{Ep.135} The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness

 In this episode, we dive deep into Matthew 5:6, where Jesus declares, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." But what does righteousness truly mean? We explore the various interpretations, from positional righteousness through Christ to living a life in conformity with God's will. Are you craving spiritual experiences, or are you truly hungry for righteousness? Join us as we uncover what it means to passionately pursue righteousness and why it's as vital as food and drink for the believer’s soul. 

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Transcript

Kevin Wilson (00:02.478)
Welcome back to the thinking out loud podcast. My name is Kevin Wilson and this is your first time listening to this podcast. I just want to say welcome to you and really appreciate you listening to us today. And so we have been in the series, the Beatitudes. talking about the sermon on the Mount and what a blessing this

has been just, and I would say humbling, right? Because you read these scriptures on the surface and it's not until you study these scriptures that you truly find the richness and the depth for which Jesus is truly trying to get us to understand, right? Like it's just not this surface.

life that we are supposed to live, but it's rich, it's deep, it's meaningful, it's intentional. I mean, it's all the things. And I am so, so grateful that God, you know, as we, as we continue in our relationships with God, God continues to show us deeper and deeper levels of, of himself and,

you know, ways that we can change and truly look and be the image of his son. And so I just, I'm so grateful. and I'm, I'm really hoping and praying that you, have went through this series so far and have been encouraged and you've been blessed. You've been challenged. it's just, it's, it's amazing.

And today will be no different. We're going to jump right in. And we're at Matthew, chapter five and verse six. So we're at Matthew, chapter five and verse six. And this is Jesus. And as I said on almost every single episode up until now is. It is astounding.

Kevin Wilson (02:27.52)
what Jesus has decided to say and what Jesus felt was so important for us to know that he took time to teach the sermon and really break down who he blesses. I think in society we see so many things, right? We see so many people that we would deem are, quote, blessed. And, you know, Jesus kind of

He kind of puts that in perspective, right? He kind of just says, all right, I understand that there is a norm in society, but you know what? God's kingdom is always an upside down kingdom in this world. Like it's never what the norm is. It's never what's trending. It's never what's, it's always counter cultural. And a lot, and the reason for that is those of us who are Christian, we are not of this world.

I want to remind you of that, as we have election season coming up and some of the things that are happening, you have to understand that you are not of this world. You are just a pilgrim that is traveling through this life. You have a kingdom that you are a part of that is not of this world. And you Christian and.

Me Christian, we are to be beacons of light in the midst of this ever darkening world and culture. And Jesus spends so much time with us really breaking down what that looks like to be a light. Like what that looks like to be counter-cultural, what it looks like to be that

person that God has called us to be and the only way that we truly can have an effect in the world. Because there are so many people, there are nice people, there are people who in our society we would say are good people. But Jesus is trying to take us deeper than being this surface good person. And he's wanting us to tap into him, tap into what he's calling us to.

Kevin Wilson (04:55.126)
so that we can truly flourish, so that we can truly experience the gifts that God has planned for us and also so that we can truly bear fruit. Right? I was talking to somebody at work recently and just witnessing to them and just talking to them about Jesus. And I said, you know, because they were, they're just struggling.

They're just struggling with their faith right now and they keep talking of going back to their parents and their grandparents. And I said to them, said, you know, religion is one thing and you, you you've grown up to see religion. You've grown up to see, you know, the rights and the wrongs, what you should do, what you shouldn't do and to be a quote, good person. But what you're missing and what you're, you don't have a good example of likely is.

relationship with Jesus. That relationship with Jesus changes you and when you have a relationship with Jesus things like the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, those things speak to you deeper than just surface level goodness. This is drawing out the fact that we are utterly deprived of Jesus and utterly deprived of God.

