1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000 As we continue through the study, we'll be looking at verse 6 this morning, Matthew 5 verse 6. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Let's read the text and then we'll ask the Lord to help us this morning. 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,000 The Lord Jesus speaking to a crowd on that day says, 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 5 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Would you bow with me in prayer? 6 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Heavenly Father, Lord, this morning, 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Lord, as we step into the pulpit and behind what we call the sacred desk, 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Lord, there is a, almost a fear. 9 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Lord, God, help me this morning. 10 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:58,000 God, go before me, Lord, I pray for the aid and help and comfort of your spirit. 11 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Lord, our job as preachers of your gospel 12 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:09,000 is to put forth Christ crucified and risen again and every man complete in him. 13 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Would you help me to do that this morning? 14 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Would you help me, Father, by your spirit 15 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:20,000 to preach the glorious gospel of grace that centers in your Son? 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Lord, God, I would ask, Lord, this morning 17 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000 that there would be rapt attention not to my words but from heaven itself. 18 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:34,000 Lord, God, help us as you would meet with us, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 19 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 The Puritan Thomas Watson said this, he said, 20 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Desire is the discovery of a Christian. 21 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Now think with me. 22 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,000 The desire, your desires, is the discovery of a Christian. 23 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 What did he mean by that? 24 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Well, let me ask a few questions. 25 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 What is it that drives your life? 26 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,000 What does your heart really desire? 27 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 If you can think about what you most long for, 28 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 what is it that you spend most of your time thinking of and about? 29 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000 And the reason that is so important is because 30 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,000 what you desire actually explains your heart. 31 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Desire is the discovery of a Christian. 32 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 How do you know what's in your heart? 33 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Well, look at what you desire most. 34 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Because your desires will reveal what your heart is set upon. 35 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Your desires reveal what your heart is actually cherishing. 36 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 And what your heart cherishes drives your life. 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000 It's what sets the trajectory of your life. 38 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000 And whatever it is that is driving your life is your God. 39 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,000 Now that's true functionally, not necessarily confessionally. 40 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Now let me make that clear. 41 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:50,000 You can have an orthodox, correct confession concerning Christ, 42 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 meaning what you say about Christ, 43 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000 what you say you believe about Christ is correct. 44 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:04,000 But it is your desires that will reveal who or what you truly worship. 45 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:11,000 In other words, what you long for reveals your God. 46 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,000 It reveals what you cherish. 47 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000 And everyone worships something, everyone, 48 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 because we have been created by a relational God 49 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,000 who created us as worshiping beings. 50 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Now there can be atheists and there are people who say they're atheists, 51 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,000 but they still worship. 52 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Now they do it unknowingly. 53 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 But think with me even of the gods of modernity, 54 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,000 the gods of our culture. 55 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Our culture cherishes, prizes, esteems independence, 56 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 self-expression in whatever form, 57 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 autonomy over the individual, 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 and of course pleasure at all costs. 59 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Our culture bows down at the altar of self and the altar of happiness. 60 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:03,000 They are absolutely obsessed with self-expression and personal fulfillment. 61 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000 That's what our culture prizes. 62 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 And people spend massive amounts of money to pursue those gods. 63 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,000 They spend massive amounts of money in entertainment and amusement. 64 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,000 And why are they doing that? 65 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Because they want to be happy. 66 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And so what they're doing, they're pursuing personal fulfillment 67 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,000 with no abandon, whatever it takes. 68 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000 However, this hedonistic pursuit of pleasure proves to be futile. 69 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Ironically, when one pursues happiness as the goal of your life, 70 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 you will find happiness to be elusive. 71 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,000 You seek happiness. 72 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,000 That's what you want. 73 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 You will not find it there. 