@ The Bitcoin Church

The Inward Attitudes of a True Disciple is our theme for the next few Sunday mornings.

This series is based on the Beatitudes, found in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

Today we are discussing, Delighting The Soul in Fatness.

Text

Matthew 5:6 NKJV

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 55:1-13 NKJV

An Invitation to Abundant Life

1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.

4 Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.

5 Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,

11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me [c]void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Introduction.

It is a great blessing to desire earnestly and to receive the things of the Spirit that God will give to those who ask.

Three things stand out about this beatitude.

The universality of the figure in which the beatitude is conveyed.

Hunger and thirst are elemental instinct known to all people, so Jesus’ words spike a responsive chord in every heart.

Taken together, hunger and thirst form a universal figure for an intense desire that is perpetual.

The word translated “filled” is from a word that means to “fatten”, as to fatten cattle on fodder, grain, or grass.

Hence, Jesus’ meaning is “Blessed are those who desire, intensely and perpetually, what God has to give, for their souls shall be made fat on God’s fodder.”

Long ago the prophet Isaiah quoted God as saying, in Isaiah 55:2, Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

The definiteness of the terms to which the beatitude is confined.

Jesus speaks about those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

Upon no other desire does the blessing fall.

Again the prophet said, in Isaiah 55:2, Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

There is a bread that is not the Bread of Life and drink that does not satisfy.

Like a coin that has been in circulation for too long, the word righteousness has lost weight and value through years of misuse that it is almost too light and thin to convey Jesus’ meaning.

As Jesus used it, righteousness means a right standing before God, a right relationship with God through Christ.

Blessed are those who long to be right with God, for upon the atoning merits of Christ they shall be.

But to a Christian, righteousness should also mean what it meant to Christ, to do the will of the Father.

We are filled then the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us and when His Holy Spirit works the works of God through our lives.

The quality of the condition that is called blessed.

This beatitude describes a blessed process by which the soul grows to be like God.

We hunger and thirst.

We eat and drink and are satisfied, but in a matter of hours hunger and thirst return, and we repeat the process.

Blessed is the process of hungering and thirsting after righteousness and of being filled, for by this process we grow and develop as Christians.

Blessed is the one whose appetite for spiritual food and drink is growing, for they will be filled again and again.

Let’s consider three questions today about this beatitude.

1. Wherein are these blessed?

How are those hungering and thirsting after righteousness blessed?

Firstly, by the freeness of God’s invitation to be filled.

This is a steady message in the Bible.

Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

Jesus said in John 7:37, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Other examples are found in John 4:4 and Revelation 22:17.

The intensity of our desire to be filled can never exceed the freeness of Jesus’ invitation to feed our souls on His righteousness, which is manna to the hungry heart, life and health, and peace.

Second, we are blessed in the bounty of God’s supply.

“They shall be filled” we are told.

As we grow in God’s grace, capacity enlarges, and hunger and thirst for righteousness intensify, but our desire can never exceed God’s resources.

Still He says, “My grace is sufficient.”

The third way we are blessed is in the certainty of the result.

“They shall be filled.”

Oh, the blessed certainty of the gospel.

This note runs throughout the Bible and shouts its way through the gospel’ pages.

John 6:37, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

Paul gave this assurance in Romans 10:13, For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John’s gospel preserves Christ’s picture not only of the initial experience of salvation, but also of the provision for the Christian that follows.

John 10:9, I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

No hunger is too great, no thirst too deep.

They shall be filled.

2. Why are we blessed?

In our thinking, the pain of unsatisfied desire is not a happy condition.

But Jesus said it is, if that hunger and thirst are for righteousness.

Hunger and thirst are proof of spiritual life and health and vitality.

This is true in every realm.

In the realm of the mind.

A child asks questions because their mind is hungry, healthy, and growing.

In the realm of the physical.

An ordinary gum tree will draw up the specific amount of water it needs each day.

In the realm of the spiritual.

Above all, this is true of the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

To desire intently the things of the Spirit is a sign of spiritual life and vitality and health.

The person who wants to be vitally in touch with God wants spiritual food.

When no hunger and thirst for the things of God are apparent, there is cause for alarm.

Hunger and thirst are a means of spiritual growth.

When your child refuses to eat, you become alarmed, fearing the child is sick and not growing.

Likewise, in the spiritual realm, we become alarmed when we see that people are not partaking in the Word and other spiritual growth activities and therefore not growing spiritually.

On the other hand, how wonderful it is to watch a growing Christian hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

Hunger and thirst carry the promise of maturity.

Have you ever been a guest in a home and noticed marks on a doorframe with names and dates where the growth of a child was being measured?

As Christians we should be able to chart our spiritual growth.

In Philippians Paul called attention to his own growth chart, Philippians 3:13, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

He was not satisfied, for he went on to say in Philippians 3:14, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The end and promise of the Christian life is maturity.

We reach maturity in Christ as we press on, as we hunger and thirst after righteousness and are filled.

3. When are these people blessed?

Blessed is the word of our beatitude, and matchless is the blessing, but when does it apply.

When shall those who hunger and thirst for righteousness be filled?

The answer is now, the blessing is for this life.

This blessing is subjective, within the heart and life now.

This is the blessedness of advancing toward maturity, the blessedness of having joy and peace in the mind and heart.

This blessing is also objective.

It is apparent to the world surrounding the Christian.

Those people of science and education and letters whose work has blessed the world are those whose hungry minds did not stop short of fulfilment.

They hungered and continued onward.

This is true also of Christians.

Those who have been the saving salt of the earth and the lights on a hill have been those whose hearts hungered and thirsted after God.

The answer is also hereafter.

Our idea of heaven as a place where all limitations will be removed is true.

The Bible teaches that.

But it also teaches that there will be growth in heaven and that our capacity to enjoy it will grow forever and ever.

Conclusion.

One description of heaven is as a banquet where it says in Matthew 8:11, And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever else it means, here is certainly the suggestion that even then the divinely blessed alternation of hungering and thirsting and being filled shall go on and on.

Until next time

Stay in the Blessings

I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.

When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer. Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!

You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at The Refinery.

When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.

So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us at www.refinerylife.org

2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS

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