Kingdom Living - Those Who Desire Righteousness

If you would, go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5. Your Bible should turn very easily to Matthew chapter 5. And truthfully, it should turn very easily to the book of Proverbs. I do mention our study on Wednesday nights through the book of Proverbs. We're moving along chapter by chapter, and if you're not a part of that study, I would encourage you to jump on in and be a part of that. I think it's been ministering to you as a people. It's definitely been ministering to me. So you should know where Proverbs is.

We finished up Proverbs chapter 4 last Wednesday night, and you definitely should know where Matthew chapter 5 is. Now this morning we'll be in verse 6, and we're just moving along in our series in the Sermon on the Mount. And like I said earlier, we are about halfway through this first section, almost halfway through the Beatitudes, which start right here in verse 3. Now I want to take a minute, and I want to remind you of what the Beatitudes are. These Beatitudes are declarations of blessedness by our Lord for a particular people. Now these are not hopes or blessings. Jesus is not wishing to bless people.

These are definitive statements of blessings, which speak to a definitive work within a certain people. Now who would that people be? This would be His people. This would be true followers of Christ, born-again people, true Christians. Now we've covered three Beatitudes so far. We've covered verse 3, verse 4, and verse 5. And all of these Beatitudes are in perfect order, perfect order. They follow a logical and a spiritual progression. These first three Beatitudes have shown us man's great need of grace, and the only way a man can be truly blessed of God. First, a man must come to God, genuinely poor in spirit.

He must be that humble, broken beggar before God, totally destitute before God, spiritually bankrupt before God. This is the beginning of the true Christian life. And then second, that man will be mournful before God. He must be broken down before God in a continual state of grief and mourning over his sin. He seeks comfort in his only hope, for comfort is from God Himself. And then third, the man who is poor in spirit, mourning over his sin, he must and will be meek or gentle before God. He is in total submission to God, willingly controlled by God. And this in turn allows him to be useful to humanity.

He is powerful for God in the world, yet gentle and humble as he relates to others. Well now we find ourselves in the fourth Beatitude. That's verse 6. And if you would look back in your copy of God's Word, what do we have here in this fourth Beatitude? Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Now in verse 6, this hungering and thirsting for righteousness is the next step in man's spiritual journey. Here we continue to see this logical and spiritual progression. Now this is a logical and spiritual progression from God's perspective, not man's perspective.

Now before we can get into the verse, we must see that there is a tremendous disconnect here. Let me make that statement again. We must see that there is a tremendous disconnect here. Verse 6 speaks of hunger and thirst in a way in which no one here has ever experienced it. No one here worries if they will have food for tomorrow. No one here is concerned if they will have enough food and water for their children for the upcoming week. All of us here have food to spare. We have food in our refrigerators and in our freezers. We have food in our pantries, on our shelves.

Truthfully we can go days without having to buy food and we have plenty of food to eat. Honestly, we throw away food that many people in the world would fight for. I've seen it. That was not the case in Jesus' day. The common man earned very little and never made enough to have excess food or water. The working man rarely had the opportunity to even eat meat. Secular sources tell us that the common or working man in Jesus' day usually would only eat meat once a week, sometimes less. The working man in that day was never far from hunger and even starvation, much like we would see in what we call third world countries in our day.

Also starvation from famine was never far away. Now the first mention of famine in the scriptures was so bad that Abraham had to leave Canaan, the promised land, and go down to Egypt. That's recorded in chapter 26 of Genesis. There was another great famine later which occurred in the days of Isaac. He had to go and live in the land of Gerar to access food. It was a great famine when God used Joseph to preserve His people. That famine in that day was severe in three ways. First the length of time. It lasted for seven years. And then second, the entire region of Canaan and Egypt wasted away in famine.

And then third, the scripture says there was no food throughout the entire land of Canaan and Egypt. This was a severe famine. And famines were very common. They were very common even in Jesus' day. So when Jesus used these words hunger and thirst, it would be safe to say that everyone listening would have heard those words much different, much different than we do today. See there's one word here. It's called background. Cultural background. We do not come from a background that these people came from. We just do not have hunger and thirst like this in our background.

