I. This week I did something which I have never done before, fasting when many others know I am fasting.
A. When I have fasted before, it has been in secret following Christ’s teaching.
1. But whether we fast publically or privately, let me tell you, the hunger is a bit different than just being late for supper or lunch.
2. Fasting means doing without for one or more meals.
B. There is more than a bit of discomfort.
II. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (NIV)
A. All Are Born With An Appetite
1. Adam and Eve ruled as Prince and Princess of Paradise had built-in satisfaction.
a. They didn’t have to go looking for nothing
b. They had built-in fulfillment based on their relationship and fellowship with God
2. They Began To Listen To Satan
a. Result: They got the fruit, but they lost the fellowship
b. They alienated themselves from the God; who made them
3. Subsequently, Everyone Born After Them With Their Back To God
a. All are yearning and crying to be right with God
b. We are craving to be reassembled and reconciled to “He that hath made us....”
B. We recognize the fact that we’re hungry, but not the fact that it’s a hunger for God!!!!
1. So Consequently, We Look For Satisfaction In All The Wrong Places
a. First of all, we look for satisfaction in the “Café Of Carnality”
b. Man-made menus; which does nothing for our appetite for God
2. It may excite you, but it won’t last
a. No satisfaction in a liquor bottle
b. No satisfaction in drugs
c. No satisfaction in lustful activities of the flesh
3. Ungodly Living Is Only Temporary Satisfaction
a. The pleasures of this world are like cotton candy: It looks good, tasty, and inviting; but when you bite into it, you discover it’s nothing but air!
b. I John 2:15-17 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. (NAS)
C. What is it that we hunger and thirst for in our lives?
1. Too often it is a thing or a person. But how many of us want God and His will first and foremost.
2. Not every form of hunger or starving for things will be satisfied.
a. The parable of the rich farmer who kept building bigger and bigger barns to store up riches.
b. How big is big enough when it comes to this physical world.
c. We are so impressed when someone says, “Now this is the highest sky scraper in the world or the biggest stadium in the world, or the fastest train or plane.”
3. But there is always something bigger.
a. Did you see where Wilt Chamberlain’s house is up for sale.
b. The house is huge. It is the ideal playboy mansion with a table
c. The house features six bedrooms, including a massive master suite that has been the focus of much gossip over the years.
d. Complete with a gym, office and billiard room, the suite has been wired so that residents can control the drapes, run a preheated bath and open the retractable, mirrored roof, all without getting out of bed.
e. Space was essential to the 7-foot-1-inch Lakers’ center.
f. The house spreads over more than 7,100 square feet and features 40-foot ceilings in some areas.
g. A playroom, spa and swimming pool round out this two-and-a-half acre property.
h. A table which seats 11 and weigh hundreds of pounds and needed an engineer to design.
i. But where is Wilt Chamberlain now?
4. What do we long for?
D. Those who are ravenous or famished for God and His will for their lives will be filled and satisfied.
1. St. Augustine, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee."
2. He then attaches to it continual action.... (text) In the Greek, it is in the presence tense....“Blessed are they who are hungering; blessed are they who are thirsting....”
3. We Treat Religion Like Cafeteria Food
a. We settle for “Half-baked Holiness
b. “Burger King Religion...” “have it your way” with commotion and emotion.... but with little deep substance and meeting of the heart felt needs.
4. We need to be like Ezekiel and eat the scroll
a. Be like Jeremiah; “I found Your Word and I ate it....!”
b. Be like David; “Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You...”
III. Righteousness
A. Do we long for what God longs for?
1. Is His wants and desires first and foremost.
2. God’s will is not hard to find but it is living God’s will which is the difficulty.
3. God’s will and righteousness is contained within the Bible.
4. righteousness is right living. Right living according to what God declares is right.
5. Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)
B. RIGHTEOUSNESS "the character or quality of being right or just"
1. It is used to denote an attribute of God, His faithfulness, or truthfulness,
a. Whatever is right or just in itself, whatever conforms to the revealed will of God,
b. "This meaning of dikaiosune, right action, is frequent also in Paul's writings,
2. Righteousness is wanting what God wants.
a. Do we want what God wants? Do we really want the will of God?
b. We want too often what we want.
3. Righteousness is right living and right actions.
a. When I drive sometimes I am not seeking righteousness, I am thinking time and speed.
b. When I walk into Walmart I do not always seek righteousness.
c. The fancy displays and the TV ads get me thinking about a different sort of hunger and thirst.
C. I now declare you blameless.... Not because of who you are, but because or your attorney, My Son.... And not because you what you’ve done, but because of what He’s done for you....!!!! That’s Positional Righteousness… The freedom from the Penalty of Sin…!
IV. Satisfied
A. A man named Bob became envious of his friends because they had larger and more luxurious homes than he did.
1. So he listed his house with a real estate firm, planning to sell it and to purchase a more impressive home.
2. Shortly afterward, as he was reading the classified section of the newspaper, he saw an ad for a house that seemed just right.
3. He immediately called the realtor and said, "a house described in today’s paper is exactly what I’m looking for. I would like to go through it as soon as possible!"
4. The agent asked him several questions about it and then replied, "but Bob, that’s your house.”
B. Max Lucado tells the story about a woman and her daughter in Mexico City.... The woman went to her sister-in-law’s to try on a dress.
1. They went to her apartment house on the 6th floor, and they weren’t there 30 seconds before an earthquake hit.
a. The ground floor collapsed under them and they fell six stories down to the basement; nine stories of building fell on top of them.
b. The sister-in-law died instantly, but crushed under the debris and the rubble was the women and her daughter.
c. They were still alive, but trapped under all of the metal and debris of the fallen building.
2. And as they laid there, the mother heard the faint cry of her child saying, “Mommy, I’m thirsty.... Mommy I’m thirsty....”
a. They were stuck and couldn’t move, so the mother reached around and found a jar of jam and gave it to the daughter....
b. But just a few days later, the cry comes again, “Mommy, I’m thirsty.... Mommy I’m thirsty....”
3. Finally, the mother couldn’t take it.... Her limbs are numb and cold, and she believes death is near.... She says to herself, “If I must die, I want my daughter to live....”
a. So she takes a piece of glass and pricks her index finger, and starts serving her daughter with blood from her own finger.
b. She said she didn’t remember how many fingers she pricked, or how much blood she cut open so that her daughter might live, even if she had to die!
4. I like this story because of the Spiritual analogy that it presents us…
a. You see, when Adam and Eve sinned in The Garden, the weight of their disobedience fell on me.... And as I’m crushed up under all that debris, I call out to the Lord, “Lord, I’m thirsty.... I’m thirsty....”
b. And for a little while, I eat of the jams of the world, but that doesn’t do me any good, and Jesus ultimately says, “I’ll save him Myself...”
c. But He didn’t just prick His finger, He said, “Nail My hands.... Nail My feet.... And they pierced Him in His side.... And blood and water came streaming down!!!!
d. Blood for redemption.... And water for cleansing....!!!!
V. You see, I got in trouble in a garden; but I got out of trouble in The Garden.... I got in trouble with a tree; but I got out of trouble with
A. The Cross.... I got in trouble with a women named Eve; but I got out of trouble with a women named Mary....
1. I got in trouble with a man named Adam; but I got out of trouble with a man named Jesus...!!!!
2. THERE’S SATISFACTION TO BE FOUND IN THE RESTAURANT OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!!!
3. His name is Jesus & He’s the one who said, “Blessed are those who hunger & thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
