Well, this morning, we come to the Lord's table, and I don't know that I could have chosen a better beatitude for the occasion. What a wonderful beatitude to consider this morning as we come to the table of our Lord. And particularly so because this beatitude has to do with what constitutes true satisfaction in this life. And in this way, I think we begin to see, as we're working through the Beatitudes, a sort of structure to them that really this one becomes the center of the Beatitudes, really the heart of where all true blessedness comes to us in this life. So that as we see a movement through the Beatitudes, we see a sort of transition today where we started with poverty of spirit. We started with mourning, meekness. Now we get to righteousness and the Beatitudes now move to end, as we look down the way a little bit, move to the call to rejoice. so notice there it began with sorrow and ends with rejoicing and center to this i believe is this core beatitude having to deal with righteousness and you remember that jesus is encouraging and helping christians to understand their identity in this life who they are in this world as his people as salt and light with in light of all of the difficulties and particularly the opposition that we face as those who belong to the kingdom of God but here he is giving us this promise that he is going to supply the greatest need for his sheep in this life that's no small claim of course this beatitude encourages us with the great provision of righteousness that we can enjoy in this life absolute peace and absolute happiness as Jesus has met this most important need for us and I trust you see that as we come to the table this thing this attribute will be very much exhibited to us in the bread and the wine this morning as satisfying the deepest longing of the believer's heart a radical provision that only the elect and joy in this life in the deep love of Christ for them. Well, the way I'd like to approach this today, this particular beatitude, is by continuing my devious departure from the three-point sermon and giving you two again. Here are present longing and our present provision that is here described which results in true joy and happiness last week we considered this beatitude of meekness this beatitude of meekness and we were really looking at the qualities that mark the blessed in this life this there of course in these beatitudes there's nothing that you know really makes sense to our natural reasoning these particular beatitudes because jesus is really turning everything upside down in every single beatitude that he gives he had said those who are truly blessed in this life are those this is kind of counterintuitive isn't it who have poverty of spirit blessed are those who mourn in this life these are not the things we naturally think constitute blessing and last week blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth all of these run radically against human conventional wisdom and even sort of how we approach church today who would ever say that there's blessing in being having poverty being poor in spirit or blessing in mourning or blessing in meekness well blessedness comes to the lowly blessedness comes to those who are sad over the state of things Blessedness comes to the meek who are not grasping and clawing to get ahead in this life for greatness. But now comes the beatitude that really does turn everything on its head in a different kind of way that truly identifies, I think, whether you're a Christian or not. Are you a Christian? Are you really a believer? Because as we know, the church is filled today with believers and make-believers. How do we know somebody is a true believer? How do we know they're not just playing the role or playing the game? Well, God knows, but we often don't know. And Jesus says something very powerful in this particular beatitude this morning. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. They shall be filled. What a remarkable statement. As Martin Lloyd-Jones said years ago of this beatitude, if this is one of the most blessed statements to you in all of the scriptures, then you can be sure you are a Christian. For it offers the solution to man's greatest need. The issue of hunger and thirst, of course, might be a little bit disconnected from us living in the United States because really I don't think I know of anyone here hungering and thirsting for food and drink. We of all the nations that have ever existed on the face of the earth are this is a really foreign concept to us of hungering and thirsting for food and drink that is foreign to our context but you have to appreciate that when jesus would have given this in the original context they would have perked up people in the ancient world hardly made anything they had no extra money to go out and buy any kind of luxury item in life many people did die of hunger and thirst in those days i mean it would be similar to speaking this kind of thing maybe not so radically but in a country in africa where there is intense poverty where it was hard even to get food on the tables to feed families many people did die of starvation they had a longing for the basic provisions of life they weren't deciding what color of car to get but clearly jesus um what he's been doing here all along is taking things beyond the physical isn't he I mean that's important to say that's exactly what he's been doing he wasn't just saying for instance when he said blessed are those who mourn everyone to some degree mourns in this life at times he wasn't just saying anyone who mourns over the hardships of life has blessedness that's not what he was talking about Jesus was speaking far beyond mere hardship in life people mourn over many different things jesus was reaching deep into the human heart into the human experience to describe realities that only the blessed truly experience surprising blessing not the blessings we speak about when we think about blessing and in this way he is encouraging us in what is backward to us what is foreign to us what is counterintuitive to us what is that well there are different ways of course this particular beatitude could be taken blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness jesus ties the the blessing here to hungering and thirsting for righteousness and this in this way jesus is saying this is a hunger the righteous know this is a hunger the righteous know that's why I said this one tests true Christianity right here are you a Christian this one does that for you Calvin said Jesus is not merely speaking of making a better world for us as if he was saying we must yearn for a more just and upright society and order because that's what everyone wants right now that if we yearn for a more just and upright order in society so that when God sees how earnest we are for that He will change the world for the better and gladden our hearts and he says that would miss everything this Beatitude's doing that would miss the heart of what Jesus is saying what we've seen in the beatitudes that everything is sort of backwards for the righteous think about this the ambitious in this life the reckless in this life the domineering in this life the cutthroat people in this life they succeed and we live in a world of injustice because of it we live in a world that is constantly with we live with the sorrows of life that we constantly live with these sorrows seeing all these evils and it really can be sort of summarized that in this life we deal with the two great evils of sin and death i was grieved this past week terribly just yesterday i saw it that a dear family in my former congregation that four children they lost a son in a 2016 accident and this week they lost a second child of their four to cancer i can't imagine that grief you know it would have been common hundreds of years ago but in america in our times we just don't expect those things to happen everything about life is wrong everything about life here and now is wrong we live in a world of misery what should that create in people well what of your sorrows what of the providences that are so mysterious to us in light of the evil that's all around us what should all of this sorrow what should all of the pain of life what should all of the sorrow of life what should all the hardship of life what should all of the sin what should all of the evil what should all of the death what should it produce in us well jesus throughout his ministry was describing something that should be happening in humanity because of all this in whatever form the misery comes to us in this life it should create a longing it should create a hunger in the face of all these things how do most people live with these realities hanging over their lives all the time that you could walk out the door tonight and die or your children that evil is everywhere they all say there's nothing true in this life except death and taxes what's remarkable is that under this sentence of death that everyone walks people go on and they live remarkably unconcerned about it all people go proudly through life thinking this stuff will never happen to them what was he saying at some point people should wake up from the fairy tale they're trying to create and they should ask the question what is this in the face of sorrow in the face of evil in the face of pain? I mean, come on, you can't go to the grocery store today and not hear everyone complain about the state of things and they're not even believers. What was Jesus saying in the midst of all this? Keep on seeking. Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. And you will find. and the door will be opened to you. What's he describing? He's describing something that's right in the midst of all this that should produce a longing in the human heart. But what will Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? We have problems. All the religious leaders of the church, they're running around trying to establish their own righteousness. They never look for a solution outside themselves. And unless your righteousness exceeds that, you're never entering heaven. See, I believe what Jesus is describing is a hunger that should lead us somewhere. Paul describes it to some degree in Romans 8 when he describes of these deep groanings that happened in the human heart, the believer's heart. Think about the struggle. Everything about life is wrong. Whatever goodness that you're enjoying in this life, that may be a benefit of common grace and God may have done something above and beyond to give you a good go of things. That's not normal. That's not normal. But that's what you think is. That's how we live life. I'll get up tomorrow. My children will be there. Life's going to be great. Who chooses to consider this? Who chooses to take something very seriously? Does it bother us that we live in a time where evil is celebrated and good is called evil and evil good? And what should all of the unrighteousness in the world that we live in the midst of, What should it create in us? Why did Isaiah have to wake up one day and finally say, I live amongst a people with unclean lips and