For us we would have to travel to a third world country to see this type of hunger and this type of thirst. I was immediately reminded of my trip to India back in 2014. I remember going to the state of Bihar. If you look at a map of India, India is roughly the shape of a triangle. Well Bihar is at the top of the triangle on the border with Nepal. And Bihar is the poorest state in the country. And when I went to Bihar, I went to a city called Purnia and outside of the city of Purnia, I was in the village of a pastor named Emmanuel Kisku. He was a wonderful pastor there, just joyful in serving the Lord in his village.

And I met his mother and his father and his dad happened to be a deacon in his own church. But I'll never forget that story. Someone told me, and I believe it was a fellow minister within the region, he told me that Emmanuel's parents were so poor that they literally took their son Emmanuel and they brought him to a Christian orphanage because they could not afford to feed him. And lo and behold, years later, there's Emmanuel, born again, a pastor serving the Lord. And there is his mom and his dad within the life of his church, smiling and just serving the kingdom. Now that's poverty. Now that's hunger. That's thirst.

Again, we would have to travel to a third world country to see that in our day. Now I believe this bit of information helps us see how serious these words would have been to the ones who were listening, whether they be Jew or Gentile. I also believe this helps prepare us to get into the verse, verse six. Now we will be dividing verse six and we will focus on three portions of the verse. First we will examine this hunger and thirst. And then second, we will look at this word righteousness. And then this last phrase, they will be satisfied. And I will pose three questions dealing with this portion of the verse.

Basically we're going to be asking the word what? All through these phrases and these words. Now as always, we encourage you to take notes because we want to retain all that the Lord wants to give us. We want to be good stewards of what he unfolds for us because we want his word to form us and mold us. So let's look at our first major truth in our outline and that is what is this hunger and thirst? What is this hunger and thirst? Now we've already established the fact that all of us here do not hunger and thirst. We do not. If the drive-through window at McDonald's is a little slow, that does not mean that we are truly hungry.

If your lunch is pushed back from 12 o'clock noon to 1.30, that does not mean that you are actually hungry. If you do not get seconds or that dessert, that does not mean that you are hungry. Not like Jesus is speaking of here and not like the people in Jesus' day saw hunger and thirst. Now there are two ways I want to look at this phrase. I want to look at the depth and the breadth. You might want to write that down. The depth and the breadth of what is meant here with hungry and thirsty. First the depth. The depth of this hunger and thirst. This hunger and thirst speaks to a normal desire usually associated with food and drink. That's good.

That's normal. Now again, the background sheds light on the depth of the meaning here. Most all who were listening would have understood hunger and thirst to the point of death. In their world, hunger represented the hunger of a starving man and his family. Yes, a starving man. In their world, thirst represented the thirst of a man and his family who could die, literally die from a lack of water. One bad journey through the desert could result of dying of thirst. So to them hunger and thirst was a very serious matter. It was not a matter of missing a meal and still being 15 pounds overweight.

To those listening, hunger and thirst was a matter of life and death. That fear was a normal part of their everyday life. So that's the depth of this hunger and thirst. And then second, the breadth of this hunger and thirst. Now to understand the breadth of this hunger, one must understand the language. Now there's a lot that I can say here and I don't want to bore you with too much information here, but we really need to get to this. Now normally in the Greek language in which this was written, in that day, they would say, "A hunger for bread," which meant some bread was wanted or a couple of slices of bread was wanted, not the whole loaf.

The language would say, "A thirst for water," which meant some water is wanted or an adequate drink of water is wanted, not all of the water. That would have been the normal way of stating this. But that's not the construction of the language here in verse 6. It is very unique. The construction of the language states that the hunger and thirst is for all. It is saying literally, "A hunger for bread," and I want the entire loaf, all of the bread. "A thirst for water," and I want all of the water. So with that background in their minds, these people heard Jesus communicate this hunger and thirst in a very, very unusual way.

