BLESSED ARE THE HUNGRY AND THIRSTY

Hungry for Happiness

Notice that we are not called to hunger and thirst for blessedness or happiness. Yet this is what the vast majority of people do. They pursue happiness. In seeking happiness, it either eludes them or the joy is short-lived. We are not called to pursue happiness, but to pursue righteousness. And it is in pursuing righteousness that we finally find satisfaction, happiness, joy, and blessedness.

John 6:27 “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.””

Jeremiah 2:12–13 “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

See Luke 12:15–21...

Hungry and Thirsty for Righteousness

Psalm 42:1–2 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

See Psalm 63:1-8...

John Darby wrote, “To be hungry is not enough; I must be really starving to know what is in God’s heart toward me. When the prodigal son was hungry, he went to feed on the husks, but when he was starving, he turned to his father.”

Philippians 3:7–8 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”

They Shall Be Satisfied

Salvation (We are saved from the penalty of sin.)

John 4:13–14 “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

John 7:37–39 “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.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Hebrews 10:10 “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Sanctification (We are being saved from the power of sin.)

1 Peter 2:2–3 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Glorification (We will be saved from the presence of sin.)

Romans 8:29–30 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Invitation

Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Isaiah 55:1–2 ““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. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”