And we need him. And the only way that we're able to actually do the things that we're reading about and we're studying about in this series is that we are connected to Jesus and we're spending time with him and that we are moving away from the chaos of this life. Do you realize there's a, there's a way to not.

be caught up, right? Like you realize that you can turn your TV off. You realize that you can change the channel. You realize that you can get off of social media. You realize that you could turn your phone off and turn all the alerts and things that you get for all the things that's happening in the world. And I just want to encourage you, you don't have to do those things.

Kevin Wilson (07:15.214)
People say, but what are you just Kevin? Are you just going to live in the bubble? No, you're going to spend that time instead of spending all of your time worrying and fretting and doubting and wondering and hoping and wishing and all of those things. You're going to spend that time that you would normally spend on all of that in the stuff that we've been talking about for the last few weeks. You're going to spend your time in this, in this place where you can grow with God.

where you can truly move into that place that God has called you to move into. So you can truly be happy. So that you can experience this life that always seems so, I don't know, it seems like it's unreachable, it's unattainable. You read your scripture and you just go, huh? Like you go that man, really sounds good, but what does that practically look like?

on a Tuesday morning or a Thursday morning or a Friday morning. Like, what does that look like? Well, Jesus is opening up his wisdom and his knowledge and his mind to say, this is what that looks like. But you have to give yourself time. You have to give your set aside time to be able to meditate on it, to be reflective, to

ask yourself and look at your own self in light of scripture. I have to look at my own self in light of these scriptures that I'm teaching you.

Kevin Wilson (08:56.206)
So today we're going to talk about hungering and thirsting after righteousness. it's so good. It's so good. Matthew five and six says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Well, here's, here's, here's a question that I have for you.

When you think about the word righteousness, what comes to mind for you?

Just think about it. What, when I say the word righteousness and you hear the word righteousness or read it in your Bible, what, what, what does that word say to you? Like what comes out and what were other words pop up in your mind, maybe as synonyms or, things that you feel deeply that righteousness is. Sometimes people.

view righteousness as prudish or legalistic, right? They're thinking about just doing the right thing all the time. they're just saying, Hey, I, I, this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to do the right thing. And yes, we are supposed to do the right thing. Others look at this as positional righteousness. So it's kind of something that they look at righteousness as something detached from themselves.

Right? They look at them, they look at righteousness as well, but Jesus is righteous. Kevin, I'm not righteous. I can't be righteous on my own. And that's so very true. We can't be righteous on our own. So some of us look at righteousness as something that's kind of detached from us. It's like, that's like Jesus, he's righteous. And because he's come into my heart, then that makes me righteous, but it's still something that's kind of

Kevin Wilson (10:58.946)
like kind of out there, it's kind of like detached from me. And I kind of let God do his thing. Right. And the reason why I say it that way and I, I explain it that way is because subconsciously that's how we view righteousness sometimes. And we'll go deeper in that in just a little bit.

Some people have even stated that righteousness in Matthew refers to the vindication of the downtrodden and the afflicted But in all of these cases like all of the things that I just said that righteousness may look like You have to understand basically what what we see is that righteousness itself is multifaceted

So what was Jesus talking about when he began to speak about us hungering and thirsting after righteousness? And as you know, and I say this on every show that I that I've done so far on this, Dr. D.A. Carson does a really good job talking about this. And I'm to read you an excerpt of what Dr. Carson said. He says people chase from preacher to preacher.

And from conference to conference seeking some vague blessing from on high, they hunger for spiritual experience. They thirst for the conscience of God. Man, that's deep right there. If we could do a whole thing on that, but how many hunger and thirst for righteousness. Think about that. Think about like.

how much we think about and want revival. You hear that a lot. You hear that like just thrown around. Like, man, I just, can't wait. We just want revival to hit our church. We want revival to hit our city or our country or the world. Like you hear this groan and this cry for revival. And for some people, when they think about righteousness,

Kevin Wilson (13:18.666)
And Dr. D.A. Carson does well when he says people chased from preacher to preacher and from conference to conference seeking some vague quote blessing from on high. They hunger for spiritual experience. There are so many people now that are hungering for a spiritual experience, but it's not hungering for righteousness.