74 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000 And the more you try to find happiness, 75 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 the more trouble you actually have in finding it. 76 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Why? 77 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Because just look at our culture. 78 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Sadly, what they are pursuing cannot offer the satisfaction 79 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 that they are really looking for. 80 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,000 It's very similar to a man who has a severe illness, 81 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000 and he has all kinds of symptoms, and he goes to the doctor 82 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 and all he wants is relief of the symptoms. 83 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Now, could a doctor do that? 84 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000 He could give him medicine, relieve his symptoms, 85 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 but if he doesn't treat the underlying cause, 86 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 that man is no better off. 87 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 In fact, he's worse. 88 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:14,000 How is he worse? 89 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,000 Well, let's say he gets immediate relief of his symptoms. 90 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,000 So the problem would seem to be better, 91 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,000 but the ailment, the illness is still there 92 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,000 and is actually growing worse. 93 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,000 So when someone pursues self-satisfaction, 94 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000 they pursue personal fulfillment, 95 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000 they may get some short-term relief. 96 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 All right? 97 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000 I mean, after all, the Bible says there is pleasure in sin 98 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 for a season. 99 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 There is a trade-off. 100 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 There's some pleasure that's given. 101 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,000 But that pleasure, that short-term relief, 102 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,000 causes them to become anesthetized to their real problem. 103 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,000 Well, they begin to think they're okay 104 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,000 because that longing is now temporarily satisfied, 105 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,000 but the problem that's underlying, 106 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 the real disease is still there, 107 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,000 and it's growing worse each day. 108 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000 And we don't have to spend a lot of time on this. 109 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,000 It is self-evident that a lot of people from all parts of the world, 110 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:10,000 they're looking for happiness. 111 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Where? 112 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 In our country, it's an epidemic of drugs. 113 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,000 I mean, drugs are everywhere. 114 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 It's ubiquitous. 115 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Alcohol, sex, relationships, beauty, entertainment, sports, 116 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,000 and try as they might, they're becoming increasingly unhappier. 117 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 I think the quintessential example of this would be Hollywood. 118 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:35,000 I mean, these people, they have beauty. 119 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000 They're beautiful people, and they're powerful, 120 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 and they have money, and they seek after pleasure. 121 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,000 They give themselves to it, 122 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 but there's no lasting satisfaction there. 123 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Drug abuse, overdose, divorce, suicide, 124 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 all of those are extremely prevalent there. 125 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,000 But the question this morning, what is causing all this unhappiness? 126 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,000 What's causing all this angst, if you will? 127 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:09,000 And my suggestion to you, it is there's a hyper-intense focus on self. 128 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:15,000 The problem with man, according to Jesus, is his heart. 129 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,000 And we're talking about heart, we're not talking about the organ. 130 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,000 The heart is the driving force of life. 131 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:26,000 So from the heart, we are told, all the issues of life come from that. 132 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Sinful man, born that way, has a sinful heart, 133 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,000 and that sinful heart produces sinful desires. 134 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,000 So here's the problem, is that man is naturally seeking after 135 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000 and desiring the wrong things. 136 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:49,000 They're looking for satisfaction, if you will, in all the wrong places. 137 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,000 It was St. Augustine who famously said, 138 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:58,000 our hearts are restless until they come to find their rest in thee. 139 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,000 There's a restlessness, there's an angst, and we feel it. 140 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 And we look around, we see it in the culture. 141 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,000 But you're saying, well, of course, lost people are looking for answers 142 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000 and satisfaction in all the wrong places. 143 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,000 Of course that's true, and it is, but God's people are not immune to this either. 144 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,000 You see it over and over in the Old Testament. 145 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,000 I think in Jeremiah's day, when Jeremiah wrote this, he said, 146 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,000 God's speaking through the prophet. 147 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 For my people, they committed two evils. 