This is the fourth lesson that we're looking at in the Sermon on the Mount. We'll be in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6. Matthew 5, verse 6. Let's hear the word of the Lord. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. From the pulpit, we oftentimes use terms such as righteousness and justification, terms like that. And oftentimes, we don't stop to realize that not everyone is familiar with such terms. And even more importantly, not everyone's definition is the same. The world defines righteousness. as the quality of being morally right or justifiable. I suppose that would work if the term morally right was a fixed reference point. Unfortunately, that which is considered morally right today was in many cases considered morally wrong just 25 years ago. And that which is considered morally right 25 years ago is considered reprehensible today. The world's understanding of righteousness at best is somewhat of a moving target. But the good news is, since we're considering Jesus' words this morning, we're not going to ask the world to define things for us. We're going to see how it's used in scripture. Vine's expository dictionary shows us that the word which we see translated as righteousness in Matthew chapter five, verse six, means whatever is right or just in itself, whatever conforms to the revealed will of God. Now we have something to work with, that which conforms to the revealed will of God. Next, we need to look at applications. We're to seek after righteousness, But are we to seek after an external righteousness, righteousness in the world around us? Or are we to seek after an internal righteousness, a righteousness within ourselves? Or is it a relational righteousness, seeking to be righteous before God? It's interesting as we read different commentators A great deal of ink has been spilled over this subject, and a number of interesting points have been brought forward. Since we're dealing with matters of eternity, it's essential that we have not just a good answer, but that we have the right answer. I pray that God opens the eyes of our understanding, that he gives us not that which is good, but that which is best. Some authors hold that Jesus was speaking of an external righteousness revealed in the world around us. Blessed are we if we hunger and thirst for God's righteousness to be manifested in its fullness. And this is a scriptural concept we see just a few verses later. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That desire to see God manifest fully His kingdom, who among us doesn't long to see all of creation brought into conformity with God's revealed will. In Isaiah chapter 11, verse nine, we read, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I can look forward to that. That's a neat thought and it's well in keeping with the rest of the scripture. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness insofar as seeing God's righteousness manifested in his creation. But when we look at the rest of the passage, we see that Jesus is not addressing the entirety of creation. He's addressing the heart of man. We look at the previous verses. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. In this morning's passage, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Folks, these are all issues of the heart. So even though it would be proper to seek after God's righteousness as displayed in this creation, that full manifestation of his righteousness, even though that would be proper, it's not what Jesus is pointing us towards. Next we look at an internal righteousness, that concept of hungering and thirsting to be brought into conformity with the revealed will of God. Folks, that's a scriptural request. Lord, make me conformed. to Your Word. David said in Psalm 51, he didn't say it, he cried it out. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. When God reveals to us our state of spiritual bankruptcy, and we begin to loathe ourselves in our own sight, Folks, we begin to hunger and thirst for a state of personal righteousness. This is a biblical concept. And it's much more in line with Matthew chapter five, verse six than the external righteousness, which we examined earlier. But there's one thing lacking. It's close, but it's not quite there. When we look at the relational aspect of the Beatitudes, we realize that this righteousness, which is being sought after, is a righteousness before God. Hebrews chapter four, verse 13 tells us, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things, all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. So to be right with God, to be accepted in His sight, to be conformed to His revealed will, this is the great need of man. And blessed are we if we're found to be hungering and thirsting after this righteousness. You may ask, Pastor, how do we get there? Sort of like when we go to the doctor and we get an MRI and he says, this, this, and this is wrong with you. That's good to know what's wrong, but doctor, how do we make it right? How do we get there? Well, first we look at righteousness itself, then we're going to look at this concept of hungering and thirsting and filling. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who I believe was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, examined the subject of righteousness under two different headings. He broke it down into literal righteousness, or the righteousness of man, and spiritual righteousness, the righteousness of God. First, we're going to look at literal righteousness, which is the first heading on your outline in the bulletin. I want some of you to know at least I tried to stay with the outline that I had given to our church secretary. Literal righteousness is what we often see in the world in the form of moral uprightness. We'll hear someone described as a good person, or he is an honest person, he is an honorable person. These are examples of literal righteousness. And although this outward conformity to God's law appears on the surface to be a good thing, it has two fatal flaws. First, it quickly morphs into self-righteousness. This literal righteousness quickly crosses the line into self-righteousness. We saw this earlier when the passage out of Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14, the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. We saw the Pharisee giving thanks that he was not like other men. Did you notice that? I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men, even like this tax collector. See, outwardly, he may have been following the law, but inwardly, his heart was far from God. He had an outward righteousness. He had a literal righteousness. But inside, his heart was far away. Secondly, and this is most importantly, Literal righteousness is a righteousness which is apart from God. If you don't get anything else this morning, get hold of that. Literal righteousness is a righteousness apart from God. Paul explains this phenomenon in Romans chapter 10, verse 3, where he talks about national Israel. He says, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Boy, that says a mouthful. And it describes us as a culture, it describes man as a creation. They're ignorant of God's righteousness, so they set out to establish their own righteousness. And in doing so, they're not submitting to the righteousness of God. See, when man establishes his own righteousness, he has something measurable. Like it or not, we are a creation that likes to have control. We're a creation that likes to be able to measure things. I don't know how many of you have ever worked for an engineer. I'm not going to go real far with this. But engineers love to measure things. They don't like it when you say there's a whole bunch of stuff. They say, no, no, Chris, tell me how many? How often does this event occur? We like to measure things and our own righteousness, our literal righteousness, is something that we can actually measure. When man establishes his own righteousness, that something which he can measure is something that he can boast about. See the Pharisee, returning to the Pharisee in Luke, he says, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I possess. You see where he's able to measure his righteousness against the righteousness of others. Have you ever seen how when kids will get going on their bicycles and the one in the front will look back to see how far ahead he is of the other? And you've seen the movie. It's great. It's great. When he turns back to look, to compare himself to others, usually his front wheel turns and he does a little end over and he realizes we ought not to be comparing ourselves with others. He learns that and then as adults, we relearn it. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. When a man's righteousness, a man or a woman's righteousness is based upon their works, they can parade that work in front of others in order to receive applause. Look at what I've done. I did this. I did that. As Jesus said, verily, they have their reward. Now even though our fellow man may be impressed with how moral and how upright we are, Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6 gives us a true appraisal of that value of that literal righteousness. God speaking through Isaiah says, we are all like an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Isaiah had an understanding of how, even though his righteousness stood out from among his fellow men, I may stand out among my brothers and sisters, but before the righteousness of God, my righteousness is nothing. The good news is that we aren't to hunger and thirst after our own righteousness. We're to thirst after that which comes from God. This brings us to our second heading, that of spiritual righteousness. Spiritual righteousness, or God's righteousness, is not something that can be earned by our goodness or by our efforts. That's why it's called salvation by grace. It's a result of Christ's efforts on our behalf not our efforts, but Christ's efforts on our behalf It's a free gift in so far as its purchase in so far as it as its conveyance and in so far as its confirmation and let me explain those briefly in its purchase this the purchase of this righteousness is We see that Christ's life of active and passive obedience to his father's will has given us, he as our representative, it gives us a standing of legal righteousness before God. It's as if he accomplished that which we could not accomplish. Jesus as our substitute, Jesus actively fulfilled the requirements of the moral law. Folks, we break a whole bunch of commandments before breakfast. It's just the way we are. We are, I remember seeing a sign one time, it was sort of humorous. It said, Lord, so far this morning, I've not spoken ill of others. I've not coveted anything belonging to anyone else. I've not stolen anything. but I'm gonna get out of bed soon. And I'm gonna really need your help. And it's humorous, but it gives us a little glimpse of how quickly we sin. We sin because we are sinners. It's our nature to sin. Christ, in his active obedience, Only Christ could claim in John 8, 29, I always do those things that please Him. Not only did Jesus actively fulfill the moral law, but he passively fulfilled the ceremonial law. As the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world, he offered himself up as a sacrifice in our stead. In the 10th chapter of Hebrews, we see Christ clearly portrayed as a sin offering for his people. A body you have prepared for me. Next, we