Hearing from the Master
Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
Matthew 5:6; 17-20; 33-37; 7:15-23; Hebrews 1:9
Turn to Matthew 5.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6 (LSB)
As we consider this fourth Beatitude, the promise hits close to home: satisfaction. I mean, if we were looking for a word that would appeal to our culture today as humans, it would be the word “satisfied.” We, in our Christian circles, can tend to think of the word “satisfaction” as somewhat negative, for we often picture the goal of being satisfied as someone who overeats, overindulges, overspends, delves into sin, trying to be satisfied with everything the world offers. We live in a world today where sports guys get paid ridiculous amounts of money. The highest-paid athlete in 2026 was Cristiano Ronaldo, a soccer player, who made $300 million this year. That’s $5.7 million per week, while the average person in the world who works full-time makes $346 per week. So, if you want to make the big bucks, young people, you need to get into soccer. Don’t get into basketball, as LeBron James only makes $137 million per year. Or don’t get into baseball, as Shohei Ohtani only makes $127 million per year. Or don’t get into football, as Patrick Mahomes only makes $64 million per year. And especially don’t get into hockey, as Macklin Celebrini will only make $18.8 million next year. Great big bucks. Hard to even comprehend the difference between $300 million per year and $18 million per year.
Even back in the fifties, it was reported that Elvis Presley grossed $100M in his first two years of stardom. He had three jets, two Cadillacs, a Rolls-Royce, a Lincoln Continental, a Buick station wagon, a Chrysler station wagon (Chrysler – glad he had some good taste), a Jeep, a dune buggy, a converted bus, and three motorcycles. Apparently, his favourite car was his 1960 Cadillac limousine, which he had sprayed with forty coats of paint mixed with crushed diamonds and fish shells, and inside the car were two gold-plated telephones, a gold-plated TV, a refrigerator, and get this, air conditioning.
And my intent is not to be hard on Elvis this morning, but we would all agree that money and things likely did not satisfy Elvis, though at the time, he likely thought they would. And at the present, we can be tempted to believe the same thing, a longing for riches of the world. But here Jesus is speaking of a hungering and thirsting for righteousness to be satisfied, and hungering and satisfaction are sort of a strange thing. I mean, it is a good feeling when you are really hungry, and there is something really good to eat. But even when you are hungry, you sort of wish you could eat and eat pizza and never get full. But the strange thing about this promise is that the hunger for righteousness—or we could say, hungering for righteousness—continues on and on, but there is satisfaction. Kent Hughes wrote that the Christian can never get enough of God in the sense that he is always hungering for God and God’s righteousness. And in that sense we should never be really satisfied. He wrote:
“If you have no longing for righteousness, you had better initiate a careful analysis of your soul.”
- Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom 44
And the question for us this morning is: do we truly hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness? Some of the Allies in WWI experienced a time when they did not have water for four days, imagine that! They came to a place in Palestine where they found a cistern with fresh water, and it took four hours for each of the men to get a drink. Not sure if anyone here has ever experienced that kind of thirst. A Major Gilbert wrote:
“I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on the march from Beersheba to Sheriah Wells. If such were our thirst for God, for righteousness and for His will in our lives, a consuming, all-embracing, preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruit of the Spirit would we be?”
- M. Blaiklock, “Water,” Eternity 27
And this is what Christ is describing here. He is speaking of the Christ-follower who cannot get along without God’s righteousness, or we could say, cannot get enough of God’s righteousness. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:
“I do not know if a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian; if it is not, then you better examine the foundations again.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount 74
Righteousness, as D. A. Carson describes it, is a pattern of life in conformity to the will of God. Therefore, this person is hungering after God’s will. Carson wrote:
“His delight is the Word of God, for where else is God’s will, to which he hungers to be conformed, so clearly set forth? He wants to be righteous not simply because he fears God, but because righteousness has become for him the most eminently desirable thing in the world.”