So in summary, what do we see here with this first question? What is this hunger? This phrase, "Hunger and thirst," is a lot deeper and a lot broader than we would understand with a very casual reading. This is a severe hunger and a severe thirst, so severe that one may very well be close to death and even lose their life. The one who is hungry and thirsty does not want a bite or a drink. They want it all. This is the depth and the breadth of their condition. You know, in all weeks studying this and diving into the language, I automatically was reminded of a story that I heard when I was a little boy.

I never forget being at a family reunion on my dad's side. And my dad's mother, my grandmother, had a brother-in-law who was a prisoner of war during World War II. And I'll never forget vividly sitting there and listening to those men talk about their family member as he was a prisoner of war. And he was so hungry and so thirsty, they described how to survive. They literally drank their own urine. Now that's thirsty. See the depth and the breadth of what's communicated here? And so that leads me to a question. What do we desperately hunger and thirst for? What do we desperately hunger and thirst for?

What hunger and thirst within us creates a desperate desire to meet that need? What hunger and thirst within us creates a desperate desire to meet that need? Is that worldly things or is that spiritual things? Do we desperately hunger for the things of the world, the things that are passing away, the things that are temporal, or are we hungering and thirsting for eternal things, spiritual things? Now question. What is the object of this hunger and thirst? We've talked a lot about food and water, but that's not what's the subject here. Food and water is the background, but not the object.

The verse says that righteousness is the object of this hunger and thirst. So this leads us to the second major truth or the second question. So number two, what is this righteousness? What is this righteousness? We see that right here in the verse. Now I have stated many times that Jesus is giving the Christian life, the Christian life within the Sermon on the Mount. Now specifically, back in verse three, Jesus explains that poverty in spirit is the key to man's salvation and it is also the key to man's sanctification. That is entering into the kingdom and life in the kingdom.

There is a twofold application of verse three, this poor in spirit. Now there is a twofold application that applies with this word righteousness in verse six. So I want to take the time to show us what this righteousness is and what it looks like in life. First I want us to see there is a true righteousness. There is a true righteousness. Man has many desires, desires which can be good, honorable, noble, and then man has desires which can be bad and sinful. But man's greatest desire must be to be made right with God. Let me restate that. Man's greatest desire must be to be made right with God. That's man's greatest need.

In Matthew chapter 19, there was a man who came to Jesus and he asked, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" He was asking the right question which was how to be made right before God. His problem was thinking that he could earn that right standing before God. So a question, how can this happen? How can a man get to a place of wanting to be right before God, in right standing before God? This certainly cannot come from within a man. I have taught you thoroughly what Romans chapter three states. Romans three says, "For all have turned aside together. They have become worthless.

No one does good, not even one." The Scripture says that no one seeks God. So again, how can this happen? Only in Christ. Listen, only in Christ. First Corinthians 1 verse 30 says that Christ became God's righteousness to and for us. So the ability for a man to seek righteousness, a righteous standing before God, it first comes from God. This is a part of the drawing work of the Holy Spirit of God within a man, John 644. There is no man who seeks God, but God draws man and enables man to seek after God. So this first is true righteousness or a right standing before God. And then second, this is a great righteousness.

Now to understand this great righteousness, we must go back to our quick language study. Remember that normally the language would say, "A hunger for of bread," which meant some bread, not the whole loaf. The language would say, "A thirst for of water," which meant of adequate drink. Just some water is wanted, not all of the water. But that is not the construction of the language here in verse six. Normally the meaning is that the hunger and thirst is for all. It is saying, "A hunger for bread," and I want the entire loaf of bread. A thirst for water, and I want all of the water.

But remember, the object of this great hunger and thirst is not food, but righteousness. So the one who is hungry and thirsty has this great desire. They desire all the righteousness that they can possibly get. And then third, this is a perfect righteousness. So we see this is a true righteousness, a right standing before God. This is a great righteousness. They want it all, and then this is a perfect righteousness. To help us begin to see this perfect righteousness, I want to read to you the Bible commentator William Barclay's rendering of the verse. It's really, really good. I couldn't get away from it all week.

He says it this way, and I'm quoting, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the whole of righteousness for a complete righteousness." See that last phrase captures it, a complete righteousness. Now this is not a desire for a partial righteousness, but a total righteousness. Let me explain. A man can be honest, a man can be moral, a man can have a good reputation, but still only be partially righteous. A man can be very religious, a man can be church-going and desirous of his family to do the very same thing, but he can only be partially righteous.

