sermon: Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Martin G. Collins
Given 28-Nov-20; Sermon #1572; 58 minutes

Description: (show)

We just celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, and it is a special day to stop what we are normally doing and thank God for the abundance of blessings that He has provided for this nation. Our gratitude in this should be from our natural expression of thanks in response to these blessings, protection, and love. Gratitude is not a tool used to manipulate the will of God. It is never coerced or fabricated in one's mind. Rather, gratitude is a joyful commitment of one's personality to God. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” But when contrasted to the history of mankind in sin and suffering the consequences, we find an ungrateful humanity with a dismal record.

Ever since famine drove Joseph’s brothers to Egypt in the second millennium BC, and also before that time, crop failures and consequent hunger and starvation have been a chronic problem for humanity. Droughts, wars, and plant disease have swept through history leaving behind a trail of misery and death. And often, little can be done to stop them. Famine came to Rome in 436 BC causing thousands of people to throw themselves into the Tiber River and end their lives. Famine struck England in AD 1005. All Europe suffered in AD 879, AD 1016, and AD 1162 with great famines and starvation. Even in the nineteenth century, with its great advantages and advances in technology and commerce, hunger stalked many countries—Russia, China, India, Ireland—and millions died. Today in Africa, thousands die of malnutrition and its accompanying diseases, and hundreds more perish in the nations of Latin America and the other emerging nations. Hunger, like war and pestilence, has always been an aggressive neighbor to large sectors of the human race.

Living in arid lands without modern water systems, the people of the Bible were acutely aware of the pains and perils of being without water. In the Bible, thirst is often frightening and life-threatening as opposed to the modern experience of our temporary discomfort. God is the one who ultimately quenches thirst, and usually He accomplishes this through natural processes—rain, springs, and cycles of growth and harvest. But sometimes He intervenes miraculously, like when He brings water from the rock in the Sinai wilderness. Such a miracle makes clear what is always true: God alone is the source of all resources necessary for life.

In the way of some background on the biblical idea of hunger, let us do a very brief survey of the Old Testament here. Hunger and its close associate, famine, were powerful impressions on the desperate mind. Farmer's harvests depended on adequate and timely rainfall, and in the Old Testament, hunger affected Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and the people of Israel, both in Egypt and in Sinai. It also affected David, Elijah, Elisha, and many others. The search for food played an important part in the unfolding history of Israel, and most significantly, Israel experienced physical hunger in the wilderness. Please turn Exodus 16, and we will read verses 3 and 4:

Exodus 16:3-4 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full, for You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.”

So the people grumbled about the amount of food and the lack of meat, and suddenly, Egypt seemed to provide (as it is written in the Hebrew idiom) pots of meat and all you could eat rather than bondage and slave drivers. Now with a distorted, condescending reference to the Eternal’s name, the Israelites mocked that they would have preferred being victims at the hands in Egypt to being the recipients of so many miracles and all of this hardship. The provisions from Egypt may have lasted these thirty days but their supplies were undoubtedly exhausted. They were afraid and because of their fear, they were willing to give up their freedom, and since they were unthankful for what God had done for them, they became irrational and foolish.

Turn with me to Haggai 1 please. Now hunger can result from disobedience to God, and Haggai 1 begins by describing a people dealing with a lean harvest, debilitating disease, alcohol insufficient to drown their woes, and severe economic distress.

Haggai 1:5-7 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!”

Obviously, that is the theme, that is the issue and the point that he is making here.

Haggai 1:8-9 “Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.”

That is the cause, and then comes the effect:

Haggai 1:10-11 “Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

We certainly want to pray that God does not do that to this nation even though, sadly, it is deserving of it. Deuteronomy makes it clear that the fleshly satisfaction of physical hunger is insufficient for the well-being of the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 8:3 “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Certainly, Deuteronomy threatens Israel with physical hunger if they stray from the path of obedience and disobey God's Word. Turn over just a few chapters toward the end of the book, in chapter 28. Now, God can withhold resources if He wishes, and Moses and the prophets remind the Israelites that God will punish them with drought and thirst if they break their covenant relationship with Him.

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything [there you go, that is the cause and then comes the effect], therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.”

Let us look at the next example. Amos develops the picture by envisioning a worse predicament, that of a famine of God's Word.

Amos 8:11-12 “Behold the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.”