- A. Carson, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World 28
And the more we know about God in all His attributes and character, the more attractive this goal of righteousness becomes. John MacArthur notes that Lucifer hungered for power, Nebuchadnezzar hungered for praise, and the rich fool hungered for pleasure—but the believer is to hunger and thirst after righteousness. The American Declaration of Independence says that all men have the right to the pursuit of happiness, yet the only way to happiness is the way of true spiritual hunger and thirst. And I believe we understand the language here: that this is more than a casual hunger or a casual thirst. This is not speaking of the one who starts a Bible study and quits or someone who begins a morning devotion and after a while tires of it. No, this is as John Darby writes, that this is the picture of the prodigal who is so hungry, he comes home to the father, as realizes he has nowhere else to turn or go. Do you recognize that our only source of satisfaction is with God and His will and desire for you? Sure, pizza tastes really good when you are hungry, no question. Music is even wonderful, but it is not lasting. Roses are beautiful, but they eventually fade. And I believe that we need to realize that the satisfaction cannot come from us, that our own shortcomings in goodness should drive us to God. Puritan Thomas Watson wrote this about the Christian:
“No matter how rich his spiritual experience or how advanced his spiritual maturity, the hungering Christian will always say, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of death?’ (Rom 7:24)”
Thomas Watson
MacArthur gives these marks of genuine hunger; he said it’s a dissatisfaction with self; a freedom from dependence on external things; a craving for the Word of God; a pleasantness and delight in the things of God; and an acceptance of God’s righteousness even when it may seem so demanding (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1—7 184-85). Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:
“Now the whole world is seeking for happiness; there is no question about that. Everybody wants to be happy. That is the great motive behind every act and ambition, behind all work and all striving and effort. Everything is designed for happiness … [Yet] we are not to hunger and thirst after blessedness; we are not to hunger and thirst after happiness. But that is what most people are doing. We put happiness and blessedness as the one thing that we desire, and thus we always miss it; it always eludes us. According to the Scriptures happiness is something that should never be sought directly; it is always something that results from seeking something else … Whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies on the Sermon on the Mount 63
So, what is the prayer of the Christian? Lord, I long for You to satisfy me! Lord, grant me a desire to be free from the power of sin. Lord, set me free from self and my selfish desires. Lord, give me a new longing to be holy. And Lord, grant to me a desire to be like Christ and His righteousness. See, a desire for Christ results in blessedness. Great to be blessed, but it only comes through the channel of Christ. Understand our neighbour; he too desires to be good. The guy you work with likely desires to have a good marriage and a nice family. Your classmate beside you likely hopes to graduate and to work hard and enjoy his or her career. He or she is not looking to be unhappy. But the difference that we are studying this morning is that this is more than being respected or being decent in society. This is more than trying to meet my own righteous expectations. No, this is a righteousness that is striving to be like Christ. Lloyd-Jones gives a checklist of things to consider in this pursuit (and I have included this list in your notes).
- Do we see through our own false righteousness?
In other words, do I realize that my own conscience is not perfect? That my views of spiritual matters are flawed. That my understanding of right and wrong is not inerrant outside of the Bible, and that my feelings do not always reveal to me what is true and right. Do we see through our own false righteousness?
- Do we have a deep awareness of our need of deliverance?
Knowing that righteousness must come from outside of me. And this is true on two accounts. One, the righteousness required for salvation cannot be mine; it must be given to me by Christ. But secondly, righteousness must be revealed to me from God; otherwise, I become the judge. Yet I am not the judge. God is. And so, for me to know righteousness and for me to know how to live in this life, I need to be delivered from my own selfishness and my own views and fully desire to become like Christ. In fact, if I have a desire to live even like Daniel or Paul, let alone Christ, there is so much of self that must go. Which leads to the next question:
- Do we avoid everything that is opposed to such righteousness?
Understanding that this question could lead us down a legalistic path, where we start to make rules for ourselves and then we make rules for others. This is part of my old upbringing in church: I don’t smoke, drink, or chew, or run with folks who do. But here is the deeper question as a believer: do I truly desire the righteousness of God, and therefore are there things and pursuits in life that do not contribute an ounce toward this goal? As many of our choices actually deter us greatly from this pursuit. Therefore, I must avoid everything that opposes the righteousness of Jesus Christ or everything that keeps me from that goal. Which leads to Lloyd-Jones’ next question:
- Do we avoid things that take an edge off our spiritual appetite?
Physically, we might say eating things between meals. I mean, there is nothing worse than having a great meal that we can smell and wait for, only to have it spoiled by eating something before supper. One of my favourite times when camping is having burgers over the fire. Now when you are camping, you tend not to have a whole lot of things to snack on in the first place. And you have been down at the beach all day, or you have been on a long trail or walk. And you get back to the campsite, and you get ready to make supper, and you are going to have burgers over the fire. Well, it takes you a while to get a good fire going, so you wait. And then you have to wait again to get a lot of good red coals without much flame so that those coals become really hot, so you wait again. And then you put those burgers on the grill, and you wait some more. And likely an hour later, those burgers are ready. Man, they taste a lot better than just having a bag of chips before dinner or throwing something in the microwave.
It may make us wonder about the times when we feel sluggish physically when we fill ourselves with snack food and sugar like paczkis or Pop-Tarts. And we experience the same spiritual sluggishness when we fill ourselves with things that are trivial and even sinful, with no real spiritual benefit. Augustine said that “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” Imagine if we hungered for righteousness and were only allowed to be filled by that hunger. So, do we avoid things that take an edge off our spiritual growth? Time wasters, questionable habits, lack of ministry, that greatly or even subtly keep us from a great hunger for God. Lloyd-Jones’ next point is an interesting one; he asks:
- Do we remind ourselves of this righteousness actively?