see this spiritual righteousness freely conveyed or freely given to God's people as a result of Christ's work. Folks, we had nothing to commend us to God, and yet Romans chapter 5 verse 8 tells us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Finally, we see this gift of spiritual righteousness confirmed to us because he who is faithful and true is the one who promised that we shall be filled. This hungering and thirsting for God's righteousness comes as a response. It comes as a response to a cognizance of sin, which we saw in the first three Beatitudes. And it creates a hunger and a thirst that can't be satisfied by anything else. When we realize that poverty of spirit, when we realize we're spiritually bankrupt, and we begin to mourn over sin, And God creates in us that meek and teachable spirit. Folks, those are the results of the Holy Spirit's work, and it creates in us a desire to be free from sin. Sin, whereas before it was something tantalizing to us, now we want to be free from it. We abhor it in all its forms and manifestations. We desire to be conformed to the image of Christ. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, he tells us that he did not desire his own righteousness, which was from the law, his obedience to the law. He desired that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. This is the righteousness that we seek after. Our third heading is the state of blessedness. The condition which we've been speaking of, this concept of hungering and thirsting, it's by no means descriptive of the majority of mankind. We need to get that established. Jesus said, blessed are you when you hunger and thirst after righteousness. That doesn't describe the majority of mankind. The Word of God shows that natural man or unregenerate man is not only destitute of true righteousness, but he's completely unaware of his spiritual condition. I like that phrase, not a clue. He is, as Ephesians chapter two tells us, dead in trespasses and sins. And what's worse, natural man considers the things of God to be a waste of time. First Corinthians chapter two, verse 14, tells us that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him. Truly, the world indeed lies under the sway of the wicked one. Folks, if you hear the gospel call this morning, if you hunger and thirst to be right with God, to be conformed to the image of Christ, then you are truly blessed. Not a lot of folks have that privilege. Don't let it pass by. In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which we read earlier this morning, we saw that both were destitute of true righteousness, and yet only one, the tax collector, only that one was aware of his condition. To be aware of one's need for Christ is a wonderful thing. Christ Jesus tells us if we hunger and thirst for that state of righteousness, we shall be filled. He tells us in John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones calls this morning's text, Matthew 5, verse 6, the very essence of the gospel. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, shows us not only the need, but the cognizance of that need. And finally, the desire to have that need filled. Then the phrase, for they shall be filled, shows us that the filling is the work of God, not man. He didn't say, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will fill themselves. He says, for they shall be filled. In Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 26 and 27, God tells us, I will give you. New heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I Will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them See this righteousness this spiritual righteousness to be conformed to the Word of God is his work in us and As I said, Scripture doesn't say those who hunger and thirst after righteousness might be filled, or they shall fill themselves. Scripture tells us if they hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. In conclusion, there may be those here this morning who are satisfied within themselves, those who trust in their own goodness, who say, thank you, pastor, I appreciate this Jesus stuff, I appreciate what he's done for me, but I'm good, I'm good. Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 12 tell us that there is none that is righteous, not one. There's none who understands, none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They've together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Why does scripture tell us that? It's to show us that our own righteousness is an abomination in the sight of God. That's why he provided for us a substitute, Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, who suffered and died in our stead. Scripture tells us that Christ came not to call the righteous, not those who are full of themselves. He came to call sinners to repentance. And if you are cognizant of the fact that you're a sinner, if you're cognizant of the fact that you need Christ, that you need Christ's righteousness, blessed are you. Because folks, there's a lot of folks out in the world that are drifting through life and they have no, no cognizance of the fact. that they need Christ Jesus. Blessed are you if you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Seek Christ today while he is yet to be found. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you this morning for the opportunity to look into your word. Father, we realize that we have just touched the edge of the garment. And yet, Father, we would ask that you would bless this, the preaching and teaching of your word, that, Father, you would glorify your name in it, that, Father, you would accomplish great and mighty things through it. Father, glorify Your name, we pray. In Jesus' name we ask these things. Amen.