Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
24 sermons cite this verse
… the word blessed is interchangeable with the word happy. So you could just as easily say, happy are the poor in spirit, happy are the meek, happy are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and so forth. So keep that in mind as we read them again. Jesus is unlocking for us the secret to happiness. Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 2. He opened his mouth and taught them, that would be the disciples, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. We'll stop there. Let's review what we already discovered together. First of all, happy are the humble. …
… Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. We'll stop there. Let's review what we already discovered together. First of all, happy are the humble. Happy are the humble. Blessed are the poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit means you see yourself as you really are, spiritually destitute, A sinner in need of a savior. Number two, happy people are unhappy people, if you will. Blessed are they that mourn, verse four, for they shall be comforted. Contextually what this means is I see my sinful condition. I'm sorry for the way that I am. I'm sorry for the things I've said and things that I've done and I mourn over it. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance. …
Blessed are those who are continually hungering and thirsting after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that the road to real happiness and fulfillment is the one where there's real growth and maturity in the Lord. I think every Christian should look at themselves and say, I'm not content with where I'm at spiritually. There's more to change in my life. I need to become more like Jesus. When the lost are found This is the day for a new beginning Amazing grace how sweet the sound Can you hear all the angels are singing This is the day, the day when life begins Visitors to the Holy Land are often able to visit the hillside where it's thought Jesus indeed delivered the Sermon on the Mount. It's right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It's inspiring to imagine Jesus talking with His disciples and the others gathered there. Pastor Greg Laurie has been there many times. …
… Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Point number one. God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. There was a blessing that the priests were to pronounce over the people of Israel. And they would say, the Lord bless you. The Lord keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. God wants to bless you. Let me take it a step further. God loves to bless you. Sometimes we think God is stingy. He's holding back his blessings. Do you know a stingy person? …
… Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. So there are the first Beatitudes. And it's interesting that the word blessing is used again and again. You know, people use these words, even people who are not believers, they'll talk about blessings. Well, only the believer can genuinely experience blessing. I think sometimes we use the word bless to get rid of someone. and someone's talking too long, we say, great seeing you, God bless you. And it says, go away now, right? But here's point number one. God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. Jesus both began and concluded his earthly ministry blessing people. When he met those two downhearted disciples on the Emmaus Road, after he was crucified, we read that he blessed them. …
… That level of hunger God cannot resist That's why in the New Testament Jesus is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled That level of hunger when you just want to know who he is Where you just want to behold him it transforms you Now all of a sudden I'm staring at his holiness and I become holy. God says be ye holy for I am holy when you stare at God and you see the characteristics of who he is you cannot help but to be transformed into what you're staring at let's go to second Corinthians 3 and 18 this isn't unfamiliar but it talks about what happens when we with unveiled faces Oh unveiled faces. I took the mask off And I came into his presence with no mask on and I came into his presence with no pretenses And I came into his presence without pretending like I'm the strong friend that has everything together An unveiled face is not a perfect face an unveiled face may be a face that has some questions It may be a face that has some depression and maybe a face that has some anxiety But I still took that anxiety into the presence of God because I want to behold him I want to meet God where I really am not where I think I should be and if I'm gonna meet God where I really am I can't afford to pretend I came in here …
… Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the judgmental. Oh, no, that's not in there. Sorry, that's not it. It's actually blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Today, I'm going to preach from the Word of God with the help of His Spirit. From this title, allow joy to reintroduce himself. Allow joy to reintroduce himself. If we walked these Los Angeles streets and we started asking different people who taught the most important message on joy in human history, we would get all types of answers. …
… in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is not just to hunger and thirst for liberty and freedom in our nation, although that is an incredible blessing, amen? To hunger and thirst for righteousness is not just to want justice, it's not just to want equality, it's not just to want a good life. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to be hungry for Jesus. Here's what I mean. 2 Corinthians puts it this way, that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God. What does that mean? On the cross, Jesus exchanged his righteousness for our sinfulness. So we became the righteousness of God through relationship with Jesus. So to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to be hungry for him. …
… spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh i didn't even know and then i would read things like like in in in the beatitudes which says blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled meaning that if i would just get the right hunger then god would fill me with the right things I didn't know that. So I had a Britney Spears anointing. Oops, I did it again. That's her song, not her. That's her song, not her. Britney's a wonderful person. Oops, I did it again Here I am, oh Lord Standing in the need of prayer For the same thing Over and over And over And over again because I didn't know here's one more thing I'll say because I touched on the flesh and I'm just scratching the surface we'll see where we land today I used to eat fast food I very rarely very probably less than one percent of my diet is fast food now one I did a paper on it in college and I found out what is really going on with that fast food, and I got delivered real quick. …