148 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 They have forsaken me, that's the greatest evil, the fountain of living waters, 149 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,000 and they've hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 150 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 Now consider how foolish this was of this nation. 151 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,000 They're thirsty, it's an arid desert climate. 152 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,000 They have a fountain of flowing water that's available to them. 153 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,000 That's what they would want. 154 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Yet they ignore it, and they go to some broken cistern 155 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,000 that is incapable of holding any water. 156 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:01,000 So the very thing that people needed and wanted was available to them. 157 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:02,000 But what's happening? 158 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 They're looking in the wrong place. 159 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 They had forsaken the fountain of living waters. 160 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,000 It's very much like a hungry man who keeps feeding on the trash heaps of the world 161 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,000 while he ignores an invitation to feast at the table of the king. 162 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 It's just foolishness here. 163 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,000 But we come to our text now in Matthew 5-6, 164 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 and Jesus tells us where lasting satisfaction is actually found. 165 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Everyone hungers, and everyone gets thirsty. 166 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000 But Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 167 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Now again, it's a seemingly odd benediction. 168 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,000 Jesus' blessing, he's pronouncing a blessing, and he says, 169 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000 happy, and that Greek word is merkadias. 170 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 It's favored by God. 171 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,000 The blessed man is happy because he's favored by God, 172 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,000 but who is this blessed, favored man? 173 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 The one who's hungry and thirsty. 174 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,000 But it's hungry and thirsty for righteousness. 175 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Now this is the fourth beatitude, and they naturally flow. 176 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Remember the first one is the poor in spirit. 177 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,000 The very first person Jesus said is blessed is the blessed or the poor in spirit. 178 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,000 That is the man or the woman who realizes they have no righteousness. 179 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,000 They are spiritually bankrupt. 180 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,000 And as they begin to grow in that understanding, that leads him to mourn. 181 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 Blessed are they who mourn. 182 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,000 It leads him to mourn and grieve over the sinful condition. 183 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 I am not righteous. I cannot make myself righteous. 184 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,000 And they mourn. 185 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,000 And then that humbles them. 186 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,000 I can't fix the problem. 187 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 And that's the meek. 188 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,000 And there's a disposition of meekness that is formed. 189 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:46,000 And the meek, they become humble, and they take this lowly place before God. 190 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:52,000 And having been changed by God, new appetites begin to form. 191 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,000 They begin to be hungry and thirsty again, but not for food and drink, 192 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,000 rather for righteousness. 193 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Now the question that's really important is what is this righteousness that Jesus is blessing? 194 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,000 Now some will say, well clearly it's the imputed righteousness of Christ 195 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,000 given to the sinner in salvation. 196 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,000 Now that's a true statement, but that doesn't fit the context. 197 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,000 We have to be careful. That's not used in Matthew's Gospel that way at all. 198 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,000 So the word for righteousness in Greek, it's dikaiosune. 199 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Dikaiosune. 200 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,000 It is often used with the concept of justice. 201 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,000 You could even maybe use the word equity there if you wanted. 202 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 So how this term is used in Matthew's Gospel, 203 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:44,000 it's used to describe living in a right relationship with God and other people. 204 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Acting justly, acting honestly, acting faithfully according to God's instructions. 205 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,000 That's the definition of righteousness here. 206 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,000 So there's twofold, and I want to look at both of these briefly. 207 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,000 The first one would be justice. 208 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:03,000 We could even refer to social justice, but I don't like that term. 209 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,000 So here's what this means. 210 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:09,000 God's people, you and I, we live in an unjust world. 211 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,000 The strong, the powerful, they run roughshod over the poor and the weak. 212 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,000 I mean, there's so much injustice in our world, and we don't have to look far to find it. 213 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,000 Those who should be caring for the poor and the marginalized, 214 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,000 they exploit them for their own advantage. 