So much we hunger for amazing worship service or an amazing sermon or amazing, you know, you know, people in some circles, it's like, man, you know, I I'm searching for revival. I'm praying for revival, but revival sometimes to people is falling out in the spirit and running around the church and doing all the things that we've seen and it has been labeled as revival.

But I would submit to you that revival has nothing to do with running around the church and it has everything to do with us understanding our utter dependence and our utter need for God.

And in turn, what happens, it causes us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We hunger and thirst after God who is righteous. Right? Like that's what we do. And I promise you, if the church as a whole, if us in our homes, if we searched and we

thirst for righteousness?

Kevin Wilson (15:11.062)
Revival would hit our homes, would hit our churches, and in turn, it would hit our cities and our countries and our world.

Kevin Wilson (15:24.312)
But a lot of times we don't hunger for that. A lot of times, and I get caught up in this as well, we hunger for entertainment. We hunger for, you know, the next thrill.

Kevin Wilson (15:38.946)
Dr. D.A. Carson goes on to say, but how many hunger and thirst for righteousness? This is not to argue that the other things are not desirable, but rather that they are not as basic as righteousness. It is with good reason that this is the fourth beatitude. The man, listen to this.

I love this so much because this covers everything we've talked about over the past few weeks. All right, and this woe it weaves all of that in together and you will see this next statement that I'm gonna make You're going to see how each one of these Beatitudes Weave together. Okay, so the man marked by poverty of spirit

Matthew 5 and 3 remember we talked about that blessed are the poor in spirit right the man marked by poverty of spirit who grieves over Oversend personal and social Matthew 5 and 4 and Approaches God and man with meekness Matthew 5 and 5 Must also be characterized as hungry and thirsty

for righteousness, Matthew five and six. So there's this progression that happens. If you are poor in spirit and you realize your poverty, your poverty of spirit, right? I realize my poverty of spirit. And then I grieve blessed all those who mourn and I grieve over my sin, personal sin, but also the sin.

that surrounds us in our world. And then the Bible says blessed are the meek and I approach God with meekness and my fellow brother and sister with meekness and those that are in the world with meekness. Then I'm going to be characterized as a person who's hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

Kevin Wilson (18:03.362)
The words that are translated here as hunger and thirst, they literally describe someone who is dying of starvation and somebody who is literally in danger of death.

through hydration or dehydration. Right. So think about that. When, when, when Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, he's basically saying blessed are those who are dying of starvation for righteousness. Blessed are those who, if they don't have it, if they can't get it,

which you can, but if you couldn't get it, you would die because you thirst for it so much.

Think about it this way. OK, think about when you were a kid and say your mom or your dad or whoever you were living with, like say they were they cooked for you. OK. And say they cook something that you didn't like. Right. Because, you know, I mean, I was listen, I'm a more a way more picky eater today than I was when I was a kid. I didn't like I didn't like a lot of the things that my mom cooked, not because she was a bad cook. She's an amazing cook.

But I was a kid and I was like, I don't like lamb, lima beans. I don't like peas. I don't like green bean. I just didn't like vegetables. Right. I like vegetables today. I don't like some of them, but I have I like more vegetables today than I did then. But think about it. Think about how you sometimes your mom would make something or your dad or whoever you really were. It would make something. And.

Kevin Wilson (19:54.196)
you like you'd be fussy about it. You're like, I, I, mommy, I don't want to eat that. And remember, you know, they might say, you know, after you're being fussy about it and stuff like that, and they say, well, you don't have to eat it. Right. Like this is what I cooked. This is what I've I've made for tonight. So if you don't want to eat it, then you're not going to eat. No, you're not going to have cereal. No, you're not going to have cookies.

No, you're not going to have anything. If you want food, you're going to have to eat. What I made tonight. And a lot of times they would follow that up by saying, if you get hungry enough, you'll eat it. Right. And I would, I would submit that that is a lot of the issues that we find in our lives today. Right.

We're just not hungry enough. Right? We, we, we, we, we, we're just not hungry enough. Right? It just like that plate that that little kid, that little kid, or maybe that kid was you that you didn't eat when you were a child and your parents had to say to you, Hey, you know what? I know you don't like this, but this stuff's good for you. You should probably eat it.

And the reason why you had the luxury of not eating that is because you didn't get hungry enough. promise you kids that are starving in third world countries. don't care what you put in front of them. They're going to eat it. Why? Because they're starving. And this is what Jesus is saying about hungry and thirsting after righteousness. He's saying those who

truly, truly hunger and thirst after righteousness, they're going to be filled. So you have to ask yourself, you say, but Kev, I want to do better. want to, I want the will of God for my life. I just, I want all that God has for me. My question to you is, are you hungry enough?

Kevin Wilson (22:12.526)
Right. I think about my my wife. Just recently, she made these she made these these potatoes, these rusted, you know, Russ, I don't know. I don't know what you call them like they were roasted, definitely roasted, but they were like roasted potatoes. Amazing, amazing potatoes. OK, so I had potatoes, I had chicken and she put this really good rub on the chicken. It was amazing.

And then I had a plate of mixed veggies. Well, I'm allergic to corn, so my sweet wife picked out, picked out all the corn from the mixed veggies. And I was left with green beans, peas and carrots. Now, I don't like peas. OK. And I think about my plate that night and I think about how I eat the chicken.

and I ate the potatoes. Love them both. But you know what? I probably had two or three green beans and just threw the rest of the vegetables away.

Kevin Wilson (23:25.058)
That is the same analogy that I can make about how we are in our spiritual lives. Right? We, we, we, we, here's the thing. We know what we need. We know that we need to seek after the righteousness of God. We know that we need to hunger after the righteousness of God, but because we fill our

plates with so many other things. We're able to continue to scrape the things that we actually need in the trash. We continue to not read our Bibles. We continue sometimes to not pray. We continue sometimes to put things in before God. Why? Because we are filling ourselves on things. It's not that we're not full.

Right? It's not that we're not full just like that plate because I ate the chicken and the potatoes. Right? I felt full. So I felt like I didn't need the vegetables when in all actuality, that was the very thing that I needed. It's one of the most important things on that plate.

And so often as Christians, we all fall into this, right.

We keep going back to the same addictions, to the same hangups, to the same relationships, the same friendships, the same mindsets, the same things.

Kevin Wilson (25:10.7)
that we know aren't getting us anywhere.

The issue is that we're filling our plates with too much of the world. We're filling our plates with too much of things that are not God. So when God comes along, when we get a nudge from the Holy Spirit, we're too full of the things, the other things in our life. And we just kind of scrape that into the trash.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And we're going to break down.

What real righteousness when he talks about righteousness, what does that mean? Listen, we hunger after spiritual maturity. We hunger after happiness. We hunger after the spirit's power. We also hunger after effective witnessing skills. We hunger after God's blessings and his favor and his protection and his mercy.

But how many of us?

Kevin Wilson (26:35.99)
including Kevin, hunger truly after righteousness.

Kevin Wilson (26:46.036)
Dr. D.A. Carson goes on to say this. is not that he wants to be a little bit better. Less or still less that he thinks of righteousness as an optional luxury to add to his other graces. Rather, he hungers and thirsts for it. He cannot get along without righteousness. It is as important to him as food and drink. Most people.

who read these lines have experienced very little hunger and thirst. I myself am not old enough to have undergone the privations many experienced during the Great Depression or the last World War. Dr. Carson goes on to say, however, two or three times during the 60s when I was a student first at university and then at seminary, I ran out of money and food at the same time.