This is where the discipline comes in for the believer, where they discipline themselves to do for Christ what they must, as ultimately, we do well in making time for that which is the most desirous. And if we consider the metaphor of thirsting and hungering after righteousness, obvious when we are hungry, we make the time. Lloyd-Jones said this:
“There is an active element in them. People who really want something always give some evidence of that fact. People who really desire something with the whole of their being do not sit down, passively waiting for it to come.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies on the Sermon on the Mount 76
And when we consider the Beatitudes preceding this one, the first was blessed are the poor in spirit; then blessed are they that mourn; and last week blessed are the meek—they are far less driven and more attitudinal. Whereas blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness conveys great energy and effort as something that becomes a driving purpose in one’s life. A purpose that promises to bring satisfaction. David P. Bruce wrote:
“If you were to ask me what is the most valuable possession a human being could have, I would say, without hesitation, that it is a deep sense of purpose.”
David P. Bruce, Serving a Higher Purpose: Theosophy for a Meaningful Life 6
This satisfaction is the Greek word chortazō, which is translated as “filled or fully or completely satisfied.” The blessing is really the desire of all men and women, including unbelievers, but few find the source for the longing of their hunger and thirst. Again, we find in these beatitudes such an upside-down message: if we asked on the street what would bring you the most satisfaction? That answer would never be hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of Christ. Jason Lehman wrote this poem:
“It was spring, but it was summer I wanted, the warm days, and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall I wanted, the colourful leaves, and the cool, dry air. It was fall, but it was winter I wanted, the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season. It was winter, but it was spring I wanted, the warmth, and the blossoming of nature. I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted, the freedom, and the respect. I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted, to be mature and sophisticated. I was middle-aged, but it was [now again] 20 I wanted, the youth, and the free spirit. I was retired, but it was middle age I wanted, the presence of mind, without limitations. My life was over. But I never got what I wanted.”
Jason Lehman
The promise of this Beatitude is something that everyone desires, but few will ever find the way in which to find it. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is interesting that the Apostle Paul spoke about being content. He wrote:
“Not that I speak from want, for I learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance; in any and all things I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13 (LSB)
Yet there is value in never being spiritually full, as we should always desire more of God. Steve Fry wrote these song lyrics regarding his relationship with God: “Oh, I want to know You more, Deep within my soul, I want to know You, Oh I want to know You, To feel Your heart, And know Your mind.”
Now, as we have been doing in this series, I wish to look further into the Sermon on the Mount and see where Jesus points to some specific teaching on righteousness. And the passages are difficult, and I cannot spend a great deal of time on them. But I do wish to make sure that we are clear on what Jesus is teaching. So, there are three passages I wish to address.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:17-19 (LSB)
That statement by Jesus, that He came to fulfil the Law, is paramount. For this is exactly what Jesus had to do, and this is exactly what Jesus did. For Jesus fulfilled every letter of the Law. In other words, there was nothing in the Law that Jesus did not do, and there was nothing in the Law that Jesus disobeyed, as He fulfilled it perfectly. And that statement that the Law is to be upheld and taught is also paramount, for as we have been learning in our study of Romans, the Law has a very specific purpose that has never changed. True, we are not saved by keeping the Law, as we could never keep it, but its purpose of condemning always exists. Therefore, as soon as you eliminate the Law, you eliminate the condemnation of God towards the Law-breaker. Paul wrote:
“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:19-20 (LSB)
Therefore, if you eliminate the Law, you eliminate the knowledge of sin and our accountability before God. And then Jesus says this:
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:20 (LSB)
And I want to warn you here that when we read a verse like this or even when we have a study like this morning, speaking of the pursuit of righteousness, we might start to believe that our righteousness will bring us salvation. This is not what Jesus is teaching here. Righteousness is a gift given to the one justified by faith; Paul taught that through Adam death reigned, but through Christ we received the gift of righteousness. He also wrote, “not having a righteousness of my own which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith.” So, these truths must always be clear to us as believers. The pursuit of Christ’s righteousness is not to gain salvation, but it is a result of salvation. Let me say that again, nicely this time! The pursuit of Christ’s righteousness is not to gain salvation, but it is a result of salvation. Because at salvation, we are given two things by God so that we can become perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. And we must become perfect, or we will not qualify for salvation.