215 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Our leaders, both political, civic, and sometimes religious, 216 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,000 they are often bought off, bribed by special interest groups or lobbyists, 217 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,000 interested in only patting their own pockets. 218 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,000 So in our day today, it seems like the wicked seem to prosper, 219 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,000 and yet they defiantly live in rebellion to God and to his law. 220 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 But not the righteous. 221 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:54,000 The righteous that Jesus is speaking of long for the day when this will be no more. 222 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,000 We long for the day when the wicked will be removed and God's kingdom will come in its fullness, 223 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,000 and we no longer live in an unjust land. 224 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:08,000 We long for that day when righteousness covers the earth, as the Old Testament says. 225 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000 So yeah, we long to be righteous personally, but we long for justice everywhere. 226 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:20,000 We long for just laws and just people when the wrong will be made right. 227 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,000 But what's the meek doing? 228 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,000 The meek is crying out. They're suffering in this age. 229 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Often they're righteous, often those who do good, often those who are named by Christ suffer in this age, 230 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:38,000 and they're crying out for justice, for righteousness. 231 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:43,000 And God will answer their prayer in Luke chapter 18, Jesus speaking. 232 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:50,000 And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? 233 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,000 You have these elect, you have these people of God, they're crying out because of all the injustice, 234 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000 and it says God is bearing long, he's being very patient with them. 235 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 He says, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. 236 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,000 When the day of judgment comes, it comes quickly. 237 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,000 It falls like a hammer. 238 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 And Jesus said, blessed are those who are hungry right now and thirsty for righteousness. 239 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,000 It's a longing for the kingdom to come, and that's what we pray as the saints. 240 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 We pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 241 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:24,000 And Jesus said, by the way, you're going to be fulfilled. 242 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,000 You're going to feed, you may be hungry right now, you may be thirsty right now, 243 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,000 but there's a feast coming in the age to come, and you're going to partake of it. 244 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,000 That's the first way. It's a social aspect. 245 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Secondly, there's a personal aspect. 246 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:45,000 It's a personal righteousness, not only for justice in the earth, but you want to be righteous yourself. 247 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,000 If you know Christ this morning, you long to be obedient to God. 248 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000 That doesn't mean you always are. Of course you're not. 249 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000 That's why we have a confession of sin each Lourdes Day. 250 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,000 We long, though, for right actions and right thoughts before God. 251 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,000 We long for the day when we will be free of sin. 252 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,000 We hate it. We hate the struggle. 253 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,000 So those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, 254 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:15,000 it's a hunger and a thirst to be made more and more like Christ. 255 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 Now this is not the self-righteousness. 256 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,000 So many people criticize the church for hypocrites. 257 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Listen, the Pharisees of Jesus' day were hypocrites. 258 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 They were self-righteous, and we loathe that. 259 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000 We disdain that. 260 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,000 But we do long for inward righteousness. 261 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,000 We do long for inward obedience to God. 262 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,000 That great British preacher, Martin Lloyd-Jones, wrote this. 263 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:42,000 He said, I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself 264 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,000 or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession 265 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 than a verse like this. 266 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements 267 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:55,000 of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian. 268 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:00,000 If it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again. 269 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,000 What he's saying there, if you don't have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness, 270 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:07,000 you might want to check and say, do you know the righteous Lord? 271 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:12,000 See, the character of the Christian is that he longs for holiness. 272 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000 He desires it. 273 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000 There's an intense desire to be like Christ. 274 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000 The Holy Spirit has taken up residence within you, 275 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,000 and you want to be conformed to the image of your Lord. 276 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,000 But you say, but pastor, I still wrestle with sin. 277 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,000 Yeah, welcome to the club. So do I. 278 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,000 We wrestle. We battle against the flesh. 279 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:37,000 We feel the flesh in its pull toward unrighteousness. 280 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 Let's be honest, sometimes we lose the temptation. 