2019-02-02-LIVE OAKS - Blessed are they you hunger and thirst for righteousness

Matthew 5 starting in verse 2 in Jesus 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 other 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 the Beatitudes as we have learned our are the guest list in the menu of those around the banqueting table of Christ Revel. 299 the angel said to me right this blessed means deeply a bitingly happy. Are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb the guest list in the menu?

What's going to be served? the Eternal presence of Christ Comfort the Earth satisfaction, which is what we're hearing about this morning. Mercy seeing God being declared Sons and Daughters of God great reward the kingdom everything maybe next week. I'll just say everything. Everything everything is going to be laid before us and disciples who draw near to Jesus disciples who are drawing near to Jesus are placed around the table, and we will Feast on everything. Be laid out before us and this morning Matthew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied? So before we dive into that this morning? Specifically I want to read the first few again, but I want to put a little more impasses on a particular word that I think it is is helpful for us all and it's amazing how you just you just put a little emphasis on on one word and things I'm the focus of things changes a little bit to starting back in verse 3 of Matthew 5 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? And blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. So it's so here's the question that that that lies underneath all this that you could ask so, you know. Who gets to spend eternity? in the Kingdom of Heaven

the poor in spirit. They're the ones. Who's going to get comforted who's going to actually find and receive comfort? Those who mourn over the fact that they are spiritually poor.

What the hell does he seems to be struggling and it's scrambling around trying to gain control of this marble? Who's ultimately going to win right? Who's who's who's going to receive the Earth? Who's the who's going to who's going to come out on top at the end, right? Those who are meek.

meekness that that came from morning over there spiritual bankruptcy Those are the ones they are the ones that shall inherit the earth. Is it going to seems to me that everyone's just you know, trying to get some satisfaction and they can't get no satisfaction. I'm sorry. I just had to get it out of the way cuz we were all thinking it.

Who are the ones that really truly will be really truly satisfied? Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

How do they know that they needed? righteousness Those who are Meek enough. to mourn over their spiritual bankruptcy It's day. They are the ones. No one else. Heaven Comfort Earth satisfaction, no one else they the ones gathered around the table.

The ones who know how to spiritually bankrupt they are. And mourn over there spiritually spiritual poverty resulting in meekness who desire righteousness will find satisfaction. Here's what happens? Here's what happens?

That realization of our spiritual bankruptcy. the dove

The crushing weight of that like that the realization of that went when you really when the when the fails look at you really realize that you have nothing to bring to the table.

But at the moment of clarity brings you to meet Miss brings you to desire what is truly righteous.

Maybe we're going through a moment in your life. Okay, we're going to use that moment of your life as an analogy here. I love analogies obsessed with him. I don't know why I don't how it where did that come from? No idea. It's kind of like

You go through a moment of your life where where the weight of something the circumstances of something. Just just press down on you and and Things become clearer. Forgive me for always talking about my wife and my children, but my wife and I went through a season of losing babies to miscarriage. And we had this this one life that was growing and we were getting we were letting ourselves get excited letting ourselves really feel like okay this I think this is really going to happen. And then we started to discern that. No, I think this baby might we might be losing this baby as well. We went to the doctor took a blood test fit to go back 48 hours later to take another blood test to find out if yes, or no, she was truly miscarrying and we went home and in your mind you run through all the scenarios of maybe maybe it's extreme disability. Right now maybe at maybe a birth defect as they call them and I remember she and I both just weeping telling the Lord we don't care. Whatever this baby is. However, this baby is we don't care. We just want this child.

Whatever challenges might might come with him or her we just want him or her. You know sitting back luxuriously imagine these things abstractly we're like, oh yes, of course there was a perfectly healthy perfectly normal child, but in the crushing like, you know weight of that moment. All those other things become so less important. It's Focus its Clarity. You know, what? No. We just want the child. We just want the baby. And ultimately we just had to trust the Lord because he took that life. And it was his anyway, it was just on loan right she was just on long we found out later. She was just on Loan in and literally we have store treasure in heaven and we will get to meet her one day.

But praise God for these moments of pressing uncomfortable Clarity. That's what Jesus is describing. When you are pressed under the weight of the reality of my Holiness and your wretchedness without me. That brings everything into Focus you realize you're spiritually bankrupt you realize that you're nothing without him.

You mourn over it. It makes you unique. And then in that meekness.

