1. We have been studying the beatitudes uttered by Jesus and their importance to the Christian life. We are ready to study the fourth beatitude that is greatly needed in our time. Too many people have forgotten it or never knew it. They do not long and yearn for many things, but not for righteousness.

2. A certain man once had a faithful dog and the two loved to roam the fields together. When lunch time came the man shared his lunch with the dog and they both drank out of the same spring. They were right together up to this point, but this was as far as they could go in sharing. The man loved music, but the dog did not share that love. The man loved the twenty-third psalm, but the dog could not enjoy it. The man prayed, but the dog knew nothing of prayer. God has made man so he has dreams and desires higher than those of a dog. He hungers and thirsts for higher and better things.

3. Jesus, recognizing this wonderful fact, said: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matt. 5:6).

Hunger and thirst are not lukewarm urges. They soon become, if not satisfied, gnawing pains and so intense that a crust of bread or a drop of water are more valuable than gems.

1. Esau, after hunting in the field, was so hungry that he thought he would die if his appetite was not gratified and he sold his valuable birthright for some bread and a mess of pottage. (Gen. 25:29-34).

2. 2 Kings 6:25 records that once during a Samaritan famine that hunger and thirst became so great that a donkey's head sold for $40.00 and dove's offal (waste) was used as food for humans.

3. Agur, realizing the power of these urges, prayed he might never be poverty stricken that he would be led to steal and perhaps even speak evil of God's name. (Prov. 30:9).

4. Josephus, the Jewish historian, reported that in 70 AD when the Romans seized Jerusalem that these urges became so intense that parents were even eating their children that they might survive.

5. Some years ago survivors of an airplane crash in the Andes Mountain in South America lived off of the corpses of their dead comrades. The gnawing pains of hunger led to cannibalism.

Jesus taught we are to "hunger and thirst after righteousness."

1. We are to have an intense longing to be right with God.

• We would exclaim as David did. (Psa. 42:1).

• We are to long for righteousness knowing this is the purpose of our existence. (Eccles. 12:13).

• We are to long for righteousness knowing that unless we are right with God we shall spend eternity in torment. (Matt. 25:46).

 2. This "righteousness" is not attained through meritorious works, but through Jesus who died in our stead. (Isa. 53:5,6).

• Isaiah teaches that Christ became our substitute. The righteousness of Jesus was not transmitted to sinners any more than the cleanliness of a mother can be transmitted to her muddy or sooty child. The mud and soot of our sins were laid on Jesus, leaving us clean and white and right.

• The Father is by grace willing to pardon us, to reckon us righteous if we through faith will accept Christ and the atonement He made for us.

 3. This faith in Christ, which saves a man, is more than merely believing that Christ lived and died on the cross. It includes obedience to Christ. (Lk. 6:46; Jno. 15:14; Heb. 5:9).

• This faith in Christ will lead a person to repent. (Lk. 13:3, 5; Acts 3:19).

• This faith in Christ will lead a person to openly confess Christ before men. (Matt. 10:32,33; Mk. 8:38; Rom. 10:10).

• This faith in Christ will lead a person to the waters of baptism where a person receives the remission of sins through the blood of Christ. (Acts 2:38; 22:16).

• This faith even goes beyond baptism. It prompts a person to put off the works of the flesh and live a new life in the service of God.

• Paul said. (Rom. 12:9)

• Paul said. (Gal. 5:16, 22-23).

• Paul emphasized this in his epistle to the Colossians. (Col. 2:12; 3:1,2, 5-10, 12-17).

Jesus promised that those who will hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. By this He meant they will be made right with God.

1. They will be made right in regard to the past. God will blot out their sins and remember them no more. (Heb. 8:12).

2. They will also be made right in regard to the present. When they sin and fall short of the glory of God, they can go to the Advocate with the Father who will obtain their forgiveness. (1 Jno. 1:9).

3. Those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness will also be made right in regard to the future.

• They will spend eternity in the bliss God has prepared for the righteous

• They shall never hunger and thirst any more. (Rev.7:16).

• Their needs and spiritual desires shall be fully satisfied.

1. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be able to say in this life and the life to come. (Psa. 23).

2. A skilled, dedicated Scottish physician once passed away. When he died, his books were examined. Across certain accounts he had written these words in red ink, "Forgiven - too poor to pay." His wife felt differently and she sued to collect. The judge asked her the question, "Is this your husband's handwriting in red ink?" "Yes," she answered. The judge said, "Then there is not a tribunal in the land which can obtain the money where he has written, "Forgiven."

• That is what Jesus does for those who come to Him. In spite of all their sins, in spite of all the charges of Satan, He writes with His precious blood, "Forgiven - too poor to pay" and not even Satan can change this fact.

• Won't you give your life to Jesus? Jesus says, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst at any time." (Jno. 6:35). Come now as we sing.