A man can read his Bible, a man can witness for Christ, a man can provide for his family, and still only be partially righteous. I could continue on, but here Jesus is saying that partial righteousness is not enough. Here Jesus is saying that a part-time righteousness is not enough. So Jesus is saying this man is seeking to be completely righteous, totally righteous. So in summary, what are we seeing here with this word righteous? This one who is hungering and thirsting like a starving man, he is hungering first to be made right with God. Oh, remember the tax collector in Luke chapter 18 verse 13.

He's one of the greatest examples of this hunger and thirst. What did he do? He stood afar off and he was in great shame and great humility, and he beat his breast crying out to God for mercy and confessing his great sinfulness, but it's more. After that man has received a right standing before God in salvation, he continues to hunger and thirst for more righteousness. He wants it all, not just all of Christ's righteousness, he wants to be made perfectly righteous which can only come from Christ. I don't know why, but I was reminded even this week, maybe it's because of football season. You know, we enjoy a little football, do we not?

Maybe a Friday night football game at a local high school or a little college football. We enjoy a little football. I remember back in my days when I was a student at R.H. Watkins High School, I remember we used to get those tickets. It was a gold ticket. The colors of the school were maroon and gold, and we got these gold tickets. And when we would go to the gate, there would be a man there with a hole punch, and he would punch that ticket. And he'd punch that ticket. And he'd punch that ticket, marking out how many times you'd come in the gate. But let me show you something.

This that we're looking at here, this righteousness, this is not simply having your righteous ticket punched. Listen, this is not having your ticket punched so that you can go to heaven. See, that's what's wrong with many of these people who have made a profession of faith or a decision. They feel like they've got their ticket punched and they're okay. No, that's living on cheap grace. We talked about that last week. That's not what he's saying. They have a righteous standing before God. They've been born of God, and then they want all of Christ that they can get. They want a greater righteousness in their life.

They want a perfect righteousness that can only come from God and that which they can never attain. So my question for you, are you chasing after this great righteousness? Do you want a whole truckload of bread of righteousness? Do you want to drink the entire water tank of righteousness because you want all of Christ that you can get? I thought of another example that'll help us here. I think this is because of the time of the year. This is the time of the year when some of my family and I get together and we work on my old granddad's place.

We still have the old farm and we get to deer hunt a little bit and we enjoy that time of the year with family. You know, I can remember years ago when I was a kid, we had neighbors that used to love to run dogs when they deer hunted. And I've seen a many a deer after they've been chased for miles. They would find their way into one of my grandfather's ponds and they would stand about chest deep in that water, mouth gate wide open and they were thirsty because they had been chased for miles. And they were going to that water because of a great thirst.

See as born again Christians, we should be running from the dogs of sin, the dogs of self and the dogs of the world and we should be running to that water of Christ, that bread of Christ, that true righteousness that we can get from Christ. We hate our sin. We hate our self. We don't want to be the way we are and the dogs of sin and self are always chasing and we go over and over, over and over to Christ. Why? Because He is that living water. He is the bread of life and He is the only one that can satisfy and we don't just want righteousness in our salvation. We want all of Christ, Christ in us because He is our hope of glory.

That leads me to this last phrase, they will be satisfied. This is the third question in our outline. What is this phrase? They will be satisfied. What is this phrase? They will be satisfied. Now for me there is a logical question that arises here. What happens in this pursuit? Isn't that what I've just described? What is the result of this hunger and thirst? What is the result of this pursuit? Well what does the text say? The English Standard Version that I'm reading from, it reads satisfied. The King James is very accurate. It reads field.

Now here we need to see the depth of this word, the meaning of this word and then we need to see how it's fleshed out in the life. We need to see this word satisfied. It can be translated accurately field. It is a very strong word. It's a very descriptive word. It was used to describe feeding animals but more than feeding them, it was used to describe fattening up animals in a stall. I think we know what that means. This same word is used in Matthew 14 verse 20 in Mark 8, 8 and then in Luke 9, 17, when the multitudes were being fed bread and fish from the Lord and they had their field, they were full, they were satisfied.

