I. Introduction
A. Mrs. Jones was reading a letter at breakfast. Suddenly she looked up suspiciously at her husband. "Henry," she said, "I've just received a letter from mother saying she isn't accepting our invitation to come and stay, as we do not appear to want her. What does she mean by that? I told you to write and say that she was to come at her own convenience. You did write, didn't you?" "Er, yes, I did," said the husband. "But I couldn't spell convenience, so I made it risk."
B. This is the next installment concerning the Sermon on the Mount and the beatitudes
1. We have discussed the first several of the virtues in our passage and we will continue this morning with Matthew 5:6 & 7
II. Body
A. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Matthew 5:6 KJV)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled
1. Hunger and Thirst
a. I find it very interesting that our Lord used this terminology
(1) Hunger and thirst
(2) These two words indicate an absolute necessity
(a) Hunger, This is taken from an online dictionary; Hunger is the physical sensation of desiring food
i) When politicians, relief workers and social scientists talk about people suffering from hunger, they usually refer to those who are unable to eat sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs for sustained periods of time
ii) This is the idea we should use as we approach Jesus’ words Hunger
iii) Jesus is talking about a starving spirit
iv) It is real hunger and starvation of soul
(b) Thirst, this is taken from the same online dictionary, Thirst is the craving for fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of animals to drink
i) It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance
ii) It arises from a lack of fluids or an increase in the concentration of certain osmolites, such as salt
iii) If the water volume of the body falls below a certain threshold or the osmolite concentration becomes too high, the brain signals thirst
b. Jesus is talking about a person needing righteousness as much as a person needs food and water to sustain life
(1) It is a parched and dying thirst
(2) It is a gnawing hunger that shuts out every other human appetite
(3) It is a starving spirit and a parched soul that craves righteousness
(a) But there is something more: righteousness means all righteousness
(b) The true believer is starved and parched for all righteousness
(c) This is shown by the Greek, for the verbs hunger and thirst are usually in what is called the Greek genitive case
i) This simply means that a person sometimes feels a little hunger and a little thirst; therefore, he hungers and thirsts for a bit of something, for example, an apple or a glass of water
(d) But in the beatitude, hunger and thirst are in the accusative case
i) This is most unusual
ii) It means a hunger and a thirst for the whole thing-far all righteousness, not for little tid-bits
(e) This is significant
i) An entire meal? No, but a series of meals
ii) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
iii) It means that the promise of a filled life is conditional
(f) A person, a believer, must starve and thirst for all righteousness if he wishes to be filled with the fulness of Christ
2. We must take Notice of several significant points
a. Who is blessed? The person who hungers and thirsts after righteousness
(1) Lets turn to James 2:19 - 20
(2) That is to be righteous
(3) That is to do righteousness
(a) To do righteousness is not enough
(b) To be righteous is not enough
(c) Both are essential in order to be blessed
b. Think about this, many want just bits and pieces of righteousness, just enough to make them comfortable.