281 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Sometimes we get unjustly angry or wickedly impatient. 282 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,000 But the constant desires of the Lord free me from that. 283 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 I want to be more like your son. 284 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,000 That's why in Romans 7 you and I can identify, 285 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,000 we cry out with the apostle Paul what he wrote at the end of that chapter, 286 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:04,000 oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? 287 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,000 And then he answers his own question, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. 288 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:14,000 We long to be like Christ. We're not there though. 289 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,000 But let me say this, part of the problem that many Christians have no spiritual appetite 290 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,000 is because you are full of other things. 291 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:29,000 Schedules, and I see this and I really lament and mourn for this. 292 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Schedules of Christian families are so packed, 293 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,000 there is little room to cultivate a relationship with Christ. 294 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,000 You will not and cannot hurry holiness. 295 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:44,000 Far too many Christians have no margin in their lives at all. 296 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 Everyone's life is spent on the go today. 297 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,000 But wisdom, you can't hurry up wisdom. 298 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:56,000 You cannot pursue wisdom and holiness and growth and grace when every spare moment of your life is spent on a ball field. 299 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,000 It just can't happen. 300 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:06,000 That not only hurts your family, and it does, but it greatly hinders your walk with Christ. 301 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:12,000 So longing for righteousness, it's a longing for what God wants, to seek first his kingdom, his righteousness. 302 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,000 Let me ask you a few questions and just answer these privately here. 303 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000 Do you and your family, do you have time to linger at a dinner table as a family? 304 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,000 Just to linger, to enjoy each other. 305 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Do you have time to read the Bible or at least sing a hymn as a family? 306 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000 Do you have time to catechize or educate your children in the faith? 307 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:40,000 Or you're like, well pastor, this is not the season, those things just seem impossible, we're just too busy. 308 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:46,000 Too busy is a detriment to the hunger and thirst that our Lord pronounces a blessing upon. 309 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,000 We're too full of other things. 310 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:56,000 You cannot fill up your lives with insignificant things and still expect a hunger and thirst for righteousness. 311 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Now this doesn't mean, I'm not living sinfully, I'm not saying you are. 312 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,000 You can have your life full of other things. 313 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,000 They're not sinful, but they're not important. 314 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,000 I think we need to go back and take what Jesus said seriously in Mark 4. 315 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Listen to the words of our Lord. 316 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,000 This is so very important. 317 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Now these are the ones, he's talking about the seed that's sown and it says at the end, it says, 318 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,000 they spring up, but the cares of this world, let me just read the verse. 319 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,000 These are the ones sown among the thorns. 320 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,000 They are the ones who hear the word, so they hear the word, they're not antagonistic toward it. 321 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:34,000 And the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, some are pursuing riches. 322 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:41,000 But look at that last phrase, and the desires for other things entering in, what's it do? 323 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:47,000 It chokes the word, suffocates it, so that it produces no fruit. 324 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,000 It becomes unfruitful. 325 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000 So these people, Jesus, he's not saying, these are not the antagonistic ones. 326 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000 They're not the ones who hate Christ or his gospel. 327 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000 They hear it, oh, it's okay, it's good, I assent to that. 328 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,000 But it's not the priority for them because they desire other things. 329 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:07,000 And that's what I want you to look at, that desire for other things, what does that do? 330 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,000 It chokes out the word of God. 331 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:16,000 And Jesus would say, if you have ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. 332 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:21,000 Friends, you must, if you are going to hunger and thirst, you must develop an appetite 333 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:26,000 by making Lord's Day worship the priority for you and your family. 334 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000 The priority. 335 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,000 If you're going to seek first, it has to be the priority. 336 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000 God's not going to bargain with you. 337 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000 You don't sit at the table and say, well, how about this? 338 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,000 No. 339 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000 I love what Joel Beeke said. 340 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:44,000 He said, we need the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, so that the weeds of worldly cares and concerns 341 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,000 do not choke the word and smother the hope that is ours in Christ. 342 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000 Friends, you live in enemy territory, hostile. 