Then later on in Revelation 19, 21, the same word is used of the birds of the air having their field off the flesh of God's enemies. So this word speaks of a complete satisfaction of both hunger and thirst. They are filled, yes, they are satisfied. We might say they are full but we must see how this has worked out in a man's life. We see this in two ways. First man can be satisfied. Man can be satisfied. Let's get some help here from John's Gospel. Jesus states that a man may be satisfied or filled in salvation. John 4 verse 14, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that whoever drinks of the water that he gives will never thirst again.

What satisfaction. He goes on in John 6.35 to declare that he is the bread of life. He states that whoever comes to him will never go hungry and will never be thirsty. So man may be satisfied in Jesus. He may be filled in Jesus. Man attains this satisfaction only in coming to Christ in true salvation, being born of the Spirit born above. His thirst for God's righteousness is finally met. He's satisfied in Christ. He is satisfied because he is born of God. Man can be satisfied. But then second, man can never be satisfied. Man can never be satisfied.

Now I know this sounds contradictory but we can understand this seeming contradiction from Paul's writings. Paul did state that he was satisfied in Christ. Second Timothy 1, 12, he says, "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to keep me until that final day, which is the day of judgment." And see this satisfaction is spoken of in that great hymn that we sing very often. Brother Keith leads us in this hymn, "I know whom I have believed." And what does the hymn writer say? "I am satisfied. I have believed in Christ. I know Christ. I am filled. I know whom I have believed in.

He has saved me and I am satisfied." And so what do we see with Paul? He was content. He was satisfied. He was filled with Christ in salvation. Oh, but there's another side of the coin. In Philippians 3, 10, Paul said, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection." He said he wanted the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings and becoming like him in his death. So what we see here is Paul was not content. He was not satisfied. He was not filled. He wanted more of Christ. He wanted to know Christ more and better. He was always hungering and thirsting for more of Christ. So Paul is saying he is never satisfied because he wants more.

He wants all of the loaves. He wants all of the water. He wants all of the righteousness of Christ that he can get. So in summary, what are we seeing here with this phrase? The one who is hungry and thirsting for righteousness will be satisfied, will be filled. Like an animal that is fattened up for the slaughter, man can be full. He can be satisfied in Christ. This is only in salvation. We look back and we know that God has forgiven our sin. Man is satisfied. We know that we are right with God. But yet he was never satisfied. Man is never satisfied because he wants more of Christ. He wants more of Christ's righteousness.

He does not have a punch my ticket Christianity. He wants more of Christ. More of Christ. He wants to be filled more of Christ. And he wants to run from the sin that haunts him. He wants to run from self. And he wants Christ because he is never satisfied. Two questions and application. Are you satisfied in your salvation? You know there are some men and some women and young people, they are haunted. They are haunted. Remember those dogs? Remember the dogs that chased the deer for miles? Oh listen, there are some people that are haunted and they are chased by the dogs of conviction. They are never satisfied. Every sermon stirs it up.

Every witness stirs it up. Sometimes one word stirs it up. Sometimes the company of one man or one individual stirs it up. They are never satisfied. They are never satisfied. There is a haunting of the spirit of God within them because they know deep down they are not right with God. Are you satisfied? Oh listen sir, listen ma'am, young person, don't keep running. Don't keep running. Please stop running. Come to faith in Christ. Listen I have dealt with more men and more women and more young people. They get to the place where they are honest and they say I am haunted. I am haunted.

I don't understand the seeming contradiction between man's responsibility and God's sovereignty but I have seen many people get right up to this place and they admit they are haunted and they are not satisfied. And they are just like that rich young ruler. They walk away. But let me ask you this second question. Is there always this hunger? Is there always this thirst for more of Christ? Do you want more of Him? Oh sin comes into our life. Apathy comes into our life. Yes, but we cannot stay there. See that is the perseverance of the Spirit of God within the saint. Are you never satisfied? Do you always want more of Jesus?