Right, you start to breathe a little bit your eyes are now freshly opened. Your ears are like freshly opened. I don't know what maybe we could maybe we could say I born baby. And you start craving what is right and good and like the Instinct that's enough with the birth of all of our children are born just Instinct sugar craving. The milk that sustains them that nourishes them that that is going to grow them and develop them in the moment. They're born they're craving.

What only comes from the mother right with only comes from the source? And so that's like us we get crushed under the weight of our sin. We see the righteousness of Christ. It makes a small head and makes us meet but it makes us alive and we instantly started craving. What is right? What is righteous? We hungered. Yes both preach it. Thank you dong Quai.

unfinished

amen It'll never get old to me. I just enjoy that every time.

You find yourself Desiring. What is right? Desiring righteousness when you didn't before

In your new birth in your new life. You've now find yourself Desiring what you didn't desire before what happened Psalm 34 Verse 8. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. You used to call something else good and you used to pursue it. Crave it right step on other people to get to it.

But now you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Again, sorry children raising up children growing children. You want to feed them? What's good and you want to feed them? What's right. Here you go. This is dinner. I don't like that. What do you mean you don't like it? and I was like, I wasn't given that choice when it We need you all like it how do you know you don't like I don't like it. Have you ever tried it? You know why have you not tried it? Cuz I don't like it. Say my aunt right you will see.

The second part of that verse Oh taste and see that the Lord is good second part of the first blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. You taste and see that the Lord is good and you instantly you hold on to him. Because he's the only source of goodness you you pursued it everywhere else in the world. Nothing satisfies. You you find that goodness and righteousness comes from him. You'll hold on to him. Write Jesus is the Refuge of righteousness. Proverbs 18:10 the name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

He is righteousness. Peace of source of righteousness. Why would we go anywhere else? We can't go anywhere else. We've tasted and seen that he alone is righteous. And so we stay close to Kim we abide with him has as he abides with us or eyes and yours are now open to righteousness only found in him and the officers also truth or eyes and ears are open to the wickedness that is around us. The Fallen is that is around us and we flee from what is wicked and we run to him. Not saying we don't stumble not saying we don't pause for a moment and turn around really.

But we continue to run to him because we cannot unsee what we've seen we can't uncased what we have tasted. And we know that it's him. We know that it's only him. We had a speed of eyes being opened.

We have cat Big Orange was her name. Is my oldest daughter's decision when she was Tiny. What should we name the kitty Orange? What color is the kitty Orange? Baby orange and we're not exactly sure exactly what happened. But we started smelling the smell in our little little dining-room little little play area dining room little bonus room off to the side carpet and we started smelling and you know this smell I'm talking about once you've smelled that you can't unsmell it and I would you know find a spot and I would clean it and then the smell would remain so I started doing some research online. I found a product where you can spray spray all over the room and then you can put on these glasses and then you could turn on an ultraviolet light. You can find the source of the smell. This is a female cat girl cat. This is important. If you if you're seeing the picture that I'm painting I wait that evening. I turned spray spray spray spray and I turn off the lights to put on the glasses. It was like CSI. I mean it was like it was a it was a crime scene of Epic Proportion.

I'm telling you. I don't even know I was almost like I was almost not mad. Like I have been impressed with this with with baby orange. There was urine up on the wall. I don't I never caught the acrobatics that had to have been required.

Check this out. Air fresheners know why cuz I knew it was there. I couldn't unsee. What was there. I couldn't cover it up. I tore out the carpet. I tore out the car. I tore out drywall but 18 in of drywall. I scrubbed the the subfloor underneath. Right. That's what I couldn't see I couldn't unsmell it it it had to be done. You see the falling this of the Fall. You see the sinfulness of sin. You see the wickedness of wickedness. You can trust that now with the righteousness of Christ. You can't you can't undo it you've been ruined blessedly ruined by Jesus. you can't go back nor would you want to

CS Lewis says this it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong. But too weak we are half-hearted creatures fooling around about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite Joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

And that is how we're saved and redeem. changes our desires by opening our eyes and opening our ears salvation happens with our desires not against them.

It's why no one is ever truly saved by talkin about the fires of hell.

Heaven is not full of those who are afraid of hell heaven is full of those who desired Jesus. And we are shown his righteousness. We are shown his Beauty. And we are shown the wickedness.

