Introduction

We have seen in our study of the Beatitudes that these are marks of the lives of those who are disciples of Jesus. Which is to say, they are marks that will be found in the lives of Christians. You may have noticed if you were here the last time that there is also flow or progression to these marks. For example, Jesus says that those who are poor in spirit are blessed. They are in a happy condition because they know they are empty of all resources and the Lord has said he will dwell with such humble people. He gives them the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven and thus they are blessed. From this knowledge of one's spiritual poverty comes a mourning over the sin that lies behind this impoverished condition, and then meekness or humility will inevitably follow. You see the flow then, and it is also worth noting that one will go through these various stages over and over again as they mature in Christ. We come now to see the next two beatitudes.

• Jesus speaks in the fourth place to the hungry and thirsty (6).
• Hunger and thirst are common themes in Scripture. They appear especially in the Psalms. They appear prominently in such places as Psalm 107:5, where he speaks of the redeemed of the Lord wandering in the wilderness in a desolate way. The theme of thirst appears in Psalm 42:1,2, where the psalmist cries out for the living God. They also appear in Isaiah 55:1,2. The larger picture in which these themes appear, of course, is in the desert during the Exodus where the Lord fed hungry and thirsty Israel with manna and water from the rock and quail. But the overwhelming sense one gets from a study of these and other passages is this: the hunger and thirst that underlies it all is a hunger and thirst for the Lord. Again we are reminded of our Lord's own experience in the desert when tempted to turn the stones into bread. There the Saviour replied by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
• It should be clear, then, that when Jesus speaks of hunger and thirst it is not for material food but spiritual. It is the Lord and his Word, indeed, the Lord and his righteousness that they seek and need most. And keeping before our eyes the flow of the Beatitudes, this is just what we would expect. He speaks of his disciples acknowledging their spiritual poverty and mourning for it and being humbled by it. Naturally then one would expect them to seek to remedy this poverty. They hunger and thirst for righteousness to fill the void left by sin. More than this, they long to be righteous actively. They see the Law of God as his revealed will, his revealed pattern of righteousness, and oh how they long to be conformed to it, to grow in their obedience to its righteous demands. They hunger and thirst for a righteous standing before God and they long for an life of active righteousness. And they faint for their longing.
• Now Jesus has good news for such hungry and thirsty disciples. They are happy because they shall be filled. The future tense here is not so much referencing a time in the future as a declaration of certainty. They shall be filled. Notice the passive tense as well-not that they will supply their own hunger and thirst but that their need will be met. The disciple is as the deer panting for living water-he or she thirsts for the living God. They are in a spiritual wasteland and they want to slake their thirst with living water which comes from Christ alone, his hunger and thirst with bread and wine and milk that have no price. They are free by the grace of God. He was lost, but this disciple has been found. He was dead from hunger and thirst, but now he is alive. In other words, he is saved by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. He is filled with righteousness, the righteousness of Christ and he is fully satisfied. The greek term actually is the word from which we get our word, gorged. The believer is one who is gorged, stuffed full of the righteousness of Christ.
• But be careful to note here the entirely gracious character of this righteousness. It is not something we work into ourselves, it is something we are given by God. And so here the grace of salvation is set forth plainly. We are unrighteous but we are given the righteousness of Christ as God's gift by grace through faith alone. And such as receive this righteousness are also transformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit into those whose lives are lived in a righteous way. We call this sanctification, and it takes time. But here in this fourth Beatitude we are promised, not just a legal imputed righteousness of Christ giving us acceptance with God, but an over time change from a life of sin to one of righteous living.
• Do you have this hunger, this thirst for righteousness? Is there beating within your breast a heart that aches for perfect conformity to the Law of God? You may even be a believer and yet you sense that things are not all they should be when it comes to your obedience. Do you desire Christ to come and fill you with his righteousness? If you do not, then I tell you that you have no true interest in Christ, and no part in his Kingdom. You are lost and you need to be saved. But if you have this hunger and thirst then you are either a believer indeed or you are now being called by Christ to come to him for eternal life, for the forgiveness of your sins. I urge you to go to him now and find in him the full satisfaction that you crave. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Trust in Christ alone and you will receive this righteousness of Christ, without which you must surely be condemned by God.
• Now, for those who do hunger and thirst for this righteousness, and who receive it by faith in Christ, there is a wonderful fruit to be found in you.
• The Lord Jesus next speaks in the fifth Beatitude to the merciful (7).
• What is mercy? The apostle John writes, in his first epistle, 4:19, writes, We love, because he first loved us. John means either that we love God or we love men, but most likely he means both. Because God has so loved us that he has given his only begotten Son to die for our sin, we then love both God and others round about us. It is not surprising to see, then, that the disciple who has been so loved, who has been mercifully forgiven of all his sin and filled with the righteousness of Christ, it is not surprising that this blessed one, this favoured man or woman, would then turn around and show mercy to others. Jesus himself says that if we forgive others we ourselves will be forgiven. In Jesus own life we read of him having pity upon the sick and crippled and upon the grieving widow of Nain whose only son died. This then is what mercy is. It is compassion or pity shown to those in need. The disciple of Jesus has been shown mercy by God and he in turn shows that mercy to others.
• And the one who understands that Christ has shown him or her his gracious mercy will need no urging to show mercy to another. It is part of the air he or she breathes in the Kingdom of God. And such mercy will be shown to the spiritual and physically needy. It will be shown to family, friends and even enemies. God has shown such mercy as to relieve his or her need. And in return such a one will do unto others, seeking nothing less than the most comprehensive relief they can supply to them. For they are debtors to mercy alone and how can they be less than merciful, then to another?
• Well, such, says Christ, as show mercy will themselves be happy. For they will receive mercy. In the divine economy the Lord has so arranged things that mercy begets mercy. If the disciple is merciful, and he will be if he is a disciple, then he will know mercy from the Lord. Solomon put it this way in Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. And we read in Psalm 126:6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him. When it comes to mercy, you cannot out give our God and Saviour. Show mercy and mercy will be shown you in return. Now, sometimes this is seen in this life. Sometimes the merciful receive special mercy from God as they live their lives here on earth. But for many, perhaps for most, this mercy will be especially precious in the last day as they realize the depth of their dependence upon the mercy of God as they witness the last judgment and receive, not the condemnation they deserve but the heaven and glory they do not. Instructive indeed are such passages as 2 Samuel 22:26a; James 2:13.
• A lot is revealed about us here. How do we treat others around us? There is an old saying-I am a creditor to no man but a debtor to all men. How do you see your neighbor. Do you see him or her as one in need of the mercy and love of God that you are uniquely gifted by God to show him? Or are you able to look past his need and never meet it? Again, the apostle John says to us, But whoever has this world's goods , and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? The one who has been shown much mercy will show mercy to others. But if you do not find it within you to show mercy to others, perhaps it is because you are a stranger to God's mercy. How is it between your neighbor and you? Are you merciful? Do you seek to meet needs you know he or she has or do you hide your eyes from that need? It is this quality of mercy that marks out a disciple of Christ.
• Most everyone here knows the parable of the unjust servant. He was forgiven by his Lord for a debt of what we would likely consider to be millions of dollars. But when on his way out from the conference with his Lord in which he received such mercy, he found a fellow servant that owed him about $5.00 (I am simplifying here, obviously, by making the currency distinctly modern). Do you recall what he did? He grabbed his fellow servant by the throat and demanded his $5.00, and failing to get it, threw him into prison till he could pay it. He did not show by his behaviour that he was shown mercy by his Lord. There are some here, it may well be, who have named the name of Christ as your Lord. You may sing of his mercy and perhaps shed a tear over his Cross. But you are empty of mercy toward others. You are able to see a fellow human being in need and turn away without thinking of how that need may be met. What mercy has truly been shown to you? Have you really known the mercy of Christ or have you only pretended and even deceived yourself. Again, this is not something you work up in yourself but rather it is produced by the Holy Spirit. If you have truly known the mercy of Christ then showing mercy toward others will be to you as normal as breathing or eating.