343 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,000 You need to have a wartime mentality. 344 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,000 And this has got to be the priority or else you don't really believe the word. 345 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,000 You're thinking, smooth sailing, right? 346 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:01,000 Jesus is my homeboy. 347 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000 We're good. 348 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,000 No, you're not. 349 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,000 We need to live our lives in light of eternity every day. 350 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000 Martin Luther, that famous reformer, he said, there are two days written on my calendar. 351 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,000 This day meaning today and that day meaning judgment day. 352 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,000 This day and that day. 353 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,000 That's it. 354 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,000 So what did he mean? 355 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:26,000 He meant we should all live in the light now of how God will judge our choices then. 356 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,000 Do you stop and think about that? 357 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:36,000 William Law, he was an 18th century British theologian, he said, if you attempt to talk 358 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:42,000 with a dying man about sports or business, he's not interested. 359 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,000 He now sees other things as more important. 360 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:51,000 People who are dying recognize what we often forget, that we are standing on the brink of 361 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,000 another world. 362 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000 I can't help and bringing it to you this morning, my good friend Scott Bowling that went to 363 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,000 be at the award several years ago now, he and I had several private conversations and 364 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,000 he said, Ryan, I wish he was dying. 365 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:09,000 He said, I wish, I wish, I wish that people could see life the way I see it now. 366 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:13,000 Death has a way of clarifying priorities. 367 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:14,000 That's him. 368 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,000 He's a dying man. 369 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000 That's what he told me. 370 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 There's a medical doctor named Dr. Richard Swenson and Zach Herberlin recommended this 371 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,000 book and I recommend it to you. 372 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,000 It's A Minute of Margin, Restoring Balance to Busy Lives. 373 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:33,000 So he wrote a reflection of those who were in the World Trade Center on that fateful 374 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000 day, September 11, 2001. 375 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000 Let me just read this. 376 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000 He said, when you have 10 minutes to live, what are your thoughts? 377 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,000 What is important in the last seconds? 378 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:49,000 As a tribute to those nameless faces staring down at us from the smoky inferno, he said, 379 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000 can we stop what we are doing long enough to listen to them? 380 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,000 Seeing death from this perspective is not morbid, rather it helps us to see life. 381 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Those on that day who found phones, they didn't call their stockbrokers to check the latest 382 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,000 ticker, nor their hairstylists to cancel the afternoon's appointment. 383 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,000 They didn't call their insurance agents to check coverage levels. 384 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,000 They called spouses to say, I love you, one last time. 385 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:18,000 They called children to say, you are precious, one last time. 386 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000 They called their parents to say, thank you, one last time. 387 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,000 Through tears, they made phone calls to best friends and neighbors and pastors and priests 388 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:31,000 and rabbis, I just want you to know what you mean to me. 389 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:38,000 And surely, those standing on the brink of another world thought of God, thought of truth 390 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:44,000 and eternity, judgment and redemption, grace and the gospel. 391 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:50,000 Even at death has a commanding power to straighten life's priorities with a jolt. 392 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:56,000 At such dramatic moments, people suddenly realize priorities matter. 393 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:05,000 If that were you on the 103rd floor on that day, what would have been your priorities? 394 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,000 Now, live like that today. 395 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000 Live like that today. 396 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:17,000 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, both social and personal. 397 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,000 But if you're not hungering and you're not thirsting, well, when you have no appetite, 398 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,000 it's a sign of sickness. 399 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,000 If you're physically ill and someone offers you a pizza, you have no appetite for it. 400 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:33,000 You don't want a big Coke and you don't want a bag of chips, you're sick, your appetite's gone. 401 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:38,000 And far too many have lost their spiritual appetite because they're sick. 402 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000 In our culture, we don't know much about hungering and thirsting. 403 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,000 Why? 404 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,000 We have overflowing cupboards and we have overflowing refrigerators. 405 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000 But not at the time which Jesus spoke. 406 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,000 It was very different. 407 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,000 People were often hungry. 408 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,000 Some starved to death. 