… and our blessedness as well. So again, if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 through 12, and in the sermon, I've entitled the sermon, The Pursuit of Happiness. And you, of course, recognize that phrase. we're going to celebrate the document that comes from this summer, July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And you remember that one phrase. Most people don't remember the 27 statements to King George of the things we were unhappy with. What we remember is that preamble. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are, join me, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So the pursuit of happiness. So what is happiness exactly? And how do we pursue it? And what we're going to find is that Jesus offers us a very different path to happiness and really defines it differently than what we find in the world. So the word happy in Greek is actually in Latin is beatus. And this is where we get the name beatitude from. Beatus is the Latin word for happy or fortunate or blessed. …
… who says, you pray, and I respond. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. There's something about the hunger and the pursuit that affects dramatically how things happen in this life. I think sometimes we've been taught, I'm opening a can of worms now, which is a brilliant thing to do right at the end of a message. It's just absolutely brilliant. But I think sometimes we become so intensely committed to denying ourself, which we must do, that we actually deny the resurrected part of ourselves. In other words, it's the Christ in us. Some of the desires we have are actually the offspring of our relationship with God. And we continue to crucify the resurrected Christ in us to prove our devotion instead of proving devotion through obedience. I probably should end it right there just before I hurt anyone else. The Lord's put stuff in us. He's put dreams in us. They have to play out in His way. It's not me determining my future. …
Starving for God, but settling for DoorDash. Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And then he added, for they shall be filled. But there might need to be an asterisk on they will be filled because he might as well have said, They will be filled with a hunger and thirst for righteousness unless they shove a handful of chips in, unless they mindlessly scroll on TikTok. They will be filled unless they have a protein bar from Quest to grab because it tastes like cookie dough. Also, no, it doesn't. Another name for the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. But how can we ever interact with him if we're looking to food to do his job? And this book presents to us a different theological approach that can lead to a whole different way of thinking about eating. Okay, so what I'd like to do is just take a few moments and let's eat our way through the Bible. Starting in the beginning, when the first commandment is ever getting, you know what the first command is? …
… Blessed are the meek, for they'll inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be filled. Blessed are peacemakers that will be called sons of God. pure in heart, they will see God. All of these things that Jesus says, he talks about lust, he talks about adultery, he talks about greed, he talks about worry, he talks about everything. He covers the entire gamut of the human experience with authority and accuracy, all in these three chapters of Scripture. At the end of it all, in an attempt to sum it all up, he says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, streams rose, winds blew and beat against that house. I read all three of those trials, and I didn't see anything about the Devil. What I saw was life. I know there are intense periods where the enemy comes against us. I've had some of those. …
… happy are the meek you need to know this happy are those who mourn happy are those who long hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? Because what's Jesus doing? He's tearing down the idols. He's uncovering the lies. He's exposing the counterfeits. And here's how he does it. Here's, let's take the first one. Wealth. What's the live wealth? The live wealth says this, I'll be happy when I have enough. Live wealth says, I'll be happy when I have enough, I'll be taken care of. When I have enough, then I won't need any more. If I have enough money, then I can stop worrying. Now, again, obviously, finances are real. I mean, your kid's got to eat. So, like, this is real. But the lie is this. The counterfeit is this. That self-sufficiency equals safety. The lie is that self-sufficiency equals security. in the course of my life as a priest, I've come across, I mean, I've been, I've met a bunch of people across the socioeconomic spectrum. …
… When Jesus says, How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. That metaphor of hunger and thirst is powerful, isn't it? Because when you're really hungry, it is all preoccupying. It's what your body needs, what your body seeks and wants. When you're thirsty, especially, something dreadful about terrible thirst, that you need water now. So what is your soul hungry and thirsty for? Well, again, the souls of us sinners, power, pleasure, acceptance, you know. We run after all these foods for the soul that don't satisfy. Or think of the woman at the well, thirsty, right? Jesus says, you come every day to this well, you drink, but you get thirsty again because you're thirsting after all the wrong things. How blessed you are, happy, lucky you are, makarios, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness. What's righteousness? It's the path of God. It's the will of God. When you wake up in the morning, what do you want at the bottom of your soul? What do you want? …
… Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. These promises are in the future to emphasize that they'll be fully fulfilled one day. They will. But they're not meant to exclude real fulfillment today. Those who mourn don't have to wait until glory to experience real comfort in Jesus. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they don't have to starve until they get to heaven. They're waiting for the fullness of that promise to be fulfilled. But God's already fulfilling his promises to his children even now. I'm going to focus on one of those promises, verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. God, you shall and you do, I'm going to argue. You shall see him one day face to face, but you're already seeing him now. Through the eyes of faith, you have today the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price. You have him, you know him, you see him, even today. …
… than I do. Verse 53, she describes herself as hungry. Now, physical hunger is not the only kind of hunger. Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. You know when food tastes the best. When you're hungry, you might say it tastes the best when my kids are in bed. That's when dessert tastes the best. But when you're hungry, we did this 14er this summer when we were out in the mountains and climbed and praise God, I made it up with the kids and made it down with all the kids and no one was worse for the wear. And we did bring some snacks, which you do that and you're hungry. And we went to this little kind of dive cafe that was there in Buena Vista, and I had some amazing scrambled eggs. Wow. Because I was hungry. And a lukewarm glass of orange juice. Right from the carton. Food tastes good when you're hungry. It's to the hungry that God fills. …