And there are some of us that are that are listening to this and they say, yeah, I've been there before. I know, I know what that looks like, but think about it. No, we do. No, we haven't. If you've ran out of food or if you've ran out of water, if you ran out of whatever, if you live in America and you have family or you have friends and you might be a broke college student, but it takes two seconds to get on the phone with your parents or to get on the phone with your friends, parents, or to get on the phone with whoever. Right.

You really don't know what it means to truly starve. Thank God. Right. Thank God. But a lot of us, were. But the issue is if we did while we were in college, I promise you it was because we had too much pride and we didn't want to say to somebody, hey, could you could you give me a couple extra bucks to make it to the end of this month? Right. man.

Dr. D. Carson goes on to say, too proud to ask for help and wanted to see if God would really supply what I needed. I drank water to keep my stomach from rumbling and carried on as usual. After two or three days, I began to understand what it is to be hungry. The norms of the kingdom require that men and women be hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

Kevin Wilson (29:14.403)
This is so basic to Christian living that Dr. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to be one of the most blessed statements of the whole of scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian.

If it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again. Wow. That's, that's, that's powerful. So what is righteousness? What is this righteousness that Jesus is talking about in Paul's epistles? Righteousness can refer to the righteousness of Christ, which God reckons to the believers account, even as God reckons the believers sin.

to Jesus Christ. But think about this, if that were the righteousness, so the righteousness that Paul talked about in his epistles, and we talked about that a little bit earlier when we talking about positional righteousness, if Jesus, when he said, are those, or blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, if Jesus was actually talking about positional righteousness, well, then Jesus would have said,

Right. He would have been inviting those unbelievers, right. To pursue the righteousness that God gives by virtue of Christ's death. Right. That's what he would have been inviting, but he, but he didn't. Right. So, so, so, so what was Matthew when he was

Hearing this and he was seeing what Jesus was saying and Jesus was talking to the crowd What was he talking about when he was talking about righteousness? How could this righteousness be different? Well, I can tell you this that

Kevin Wilson (31:23.552)
Matthew's use of the term increasingly recognized Dr. D.A. Carson goes on to say that righteousness means a pattern of life in conformity to God's Righteousness thus includes within its semantic range all the derivative or specialized meanings but cannot be reduced to any one of them.

Remember we said that righteousness was multifaceted. The person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, then hungers and thirsts for conformity to God's will. He is not drifting aimlessly in a sea of empty religiosity. Right? And this sometimes sadly is where a lot of Christians live. Still less is he

puttering about distracted by inconsequential trivia. Rather, his whole being echoes the prayer of a certain Scottish saint who cried, God, make me just as holy as a pardoned sinner can be. Think about that. God, make me just as holy as a pardoned sinner.

can be.

Basically, he said, God, I understand. I understand that I'm not going to be perfect in this life, but make me as holy as possible.

Kevin Wilson (33:10.072)
This is, this is the cry. when Jesus says, it are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. This is a person who's literally saying God, I know that there is going to be a process of sanctification in my life. I know that there's going to be holiness that you're going to work out. And that's that process, that process is going to be enacted.

And it's going to be ever growing and ever developing in my life until I die.

Jesus

Kevin Wilson (33:53.698)
Can you just make me and help me to be as holy as possible? Like, like how many of us live moment by moment, day by day, season by season in our life, asking God.

to make us as holy as possible. When we're getting cut off on the freeway, when we're arguing with our spouse, when we're trying to make it to that next position at work, or we're trying to attain whatever in this life, is our desire to be as holy as possible with God's help?

Kevin Wilson (34:42.176)
I promise you that when we pursue righteousness in this way, our lives will radically affect the people around us. think like, think about it, you know, and I know you precious, precious people out there. I, I know you guys, you're like, man, I just want to serve God. just want to be who God's called me to be. I just want to fulfill God's purpose for my life and all those things. Like we have these desires.