More of His righteousness in your life? Do you hate your sin and yourself more and more and more every day? See what this term satisfied means? Are you satisfied? Now I want to come to the place that we have been at very often. We started this habit back in verse 3. This is when we reassemble the verse. I reassembled verse 3, verse 4 and verse 5. To be honest with you, I really cannot put my finger on the influences here. There are several resources that I trust and look to. So this is a little bit of them and a little bit of me and how the Lord has formed it in my mind. So this is reassembling the meaning of the verse. So listen close.

"O the joy, O the inner happiness, the blissfulness of the man who longs for true and perfect righteousness before God. He is like a starving man longing for food. He is like a perishing man dying for thirst of water. That man will be satisfied in knowing God. That man will be filled time and time again as he continues to know God more and more and more as he walks with God. He lives in the kingdom and he possesses the kingdom and he is a part of kingdom work. He is blessed. He is happy. He is content. Why? Because God is doing this work in him." Now I want to move away from what I call the body of the message.

This is what I call the conclusion. This is some application and I think this will help you here. I want to present to you two traps and three diversions. Two traps and three diversions. And I've seen many people get wrapped up in these traps and these diversions. Now these diversions are not necessarily bad. As a matter of fact, in the right order, they are definitely good. But I think you'll see where I'm going with this application when I get to the end. But first I want to mention to you the two traps. First the trap of a good life. You know there are a lot of people, they want a better life.

They want morality and they want honesty and they want integrity. And see there's a problem in the life of many Baptist churches. There's been this doctrine that's been created to accommodate people who want a better life, morality, honesty, integrity. They want to be a good old boy. And this is the doctrine of rededication. A lot of times children, a lot of times teenagers make a profession of faith. They go out into the world and they just live the way the world lives. And then when they get married and they begin to have children, then they begin to feel sorry for the way they're living. They don't want that for their children.

And they want a better life. They want morality and honesty and integrity. See a lot of churches will just march those people right down the aisle. Let them rededicate their life. And see there's a trap there. And see the Bible doesn't teach that doctrine. The Bible teaches repentance. When we come to faith in Christ, we are born of God, born of the Spirit. Christ doesn't leave us. We can't just leave Him like a good habit or a bad habit. See there's a trap of wanting a good life. Listen, you don't need a good life. I didn't need a good life.

When I was 19, I needed a completely new life, a completely new heart and a completely new nature that can only come from God. So don't fall for the trap of wanting a good life. You'll only be right with God if you come to God the way we see prescribed here in the Beatitudes. And then second, there's this trap of religion. Oh listen, religion can be one of the most dangerous traps in the world. See it's easy for us to see people going to hell on a bar stool, but there are a lot of people, they go to hell sitting on a church pew.

And a lot of times, young people are raised in church and they're taught the ways of church and they're taught the ways of God and the Word of God. And all those things are good. I'm not saying they're bad. But what happens is, is when they're not truly converted, what happens is they fall into the trap of religion. They're like that older brother. Remember the parable of the prodigal? The younger son, he went out. He squandered his life. It was easy to identify him as being lost. But what about the older brother? He stayed home and he was religious, but he was just as lost. See there's this trap of religion.

It doesn't matter how much Bible you know, or how much theology you know, or how much of church life you know. It doesn't matter how religious you are. If you're not born again, you're not in right standing with God. So there's the trap of the good life and trap of religion. But what about the diversions? The first diversion that comes to my mind is hungering and thirsting for the Bible above and beyond Christ. Listen, this is subtle. And some people will get tripped up with what I'm sharing here. Listen close. You can hunger and thirst for the Bible outside of Christ. People do it all the time.

They want to know the Bible for their own prideful ambition. They want to know the Bible because they have invented a religion of their own. They want to know the Bible and not know the Christ of the Bible. We must know the Christ of the Bible. That's why I've said, "Listen, I'm not against Scripture memory, but I'd rather you internalize it and let the Spirit of God work it out in you, and you know the meaning of it, and you've lived it out, and you know what it means to live it out rather than memorize it." And see, there's this diversion. There's this distraction of hungering and thirsting for the Bible above and beyond Christ.

