apostle Paul wanted his conduct to be corrected. He saw so much wrong in himself. V:20 continues, "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." The sin that dwelleth within us is what we want to have cleansed out. This is where the hunger and thirst after righteousness comes from. We begin to thirst after the purifying work of the Spirit that He will take away our wrong thoughts.

In V:21-22 the apostle Paul said, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. [That's the apostle Paul!] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." The apostle Paul delighted to do the will of God. In the inward man he delighted in the law of God. He found, however, that all of this pollution of sin was present with him.

See how The Apostle Paul cried out for righteousness! ROM 7:23- 24 says, "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. [Then he cries out,] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The apostle Paul cried this. He had such a blessed hunger and thirst after spiritual righteousness. He desired to be cleansed from wrongful thoughts and action. Paul knew that he was wretched. He didn't have one stone to throw at his fellow man.

With his mind and from his heart, he served the law of God. From his heart he desired to do God's will. He had the blessed thirst after the work of sanctification. ROM 7:25 says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." This is the spiritual warfare. It is continual for every person that understands the work of grace.

We must daily fight against the law of sin that dwells within our nature. We must cry out, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Looking to the righteousness of Christ is the only hope we have.

We must distinguish between seeking heaven or seeking God. We must distinguish between shunning hell, and shunning sin. This is so important. There is a difference between them. Sin must become sinful because we see that sin separates us from God. Sin works in our members, which makes us say like the apostle Paul, "O wretched man that I am!"

It is so beautiful that you cannot quarrel with a person who is in his right place, because all he will reply is, "Guilty, guilty." You can't pick a quarrel with one who knows his own heart. He will only say that he is wretched. He doesn't have a stone to throw. It is so blessed if the Lord brings us to this.

LUK 18:11-12 says, "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, [I want you to see something here. He saw righteousness in himself. He said] God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The Pharisee was looking for righteousness in himself, but the Publican needed a righteousness outside of himself.

A starving man can not feed upon his own heart or liver. I want you to think about that! Likewise, the person who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness cannot feed upon his own righteousness. The nourishment has to come from an outside source.

LUK 18:13 continues, "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." The Pharisee was feeding on his own righteousness. The publican had a true hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ, and he could not even so much as raise his eyes. He only asked God to be merciful to him a sinner.

A man who does not hunger after righteousness can slight the day of grace. He can continue as if there is no judgment day. In PRO 27:7 we find, "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."

Let's ponder this just a little! If you have just finished eating a feast, you can walk by a table full of the most delicate food without being attracted at all. You are full because you have just finished eating. On the contrary, after coming from a hard day's work in the field through the heat of the day, you need food and water. If you see a dry morsel of bread and a glass of water, you see it as a feast.

"...but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." That which is bitter to the flesh becomes so sweet to the soul when the Lord sanctifies it with His Spirit. When we see that the Lord uses His chastening rod of correction to bring His sheep back into the fold, every bitter thing is sweetened. Then we see and understand the reason and the methods that the Lord has used to chasten us. We can kiss the rod because there is honey on it. We begin to understand the sweetness of the chastening the Lord has done in His love. In His love, the Lord has brought us back. We would have wandered away to our own destruction. "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."

When we understand these things we will understand how the mirage shall become a pool. ISA 35:7 says, "And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes."

The word for "parched ground" in the original text is referring to a mirage. A mirage is a reflection on the heat waves from the sun reflecting on the parched ground causing you to see something that isn't there. A mirage is nothing but an optical illusion. You may be seeing the reflection of an oasis in the desert, but it is nothing but the reflection of the sun on the parched ground.

Our life is a mirage by nature. Our life is an optical illusion. We run after so many desires, but when we reach them, we find nothing but an optical illusion. In our lifetime, we focus our eyes on so many things to bring satisfaction and contentment, but if we are one of God's people, we find a mirage when we get there. We find that it is empty.

This is because the Lord is going to empty us from vessel into vessel that He might fill us with His grace for grace, so He might fill us with His fullness. We must understand that if we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we are not seeing a mirage. That is the real water. We read in ISA 35:7, "And the parched ground shall become a pool [that is the water], and the thirsty land springs of water...." The Lord will remove all these optical illusions by His chastening. Then He will bring our feet upon the Solid Rock, Who's name is the Word of God, REV 19:13.