(1) There are those who stress being righteous and neglect doing righteousness
James 2:19-20 (NKJV)
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble! {20} But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
(a) James is not talking about salvation by works
(b) What James is saying is that true salvation accompanied by the Holy Spirit produces a strong desire to do what is righteous
i) Lets turn to 1 Corinthians 3:14-15
(2) This idea of being and not doing righteousness leads to two serious errors
(a) The error of false security
(b) It causes a person to stress that he is saved and acceptable to God because he has believed in Christ
(c) But he neglects doing good
i) He does not live as he should, obeying God and serving man
ii) Paul speaks of this person in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15
1 Corinthians 3:14-15 (NKJV)
If anyone's work which he has built on it (the foundation) endures, he will receive a reward. {15} If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
iii) He himself will be saved, but only just
(3) This idea of being and not doing righteousness leads to another serious error
(a) The error of loose living
(b) It allows a person to go out and do what he desires
(c) He feels secure and comfortable in his faith in Christ
(d) He knows that wrong behavior may affect his fellowship with God and other believers, but he thinks his behavior does not affect his salvation and acceptance with God
(e) The problem with this stress is that it is a false righteousness
(f) Righteousness in the Bible means being righteous and doing righteousness
(g) The Bible knows nothing about being righteous without living righteously
i) Thinking about this reminds me of a couple Pastor Don in Phoenix was counseling about their lifestyle. On statement by this couple was that God had to forgive them. And for any true believer this is true. And P.D. agreed that God promised forgiveness and that He will do, however, God does not promise to save them from the natural con sequence of their own stupidity. That seemed to wake that couple up to doing righteousness
a) Lets turn to Ephesians 2:8-9
c. Then there are those who stress doing righteousness and neglect being righteous
(1) This also leads to two serious errors
(a) The error of self-righteousness and legalism
(b) We have experienced this very thing
i) We have seen the King James Only crowd reject fellow Christians because they had the stupid audacity to us a modern translation
(c) Doing righteousness and neglecting being righteous causes a person to stress that he is saved and acceptable to God because he does good
i) It may as well be salvation by works
ii) But they work, behave morally, keep certain rules and regulations, do the things a Christian should do, and obey the main laws of God
iii) But they neglect the basic law: the law of love and acceptance
iv) That God loves them and accepts them not because they do good, but because they love and trust the righteousness of Christ
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast.
(2) Doing righteousness and neglect being righteous leads to the error of being judgmental and censorious, this is the error of legalism
(a) The problem with this stress is that it, too, is a false righteousness
i) Which leaves out Christ commandment to love one another
(3) Again, righteousness in the Bible is both being righteous and doing righteousness
(a) The Bible knows nothing of being acceptable to God without being made righteous in Christ
3. The answer to righteousness is not what most men think when they think of righteousness
a. When most men think of righteousness, they think of doing good-doing good deeds, good works, and helping their fellow man
b. As good as this is, it just isn’t what Christ means to hunger and thirst after righteousness
(1) Turn to Romans 3:10
(2) As a person walks through life, they face appeal after appeal for help, and they help
(3) And then they feel comfortable with themselves because they have helped
(4) They feel that their good deeds make them acceptable and righteous before God
(5) But the Bible is not saying that the natural man never does good; it is saying that men are not righteous, not perfectly righteous within their hearts
4. Christ does not say, "Blessed are the righteous," for no one is righteous
Romans 3:10 (NKJV)
As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one
a. Jesus says, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness."
b. Man is not righteous, not perfectly righteous
(1) His chance to be righteous is gone
(2) He has already come short and missed the mark
(3) He is already imperfect
(4) Man has but one hope: that God will love him so much that He will somehow count him righteous
(5) That is just what God does
(6) God takes a man's "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and counts that hunger and thirst as righteousness
(7) God does this because He loves man
c. The question each person needs to ask is this, how much am I seeking after righteousness?
(1) Am I seeking at all, seeking a little, seeking some, seeking much, seeking more and more?
(2) What Christ says is this: a person has to crave, starve, and thirst after righteousness
(3) A person must seek righteousness more and more if he wishes to be saved and filled
5. Every person has some pull and some influence that urges him to do good
a. That pull and influence need to be nourished
b. In fact, it has to be nurtured or else it weakens, and it can be subdued and weakened so much that it is killed completely
c. It is just hardened against doing anything except what self wants to do
6. Righteousness is the only thing that will fill and satisfy man's innermost need
a. Food and drink will not
b. Any honest and thinking man knows there is nothing anywhere on this earth that can meet his deep need for life
c. Only God can fill a person and satisfy the deep need for permanent righteousness
d. This is the reason Christ says to hunger and thirst after righteousness.
