What Are You Hungry For?

Text: Matt. 5:6 (PPHC – 1/7/07 P.M.)

·         “The foundational requirement for all godly living is to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.”                                                                 Dr. Donald Stamps

I. A Foundational Requirement

 A. In Moses  (Exod. 33:13,18)

·         (13) Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” (18) And he said, “Please, show me Your GLORY.”

B. The Psalmist  (Ps. 63:1-4)

·         1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

  1. Not only wanted God in his personal life but he wanted to see God assert Himself in power in the sanctuary (to convict and save sinners).

C. The Apostle Paul  (Phil. 3:10)

·         (10) “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (to know His life-changing power, the deliverance of sin, and the power of the Holy Ghost).

II. Your Spiritual Condition Is Dependent On Your Hunger/Thirst For:

 A. The Presence of God  (Deut. 4:29)

·         But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

 B. The Word of God  (Ps. 119)

  1. A person that does not love the Word of God does not care for the instruction of God. They asre rebellious and are running headlong into a world of trouble. (READ 1-24)

 C. The Communion of Christ  (Phil. 3:8-10)

·         (8) 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 (9) 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; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

D. The Fellowship of the Spirit

·         Jn. 7:37-39 – (37) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. (38) He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (39) But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  (hewn out broken cisterns)

 E. Righteousness  (Matt. 5:6)

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

 F. Kingdom Power  (Matt. 6:33)

·         But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (compare with what the Gentiles sought)

 G. The Return of the Lord  (2 Tim. 4:8)

·         Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (If Christ were to come today, it would interrupt / inconvenience our plans!)

III. The Christian’s Hunger / Thirst Destroyed By:

A. Worldly Anxiety & the Deceitfulness of Riches  (Matt. 13:22)

·         Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

 B. The Desire for Things and Worldly Pleasures  (Luke 8:14)

·         Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

 C. The Failure to Abide in Christ  Jn. 15:4 (Note)

·         Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

·         When a Christian’s hunger / thirst dies, it will not be long, they will also die. (A baby that quits drinking; it's only a matter of time before dehydration sets in and is in danger of death.)

·         For this reason, we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s convicting work in our lives.

·         Those who consistently hunger and thirst “shall be filled”.