Now move over to chapter 9. Amos also prophesies a future time of super-abundant blessing in contrast to chapter 8.

Amos 9:13 “Behold the days are coming,” says the Lord [it is interesting that he uses the same terminology as he did for the curse on Israel as he does for the blessing later], “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”

This is a description of the abundance in the Millennium, a promise to Israel and also the rest of the world that obeys. Isaiah also extends the picture from the physical suffering of the desert journey home in Isaiah 41 to a future spiritual salvation in Isaiah 44.

Let us move on from that to the New Testament. Please turn to Matthew 5 and verse 6. This what you might call in this sermon the pivotal scripture. So what is God's answer to hunger and thirst? Sadly, the physical hunger and thirst of people is only a pale reflection of a far more serious hunger and thirst that affects all humanity. It is a spiritual hunger that is satisfied only by God through Jesus Christ, and Jesus showed how this hunger could be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Now this statement by Jesus Christ is the fourth beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is God's answer to our spiritual longing. This beatitude follows in a definite order upon the first three of Christ’s Beatitudes and there is a sense in which it stands at the heart of this short compendium of Christ’s teachings. The first three verses of the Sermon on the Mount have all pointed to people’s need and have shown the type of approach that is necessary if a person is to be made spiritually happy by God.

First, the person who comes to God must be poor in spirit. There is a realization of his nothingness and emptiness. He must recognize that he is spiritually bankrupt in God's sight, and that he has no claim on Him. Second, he must mourn. There is a judging of himself, a consciousness of his guilt, and a sorrowing for his sinfulness. And this does not refer simply to the kind of sorrow experienced for sick and dying people. It is a sorrow and a repentance for sin, and it implies that one who sorrows must come to God for comfort. And then third, the person who would experience God's salvation must also be meek. There is a secession of seeking to justify oneself before God, an abandonment of all pretenses to personal merit, and a taking of his place in the dust before God. This refers to his taking a lowly place before God in order that he might receive God's salvation.

These beatitudes have all expressed humanity’s need and they relate to humility. There are spiritual parallels for the material things people seek today, and we should seek to feed the hidden person of the heart with spiritual food just as we seek to feed our physical bodies.

I Peter 3:3-4 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

And that applies to all Christians, not just women.

Now in the fourth beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” there comes a solution to humanity’s need. If a person will hunger and thirst after righteousness, God will fill him with righteousness and will declare him righteous. So that person will be justified—thanks to Christ—before God, and he will embark upon the blessed and effective life outlined in the remainder of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. This statement in Matthew 5:6 is a conclusion to which the previous three beatitudes reach, and we should all be deeply thankful to God for it. The verse is precious because it offers the solution to humanity's great need by pointing to the offer of God's greater remedy in Christ. Psalm 30:4 says, “Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”

In the fourth beatitude, the heart and mind are turned away from self toward God for a very special reason: There is a longing after a righteousness that we urgently need, but know that we do not completely possess. The significance of righteousness is seen in the light of the Old Testament, but then under the light of the New Testament epistles, it becomes much clearer. Notice the progression.

Isaiah 45:8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.”

So salvation is directly connected with righteousness here, and it will continue to be. The first half of this verse refers (in figurative language) to the return of Christ to this earth, and the second half to His resurrection. There are more passages linking God's righteousness with salvation so let us look at a few more in Isaiah.

Isaiah 46:12-13 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness: I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion [or the church], for Israel My glory.”

Another one in Isaiah 51, over just a few chapters:

Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, and My arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands will wait upon Me, and on My arm they will trust.”

Isaiah 56:1 “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.”

These go hand in hand—salvation and righteousness—all the way through here. Another one, Isaiah 61 and the beginning of verse 10:

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

So these passages make it clear that God's righteousness is synonymous with God's salvation. They are dealt with hand-in-hand, and one is important for the other. Matthew 5:6 is most specific about how one can obtain this happiness and joy, but the reason why so many people are unhappy spiritually is that they will not accept God's remedy, even though it is so clear. So what must we do?

First, we must desire righteousness. That sounds like such a simple thing to remember but do we really remember that on a daily, on an hourly, basis? Second, we must desire a perfect—and therefore godly—righteousness. So not just any righteousness or right doing, but godly perfect righteousness. And third, we must desire it intensely. That is, we must desire it enough to cling to the efforts made for us by God and not try to achieve righteousness on our own. In other words, do not be self-righteous. That is the mistake most of the world makes in mainstream Christianity. In their seeking to be righteous, they end up quite often self-righteous. Each of these points is suggested explicitly in the beatitude.

