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Grace Bible Church
Glorifying God
by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
A reminder to consider others
Please:
 Turn off your cell phone or set
to vibrate only
 Use the nursery or cry room if
your child is fussy
 Get up during the preaching
only if absolutely necessary
(please sit in back if you must
leave early)
Blessed are Those Who Hunger
and Thirst for Righteousness
Matthew 5:6
Hunger for the World
•Because man is sinful by nature, he
hungers for sin and can easily pervert
what is legitimate to desire
Physical Pleasure
•God made man with five senses each of
which can bring pleasure when pursued
and fulfilled properly
•Smell - John 12:3
•Taste - Proverbs 24:13
•Sight - Psalm 34
•Hearing - 1 Chron. 15:16, Prov. 25:25
Physical Pleasure
•Intimacy in marriage - Song of Solomon,
Proverbs 5:18-19
•Man perverts physical pleasure into the
“lust of the flesh” (1 John 2:16) gluttony, immorality
•Confusing a physical relationship with
love distorts both and trades a beautiful
gift from God for a facade
Physical Pleasure
•Scripture warns the fornicator, adulterer
and sexually perverse - Leviticus 18; 1
Corinthians 6:9-10
•God tells us to flee youthful lust &
immorality and instead pursue
righteousness (1 Cor. 6:18; 2 Tim. 2:22)
Materialism
•Job, Abraham and David were all very
godly men who were extremely wealthy
in their time
•Proverbs 13:22 commends those who
leave an inheritance to their
grandchildren
•Love of money, not money itself, is the
root of all sorts of evil - 1 Timothy 6:10
Materialism
•Life is not a game, your stuff will own
you, and you leave your toys behind
when you die
•It will all burn (2 Peter 3:10-12), so lay
up your treasures in heaven instead of
on earth (Matthew 6:20)
Power
•Parents (Prov. 19:18), government
(Rom. 13:4) & church leaders 1 Pet. 5:2)
each have a proper authority
•Pride motivates the quest for power and
control so that life will be good and
fulfilling
•People tend to rise to their level of
incompetence & and at best positions
are only held a short time
Power
•God resists the proud Nebuchadnezzar - but gives grace to the
humble
•When the world does not satisfy, many
people turn to alcohol and drugs to
numb the pain
•Proverbs 31 - alcohol and drugs pervert
judgment, they are for those who have
no hope
Caution
Hebrews 12:1-2
•We are to lay aside both sin and
anything that encumbers us in the race
of life & faith
•Ephesians 5:16 - redeem the time in
making your short life count for the
cause of Christ
The Pursuit of Happiness
•Happiness is like a rainbow - you can
only enjoy it while it is there, & it moves
farther away if you pursue it
•Ecclesiastes 1 & 2 - Solomon
understood by experience the futility of
pursuing pleasure
•Blessedness cannot be pursued for it is
the by product of having particular
character traits
Hunger for Righteousness
Matthew 5:6
•Righteousness is the motivation and
objective of the believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ
•The righteousness cannot be attained
by lineage, works or deeds - Isaiah 64:6
•Righteousness is conformity with God’s
moral law of being holy as He is holy (1
Peter 1:16)
Hunger for Righteousness
Matthew 5:6
•Jesus is the example of righteousness John 14:9; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3
•Hungering and thirsting with the intensity of
one who is starving and dehydrated
•It is the logical response to being poor in
spirit, mourning over sin and being meek
Five Marks of Hungering & Thirsting
for Righteousness
1) Dissatisfaction with self
2) Freedom from dependence on
external things for satisfaction
3) A craving for the Word of God and to
be in prayer
Five Marks of Hungering & Thirsting
for Righteousness
4) Finding pleasure in the things of God
in all circumstances
5) Unconditional desire for
righteousness
Being Filled with Righteousness
•Hebrews 12:14 - without holiness, no
man shall see the Lord
•Only God can make you holy, and that
is what He does through Jesus Christ
•We confess and believe in Jesus (Rom.
10:9-10), and become the righteousness
of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21)
Being Filled with Righteousness
•Salvation is by God’s grace through
faith as a gift of God - but it only the
humble will receive the gift
•It continues in sanctification throughout
life in the desire ever more be like
Jesus
•Its ultimate fulfillment will be at
glorification when become like Christ (1
John 3:2)
Grace Bible Church
Glorifying God
by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