The Lord Jesus Christ will become our only foundation. All of the reflections shall disappear. We will find real pools of living water. Our eyes will be fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

This shall be for those who hunger and thirst. ISA 35:8 says, "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." The pools of water shall be for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They hunger and thirst for sanctification and purity. No unclean person shall pass over the way. The Lord Jesus is the highway. The way is called the way of holiness.

We have no abiding place in this sinful world. The Lord will remove every foundation that we want to build upon. If we are one of His, He will remove everything that we look to as a source of comfort. He will remove any type of foundation or sense of security. If we are one of His, we will rest only upon Him. The hungering and thirsting after the righteousness of Christ will be our only foundation.

It seems a paradox to say that it is such a great blessing to hunger and thirst. For the natural mind, this makes no sense. The blessing is that the Lord Jesus Christ is weaning us from ourselves and the things which destroy us. He will wean us from ourselves, because we will destroy ourselves for an eternal destruction.

Psalm 73 teaches us how Asaph's covetous heart and mind were roaming and coveting after the things of the world, he said, "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," V:2-3. As Asaph murmured in his heart about his plight by comparison to the prosperity of the wicked he said, "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning," V:12-14.

It wasn't until Asaph was in the sanctuary, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ who is our place of safety and rest, that he saw the blessedness of the Father's restraining hand. Asaph said in V:16- 18, "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction."

When Asaph saw his foolishness to envy the wicked he said, "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory," V:21-23.

In our own natural state we can be so foolish. We covet after that which destroys us. The Lord is so wise. He takes those things as the Father who is the husbandman, and He prunes off those dead branches, those dead desires that covet the things of spiritual death. He casts them in the fire and gives us new desires because He is the husbandman. He will prune the vine and take away everything that will work out our destruction.

Jesus said in JOH 15:1-2, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." He will bring us to bear the fruits of righteousness. He has grafted us into the Vine, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ to bear fruits, but they won't be the fruits of our own desire.

God will place us in the sanctuary, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus declares a man blessed when he has a true spiritual hunger and thirst to be forgiven and to be cleansed from the pollution of sin---to be right with God.

The blessed man hungers and thirsts to see righteousness in others. Ponder this. Not only do we have a desire to see righteousness in ourselves, but also we have a desire to see righteousness in others. When we see those who make a profession of Christ's name, our own children, our friends, and relatives led captive by Satan at his will, we have such a hunger and desire for the Lord to work His grace in their hearts.

GAL 4:19 says, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." The apostle is telling us that he was as a woman in travail until Christ should be formed in them. He had such a longing desire. He hungered and thirsted after the welfare of his kinsmen after the flesh.

The Godly will hunger and thirst for righteousness in their children, husband, wife, brothers, and sisters. They will long and desire with such a hunger and thirst that it will cause a sinking feeling. Have you ever become hungry or thirsty enough for righteousness in your loved ones that you begin to feel like you are going to collapse? I have!

This hunger and thirst does not only occur naturally, but spiritually also. Oh, beloved, it is so grievous to see your own flesh and blood walking with Satan and captive at his will. When this happens, you come into spiritual travail with such a sinking feeling, and you cry unto the Lord with such a desire after righteousness in your loved ones. You cry unto the Lord with such a desire for them to be spared from bringing reproach upon His name. This is a desire for the Lord to work righteousness in their soul and that Christ will be formed in them.

That sinking feeling sometimes turns to a deadly fainting. The apostle Paul's desire for his brethren in the flesh to be saved was so strong that he said, "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh," ROM 9:3.

Beloved, if you understand that fainting and sinking feeling, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, you are blessed. Jesus says that they who hunger and thirst are blessed. NUM 23:19-21 says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them."

When the Lord says we are blessed, it cannot be reversed. No one can reverse it. If the Lord has pronounced someone blessed, He will use His chastening hand to keep him from destroying himself. That is so blessed. "Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it." When the Lord Jesus says they are blessed, they are blessed. The Lord will create the hunger and thirst, and He will satisfy that hunger and thirst by filling those desires.

