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. We 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 have 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 two words. So he was called into the superior's office and he said, you were able to say two 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 two words, which two 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 two words he 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 one 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 Jeremiah chapter 2. 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 number 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 fathers find in me that they went far from me and walked after emptiness and became empty. Lord asked the question, what is it that drove you away from me? So much so that you would be driven to something that's unfulfilling. What caused you to do that? Verse number eight 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 verse 10, 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 the Canaanites change from worshiping Baal when Baal is not a God? Answer? No. Did they change from worshiping Ashtaroth? And Ashtaroth's not even a God.

But did they change their gods? Answer? No. Not at all. Did the Babylonians change from worshiping 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, O heavens, at this and shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord. For my people have committed two 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, O 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 two 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 dug for themselves broken cisterns that can never hold water. 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 vain. It's useless. But people do that all the time because 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 committing evil and you will never be satisfied. In fact, he says down in verse number 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 parted 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. 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 number 1. Oh, 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 who thirsts, 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 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 in ways you'll never understand, but you've 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 unrighteous man 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. By the time Jeremiah prophesies, 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 that there is but never be satisfied. Excuse me. So Jesus comes along in Matthew chapter 5 and says, I want to 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 theirs is 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.

We'll 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 hungering and thirsting. 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 the gym so that when I go to the field, I'll perform at a 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 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 1, beware of 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 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 driven by the ambition for more possessions, more things, more objects. It's like 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 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 there's the lust for power, to be in charge, to be in control, to be recognized as an all-powerful one, like Lucifer. He was driven by power, by pride.

He wanted to be just like God. He wanted to be worshiped like God. He was driven by power.

Others are hungry for pleasure. Remember the prodigal son? He wanted his inheritance. What drove him? Pleasure.

He spent all of his money and all his efforts on wanton sin, only to recognize at the very end it was empty. It was nothing that got him nowhere. A classic example, of course, you know, Solomon.

He says these words in Ecclesiastes 2 verse number 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, then I built more gardens. I built houses, then 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, the hunger, and the thirst 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 striving after the wind. There's nothing there. So Christ says, 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 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 have 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 just salvation, but sanctification, 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 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 He would say in Matthew 6, seek ye first my kingdom and my righteousness. Make it a 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 all these other things will be added unto you, but you got to make me the priority. That's why Paul says in Romans 14:17, 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're 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 contentment, the joy, the blessing that comes, listen to what Psalm 107 says.

It says, for he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 34, verse number 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 1:53, 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 6:35, I am 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. Number two, 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 want you to be set apart.

When you are pursuing God, when you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you are set apart unto God for his purposes. That's what it means to be holy or to be sanctified. You are set apart unto God for his purposes.

And all of a sudden, 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 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.

And you know, you've been in that place where you just sit down, you've had a long day, and you come home, and 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 the oven.

And you set that warm cookie right there, and then you've got your coffee right there. And maybe you'll dip the cookie into the coffee, but you will sip your coffee and eat that beautiful warm cookie and say, oh, I am satisfied. But as soon as that cookie's done, you're unsatisfied.

And so you want another cookie. You say, ah, I'm so satisfied. But then you want another one.

And the next day you want more. See, that's the way it is. That's the way it is with righteousness.

You're hungering and thirsting 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 17:15, 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 Paul? He said in 2 Timothy 1:12, 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. 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. 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.

Well, the same is true with Scripture. The same is true with righteousness. The same is true with learning to live a wholly separated life unto God.

All that is true. You just want more of it. I had a phone call today with Don and Wanda, 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. I just want to know how they were because they haven't been here.

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

They just can't make it. But they're 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 hurting, but spiritually, we are alive. And our souls 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. Spoke with her today, and they're just having a hard time.

She says, oh, I just miss church. I miss my church family. I just long to be 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's part of your DNA, that you want to be here because you're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and you want to know what the Bible says, and you want to grow in your walk with the Lord. 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 got to realize 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.

Number three, 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 four.

One, 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 number 10 says, you who love the Lord hate evil. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are increasingly dissatisfied with substitutes.

They just are. The mind recognizes sin, the heart is repulsed by sin, and the will refuses to sin. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 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 hungering and thirsting for that which satisfies my soul, the righteousness of God.

Number two, the life that hungers and thirsts 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 number 20, my soul is crushed with longing after thine ordinances at all times.

Vance Havner was a country preacher. I don't know if you've read any of his books or not. He's got a multitude of books. In 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 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 in 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 thirsts 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.

Number three, number three, he searches the scriptures. He searches the scriptures. Psalm 26 verse number 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 searches for the bread of life.

A man should 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 1, O God, early will I seek thee.

Jeremiah 15:16, what did Jeremiah say? Thy words are 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 he realized 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.

Number four, the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is satisfied even in suffering. Satisfied even in suffering.

Proverbs 27:7, 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 is sweetness because he knows his God is at work, his God has a plan, and his God always knows what's best. And so he continues to pursue righteousness.

Where do we go from here? Three things. One, you need to develop an appetite for the righteousness of God. You need to develop the appetite for the bread of life and for the living water.

And Psalm 34:8 says, oh, 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 want to memorize two? Once you've read one chapter, you want to read two. 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 you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you have tasted the grace of God, if you've come to taste just the goodness of God, then you should be like a newborn babe screaming for more of God, never getting enough. But so many times we are unwilling 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.

Number two, delight yourself in the Lord. You're not going to delight yourself in the Lord unless you develop an appetite for the Lord. The psalmist said, you know the verse, Psalm 37, verse number 4, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Augustine said it well, thou hast 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. 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 willing 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 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. If 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 gonna, this is what I'm gonna 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 North Shore, 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 you have nothing to offer me, the kingdom is yours. If you're willing to mourn over your sin, 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 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 patient, you're kind, you're loving, 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 water of life. I will satisfy the deepest needs of your soul so that you will delight in me.

And when you do, you will 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'll be fully like you.

To that day comes, Lord, give us the drive and the motivation to pursue only Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.