409 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:52,000 Wages were low. 410 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000 The people couldn't afford to buy food and they couldn't work. 411 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,000 They lived in a desert climate. 412 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000 Sun is scorching. 413 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,000 Windstorms were frequent. 414 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000 So thirst was always with them. 415 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,000 They were always thirsty. 416 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,000 Jesus is speaking to that crowd. 417 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,000 And he said the words here, when he's using these words of hungering and thirsting, 418 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,000 he's not talking about like you and I. 419 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,000 He's talking about people who are starving to death. 420 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000 You're parched. 421 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,000 You desperately need water. 422 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,000 And he says, hey, you're blessed. 423 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,000 I'll fill you up. 424 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:26,000 You'll be filled. 425 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,000 To us, when we say hunger, it means a time between breakfast and lunch. 426 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000 I mean, probably rarely any of us have time to get hungry. 427 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:37,000 But we've never known starvation hunger. Maybe someone has that I'm unaware of. 428 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:42,000 But Jesus said if you have an intense, an intense laser-like desire for righteousness, 429 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,000 man, you are blessed of the Lord because you're going to be filled. 430 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:51,000 And that word filled, it's a Greek word, hortazzo, and it literally means you're going to be gorged. 431 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000 It was used in the farming industry for feeding animals. 432 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000 They could stay at the trough until they wanted nothing more. 433 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,000 You could stay there all day until you're completely satisfied. 434 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,000 So this person with this intense desire for righteousness, 435 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:10,000 we will be filled to overflowing in the age to come. 436 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,000 He's not just promising a meal, folks. 437 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:21,000 He's promising a feast, a feast that you can partake of until your heart is content. 438 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,000 God's people may hunger now, but they will feast later. 439 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,000 And we need to keep in mind God is not stingy with his rewards. 440 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,000 These verbs are in the present tense, meaning it's continual hunger and thirst. 441 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,000 This is not a one-time event, one and done. No. 442 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,000 It's not you eat one meal and you're full forever. 443 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,000 We come to Jesus. Who is it? He's the bread of life. 444 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,000 And he satisfies our hunger. And he's the water of life. 445 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,000 And he satisfies our thirst. But after you know him, you know what you want to do? 446 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,000 You meet Jesus. You want to know him better. 447 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,000 You keep wanting to, you long for more of him, more holiness in our lives. 448 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,000 Phil Newton, I think that quote is up there, guys, if you can find it on the slides. 449 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:09,000 Phil Newton said this, what you hunger for reveals the character of your heart. 450 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000 You can mask your outward performance. 451 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:17,000 You can churn out Christian lingo and put on a happy face, but you know what you really desire. 452 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000 Multitudes flock into churches each week with Christian masks 453 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:27,000 that hide the reality that their appetite is not for Jesus Christ, but for the things of the world. 454 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:33,000 But Jesus tells us that only those who have the spiritual appetite to hunger and thirst for righteousness 455 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:38,000 will find satisfaction. So many people are miserable today. 456 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:43,000 They're pining, they're longing, they're hungering, they're thirsting, but all for the wrong thing. 457 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,000 They keep going to the broken cisterns that can hold no water. 458 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:54,000 But notice the promise again. If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, there's fulfillment. 459 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,000 You will be satisfied. But how can you tell? How do you know? 460 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,000 I don't know if I'm hungering and thirsting. We're starting to close here. 461 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,000 Bruce Hurt in his commentary gives three ways. He said, one, 462 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000 there's an increasing desire to know and obey the word of God. 463 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000 Psalm 42, Tim Moot's favorite song. 464 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:19,000 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. 465 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:25,000 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? 466 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:30,000 Can you read that with conviction? My soul thirsts for you? 467 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:36,000 Spurgeon says, like a deer that has been hunted in the chase and is hard pressed and therefore pants for breath, 468 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:41,000 so did the psalmist pant for the entrance of God's word into his soul. 469 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:47,000 Nothing else could content him. All that the world could yield him left him still panting with an open mouth. 470 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:54,000 Amen. Number two, there is an increasing love of the things that God loves and a hatred of the things that God hates. 