The Beatitudes (Part 10): Blessed are the those we Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (Part 3)
stephan challen
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· 14 viewsMorning 11 June 2023
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Order of Service
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Welcome
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Psalm Reading
Psalm Reading
O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might. O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Sermon
Sermon
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Hunger & Thirst
Justification means more than forgiveness
Being brought into favour with God
Imputed with Jesus’ Righteousness
The sinner who trusts in Christ is declared by God to be righteous
For They shall be Satisfied
For They shall be Satisfied
God declared this principles in the Old Testament
Isaiah in his teaching said:
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
The Beatitudes for Today Invitation to Live
Thomas Watson wrote, ‘If a friend invites guests to his table he does not expect that they should bring money for their dinner, only come with an appetite.’
God spoke through Jeremiah:
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Not half-hearted
With all your heart
Fully expecting his response
There is not promise for the person who is “just looking”
Nor the one who is content with religious ceremonies
Hunger & Thirst
a passionate longing
to get right with God
to be forgiven
to be cleansed from sin
to be set free from self
Entering the Kingdom of Heaven is not a reward for merit, but it does require for effort on behalf of the believer.
The Beatitudes for Today
John Blanchard said: “The tragic reason why so many well-meaning churchgoers are still outside of the kingdom of heaven is that they are seeking God formally rather than fervently, vaguely rather than vehemently”
When asked on how many would enter the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus said:
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
American Preacher Bob Brown said “God never saves the spectator”
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
God saves those who “I will not let you go unless you bless me”
He saves beggers not boasters or bargainers
God has nothing to give to the person who imagines that his own sincerity, morality or religion is sufficient to earn his salvation, or even to make a contribution to it
The Beatitudes for Today Invitation to Live
Thomas Watson delightfully puts it, ‘God keeps open house for hungry sinners.’
Let someone plead this emtiness with God as a starving sinner and God will fill him with “Good things”
Justification provides a new heart, eternal life, prescense of the Holy Spirirt
As Peter says:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Jesus later teaches that the the living bread and water was to be found in Him
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
When the guilty sinner comes to Christ and they are filled with His righteousness:
and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Justification & Sanctification
Justification is an act of God in which he graciously and sovereignly declares the believing sinner to be just and righteous in his sight
Sanctification is an ongoing process in which the believer, enabled by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, grows in holiness and therefore in conformity to the will, character and purposes of God.
One cannot exist without the other
As Paul says...
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The Beatitudes for Today Siamese Twins
In a book on personal evangelism C H Spurgeon wrote, ‘Another proof of the conquest of a soul for Christ will be found in a real change of life. If the man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a fiction.’
“Now what pleases you?”
When someone confronted Martin Luther after he had come to an understanding of the biblical doctrine of justification with the comment, ‘If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!’, the Reformer answered, ‘Indeed! Now, what pleases you?’
We should all answer this question
David’s answer:
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
The Beatitudes for Today
John Blanchard commented, “When God’s law is written on the Christian’s heart, obedience is not seen as a drudgery or a duty, but as a delight.”
Mechanism of Juistification and Sanctification
Justifiation is imputed (In Christ)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Sanctification is Imparted (Christ in us)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Beatitudes - Jesus begins with:
those who recognise they are spirirtual bankrupts
genuinely broken-hearted over their sin
acknowledge their own unworthiness
submit without complaint to the disciplines of God
Now they long to be holy
Number one priority
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
“The Beatitudes for Today”
Holiness is ‘the preparation for the presence of God’. That being the case, the Christian should seek to cultivate personal and practical holiness with relentless determination, commitment and perseverance. Holiness is not something we can ‘claim’ or ‘take by faith’.
The Beatitudes for Today Number One Priority
J I Packer finely puts it, ‘Holiness is no more by faith without effort than it is by effort without faith.’
Jesus said...
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Pharasees went for high-profile religion
Even their public prayers were self-centred
God will not be “fobbed off” with something that is merely an outward appearance of holiness
Training for Triump
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
Discipline/Train
The Beatitudes for Today (Training for Triumph)
Don Whitney testifies, ‘In my own personal and pastoral experience, I can say I have never known a man or woman who came to spiritual maturity except through discipline.’
The Beatitudes for Today Training for Triumph
Christians are called to a constant, life-long, self-denying, costly, painful struggle, but just as the reward of an Olympic medal drives athletes to almost unbelievable lengths in terms of training and self-discipline, so the promised reward of godliness ought to draw the Christian on to do whatever it takes to bring it about.
The Beatitudes for Today Training for Triumph
Don Whitney rightly says, ‘If your picture of a disciplined Christian is one of a grim-faced, joyless half-robot, then you’ve missed the point. Jesus was the most disciplined man who ever lived and yet the most joyful and passionately alive.’
It is not an itellectual exercise
But as Sinclair Ferguson put it “a hard-nosed pursuit”
It is not an option but an obsession
It arises from a deep sense of personal failure and a heart-felt concern to glorify God in every part of one’s life.
Do I hunger & thirst for righteousness?
Do I long to be Godly?
Do I really want to get rid of my sins? (every single one of them)
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Am I willing to die to my own comforts and ambitions?
Do I want to be Christ like?
The Beatitudes for Today Training for Triumph
join the nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Robert Murray McCheyne in praying, ‘Lord, make me as holy as it is possible for a redeemed sinner to be’, you have reason to believe that you are hungry and thirsty for righteousness; and if not, what good reason can you give for not beginning now?
For they Shall be Satisfied
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Satisfaction in this life
When we hunger and thirst we will be satisfied
Yet the more we are satisfied the more we will hunger and thirst for far more, and in turn will be satisfied
The Beatitudes for Today One of the Blackberries
The American missionary Jim Elliot, who was to be murdered in Ecuador eight years later by Auca Indians whom he was trying to reach with the gospel, wrote these words in his Journal in 1948: ‘All I have asked has not been given, and the Father’s withholding has only served to intensify my desires. He knows that the “hungrier” one is, the more appreciative he becomes of food, and if I have gotten nothing else from this year’s experience he has given me a hunger for himself I never experienced before. He only promises water to the thirsty, satiation to the unsatisfied (I do not say dissatisfied), filling to those famished for righteousness.’ God, and God alone, can fill the hungry soul with the righteousness it craves. Those who seek him are unanimous in their testimony that he does.
Satisfaction in Eternity
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Christians will have no needs
Our bodies will be glorified and perfect
Our sin will be stamped out for ever
Our hearts will be fixed upon God
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
David wrote...
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Amen
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Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology