Blessed are the Hungry

Father God, we thank you for tonight and a chance to gather

together to understand more of what Your Word says.

You realize, Lord, that you are a great God, and You have given

us Your word to explain to us who You are and what You've

done. The whole Bible is about you,

and we have come to worship and to honor you.

We've come to understand You. Lord, You want us to know you.

You've said that your people Israel were destroyed because

they did not know you. And so, Father, we have come to

understand the greatness of your character.

So tonight instruct us in the way that we should go, that we

might grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our

Lord, until you come again, as you most surely will, in Jesus

name, Amen. There was once a man who was

extremely unfulfilled, unhappy, unsatisfied.

He was not satisfied with his job.

In fact, he was depressed about his job.

He was not happy with his family nor his wife.

So he decided to escape it all. He decided to get away and he

joined a mute monastery where he took a vow of silence where he

could not say anything for five years.

So he went and thought, this is going to be great.

Nobody to bug me, nobody to criticize me, nobody to yell at

me. It's going to be great.

So he went to this mute monastery and didn't say

anything for five years. At the end of those five years

he could say 2 words. So he was called into the

superiors office and he said you were able to say 2 words, would

you like to say them today? He nodded and said bad food.

So he went back to the monastery, was there for another

five years. At the end of those five years,

he was able to meet with the superior, and the superior asked

him, You have an opportunity to say 2 words, which 2 words do

you choose? He said hard bed and he went

back to the monastery and was there for another five years.

Upon meeting with the superior one more time, his superior

asked if he had any words or any 2 words you would like to say.

He nodded his head and said I quit, to which the superior

responded. Well, I'm not surprised you've

done nothing but complain ever since you got here.

I read that story and I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

Because so many of us are unsatisfied with where we're at.

If we can change our circumstances, If we can change

our situation, If we can change our job.

If we can change our wife or husband or family or kids.

If we could just change things the way we think they should be,

maybe we'll be fulfilled, maybe we'll be happy, maybe finally

I'll gain some kind of satisfaction.

And the reason that is, is because man is driven by 1

motivating factor, and that factor is simply the drive for

fulfillment. Every man that's ever born has

that same drive, that same passion within him or within

her, that somehow I could be, can be fulfilled in life.

Israel was that way as a nation. They were driven to be

fulfilled. So to begin tonight, turn with

me in your Bible to do Jeremiah chapter 2.

Jeremiah 2 · chapter mention

I want to show you something. God is going to speak to the

nation right before they go into captivity.

Jeremiah is the prophet, and so the Lord says in chapter 2 verse

#4 hear the word of the Lord, O House of Jacob, and all the

families of the House of Israel. Thus says the Lord, What

injustice did your father's find in me that they went far from

me, and walked after emptiness and became empty?

Or to ask a question what? What is it that drove you away

from me so much so that you would you would be driven to

something that's unfulfilling? What caused you to do that?

Verse #8 at the end says they walked after things that did not

profit. You left me for no advantage.

You left me for no satisfaction. You left me for no fulfillment.

You left me to be empty. Why?

And the Lord says in in verse 10, you can, you can look as far

to the West as you want or as far to the east as you want.

No matter how far you look in the West or the east, no matter

how far you look, the answer will escape you.

So he says in verse 11, has a nation changed gods when they

were not gods? He asked a question.

Did did the Canaanites change from worshipping Baal when Baal

is not a God? Answer no.

Did they change from worshipping Ashtaroth?

And Ashtaroth is not even a God. But did they change their gods?

Answer no, not at all. Did the Babylonians change from

worshipping Marduk and Marduk's not even a God?

Answer No. Nations didn't change their gods

when they didn't even have a God.

But he says my people have changed their glory for that

which does not profit. My people who have the

opportunity to worship the one true God, have turned from me to

pursue that which does not profit.

So he says in verse 12, Be appalled the heavens at this and

shudder. Be very desolate, declares the

Lord. For my people have committed 2

evils. They have forsaken me, the

fountain of living waters, to dig for themselves.

Cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The Lord says, I want you to stand back and be appalled and

be astonished at this. So heavens, you're not going to

believe what I'm going to tell you, but I'm going to tell you

that my people have forsaken me. They have committed 2 evils.

And notice the evil wasn't they murdered somebody.

The evil wasn't that they committed immorality.

The evil was simply that they, as he says, forsaken me, the

fountain that gives true living water.

And they, they dug for themselves broken cisterns that

can never hold water. He, he helps you understand what

evil really is. This is evil.

Whenever you choose to be satisfied and fulfilled with

something other than the true God, you have committed that

which is evil because you have forsaken the true and living God

to pursue something that cannot fulfill you.

It's empty, it's it's vain, it's useless, but people do that all

the time because the the motivating factor in every man's

life is a drive for fulfillment. But yet if you drive in a way

that takes you away from God, you're committed evil and you

will never be satisfied. In fact, he says down to verse

#17 have you not done this to yourself by your forsaking the

Lord your God, when he led you in the way, I mean, you did

this, I LED you all the way. I cared for you, I nurtured you,

I protected you, I provided for you, I did everything for you.

I fought your enemies for you, I part of the Red Sea for you, I

fed you manna from heaven. I did everything for you.

And yet you did this to yourself.

You decided to forsake me. You decided to walk away from me

because in your mind you thought that there was something else

that was better than me. There is something that will

fulfill you and satisfy you better than me.

And God defines that as evil. We don't think it that way.

We think that people who commit heinous sins, they're evil.

But in God's eyes, whenever you turn from him and pursue that

which is nothing but you think it's something that's evil.

Verse 19, he says your own wickedness will correct you and

your apostasies will reprove. You know therefore and see that

it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God.

He tells him why, And the dread of me is not in you, declares

the Lord God of hosts. He says you don't fear me.

That's why you turn from me, verse 22.

Although you wash yourselves with Lye and use much soap, the

stain of your iniquity is before me, declares the Lord.

You go through the motions of trying to cleanse yourself.

You try to get things right, but you're not.

You're not truly repenting of your sin.

How sad. Many years earlier, Isaiah the

prophet was prophesying to the nation.

This is what he says in chapter 55 verse #1 Ho, everyone who

thirsts, everyone. Anybody who's thirsty.

Now remember the number one motivation in the heart of every

man is a drive for fulfillment, a drive to satisfy whatever

thirst you have, the drive to satisfy whatever hunger you

possess. Every man is driven the same

way. So God says to the prophet

Isaiah, everybody you thirst, no matter where you are, whether

you're a Jew or you're a Gentile, whoever is thirsty,

come to the waters and you have no money.

Come buy, eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without

cost. Why do you spend your money for

what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight

yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me.

Listen that you may live. You see, God is is is pleading

with people. He's pleading with the nation.

You come, come that you might live.

You're thirsty. I will satisfy your parched

soul. You're hungry.

I will feed you with in ways you'll never understand, but you

got to listen to me. Verse 6 Seek the Lord while he

may be found. Call upon him while he's near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the righteous man his his

thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have

compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly

pardon. This is Isaiah, he's prophesying

before Jeremiah. He is pleading with the people.

This is what God says. Come and the Lord will satisfy.

He'll protect you, He'll provide for you, and by the time

Jeremiah prophecies, they have committed the evil of turning

away from the one true God who can fulfill them to pursue

something that can do nothing for them.

It could be a person, it could be an event, it could be a

situation, but they're pursuing all all that there is, but never

be satisfied. Excuse me.

So Jesus comes along in Matthew chapter 5 and says, I want to

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

give you, provide for you fulfillment.

You are driven that way anyway, but you need to be driven my

way. You be driven to me.

And so he begins this Sermon on the Mount by saying, blessed are

the poor in spirit, for there's the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they should be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

I'm offering you my Kingdom. I'm offering you comfort.

I'm offering you the world. And then he says, blessed are

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they and they

only will be satisfied. Nothing else is going to satisfy

you. Every other pursuit you have

will end up in emptiness but you hunger and thirst for

righteousness. Then you will find satisfaction.

That's the beatitude for this evening.

If you have your notes in front of you, the outline is the same

as it was the previous three weeks.

We will define the condition, describe the consequences,

detail the characteristics, and then determine our course.

Let's define the condition. Blessed are those who are hungry

and are thirsty for righteousness.

First of all, the negative aspect of hungry and thirsty.

It's interesting to note that every one of us has pursuits in

life, driving ambitions. Usually they're material and

temporal, not spiritual and eternal.

That 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal said.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception.

Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this

end. The cause of some going to war,

and of others avoiding it is the same desire in both attending

with different views. They will never take the least

step but to this objective. This is the motive of every man,

even to those who hang themselves.

He understood that man is driven with passion.

Everybody has a driving mechanism within them.

It's always the same. I must be satisfied, I must be

fulfilled because I'm empty. So we begin to pursue whatever

avenues out there to fulfill my emptiness.

Sometimes it's praise. People need praise.

So we work hard at work so that my boss and my fellow employees

will praise me. I'll work hard in in the gym so

that when I go to the field, I'll perform at a great, great

height and everybody will praise me.

People have an ambition to be praised, to be honored, to be

recognized, to be affirmed, and that that motivates them.

It drives them so much so that they begin to manipulate events

so that they are praised even all the more.

Christ would say in Matthew chapter 6 verse one, beware of

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by

them. Otherwise you have no reward

with your Father who is in heaven.

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you,

as the hypocrites do in the synagogues.

And in the streets that they may be honored by men.

Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Don't be like the hypocrites. They want everybody to know how

much they give. So they'll blow the trumpet as

they begin to drop their gifts in the in the offering basket

and walk away so proud because others have seen that they've

given to God. Christ says that's the only

reward they're going to get because they seek praise from

man. Others are are driven by the

ambition for more possessions, more things, more object.

It's like the rich, the rich fool when the Lord said man's

life does not consist in the abundance of things in which he

possesses. And we read that, but we, we

still still want just a little bit more of this or a little bit

more of that and possessions and having them drive me for more.

Then then there's the lust for power to be in charge, to be in

control, to be recognized as an all powerful one.

Like like Lucifer. He was driven by power, by

pride. He wanted to be just like God.

He wanted to be worshipped like God.

It was driven by power others are hungry for, for pleasure.

Remember the prodigal son? He wanted his inheritance.

What drove him pleasure. He spent all of his money and

all of his efforts on wanton sin.

When he recognized the very end, it was empty.

It was nothing that got him nowhere.

Classic example. Of course you know Solomon says

these words in Ecclesiastes 2 verse #9 I became great and

increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired.

I did not refuse them. Whatever my eyes saw, whatever

they wanted, I did not refuse them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.

Whatever pleasure I wanted, I obtained, for my heart was

pleased because of all my labor, and this was my reward for all

my labor. In other words, I built gardens

and I built more gardens. I built houses, and I built more

houses. I obtained horses, and then I

obtained more horses. I obtained wives, and then I

obtained even more wives. Whatever my eyes desired,

whatever my heart pleasured, whatever I wanted to do,

whatever I labored on, I just purchased, obtained, received.

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had

done, and the labor which I exerted, and behold, all was

vanity and striving after the wind, and there was no profit

under the sun. Solomon is a great example of

the passion to hunger and the thirst for for possessions or

for wives or for more power, more pleasure.

And he had the opportunity at his fingertips to do whatever he

wanted. None of us do, but he did.

And the end result was what? It's empty.

It's driving after the wind. There's nothing there.

So Christ says I've I've come to offer you fulfillment.

I've come to offer you satisfaction, and those who

hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be

satisfied. The drive you have on the inside

of you is to be directed only to Me.

And when you find me, you find a life.

You find everything there is in life, but you must hunger and

thirst for righteousness. That's the positive aspect.

What is that? Well, in the Old Testament, it's

unique to understand that righteousness is equated with

salvation. So when you're hungering and

thirsting for righteousness, to be reconciled to God, to be

right with God, that's what salvation is.

And those who hunger and thirst for justification, for

reconciliation, for righteousness, our Lord gave us

His righteousness at the cross when we embrace Him as our Lord

and Savior. And so we had this positional

righteousness that we have, we are declared right before God,

not because of anything that we have done, but because of

everything that He has done. And He says, when you hunger and

thirst for righteousness, not just positional righteousness,

but practical righteousness, not not just salvation, but

sanctification, when when you pursue to be set apart unto me

for my purposes, when you pursue to be holy as I am holy, when

you set your eyes, when you set your heart, when you set your

mind on on following after me, you will be satisfied.

Your search will be complete. You'll recognize that everything

you've longed for, I will give you.

Everything that you need I have, but you must hunger and thirst

for righteousness. That's why you would say in

Matthew 6, Seek ye first. My Kingdom and My righteousness

make the priority. It's all about My Kingdom and

I'm a righteous king, and I want you to be as righteous as I am

righteous and I want you to pursue me and I all these other

things will be added unto you, but you got to make me the

priority. That's why Paul says in Romans

1417, the Kingdom of heaven is not eating and drinking.

It's righteousness, it's peace, it's joy in the Holy Spirit.

When you're righteous, when you declared right before God,

you've been reconciled to God. You're no longer his enemy,

you're on his side. You have peace, and those who

have peace have joy. And that's what my Kingdom is,

righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So important to understand. Interesting that this word

righteousness is used seven times in Matthew's gospel, five

times in the Sermon on the Mount.

Only one other gospel writer mentions the word righteousness,

but Matthew mentions it quite frequently.

Why? Because the only way to get into

the Kingdom is to obtain the righteousness of the king.

He's come to present the Kingdom.

So the condition is simply this. You hunger, you are thirsty for

righteousness. And if you are, you'll be

satisfied, which tells us the consequences.

The consequences are three. You'll be happy, you'll be holy,

yet you'll still be hungry, you'll still be thirsty.

He says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness. The the contentment, the joy,

the the blessing that comes. Listen to what Psalm one O 7

says it says, For he satisfieth the longing soul, and fillet the

hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 34, verse #10 They that

seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

Jeremiah 31. My people shall be satisfied

with my goodness, saith the Lord.

Luke 153. Mary says He has filled the

hungry with good things. John 4/14 Whosoever drinketh of

the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.

John 635I in the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never

hunger. Wow, there is something about

what God does in the life of an individual that satisfies his

soul. He says, You come to me, you're

blessed, you come to me, you'll be happy #2 you'll be holy.

Why? Because you would have obtained

my righteousness. And Peter would say, I want you

to be holy as the Lord God is holy.

I want you to be holy in all your conduct, not just some of

your conduct. Peter says, I want you to be

holy in all of your conduct. Why?

Because the Lord your God is a holy God.

In other words, I, I want you to be set apart when when you are

pursuing God, when you are hungry and thirsty for

righteousness, you are, You are set apart unto God for his

purposes. That's what it means to to be

holy or to be sanctified. You are set apart unto God for

his purposes and all of a sudden you are.

You are an antithesis to society because you pursue what they

don't pursue. You are driven inwardly by God

to God for more of God and they are not and they don't

understand that. But the the consequences of

pursuing and hungering for righteousness is happiness,

holiness, yet you're still hungry.

In other words, you're satisfied, but yet you're still

not satisfied. You know, you've, you've been in

that place where, where you just sit down.

You've had a long day and you come home and, and you, you make

your favorite cup of coffee and your wife has just made those

beautiful chocolate chip cookies with macadamia nuts in them.

And they're really warm coming out of the oven.

And you, you, you set that, that warm cookie right there.

And then you, you've got your coffee right there.

And, and maybe you'll, you'll, you'll dip the, the cookie into

the coffee and, but, but you will sip your coffee and eat

that beautiful warm cookie and say, ah, I am satisfied.

But as soon as that cookie's done, you're unsatisfied.

And so you want another cookie and you say, I'm so satisfied.

But then you want another one. And the next day you want more.

See, that's, that's the way it is.

That's the way it is with with righteousness.

You're hungry and thirsty for righteousness and God says I

will satisfy you. But then again, you're never

really fully satisfied. In fact, the psalmist says it

this way, Psalm 1715 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy

likeness. When I'm finally dead, which I'm

really alive and I'm in heaven, and I awake with your likeness,

then I will fully be satisfied. Remember, Remember Paul, he said

in Second Timothy 112 I know whom I have believed, and then

persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed

unto him until that day. I know whom I have believed.

And yet in Philippians 3 he says, Oh, that I may know him,

that there was a hunger to know God even all the more.

He knew him, but he wanted to know Him all the more.

And that's what happens to those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness. It's whenever you are parched in

your mouth and you want some water and you drink the water.

Listen, having drank the water doesn't mean you won't be

thirsty tomorrow. You will be.

Or the next day. You're going to continually be

thirsty in the physical realm when you eat your dinner

tonight. Well, maybe you've already eaten

dinner, you're satisfied, but when you wake up for breakfast

tomorrow, you're still going to be hungry.

With The same is true with scripture.

The same is true with righteousness.

The same is true with learning to live a holy separated life

unto God. All that is true, you just want

more of it. I had a had a phone call today

with Don and and Wanda Slavin and they had just listened to

last Sunday's sermon and they were praying for me and for our

church and I called them out of the blue.

Just want to know how they work because they haven't been here.

Of course they can't get here because Don is is too weak to

drive and and Wanda is going to have a procedure pretty soon and

so she can't really drive until that time.

And so they're stuck at home. And she said to me, you know, I

heard your sermon. And she said, you know, I, I, I

would love to drag my family to church with me.

At the end. I hear the gospel of John, she

said, but I can't even drag myself out of my house to get to

church to drag somebody else with me.

But she wants to be here and Don wants to be here.

These can't make it, but but they're the, the example of I

want to be here. I can't be here, but I just

hunger and thirst for more of the word and they said you know

what physically we're we're we're hurting, but spiritually

we are we are alive and our souls are are filled with the

joy of the Lord. What a great testimony.

Beautiful couple love the Lord. They want to be here so bad, so

bad. They just can't physically make

it. Same is true with Jan and Jerry

Simmons spoke with her today and they're just having a hard time.

And she says, oh, I just miss church.

I miss my church family. I just long to be there.

There, there's this hunger, there's this thirst to be with

the people of God, to hear the word of God.

I wonder if you have that. I would hope you do.

I mean, you're here. So I would assume that that

that's part of your DNA that you, you want to be here because

you're hungry and thirsty for righteousness and you want to

know what the Bible says and you, you want to grow and you

walk with the Lord. That's why that's why you're

here. I don't want to assume that

necessarily, but I don't think the best of you, right?

And so you, you got to realize that, that, that that's what

happens. God says blessed are those who

hunger and thirst for righteousness.

These are the happy people. These are the holy people

because they're saved. They're set apart unto God for

my purpose, but they're still wanting more holiness.

They're still wanting more happiness because they hunger

more and more for my righteousness #3 detailing the

characteristics. What are the characteristics of

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness?

There are many of them. I'm just going to give you 41.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness squelch all their

sin. They separate themselves from

their sin. They silence their sin.

In other words, they want nothing to do with evil.

Psalm 97, verse #10 says You who love the Lord hate evil.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are increasingly

dissatisfied with substitutes. It is our the mind recognizes

sin, the heart is repulsed by sin, and the will refuses to

sin. Those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness that they want to suppress, squelch, separate,

silence, all sin in their lives. Jerry Bridges, in his book The

Pursuit of Holiness, said these words.

He says, I realized that my personal life's objective

regarding holiness was less than that of the apostle John.

He was saying, in effect, make it your aim not to sin.

As I thought about this, I realized that deep within my

heart, my real aim was not to sin very much.

Can you imagine a soldier going into battle with the aim of not

getting hit very much? The very suggestion is

ridiculous. His aim is not to get hit at

all. Yet if we have not made a

commitment to holiness, without exception, we are like a soldier

going into battle with the aim of not getting hit very much.

We can be sure if that is our aim, we will be hit not with

bullets but with temptation, over and over.

Again, so the will just refuses to sin.

Why? Because I'm hungry and thirsting

for that which satisfies my soul.

The righteousness of God #2 the life that hungers and thirst for

righteousness not only squelches all sin, but surrenders every

substitute. Surrenders every substitute.

A truly spiritual man will never be satisfied with that which is

material or that which is temporal.

In fact, a hungry man doesn't want food and a new shirt, he

just wants food. A thirsty man just wants water,

not water and something else. And so you surrender every

substitute. Psalm 119 verse #20 My soul is

crushed with longing after Thy ordinances at all times.

Vance Havner was was a a country preacher.

I don't know if you've read any of his books or not.

He's got a a multitude of books in his his book entitled Pepper

and Salt. He says this.

He says we have too many casual Christians who dabble in

everything but are not committed to anything.

They have a a nodding acquaintance with a score of

subjects but are sold on nothing.

Of course I'm interested in church, but with my club and my

lodge and my golf and my activities and my stamp

collecting and and my ceramics and my African violets, I just

can't get too excited about religion.

Our Lord had no place in his program for casual disciples.

It was all or it was nothing. That's so true.

Christ demands everything. Come after me, come after me,

deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow

me. Don't follow me and someone else

Follow me. Serve me, honor me.

The person who hungers and thirst for righteousness, he

surrenders every substitute. Anything that will sort of take

the place of God, he wants to get rid of because it never

satisfies #3 #3 He searches the Scriptures.

He searches the Scriptures. Psalm 26 verse #9 With my soul

have I desired Thee in the night, and with my Spirit within

me will I seek Thee early. There's something about a hungry

man that that searches for the bread of life.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that

proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And so he searches the scriptures.

Psalm 63, verse number 10. God, early will I seek thee.

Jeremiah 1516. What did Jeremiah say?

Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the joy

and the rejoicing of my heart. He said that knowing that all

the people he preached to would never listen, never repent, and

never follow his God. So you realize that the joy was

not in the response of the people.

The joy was in the opportunity to hear the word, digest the

Word, feed on the word of God. That's what a hungry man does.

That's what a thirsty man does. This is this is the living word

of God. This is living water.

This is bread of life. This is what satisfies #4 the

one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is satisfied even

in suffering. Satisfied even in suffering.

Proverbs 27 Seven To the hungry soul every bitter thing is

sweet. The hungry soul remains content,

The hungry soul remains satisfied.

The hungry soul remains pursuing righteousness in spite of

troubles and trials, in spite of persecution and affliction, in

spite of difficulties and hardship.

Because to him, even in the bitterness of life there was

sweetness. Because he knows his God is at

work. His God is a plan is God always

knows what's best and so he continues to pursue

righteousness. Where do we go from here?

3 things. One, you need to develop an

appetite for the righteousness of God, need to develop the

appetite for the bread of life and for the living water.

And Psalm 34, eight says, O taste and see that the Lord is

good. I wonder what your appetite is

like for the word of God. I wonder if there's a hunger in

your soul to learn more and more and more.

I wonder if there's a thirst in your soul that caused you to

want to drink from the living water.

Do you have the kind of appetite that can never be satisfied with

just one sermon or just one reading of the scriptures or

just memorizing one verse? Do you have the kind of appetite

that once you've memorized one verse, you you want to memorize

2? Once you've read 1 chapter, you

want to read 2. Once you've heard one sermon,

you want to hear the whole series.

Once you are with the people of God, you want to continue to be

with them. There's this driving force in

your life that moves you further and further to hunger and thirst

for more of the salvation and sanctification that comes to the

righteousness of Christ Himself. You need to develop an appetite

for the things of God, Peter says as newborn babes desire the

pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

If if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, if you have

tasted the the grace of God, if you look, if you've come to

taste just the goodness of God, then you should be like a a

newborn babe screaming for more of God, never getting enough.

There's so many times we are unwind to surrender our

substitutes. We're unwilling to squelch the

sin in our lives. We're unwilling to search the

Scriptures because we think down deep that maybe the Lord isn't

enough. There's got to be something

else, but there's not. Just read the book of Jeremiah,

Just read Ecclesiastes. Just read the Bible.

It comes only from the Lord. Develop an appetite #2 Delight

yourself in the Lord. You're not going to delight

yourself in the Lord unless you develop an appetite for the

Lord. Psalmist said.

You know the verse, Psalm 37 verse #4 delight yourself in the

Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Augustine said it well. Thou has made us for thyself,

and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee and then

deny the world. Deny the things of the world.

John the Baptist did. He was raised in the priesthood.

His father was a priest, but he denied the things of the world.

He didn't dress like all the other priests.

He didn't eat what all the other priests ate.

He certainly didn't speak and preach like the other priests.

He was the antithesis to Judaism.

He lived a different kind of way.

He denied the things of the world over in Psalm 58.

Psalm 58, listen, I'm sorry, Isaiah 58, Isaiah chapter 58,

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

listen to what the Lord says. Verse 13.

If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your

own pleasure on my holy day, I think that's just so good.

If he says because of the Sabbath, because of the day,

that's a holy day. If you set aside my day to honor

me. If you do that and call the

Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable and honor

it, desisting from your own ways, This is everything we just

said to you. If you're, if you're willing to,

to set aside one day for me, if you're willing to separate

yourself from everything else, desist from doing anything else,

focus on me, he says. Desist from your own ways, from

seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you

will take delight in the Lord. That is just so clear, God.

God says you need to set apart a day for me.

You need to keep it holy. You need to stop seeking other

pleasures. You need to desist from your own

way. Stop thinking that your way is

better than my way. You do that.

You will take delight in the Lord.

Listen to this and I will make you ride on the heights of the

earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your

father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God says I'm going to, this is what I'm going to do, but this

is the requirement. It's all about hungering and

thirsting for me. So you're willing to set aside

every substitute? Search only for me.

Stop seeking the pleasures of your life.

Focus solely upon me. Search my scriptures.

Deny yourself, and you'll be satisfied.

That's God's promise to you. It's God's promise to me as He

sits on the the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee and all these

people are all around him. He says, you know what, I really

want you to be blessed. So if you're willing to

recognize that that you have nothing to offer me, that the

Kingdom is yours, if you're willing to to mourn over your

sin, I will. I will comfort you.

If you're willing to be meek, I'll give you the earth.

And if you hunger for my righteousness, I guarantee your

satisfaction. That's what the Lord says.

I just happen to believe that. I wonder if you do.

I would trust that that's the case.

Let's pray together. Lord God, thank you for today.

We are a blessed people to have been able to spend a few moments

in your word. We are grateful, Lord, for how

it is you make all these promises.

And yet, Lord, so many times we we are driven to move away from

you by that inner compulsion to be satisfied.

And mostly it's just temporal, material things that never last.

But we just keep doing it over and over and over again.

And you're a patient, you're kind, you're loving, and you're

graceful. And you keep calling us back to

you. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come

to me, come to me. Those of you who are hungry,

come to me. I will feed you with the bread

of life. I will give you the the water of

life. I will satisfy the deepest needs

of your soul so that you will delight in me.

And when you do, you'll be fully, totally satisfied.

And yet you'll still want more. You'll still cry for more, as it

should be, until the day we awake in Your presence, and we

will be fully like you till that day comes.

Lord, give us the drive and the motivation to pursue only Christ

in Jesus name, Amen.