471 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:59,000 To know God is to love God and it's also to hate the things that God hates. 472 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:07,000 Number three, there is a growing longing to do God's will. 473 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:13,000 As I started, I said, what you hunger for shows your heart. 474 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:19,000 Those who have a hunger for righteousness, Jesus said you'll find satisfaction, you'll be filled. 475 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:26,000 And what is he referring to? Inward satisfaction, contentment. 476 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:33,000 Isn't that what we all want? Inner contentment, inner satisfaction. 477 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,000 When was the last time you could say your soul was really content? 478 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:44,000 And again, I want to quote Martyn Lloyd-Jones because he's so worth quoting. Are we filled? 479 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,000 Have we got this satisfaction? Are we aware of this dealing of God with us? 480 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000 Is the fruit of the Spirit being manifest in our lives? Are we concerned about that? 481 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,000 Are we experiencing love to God and to other people, joy and peace? 482 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:03,000 Are we manifesting long-suffering, goodness and gentleness and meekness and faith and temperance? 483 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:09,000 They that do hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. They are filled and they are being filled. 484 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:15,000 Do we know that we have received the life of God? Are we enjoying the life of God in our souls? 485 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,000 For if we do hunger and thirst, we shall be filled. There is no qualification at all. 486 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,000 It's an absolute statement. It's an absolute promise. 487 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Friends, listen. A feast is promised to you. 488 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:36,000 But there is one prerequisite to enter into this feast. You come hungering and thirsting. 489 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:46,000 I love the way Isaiah in his preaching gave this wonderful gospel invitation. 490 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:53,000 Isaiah 55, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. 491 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:59,000 And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Now he knows what you're thinking. You have no money. 492 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,000 Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 493 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? 494 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:17,000 Listen carefully to me. Eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 495 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:25,000 Incline your ear and come to me. Here and your soul shall live. 496 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:30,000 And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. 497 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:38,000 God giving this wonderful invitation, he said, listen, satisfaction is found in me. Come to me. 498 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,000 And there's two closing considerations here. 499 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:49,000 Number one, unless you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you'll never have it. 500 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:56,000 Listen carefully. God does not give his blessings to those who do not desire them. They're too precious. 501 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:02,000 He's not going to cast his pearls before swine. So what are you desiring? 502 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,000 So I would say this. There's my pastoral exhortation to the people gathered this morning. 503 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:15,000 Beg God. Beg him to give you a hunger and thirst for his righteousness that will only be satisfied by him. 504 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,000 God make me hungry, make me thirsty for you. 505 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Secondly, if you don't thirst now, you will thirst later. It'll be too late. 506 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,000 David in Psalm 42, he said he thirsted for God. He had this intense desire for God and the things of God. 507 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:38,000 And he found satisfaction. But there was a rich man. Compare him in Luke 16. 508 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,000 There was a rich man and he had all that his soul desired here. 509 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:48,000 He was a very rich man, a very wealthy man. And yet he was content to leave God in the periphery of his life. 510 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:54,000 Not an atheist, but he lived in luxury. He had no need. He had abundance on this earth. 511 00:32:54,000 --> 00:33:02,000 But he died and being in the flames of hell's torment. And he said, I thirst. 512 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:10,000 But it was too late. Happy, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 513 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,000 For they are the ones who are going to be satisfied. 514 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:21,000 I would say this to everyone here. A fountain of living waters is offered to you. 515 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:27,000 And I beg of you, don't turn to those broken cisterns that can't hold any water. 516 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,000 If you're hungry today and you're thirsty and you're a sinner, come to Christ. 517 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000 You will find true, and I mean lasting satisfaction. 518 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,000 Hear the words of Jesus, the risen Son of God. 519 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:44,000 I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. 520 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,000 And whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 521 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,000 Do you believe that? Come and take him at his word. 522 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:58,000 Let's prepare our heart to commune with this gracious God who's given us everything. 523 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:05,000 Everything in his Son. Let us remember and commune with our great and risen Lord. 524 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,000 Father, help us this morning, I pray, as we enter in this time of communion. 525 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,000 Lord, prepare our hearts for it. We pray in Jesus' blessed name. Amen. 526 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:21,000 Deacons, if you would come. 527 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:28,000 And then after communion, I'm normal or civil.