Now let us take a look at each of these points. As simple as they are, they still have a great impact on our lives if we actually do them.

The first point of the fourth beatitude requires those who want to be happy and joyful to go to God seeking righteousness. Now, many come seeking anything and everything else. Some seek happiness itself, but Matthew 5:6 says that happy people are those who seek, not happiness primarily, but right living before God. Some people seek happiness through other things such as wealth or fame. Some seek it through sex and marriage. The Bible teaches that happiness comes only through righteousness. A moment's reflection will show why this must be so. God is the source of all good things; prosperity, sex, success, happiness, and other things besides.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

But God is also holy, and because He is, He cannot have dealings with those who are not holy. People are sinners, and sins break the fellowship that should exist between humans and God, and it makes all who are sinners as a way of life God's enemies.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

James 4:4 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The only way a person can enter fellowship with God and find the happiness and blessing he longs for is to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ in him through His Spirit.

Can this be done? Well, it cannot be done by humans, certainly, but God can and will do it. The heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that in Him God has obtained our redemption, and has provided all who truly believe in Christ with that righteousness and peace. Please turn to Ephesians 2. Paul says in verse 14:

Ephesians 2:14-18 For He himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

We must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and this is demonstrated by living it, and this must characterize our life. Many professing Christians seem to spend their whole life seeking something which they can never find, seeking happiness and blessings.

We are not meant to hunger and thirst after experiences. We are not meant to hunger and thirst after blessings. If we want to be truly happy and blessed, we must hunger and thirst after righteousness. We must not set blessings or happiness or experiences as our priority. Ask yourself this important question: Do you put righteousness first, or do you seek after something else, even something quite good in itself? It is vital we not forget that pursuing righteousness is essential, pursuing happiness is not.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these [joyful] things shall be added to you.”

The Father knows our needs, and if we put Him first, He will provide every need, so how do we practice this today? Well, we start with our time and put God first in every way, and this means time for prayer and reading the Word every day. We will put God first in every week attending Sabbath services faithfully, not sitting back at our home in our pajamas (or whatever our work clothes are) and disrespecting God. We will put God first in every payday, paying the tithes to God (which are His anyway). We will put God first in our choices, making no decision that would leave God out.

The second point of the fourth beatitude is that to have true happiness, we must desire not merely righteousness but perfect righteousness. Perfect righteousness, as this means desiring the righteousness of God. God has provided in Christ a perfect righteousness for each and all of His people, and this righteousness, this fulfilling of all the demands of God's holy law, was worked out by our substitute and surety, Jesus Christ. Now it is necessary that we see this and see it clearly because you and I are often ready to settle for something less than God requires, and if it were possible, we would rush to substitute our own goodness for God's because of our human nature.

To understand how this point emerges from Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled,” we must notice something about Greek grammar here. In the Greek language, it is a rule of good grammar that the verbs of hungering and thirsting are followed by nouns in what is called the “genitive” case, and this is the case that is expressed by the preposition “of” in English. An example of a genitive would be the last words in the phrases “peace of mind,” “love of God,” “object of faith,” and so on. So the Greek would express a feeling of hunger by saying something like this, “I am hungry for of food.” That is what it would literally be: “I am hungry for of food,” or “I am thirsty for of water.” Confusing. That is why you see in the English that they Anglicize it.

This particular use of the genitive case has an unusual characteristic based on it being a “partitive genitive.” (This is not the meaning of the sentence in Matthew 5:6—this is still the general usual meaning in the Greek and how it is normally used—of God or of mind or of faith. This means that it has reference only to a part of the object, and this is not what occurs in Matthew 5:6.) Thus, when the Greek would say, “I am hungry for of food” normally, it would be saying that he was hungry only for part of the food in the world, not all of it. And similarly, when he would say that he would like some water, the genitive would indicate that he did not want all the water the world has to offer, but only some of it.