- Forgiveness from God
We need to know from the Bible that when we believe by faith, we are completely forgiven by God. All our sin, past, present, and future. When Jesus died on the cross, Jesus paid for every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe. And the punishment that Jesus literally received from the Father was due to the sin of those who would believe in Him. So, Jesus literally paid the punishment for your sin if you believe in Him by faith in a miraculous way. All the sins of all those who would believe that Christ took upon Himself for those three hours on the cross, the eternal punishment that we would have experienced collectively as all believers throughout history. That should teach of the agony, absolute agony of Christ on the cross and the reason that Jesus cried, “Father, why have You forsaken Me?” And this forgiveness by God is necessary for us to be perfect, for how could you ever become perfect if you have never been forgiven for all the wrongs that you have done? But if you believe by faith, you are forgiven in Christ. Forgiveness by God. Secondly:
- Righteousness from Christ
When we believe by faith in Jesus, we receive from Him His righteousness, as our righteousness is not good enough to save us. It is described as filthy rags. So, when we stand before God in eternity someday and He asks us why we would be worthy to enter His kingdom, the answer will not be our goodness, but that we have received and are clothed in the beautiful righteousness of Jesus Christ. And this explains Jesus’ comment in Matthew 5:20.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:20 (LSB)
How could the scribes and Pharisees have sufficient righteousness to enter heaven? They never can. Why? They rejected Christ. Therefore, their sins are not forgiven, and secondly, they do not possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But if you do believe, your righteousness massively surpasses the scribes and Pharisees, for you have been forgiven and you possess Christ’s righteousness. In other words, the Christian who truly believes: his righteousness blows away any kind of human attempt at righteousness. But thirdly, we need to add not only forgiveness from God and righteousness from Christ, but:
- Obedience to Christ through the Work of the Spirit
This, then, becomes the goal of every true believer after salvation. See, to say, I believe, but not strive to obey, is not real faith. Because the person who comes to faith in Christ has determined to follow Christ and has realized that Christ is Lord and therefore, he must obey Him. Not for His salvation, but because by faith he is a Christ-follower. Forgiveness and righteousness are given to us, whereas obedience is our response. But it too is a gift, as it is motivated by the work of the Spirit. (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit will teach you all things. (Rom 8:26) The Holy Spirit helps in our weakness. He intercedes in our groanings. (Acts 1:8) The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Forgiveness from God; righteousness from Christ; and obedience through the Spirit. Next passage:
15“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16“You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?
17“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20 (LSB)
Here is the assumption that the true believer will bear good fruit, for this is his heart’s desire; this is his hunger and thirst.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Matthew 7:21 (LSB)
The one who will enter is the one who does the will of God. The will of God is that we would believe by faith. Jesus said:
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”
John 6:40a (LSB)
22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:22-23 (LSB)
The cry of many in eternity will be, “Didn’t we do?” In other words, their works. Yet the cry of the true Christian will be the perfection of Christ. The last passage I wish to look at from the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5:33-37:
“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of the evil one.”
Matthew 5:33-37 (LSB)
There is certainly much here to consider, as I could have easily preached a sermon on just these five verses. But what we are struck with here is the desire of the Christian for righteousness, and that righteousness is shown by the fruit of honesty. What a prayer for us to desire not only honesty in words, but honesty of the heart, for that is where is begins. If in our hearts, we do not have a sincere desire for Christ to be glorified, our words become merely sounding trumpets without truth. And sometimes our words might be true, but if they do not align with our hearts, they are simply a clanging symbol. Easy to give the “Jesus” answer in Sunday School, easy for the preacher to preach all the right things, but much harder to preach and speak from the heart. Finally, our last chore this morning is to find a verse in Scripture that shows this quality in Christ, and this is our memory verse.
“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Hebrews 1:9 (LSB)
I said that as Christians our righteousness blows the scribes and Pharisees’ righteousness out of the water because we possess the righteousness of Christ. But here is another massive understatement: that Christ is above His companions. Here is where we might think that the writer of Hebrews should have said exceedingly above His companions. Think for a moment: you and I came from Adam; we are declared sinners from birth, and our actions and thoughts prove that in life. And yet Christ came and loved righteousness, and He perfectly lived righteousness and offered righteousness to all who would believe. And that is something to celebrate, isn’t it? Remember the words of our memory verse last week, “For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you.” Think of that: Jesus Christ suffered, so that you could be forgiven and receive His righteousness. And serving Christ as Lord and thirsting and hungering for His righteousness promises to you, the believer, that you will be truly satisfied. So, above all else, thirst and hunger for Christ. Folks, don’t settle for anything less. Let me close with the prayer that I gave you earlier. Lord, I long for You to satisfy me! Lord, grant me a desire to be free from the power of sin. Lord, set me free from self and my selfish desires. Lord, give me a new longing to be holy. And Lord, grant to me a desire to be like Christ and His righteousness. And all God’s people said, amen.