And the disgusted nests testing this the disgust of sin and fall. And we probably from that and we run to Christ. we find refuge in him why cuz we want to in a my bottle cuz I have been teaching middle-schoolers the Bible on on Fridays for a few years now and in every year, I I I go about asking basically two questions and I and I loved it because I challenged them on on them both. I challenged them to prove to me that they have never ever ever ever done anything that they didn't want to do. I said students you have never done anything that you didn't want to do. Prove me wrong change my mind. You have never done anything. You didn't want to do change my mind. I know I call we are went thousand to think so many things Pastor Tommy. We stole many things I all the time to do things. I don't want to do you mean example classic example clean my room? I never want to clean my room and I'm always be made to clean my room. I clean my room and my okay never wanted to clean your room. But yet you have okay what happens if you don't clean your room I get punished. Do you want to get punished now?

So you have never done anything you didn't want to do you didn't want to get punished. So you cleaned your room you wanted to clean your room. Dough boy getting punished we never do anything. We don't want to do gives other question. I asked him. I said everything in this life has been given to you prove me wrong change my mind like no. No, I mean no. No, I alot of things a lot of things have not been given to me give me example. So I saved up for like a year to buy whatever and so it's mine. I'm like, oh really? Are you? Okay? How did you would you say to exactly? What did you say to me what you say, but you said you saved that would you say about money? Where'd you get the money? I earned it. Would you? How'd you earn it? I did it I work for it. Oh, okay. So you work for it to someone gave you a job then?

yeah, so some gave me a job but But I wanted a job. Oh, so you wanted and you were given? We never do anything. We don't want to do an everything in this life has been given to us.

Christ is given to us righteousness is given to us. And the reason we grab ahold of it read the reason we accept him. It's cuz we want to. Cuz we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good Charles Spurgeon said this. How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord the truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I would not have saw him unless there is been some previous influence in my mind to make me speak. I prayed thought I but then I asked myself. How came I to pray? I was induced To Pray by reading the scriptures. How came I to read the scriptures? I did read them. But would like me to do so. Then in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all and that he was the author of my faith. Tom aparo posted that on Facebook this last week and I said, yes, that is good. That is good. And that is the source of our frustration.

When we think about our loved ones that do not know the Lord. And here's the frustration. We cannot make someone like or desire anything. We can't. But he can and he does cuz he did that same thing for us.

He opened our eyes he opened our ears. He keep putting living water on the tip of our tongue. We have tasted and seen that he is good. My Dad tried to force me to like pumpkin one day at dinner cuz I refuse to taste and see that it was good then allergies ruined because it's not actually good unless it's in a tie or in a cookie or a latte. I don't want anything to do with it. My mom is a creative cook. And he he held my mouth. And he threw a lot of pumpkin in the back of my throat.

Did it work?

We cannot force someone to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And we're frustrated cuz we look out and we see our loved ones. We see the world hungering and thirsting for things that we know not only will not satisfy them but will rob from them life itself. In in in righteousness that pains us. Because we love them. And here's the real painful part these days is the response that we get is don't you want me to be happy?

Our response should be yes. That is why I'm asking you to stop drinking poison. It won't satisfy you. I am for you because Jesus is for you taste and see that he is good. No. I will pray for you.

It's not a last resort. That is what we do. We are appealing to the only one that can change taste and sight and smell and sound. God himself

we have tasted and seen tasted and seen that he is the only true that satisfies satisfaction can be found but only in him. Only those that desire righteousness will be satisfied and true satisfaction is only found in Christ because Christ is righteousness.

2 scriptures for us to close and then we will feast. on symbols of righteousness and Truth 2nd Corinthians 5:21 for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Holy Spirit and not only gives us a taste for righteousness, but the blood of Jesus makes us righteous.

Psalm 37:4 delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. That is not a secret formula to getting everything that you desire in this world in this life. Jesus is telling us. that if we Delight in him We will desire him. And he gives us himself.

Without price and without measure he gives us himself if we desire him if we Delight in him then we have him.

The band is going to come up and and sing for us while they sing. I invite us at the spirits prompting at the spirits leading to come to our banqueting table. I'm in Feast on on what would symbolize in Salvation self to the broken body and Spilled blood of Christ. Don't come forward to receive this out of habit. Or because it would be awkward for you to be the one that doesn't stand up and work. There's didn't we're not judging here. That's not our job here.

If you have tasted and seen that he has good than it did come and feast on what he offers. His body his blood. So at the spirits prompting you can come for the elders will be down for it to to distribute the the elements.

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