The significance of this point for interpreting the fourth beatitude there in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” is that the normal Greek usage is entirely abandoned there. It is not “of water” or “of thirst” or “of hunger” there because that would mean only part of it. It would not mean “all of it” or “complete.” So when Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” instead of the word “righteousness” occurring in the genitive as it normally would, it occurs in the “accusative,” and the meaning is that the one who hungers and thirsts as Christ intends him to hunger and thirst must hunger, not after a partial or imperfect righteousness (either his own or God's), but after the whole thing—complete righteousness.

It is not enough to just desire to do the right thing. We are told to do the perfect thing, the complete thing—or to seek it—complete righteousness. So we must intensely long for a perfect righteousness, and this means therefore a righteousness equal to and identical with God's. That is our goal, but we know we cannot do it in the flesh. Of course, this is exactly what most people will not do. Most men and women have a desire for some degree of righteousness, their self-esteem demands at least that. For example, thieves will have some code of honor among themselves, however debased it may be. A murderer will strive for some small spark of decency, at least the appearance of it. A philanthropist will take great pride in his limited good deeds. But the problem comes from the fact that few—and none unless God has urged them—seek for the perfect goodness which comes only from Him.

So hungering and thirsting expresses vehement desire of which the heart and mind are acutely conscious. It comes from within, Christ in us. First, Jesus Christ—the Holy Spirit—brings before the heart the holy requirements of God, and He reveals to us His perfect standard which He can never lower. He reminds us in

Matthew 5:20 that “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of God.”

Second, the trembling person, conscious of his own abject poverty, and realizing his utter inability to measure up to God's requirements, sees no help in himself. This painful discovery causes him to mourn and to groan. And third, God, through His Spirit, then creates in the heart a deep hunger and thirst that causes the convicted sinner to look for relief and to seek a supply outside of himself, to seek righteousness.

Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and to seek Jesus is to seek righteousness. In Jeremiah 23:6, it says “Now this is His name by which He will be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

So like the previous ones, this fourth beatitude describes a two-fold experience. It obviously refers to the initial hungering and thirsting that occurs before a sinner turns to Christ by faith, but it also refers to the continual longing in the heart of every saved sinner until his dying day. We long to be saved by Christ. We yearn to be made like Him.

Now look at it in its widest aspect: This hungering and thirsting refers to a panting of our renewed heart after God. Psalm 42:1 says “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God.” We can repeat that as, “so thirsts my soul for You, O God.” Turn to Psalm 107. It is a passion for a closer walk with God, and a longing for more perfect conformity to the image of His Son, and it tells of the aspirations of our new nature for divine blessing that spiritually strengthens, sustains, and satisfies us.

Psalm 107:8-9 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Sometimes, physical thirst is what turns people to God. In their distress, they call to Him and He meets their need spiritually. Matthew 5:6 presents such a paradox that it is evident that no carnal mind ever invented it because only through the Spirit can that paradox be understood.

Can one who has been brought into vital union with Him who is the Bread of Life, and in Whom all fullness dwells, be found still hungering and thirsting? I think we’ve partially answered that question already. The answer is yes, of course, and that is the experience of the converted heart.

The apostle John presents the idea of hunger in John 6 with clear reference to the experience of Israel in the wilderness. Jesus not only provides food for the crowd but describes Himself as the Bread of Life, meeting spiritual as well as physical needs. So to the disciples who had witnessed the miracle of the multiplication of loaves in Galilee, this is what John added in his record in John 6.

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

What a guarantee and a promise that is! The world cannot understand such things. We are so very thankful that God has revealed it to us.

Thirst is often used figuratively in Scripture to represent spiritual dissatisfaction, or, as we are using it, the passionate pursuit for God. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Such heartfelt thirst, though painful, is a prerequisite for spiritual growth because people must want God before He can have a relationship with them. He calls them, yes, but He cannot have a true spiritual relationship with them until they respond in faith. Emotional and spiritual emptiness is often an incentive for people to discover God's grace and when people reach the point of despair and hopelessness, they are forced to seek a solution. (Either that or give up and commit suicide, sadly.) Are you content with your attainments and satisfied with your own condition?

Let us move on to the third point of the fourth beatitude. It is that the advice in Christ’s statement about how to discover God's righteousness is that a person must desire it intensely. In Christ’s words, he must hunger and thirst for righteousness if he is to be filled. So these words cut to the chase. In other words, they get to the point without wasting time. They quickly separate real spiritual hunger from mere sentimentality and vaguely religious feeling. Now since there is almost nothing in our experience today to suggest the force of Christ’s words that we have personally experienced, we must put ourselves in the shoes of His listeners if we are fully to understand them.