FOR OUR THIRD POINT, let's consider the special satisfaction, "For they shall be filled." ISA 12:2-3 says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Understanding what it means when the salvation of God is applied to the soul is the filling. All the fears and sinking feelings are removed; all the sinking sand is gone because our feet are upon the Solid Rock. Therefore, with joy we will draw water out of the wells of salvation. The wells of salvation are so refreshing.

Their hunger and thirst shall be satisfied. ISA 55:1 says, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, [That is so rich!] come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Look at the character He is inviting. It is not those that don't thirst. That verse is so blessed.

Coming without money is against nature. Nobody wants to come as an absolute beggar. We want to offer something. This desire to bring something often holds us away from the Lord. The verse, however, speaks of someone without money. It tells us that we must come with empty hands as a total beggar. We must come to a point where the blessing is absolutely a gift of God.

JOH 4:14 says, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The water of life springs out. When the water of salvation is given in the soul, the Spirit of Christ comes into us as a flood. Our soul is filled because Christ is being formed in us.

The moon has no light in itself, but a star does. The people of God are compared with stars, because they have light within themselves. The light is Christ formed in them. COL 1:27 says, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." These wells are springing out of us because we have been filled. Until we have been filled, this can never be. Christ says that we shall be filled.

There is such a blessedness in the fullness we receive from the grace of God in the soul. We must first become totally empty in ourselves. Then we are filled with the blessed Spirit of Christ.

JOH 7:38 says, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive...)" No person will look at a child of God who is in his right place and ask, "Where is His God." This is because the world can see Christ in him. The Spirit and image of Christ can be seen. "We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ," ROM 8:29. They can see that he is in God. The man's total being will reflect the image of Christ.

The blood and water are the imputed and the imparted righteousness of Christ. JOH 19:34-35 says, "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." The blood points to the justification; the water points to the purification. The water is the symbol of the Spirit.

The Spirit flows to us through Christ. ACT 2:33 says, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." In GAL 3:13-14 we read, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

The blessing of Abraham is that the Holy Spirit will come to us through Jesus Christ. We must learn that we hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ. We thirst after righteousness which is the work of sanctification that we receive through Christ. Righteousness which is the justification we receive before the bar of God is all received through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Our text says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

JOH 15:26 says, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." When we receive the Spirit, He will reveal to us the precious things of Christ. There is such a fullness in this. He has promised that those who hunger and thirst shall be filled. We won't only be filled in this time, but we will be filled for all eternity.

Ye shall be filled with the Spirit of Christ. ROM 8:1-2 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The work of sanctification delivers us from the power of sin.

ROM 8:9 says, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." When we are delivered from the power of sin and no longer walk in the flesh, the hunger and thirst after righteousness becomes filled. When we no longer walk in human reasoning and striving after the things of the world, we have been weaned from worldly desires.

This blessedness is to those who hunger and thirst in the present tense. MAT 5:6 says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." The verse does not say that those who did hunger and thirst or those that will later hunger and thirst are blessed. The hungering is continual and lifelong.

The more we receive of the blessedness of Christ and washing of the water of the Word and the washing of the Spirit, the more we will see the filthiness of sin. The more we see of the curse and pollution of sin, the more we will see the beauty in being made the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ being made to be sin for us, 2CO 5:21. The more the Spirit takes those precious things of Christ and reveals them unto us, the more we will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

When Jacob was told that Joseph was yet alive, what did he see? His own deceit budding forth in his children. When his children confessed, "We deceived you for twenty years with the coat of your brother, and the blood of a kid." Jacob could confess that he also deceived his own father with the coat of his brother and a kid. When the Lord revealed Joseph, i.e., a type of Christ, see how that revelation revealed the secret sins of their hearts.

The most blessed revelations of Christ only open our eyes more and more to see the fountain of sin. Then we can see the corruption within. The more we see of the blessedness and fullness of Christ, the more we see the stench of sin, and we will desire all the more to be delivered from it. We will come to the point that we can say with the apostle Paul in PHI 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Then we see such a weaning from the things of the world, and we desire to be joined with Christ that we might be able to be delivered from our own sinful heart and the power of sin, and sin itself.

Amen.

These on-lines sermons are a ministry of Gospel Chapel located in Conrad, Montana. We also have a book ministry and a daily devotion. For a list of sermons on cassette please visit our on-line tape catalog.

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