I've heard this. You probably have to. If you want to know what God says, just open the Bible. This is God's Word to God's people. Christ is speaking. Christ is speaking. Christ is speaking. And we must know the Christ of the Bible, the Christ of the Word. And you can never know the Christ of the Word unless you're born of God. Then the fourth diversion is hungering and thirsting for theology and doctrine above and beyond Christ. That was the problem with Nicodemus. Oh, Nicodemus came to Jesus at midnight. Jesus said, "You are Israel's teacher.

He was the teacher, one of the most respected teachers in the nation of Israel in that day." And what does Jesus do? He pushes all of his great learning. He pushes all of his great study. He pushes all of his theology and doctrine aside. And he said, "You must be born of God. You must be born of the Spirit. You can't even perceive it." And there are a lot of people, they want to know the doctrine of the Bible and the theology and the nuts and bolts. And see, all of that is good. But if you don't know the Christ behind that theology, if you don't know the Christ behind that doctrine, it's just words. It's just arguments.

And it never brings life. And it's sad. I've seen so many people. They know the Bible and they know doctrine and they know theology, but they don't know Christ. And it's dry and it's bland. And they never can get along in the life of the church. Why? Because they don't know Christ. It's a diversion. And the third diversion, the diversion of Christian activity. There are many people that get active in the life of the church. They end up teaching classes, becoming leaders in the church, maybe get involved in missions and evangelism. And they can do all that above and beyond and outside of Christ.

And see, our service in the life of the church must be because we serve Christ. We serve Christ first. Why do I do what I do every week here in the life of our church? Why? Because I first serve Christ. I must first serve Christ. I don't serve you first. I serve Christ. The Lord of the church first. And there are a lot of people, they serve the work of the church and they do it outside of Christ. And oh, those are subtle diversions. Those traps are a little obvious, but these diversions can really trip us up. The true key, the true test is Christ. Is He behind it all? This is not just a part of our day.

It's always been a problem in the life of the church. I ran across this quotation by the great Martin Lloyd-Jones. Martin Lloyd-Jones has a very good work on the Sermon on the Mount. It's one of the most respected works. But I ran across this. Everything he says is wonderful. But really, he captures what I'm trying to say right here. Let me read this. I'm quoting. There are large numbers of people in the Christian church who seem to spend the whole of their life seeking something which they can never find. Seeking some kind of happiness and blessedness.

They go around from meeting to meeting and convention to convention always hoping they are going to get this wonderful thing, this experience that is going to fill them with joy and flood them with some ecstasy. They see that other people have it, but they themselves do not seem to get it. Now that is not surprising. We are not meant to hunger and thirst after experiences. We are not meant to hunger and thirst after blessedness. If we want to be truly happy and blessed, we must hunger and thirst after righteousness. We must not put blessedness or happiness or experience in that place.

Now add to what he says, how can we get this righteousness? What is that righteousness? It's all bound up in the person of Christ. If you don't have Christ, you miss it all. If you don't have Christ, it goes right by you. Now let's go back to our verses. Verse 2. And I'll paraphrase some. He opened up his mouth and he taught them, who's to them? The disciples, those first converts right there on the front row. Oh, this is their ordination service. All of those Jews who were longing for the kingdom that was prophesied about from the Old Testament and smattering, a smattering of Gentiles. What does he say?

"Blessed." Oh, this inner joy, this inner happiness. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, the broke down, the humble beggars before God. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are those who mourn. They mourn over their sin and the sin that is around them. For they shall be comforted and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are the meek, those who are submissive to God, power under control. They shall inherit the earth and theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And blessed. This inner joy, this happiness, this peace, this security, this blissfulness of those who hunger and thirst like a starving and perishing man.

They are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a right standing before God and all of the righteousness that they can get from Christ. For they shall be filled. They shall be satisfied. It shall come to the very top of their heart and yet they will still want more. And what else? Theirs is the kingdom. They possess kingdom work and they are fulfilled in the work of the church. So what are we looking at this morning? We're still keeping that first portion of the title of the message. It's very familiar to you. This is all about kingdom living, is it not? Kingdom living. Those who desire righteousness. Let's pray.