Today, almost none of us knows hunger—not real hunger—and few of us have ever known more than a momentary thirst, other than while we are fasting. But hunger and thirst were more common for Christ’s contemporaries.

In the ancient world, people often knew hunger. Wages were low, if they existed at all, and unless people were of the aristocracy, they seldom grew fat on the fruit of honest labor, and many starved. Also, in a desert country, where the sun was scorching, and sand and windstorms were frequent, thirst was people's constant companion. To such a world, hunger meant the hunger of a starving person, and thirst, that of a person who would die without water.

So it was against this background that Christ’s words were spoken, and in effect, the point was something like this (just to give you a general idea): So, you think that you would like to be pleasing to God, that you would like to taste of His goodness. How much do you want it? Do you want it as much as someone who is starving wants food, or as much as someone who is severely dehydrated wants water? You must want it that desperately in order to be filled because it is only when you are really desperate that you will turn to Christ and away from your own attempts to earn that goodness. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness has always been the experience of God's saints. We should always reflect on whether we are actually wanting it that badly.

Philippians 3:8-9 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

So, God will provide the washing, and Christ will be counted as your one sufficient asset forever. Philippians 3:9 is a summary of the book of Romans, because it deals with the heart of salvation in one verse. The biblical principles involved are these: First, there are two kinds of righteousness. The righteousness—or the right doing—that comes from man, and the righteousness that comes from God. Second, God cannot be satisfied with any righteousness that comes from human beings. And third, God is satisfied with His own righteousness which He offers freely to all who believe in Jesus Christ.

It is not easy to describe the righteousness of God because it is an aspect of His character, and sin limits our knowledge of Him. Yet, we know that the righteousness of God is related to the holiness of God and that both are seen in the law of God and in the teachings of Jesus Christ. The law is not God's righteousness but it is an expression of it, just as a coin is an expression of the die in the mint that produced it. In the law we see an impression of God's purity, holiness, love, integrity, and perfection. The righteousness of God is also seen in Jesus Christ. We see God's power in nature, we see God's principles in the law, and we see God's divine nature and character in Jesus Christ, and it is infused with righteousness.

John 8:46 (NIV) records that Christ said to His enemies, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” and they were silent. A few verses earlier, in John 8:29 (NIV), He had said of God, His Father, “I always do what pleases Him.” So it is important to emphasize that the righteousness of God, that is seen in the law and in Jesus Christ, is different from human righteousness or human right doing. Human beings would like to think that they can attain God’s standard of righteousness merely by adding it to their own, but since the two kinds of righteousness are different in nature, this is impossible.

Most people believe that all goodness may be placed on a scale. On the bottom are those whose righteousness is on a very low level—murderers, thieves, perverts. There are others whose righteousness is a bit higher, and these are average citizens. And there are few whose righteousness is very high. And then (so they think) there is God, whose righteousness is the highest of all. It is not this way. God teaches that there are two kinds of righteousness—His righteousness and human righteousness—and that the accumulation of human righteousness, no matter how diligent, will never gain anyone’s eternal life.

God knows what is going on within. People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God is looking at your heart and my heart, and what does He see? Does He see deeds, even religious deeds, that are not backed up by the spiritually righteous life within, or does He see His own righteousness imputed to you and beginning to work its way into your conduct, into your thoughts? You cannot fool God with human righteousness. You must turn from your alleged goodness to God's. Each and every one of us must do that. Paul accepted God's verdict and turned to Him for the righteousness He gives us. Paul says that his desire was to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness which is of the law, but having that which is through faith in Christ, righteousness from God by faith.

God's verdict upon humanity includes all people. It is one that declares all human righteousness unable to satisfy the righteous standards of God. You may be feeling the most acute spiritual pain because of it, but you must know that your sensitivity is the first step in your spiritual recovery. (So any time you see sin in your life, you can know that you yourself personally, although you should try to overcome the sin, and should overcome it, you have need of God’s Holy Spirit to help you do that. Otherwise, your overcoming is just the overcoming of the world; it is shallow, not long term, and is unable to satisfy the righteous standards of God.) Your recovery may take place completely as you come to God to receive a righteousness that comes from God Himself and is entirely untainted by sin, and that righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ, so you must come to God through Him.

