[To be Blessed] 

• [The world feels that a person is blessed by what he has - Possessions.]
• [The Ten Commandments teach a person is blessed by what he does - Outward Acts.]
• [In the beatitudes our Lord teaches that a person is blessed by what he is – consider your Character.  You will be blessed if you,]

The Secret Of Satisfaction [- to have your deepest hunger met you must be,]

A.     Groaning For Completion (vs 6;) [- Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst . . . - To create a Godly hunger.  If you are groaning for completion then there will be,]   

1.      A Hunger Within (2 Cor 5.1-5) [- The late Adrian Rogers once said, There are different kinds of hunger.]

a.       [Dolly Madison strives to create a hunger in you - To buy their sweet little cakes to eat.  They stir up your sweet tooth.] 

b.      [Madison Avenue strives to create a hunger in you - To buy something you don't need, with money you don't have, to impress someone you don't like. They stir up your image tooth.] 

c.       [God wants to create a hunger in you for something you desperately need.  Your completion or spiritual maturity.  He stirs up your spiritual tooth.] 

[The Bible speaks of this deep desire when it says,] 

[2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ¹ For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: ³ If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. ⁴ For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. ⁵ Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.]

[Groan – στενάζομεν (gk) – narrow, contracted (as when one is squeezed or pressed by circumstances). To groan, sigh, used intrans. of persons in distress, affliction (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:2, 4; Heb. 13:17); grumble from impatience, ill–humor (James 5:9); of those who offer silent prayer (Mark 7:34 [see Is. 24:7; Lam. 1:21])^[1]] 

[Earnestly Desiring -  ἐπιποθοῦντες (gk) - to yearn. To desire earnestly, long for, followed by the inf. (Rom. 1:11; 2 Cor. 5:2; 1 Thess. 3:6; 2 Tim. 1:4); by the acc. of thing (1 Pet. 2:2; Sept.: Ps. 119:174; Mic. 7:1); by the acc. of person meaning to long after, regard with longing, love (2 Cor. 9:14; Phil. 1:8; 2:26); by prós, to incline towards, tend to (James 4:5)^[2] ] 

[A Super Natural Desire - God, through the Holy Spirit, has placed a supernatural desire within the born again Christian for the spiritual things of God.  Our Lord refers to these as a hunger and thirst.  Jesus said blessed are they that do hunger and thrist after righteousness.  I believe that every born again Christian has this deep spiritual desire, but not every Christian recognizes what this desire is or knows what to do with it.] 

2.      A Honing Required (Gal 5.25; John 14.26; 1 Cor 2.10) [– If you hone something you sharpen it or polish it.  So what do you do with this unquenchable spiritual desire?  You must focus it, you must feed it and yield to it.  This deep spiritual desire is the work of the Holy Spirit within a born again Christian that has surrendered wholly to their Lord.  The Bible tells us that when the Holy Spirit begins to work within you, you should,]

a.       [Walk in the Spirit (Gal 5.25) – God has given you the Holy Spirit of God.  He is not idle and He will not be silent.  Will you hear Him and respond to Him?  To many have settled on the opinions of men rather than the spiritual hunger of God within them.]

[Galatians 5:25 ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.]

b.      [Heed The Spirit (John 14.26; 1 Cor 2.10) – He is given to teach us and illuminate us.]

[John 14:26 ²⁶ But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. ]

[1 Corinthians 2:10 ¹⁰ But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ]

[The Holy Spirit within us will teach us the deep things of God.  When the Holy Spirit places a hunger or thirst within you, you need to seek out and feast upon that truth or issue until you know that the issue has been resolved by God.  Too many Christians want easy answers and have settled for tainted water and weak explanations for the deep spiritual issues of our Lord.  If you are hungering and thirsting then understand that this deep desire comes from your Lord and you must pursue it until you find the oasis in the famished desert of secularism.]

[Illustration – My struggle with the tongues issue.]

c.       [Grieve Not The Spirit of God (Eph 4.30)]

[Ephesians 4:30 ³⁰ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.]

[When the spirit of God moves within you, do not ignore or rebel against His touch and conviction.  Respond to Him.]

[Spiritual Desire - Part of the problem in Christianity in our day is the growing lack of a holy Hunger and Thirst in God’s people.  Where is our Groaning?  Where is our Desire?  People have desires, but in our day the greatest part of peoples desire is for anything but the things of God.  People desire,]

·      [Their entertainment.] 

·      [Their sports, sports are the gods and idols of our day.]

·      [Their recreation and toys.] 

·      [But where is the desire for God and the things of God? Where is your hunger and thirst?]

[Someone here might be thinking, well I desire the things of God.  If this is so then,]

·      [Where are you for Sunday School?]

·      [Where are you for Sunday Evening Worship?]

·      [Where are you for Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting?]

·      [You might think, “Well, I don’t have to be at Church to desire God.”  Perhaps, but where is the one place your spiritual desire toward God ought to take you?]

[Unhoned Desire – Have you thought about what happens to a desire that goes unanswered?  If you get hungry and refuse to eat, eventually, and rather quickly, you loose the hungering desire.  If you leave your spiritual hunger and thirst unanswered long enough, then you become ignorant of your desire.  Many Christians have grieved the Holy Spirit and they just are not hungry or thirsty any more.  They have lost their desire.]

B.     Guided by Compulsion (vs 6; Philip 3.7-9; 2 Cor 5.21; Prov 4.23) [-Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: . . . – The groaning that God places within His people is a directed hunger.  It is not ambiguous in any way.  It is a hunger and thirst for righteousness.  So, just what is righteousness? ] 

[Righteousness - It is not something you do, It is Jesus Christ himself (Philip 3.7-9; 2 Cor 5.21).] 

[Philip. 3:7-9 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: ] 

[2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. ] 

[To hunger after righteousness is to desire Jesus Christ.  Each person's greatest need is a right relationship with Jesus Christ.] 

["If you have a right heart you will have a right life."] 

[Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. ] 

Guidelines for Completion. Two ways to hunger after Christ: 

1.      Desire Jesus Preeminently (Matt 6.33) [- Above all other things.  To be hungry supernaturally Matt 6.33.] 

[Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ] 

[Most people seek blessedness not righteousness.] 

[Note: Jesus Christ is heavens bread for mans deepest hunger.  A lack of satisfaction is the symptom of a hungry spirit.] 

2.      Seek Jesus Passionately (Psalm 42.1-4) [- How deep is your desire for our Lord Jesus Christ?  Consider the passions expressed by the psalmist when he wrote,] 

[Psalm 42:1-4 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.] 

[The Marks of a Hungry Man:] 

a.       [He is on a deliberate quest for food - He must find it.] 

b.      [He is on a determined quest for food - He will have it. A determined person will pay any price.] 

c.       [He is on a desperate quest for food - Nothing else matters.] 

C.     Gifted for Contentment (vs 6; 1Tim 6.17) [- Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.] 

[1 Tim. 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; ] 

o       [Blessed - God says get your priorities right and He will bless you.  To be blessed means to have all you need.  You can never be as blessed as you will be when you hunger and thirst after our Lord Jesus Christ.] 

o       [Filled – κληρονομήσουσιν (Gk) - an heir. To be an heir, to inherit, obtain for an inheritance by casting lots as the children of Israel did for the promised land (Num. 26:55; 33:54; Josh. 14:1, 2; 16:4). To inherit, to be heir to any person or thing.  (I) To inherit, to be heir, in an absolute sense (Gal. 4:30 quoted from Gen. 21:10; see Sept.: Gen. 15:4; Num. 27:11).  (II) In later usage followed by the acc., simply to obtain, acquire, possess. Spoken only of the friends of God as receiving admission to the kingdom of heaven and its attendant privileges (Matt. 5:5, “they shall possess the land” [a.t.], referring to the Messiah’s kingdom [cf. Sept.: Ps. 25:13; 37:11, 22, 29]). To inherit the kingdom of God (Matt. 25:34; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 15:50; Gal. 5:21); eternal life (Matt. 19:29; Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25; 18:18); incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15:50). See Heb. 1:4, 14; 6:12; 12:17; 1 Pet. 3:9; Rev. 21:7; Sept.: Gen. 15:7; Deut. 1:21.^[3]] 

·        [Fully Filled - To be filled, in this sense, means to have absolutely everything.  You are heirs of the King of kings and Lord of lords.  What is lacking to such a one as this?  You are abundantly filled in stature, significance, and situation.  You literally have it all.  Perhaps you are as an heir that is sent on a long and arduous journey for your father, but even through this wilderness you have the promise and possession of all that belongs to your father.  You are utterly filled!] 

[God gives you a continuing hunger that you might experience continuing satisfaction.] 

[Thanksgiving illustration - You eat until you can eat no more, and then a few hours later, your hungry again!  Then you get to enjoy another meal.  Jesus wants you to hunger, be filled, and get hungry again.] 

God's fulfillment, [- When God says you will be filled when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, he means,] 

1.      You will be Completely satisfied (Psalm 107.9) 

[Psalm 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. ] 

2.      You will be Continually satisfied (Isa 55.1-3) 

[Isaiah 55:1-3 ¹ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. ³ Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. ]

3.      You will be Certainly satisfied (Psalm 34.8) 

[Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. ] 

CrossRoads Baptist Church, November 16, 2008