(1) Being filled means to "to be filled with the spirit"
(a) Now let us turn to Matthew 5:7
B. The merciful: shall obtain mercy
Matthew 5:7 KJV)
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy
1. Merciful means to have a forgiving spirit and a compassionate heart
a. Turn to Matthew 18:21
b. It is showing mercy and being benevolent
c. It is forgiving those who are wrong, yet it is much more
d. It is empathy; it is getting right inside the person and feeling right along with him
e. It is a deliberate effort, an act of the will to understand the person and to meet his need by forgiving and showing mercy
Matthew 18:21 (NKJV)
Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
2. Peter asked this in such a way that he could feel magnanimous, seven times
a. Some Rabi’s of the time taught to forgive three times
(1) Others taught to forgive one time
b. And so when Peter asked up to seven times he was being generous
(1) But what did Jesus reply in the next verse
Matthew 18:22 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven
(2) Jesus taught to forgive perfection (seven) times perfection times ten, in other words as often as the brother needs forgiveness
(a) Most of you were not here when we went through the series on spiritual warfare. But in his book, the bondage breaker, Neil Anderson, told about a woman he met that was beset by many spiritual problems. In counseling Anderson found that the woman had been molested by her father in her youth. Anderson told that lady that she needed to forgive her father. She replied that she could not, she wouldn’t let him off the hook. Neil replied that he was not on her hook, she was on his hook. He probably never thought about it at all, but every time she thought of him and the abuse she became extremely upset. Neil took the young woman through the steps of forgiveness. Afterward she could consider her early life without rancor and she was then able to settle down to a happy life.
(b) Forgiveness is more for the forgiver’s well being
i) Turn to James 2:13
c. Mercy is the opposite of being hard, unforgiving, and unfeeling
(1) God forgives those who forgive others
(2) A person receives mercy only if he is merciful
James 2:13 KJV)
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment
(3) Let us consider these things as we turn to 1 John 3:17
(a) The person who is merciful has a tender heart-a heart that cares for all who have need, seen or unseen
i) If they see the needful, they feel for them and reach out to do all they can
ii) If they do not see them, they feel and reach out through prayer and giving as opportunity arises
iii) The merciful just do not hoard or hold back any kind of help, no matter the cost
(b) This is the commitment to Christ’s commandment to love our neighbor
i) To do the very best for their neighbor regardless of the cost to themselves
1 John 3:17 (NKJV)
But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
d. Turn to Acts 20:35
(1) The merciful know the truth found in Acts 20:35
Acts 20:35 (NKJV)
"I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
(2) Every believer can be merciful
(a) Turn to Isaiah 58:7
(b) Some may not have money or other means to help, but they can be tender and compassionate and demonstrate mercy through expression and prayer
(c) In fact, God instructs the believer to be merciful
(d) He charges the believer to do some very practical things:
Isaiah 58:7 (NKJV)
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
i) Give bread to the hungry
ii) Bring the poor that are cast out to thy house
iii) Cover the naked
(e) We could go on and on
i) Lets turn to Psalms 18:25
ii) Strengthen and comfort the broken and grieving soul
iii) Pity the afflicted
iv) Bear the burdens of other, even to the point of restoring them when they sin
a) But we reach out to them in a spirit of meekness
v) Support the weak
3. The results of being merciful are numerous.
a. A person is given the mercy of God, forgiveness of sins
Psalms 18:25 (NKJV)
With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
b. A person does good to his own soul
Proverbs 19:17 (NKJV)
He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given
c. A person is paid back what he gives, by God Himself
d. A person behaves like God Himself
e. A person is blessed
f. A person is assured of finding "mercy in that day"
(1) Paul, speaking of Onesiphorus, the one time runaway slave, says,
2 Timothy 1:18 (NKJV)
The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day; and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.
III. There is much more to consider, but the hour you have granted me is almost up, so we will continue next week
A. Are you thirsting and hungering after righteousness as Jesus described it?
B. Are you merciful
C. There are alternatives
D. What alter do you bow before