I'm one of them? All this is wearisome to the true believer. We're worn down by it. How many of you said, I'm so discouraged. On every side it seems that evil is winning. My children are subject to the misery of it all. We worry incessantly because we live under the curse. Add to this the burden that the Lord is saying something very important here. There is a blessedness actually attached to this kind of hungering. You've got to go through it. In other words, what we have to appreciate is that the Lord blesses in the righteous a kind of painful hunger. a deep longing for what is right, a deep longing for what is true, honest and pure and just. And this very longing is crucial to expose the character of the true believer because what does it drive us to do? And that's why I always say you can kind of see how we approach worship. What are we taking seriously and what are we not you know if we've come to be entertained we're not listening to this particular beatitude you've missed what true christianity is all about well the world lives to overcome all evils without the lord and we can go through life avoiding at all costs crying to him praying to him longing for His deliverance. As we are taught in the world to live proudly, thinking we will solve the common misery that men and women live out in this life. I think what Christians tend to do at times is try to create the bubble, a shield for it all for us and our children and families so that we don't really have to experience any of this. So we have our schools and we create a safe place for us and our families and we incessantly try to live out life in the bubble with perfect ease. Here's what the Lord's saying. That is impossible in this life. I've attached blessedness to hunger. What kind of hunger? You can't shield yourself from this. You can't live in a commune. You can't have safe spaces to escape a longing for what should be there, for what is true and what is right. You can't create it in this life. We're beset with all kinds of ills in our families and our children and our nation. We live among the wicked and we face all kinds of anxieties. And because of this great confusion, what is happening and what is clearly not right, the question of the beatitude is, where does it lead us? And what marks, says Jesus, the children of God in this present age as true children of God is the blessing of a longing. The blessing of a hunger. A blessedness that causes us to go to the Lord and call out for Him to act, to deliver, to move. It's all over the Psalms. Psalm 143, how long, O Lord? My spirit grows faint within me. My heart within me is dismayed. I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah, answer me quickly, O Lord. My spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I'll be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love. For I put my trust in you. So I think that captures it. But I'm not just talking about evil in general. What is your greatest need? What is our greatest burden, beloved? it's the evil of sin of our own lives you know this burden hypocrites and fakes they're not going to resonate with at all what I'm about to describe hypocrites and fakes will have no connection with what I'm about to describe who cares in our day about the greatest problem of sin are you burdened by sin the righteous know what i'm talking about what is your greatest burden that has troubled your life well it's that the evil out there is right here think of what we carry through this life there's this realization a burden so great we can't solve god has put eternity into every man's heart so that they should seek him and what that means is god has put an eternity to know death is coming and that our lives are not right with him and that judgment day is just around the corner i remember years ago i prayed i prayed in the congregational prayer we long for the day oh lord when we won't sin against you anymore and a 90 year old woman and my former charge came running up after me to pastor that's the most meaningful prayer i've ever heard i can't wait until i no longer sin anymore. You may not even know how best to express this, but you carry a burden every day of your lives, a deep concern as you walk through life because the righteous are sensitive to this, that you know, now listen carefully, you have never done enough to please God. In the heart of the true believer, that issue looms over us. I can tell you as a pastor, you think, well, there's the guy who's most confident. Well, I'm going to be honest with my own struggle. Do you know I constantly live under the cloud like I'm never doing enough? And that I'm always coming short? And that I constantly take my eyes off Christ. And I put my eyes back on my own performance. And the sense of failure before God is that I should love Him. Right? But that sense of failure before a God that I should love at times far outweighs peace and enjoyment that I should have. This was Luther in the confessional who day and night was thinking of all these sins he did and never confessed and never doing enough to please God because God is indeed holy. I know he hates sin and I know failure. That's what I know. I have two choices in that struggle. I can simply take the burden on me and hope it all turns out okay on judgment day, which is so many people are doing. Hopefully the good that I've done will outweigh the bad and I'll get in. And you're still not listening. And many Christians live that way. Lloyd-Jones again. There are large numbers of Christians who seem to spend their whole lives seeking for something which they can never find. Seeking for some kind of happiness and blessedness that they never seem to get. What am I describing? What is Jesus describing? It's a hunger and a thirst for the righteousness that you do not have. That hunger and that thirsting should create in us a longingness for the blessedness that you cannot achieve. And that should take me somewhere in the Christian life. And Jesus is saying something beautiful that is at the heart of the Christian faith, beloved. The heart of this all. It creates in us, God has blessed us, that creates in us a longing for something that only He can give. A longing for perfection. Be perfect, for my Father in heaven is perfect. A longing for the absolute assurance that God loves me. A longing that I know that I have a life that God will accept. And there's a kind of hunger and thirsting for righteousness that God has blessed in this life that we face as Christians in this life as we long for the righteousness that comes from God. And that's what Jesus promises here. That's why this beatitude, I think, is at the center of it that moves us to the pathway of joy. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Here's the beauty of this. He's not saying he'll provide a righteousness. He's not saying he'll provide a righteousness in us that will fill us. It's really clear on that. The righteousness occurs here if you're doing some grammar in the genitive, not in the genitive, but in the accusative. What you should take from that is simply this. The one in this life who is blessed is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a righteousness that is whole and complete. Whole and complete in every way. That's what he's describing. A righteousness that's perfect. A righteousness that meets the demands of God's law. A righteousness that he provides that will satisfy him. A hunger and thirsting for a righteousness that is satisfied by justification. And here's the beautiful promise of the Beatitude, beloved. Jesus is saying to you who are truly burdened by sin. burdened by everything that comes along as the result of sin in this sad world. Those who are sad, those who mourn, it creates a hunger and a thirsting that turns you to the Lord. And as you cry to Him, He extends His hand and gives it. That's the gift of God to you believers. When David committed his sin, the horrendous sin of adultery and murder. Read the psalm. Where did he go? He didn't try to cover it up by entertaining himself to death and living in denial. He went to the Lord. Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be just in your judgment and blameless in your righteousness. And then he said, Forgive the iniquity of my sin, O Lord. And the Spirit inspired this. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute his sin because God gives that righteousness through his Son. Jesus is standing there that day saying to the people, I will satisfy you. i will provide this i will bless you with that confidence and fill you in the most satisfying way possible in this life so that it does indeed result in true happiness and true joy there's a reason augustine said our hearts are restless until they find rest in christ and that's the blessedness he wants you to enjoy in this life see the beatitudes move from sorrow to joy and jesus was clear about this when as we come to the table he used sacramental language to describe these realities when he instituted the supper what did he say when he used sacramental language what did he say I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry. And he who believes in me will never thirst. Do you believe that? That's how he wants us ultimately to see what he wants us to see in this beatitude. The humble turn to him. The humble come to the Lord. The hungering and thirsting for those for righteousness come to the source of righteousness. So that today in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of pain, in the midst of all the evil of this life, His call goes out. Come, all you who are thirsty. Come to the waters. And you without money. You don't have to buy this. Come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on that which is not bread and your labor on that which is not satisfied? Listen carefully to me. Eat what's good. And your soul will delight in the richest of foods. To you who hunger and thirst after righteousness, He desires to fill that need in you. That's the blessedness of the true believer in this life. You hear me? That's what marks you. Knowing that God Himself has been satisfied in the righteousness of His Son and that sacrifice, the gift to you is that you then would be satisfied in that righteousness that's been achieved for you, which the Pharisees could never achieve. So that we might enjoy in this life and in the next a blessedness that only God could supply from His own resources. Blessed are those, Jesus says, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. And that's what the table is declaring to us today. So let's come believing and receiving that righteousness. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us with such wonderful words through the work and the words of your Son. Thank you for giving us a confidence by which we can stand. And I pray that you, Lord, for all those who truly hunger and truly thirst for the true bread from heaven and the true drink from heaven would be filled and be satisfied today, taking their eyes away from themselves and fixing them on the Savior. For there we have all confidence and peace and joy. In Jesus' name, amen.