Here in Philippians 3:9 once again, Paul writes, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” All true teaching of the Word of God must stress that God alone is responsible for the gift of our salvation. But when this is said, anyone may appropriately ask, “How then does this apply to me?”

Turn over to Hebrews 11. Since God offers His righteousness to those who lack it, what must I do to receive this righteousness? By what means does this wonderful salvation become mine? Now the answer to all these questions is that God's righteousness becomes yours personally through faith.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

This theme of diligence and of hungering and thirsting is mentioned throughout the Bible, and it is essentially important to doing our part in working with God. He rewards those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Paul tells us in Romans 1:17, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” Ephesians 2:8 it says, “For by grace you have been saved by faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.” So “faith in Christ” and “righteousness by faith,” these phrases speak of the human responsibility for our salvation. We cannot earn it but we have a responsibility. Although salvation is a gift of God which cannot be earned. It is conditional on our faith, repentance, obedience, overcoming, and worthiness by which we are judged.

Sadly, many people are puzzled about this thing called faith, although there is no need to be puzzled by it. On a physical level, on its basic level, faith is simply belief. If you believe in a thing, you have faith in it. Thus, faith is one of the most common realities of life. It is far more common, for instance, than romantic attraction, artistic insight, exceptional intelligence, or any similar things. These things are true for only some people, but faith is a reality for all people, and all people experience it.

The greatest example of basic faith is the way a man and a woman commit themselves to each other in marriage. The man says, “Will you marry me?” and the woman says, “Yes.” The whole conversation only takes five words but between two persons who know and trust each other, the words constitute a pledge of faith that will (or should) last until death. Such faith is very personal. So it is no accident that the pledge of a man and a woman, and a woman to a man, has been taken in Scripture as an illustration of that bond in faith that exists between a Christian and his Lord. In Ephesians, Paul speaks of marriage as an illustration of Christ’s love for us.

Ephesians 5:32-33 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

So Paul addresses every husband individually. Each is to go on loving his wife as he does himself. The wife on her part is to give her husband the respect that is due him in the Lord. There is a qualification there; the wife for her part is to give her husband the respect that is due him in the Lord. Such respect is conditioned by, and expressive of, reverence for Christ. It also assumes that the husband will so love his wife as to be worthy of such regard.

Now people who are puzzled because Paul does not tell wives that they are to love their husbands fail to appreciate the most careful precision with which the analogy is handled. Christ loves the church. The church's love for Christ is expressed in submission and obedience. Wives will love what they respect, and the church loves Christ only if it respects Him. We must show that respect in our lives.

The conclusion of this analysis is that where there is this desire for righteousness, there will be filling, and the filling will be Christ Himself. In His sermon given early in His three-year ministry, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” but He did not elaborate further on the filling. Later, when His teachings began to make their impact on the small circle of His listeners, He did elaborate on filling. He said to the Samarian woman in John 4,

John 4:10-14 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again [meaning the water in the well], but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

So, like the first part of Matthew 5:6 (“hungering and thirsting after righteousness),” the second part (“for they will be filled”) also has a double fulfillment, both initial and continuous. When God creates hunger and a thirst in people, it is so that He may satisfy them. When the sinner is initially made to feel his need for Christ, it is to draw him to Christ, and is to encourage him to embrace Him as his only righteousness before the holy God. Now he is thrilled to confess Christ as his newfound righteousness, and to glory in Him alone.

I Corinthians 1:30-31 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

And such a one whom God now calls a saint is to experience an ongoing filling, not with an excess of wine but with the Spirit in which there is an abundance of wisdom from above.

Ephesians 5:17-18 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

That is the only place there will be satisfaction. That is the only place that will solve problems. Alcohol never will, but God's Spirit will, far more powerfully than anyone can imagine. We are to be filled with the peace of God that passes all understanding. We who are trusting in the righteousness of God will one day be filled with divine blessing, without any sorrow. We will be filled with praise and thanksgiving to Him who formed every work of love and obedience in us as the visible fruit of His saving work in and for us.

Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

For a final scripture, please turn to I Corinthians 2. He bestows such goodness and mercy upon us, who are the sheep of His pasture, that our cups run over with the abundance of it. Yet all that we presently enjoy is but merely a foretaste of all that our God has prepared for us.

I Corinthians 2:9-12 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.