Conclusion

Again we are confronted by the marks of a disciple. If you are one who has truly believed in Jesus it will to one degree or another be true of you that you will hunger and thirst after righteousness and you will show mercy to others as you have been shown mercy. And God will make you a blessed believer by filling you with the righteousness of Christ and will show you mercy in the last day.

Again, let me address several classes among you:

1. If these marks of hungering and thirsting for righteousness and showing mercy do not appear in your life then there is a remedy for you in Jesus. You are empty and you must be filled with righteousness. You are yet in your sins and you need the mercy of God in the Cross of Jesus. If you do not see this need then ask God to show you your poverty of Spirit and to make you a hungry and thirsty person. That is a prayer he will not fail to answer if you truly desire it to be so. Or if you know your need, go to Jesus and ask him to save you from your sin, to feed you the bread of life and fill you with the water of life, to show you mercy. He is faithful who will also do it.
2. And to the children, let me simply say this to you: you know when things are not what they should be between you and Jesus. You know if you are a Christian or not by the way you live. If you are not living a life that would make Jesus happy, then go to him and ask him to make things right.

   But perhaps you do know what Jesus has done for you-that he suffered and died on the Cross in your place, to be punished for your sins, in your place. What Jesus wants you to do, dear children, is to go and be kind to someone else just as he has been kind to you. Forgive the ones who hurt your feelings, yes even that mean brother or sister! If Jesus loves you, then ask him to make you good like he is and then go love someone you know.

3. Finally, you who know something or at one time knew something, of this hunger and thirst for God and his righteousness, who know God has been merciful to you, become like little children. When things are not right between you and your Lord, ask him to make them right. And when you realize afresh that God has been good to you, that his mercy is new every morning, go love someone you know. Forgive that one who has spoken against you or hurt you so badly. And do it for Jesus sake.

God help us to never be satisfied with a little of Christ and his righteousness. God make us ever hungry and thirsty, every aware of his mercy. And God ever feed us with the food that endures unto everlasting life, that heavenly manna and living water that is Christ Jesus, even our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

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Rev. Arthur J. Fox, Pastor
10 Spruce Street
Middletown, PA 17057
(717) 944-5835