Thank you to have a seat. So after this, after this, something will be different. After this, something will have changed. After this Mass, there is something that will never go back. By the end of this Mass, there is something that will never be the same. Right after this. even thinking about that after this after this life you know when it comes to after the afterlife when it comes to life after death there are so many questions and one of the questions people ask you know kids ask this all the time but some adults ask this they ask the question um will my will my pet be in heaven which is a good question i mean you love your pet you want to know if your pet will be in heaven and i think smart people wise people good people will say something along the lines of, well, if you need your pet to be happy in heaven, then you'll have your pet in heaven, which is a great answer. It's just such a good answer. And it's a good answer because the person offering the answer knows the truth. The truth is you won't need your pet to be happy in heaven. That here's the reality of that. But someone says, well, yeah, but like, will there be golf in heaven? Will my spouse be in heaven? Will my family be in heaven? Will my friends be in Who else will be in heaven? …
… Amen. Matthew 5, verse 6, in the Amplified Version, which is a version that describes what the words are saying, and it just says it more flourishingly and fully, and I just love this version. But in the Amplified, Matthew 5, 6 says, Blessed, joyful, nourished by God's goodness, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who actively seek right standing with God and for they will be completely satisfied. Psalm 8411, for the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Psalm 8110. This is God speaking. I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. This is our God. Psalm 36, 7 through 8 says, How precious is your steadfast love, O God. The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. …
… look at the beginning of Matthew 5 it says blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted sometimes the love of God is comforting you blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled sometimes God's love is him filling you up and so the question is never, does God love me? The question is, God, how am I experiencing your love in this season? Oh, man, when Peter, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked for him, to me, love is like, if Satan asks about me, you don't know me. You know what I'm saying, Jesus? Like, but that's not what he says. He says, I've prayed for you that your faith wouldn't fail you. So, sometimes love is saving you, but sometimes love is preparing you before you walk into the storm. Sometimes love stops the storm. Sometimes love tells you to be steady in the storm because the storm can't cease. And I want you to know that this is what I have come to believe about God, that God does not allow us to go through loss or separation or pain that he cannot in some way restore. And this goes back to that definition of restoration. Sometimes it's not getting the things back, right? Restoration is my soul being restored, my spirit being restored. God doesn't allow things to happen to me where His presence, His spirit, and His love can't restore me. So, that's like a little bit of a recap of the message, but you can go back on Sunday and check it, or go …
… Matthew 5. Blessed are those, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Oh, God. I feel like somebody's got to repent. Maybe it's just me. Because I've been hungry for some things. thirsty for some things for validation, for affirmation more hungry for it than I'm hungry for righteousness To look strong, to look like I don't need nobody. and I'm so hungry for it that I don't have capacity to be hungry for righteousness. And you cannot be filled unless you're hungry and thirsty for it. And we have such an apathetic generation. Where it's dangerous to care about anything. dangerous to be hungry for anything that is translated in our relationship with God. We long for his power. We long for his authority. But we don't want to do the work that allows us to have that. That work is holiness. it's righteousness it's to be serious not about just being a good church person but in my heart and my spirit whoo I want to look like God. …
… preaching one word today you'll see in a minute i'm preaching one word and either you grab it or you don't but it's one word i'm gonna read a lot but i'm preaching one word today matthew chapter five verse one through twelve listen at the beatitudes these supreme blessings matthew chapter five verse one through twelve new revised standard version reads like this when jesus saw the crowds he went up to the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him then he began to speak and taught them saying read it with me verse three blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness but they will be filled blessed are the merciful but they will receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were message bible let's read let's read let's read message bible message bible message bible here we go let's read one two three read when jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds he climbed …
… that the Bible is to you bread is to the natural man. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Do you know what the word blessed means? Let me tell you what the word blessed means. It's a Greek word, makarios, and it literally means happy or satisfied, content, to be congratulated, joyful. You can and roll them all into one, and you have the idea of this word, blessed. Now notice what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. How many people do you know today that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The green pastures of His Word, the still waters of His Spirit. How many people do you know that have a hunger for the Word and a thirst for the Spirit? How many? Well, not many. Now let me ask you another question. How many people do you know? Not many. Now listen, what He said is this. He did not say, blessed are those who seek after blessedness. Happy are those who seek after happiness. He said, happy are those who seek after righteousness. Let me tell you something. The most unhappy people in the world are the people who are trying to be happy. Did you know that? …
… out of the mouth of God, that the Bible is to you what bread is to the natural man. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Do you know what the word blessed means? Let me tell you what the word blessed means. It's a Greek word, makarios, and it literally means happy, or satisfied, content, to be congratulated, joyful. You can take many words and roll them all into one, and you have the idea of this word blessed. Now notice what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. How many people do you know today that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The green pastures of His Word, the still waters of His Spirit. How many people do you know that have a hunger for the Word and a thirst for the Spirit? How many? Well, not many. Now let me ask you another question. …