But I promise you, if you really begin to put into practice the things that we've talked about over the past weeks, this is going to radically, not only change your life, but when your life changes, it's going to radically change the lives of people around you. Why? Because you're in relationship with those people. Think about how your marriage will be different. Think about how

the how you interact with your children, whether they're still adolescents or they're grown. Think about how this is going to change your relationship with people at work and your job and your boss and the people at your church and your core groups and the how you like, think about that.

Kevin Wilson (36:02.9)
You can't give God more of yourself and not become more like God. And the more you become, the more you become like God and his character and his righteousness, the more that is going to change the atmosphere and the, and the things around you. And I don't mean that in a weird new agey way. I mean that in a very biblical, biblically sound way.

Kevin Wilson (36:38.178)
This is the opposite of how sometimes we live when we live in this world of how much can I get away with and still go to heaven? How far can I go to the edge? Well, God, if I don't read my Bible and I don't pray or do you still love me? Well, yeah, he loves you, but he is our, his heart aches and his heart breaks because he goes, you, you're not experiencing all that I have for you. Cause remember, and I've said this on this show before many times,

Prayer is not for God. Prayer is for us. God already knows what you're going to say before you say it. Even 40 years from now. He knows what you're going to pray 40 years from now. He already knows that.

So the prayer is not for him. Prayer is for us. Right? If you don't read your Bible, is Jesus going to fall off of his throne because you didn't read your Bible? No. But you know who's going to suffer? Not God. Us. We suffer. Because the Holy Spirit then can't bring back those things to our remembrance.

How is the Holy Spirit going to bring a scripture to your remembrance that you've never read before?

Right? Those times when you are, you are in deep, maybe depression or something is happening in your life, or you are facing something and you just need a word from God. You just need some encouragement. The Bible is chalk full of encouragement.

Kevin Wilson (38:28.854)
And the way that encouragement comes back into your life.

Is that you've already read it. It gets ingrained in your heart. It's in, gets ingrained in your spirit. I challenge you and I encourage you to read your Bible every day. Right. And even if it's every weekday, read it. I have made a commitment in my life and to God, I will read my Bible.

whether it's reading, listening, whatever, I am going to get the word into me. Every.

day, at least every day of the work week. So five days a week, I am going to absorb the word of God no matter what.

And when you do that, right. And a lot of people have church on Sundays and you know, you're hearing the word there, you're meditating on the, on the, know, the message, whatever the case may be. Some of you have Saturday church, right? So you, you have that. And that's why I say, you know, five days a week, whatever, sometimes weekends get busy, all that, right. There's all the excuses for the weekend. So I just say, you know what, if you could do that Monday through Friday. All right. Just, you know, and commit.

Kevin Wilson (39:58.191)
And even if you need to start little, you want to do like a day or two or something like that a week, whatever it is, just get into the word.

Kevin Wilson (40:13.038)
Dr. A. Carson goes on to say, his delight is the word of God. For where else is God's will so true to which he hungers to be conformed?

Kevin Wilson (40:29.25)
He wants to be righteous, not simply because he fears God, but because righteousness has become for him the most imminently desirable thing in the world.

Kevin Wilson (40:45.622)
And the result, well, the Bible says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The context demands that we understand the blessing to mean will be filled with righteousness. Isn't that amazing? Right? No, no, no. It's like, no, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. And sometimes we hear that we put our own definition of what we're going to be filled with.

Well, I'm going to be filled with blessing. Well, I'm going to be filled with favor and I'm going to be filled with God's going to bring me all the things that I've been wanting and I've been praying for and I'm going to know that that that that scripture when he says those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. He's saying those of you who are starving for righteousness, who seek after righteousness and you thirst for it, you hunger for it, you're going to be filled.

with righteousness. Right? Jesus, you see, it all comes back to Jesus. Right? There's no filling your life with things other than Jesus himself, because he is righteous. He is righteousness. Right? So, so there's no room for anything else but him. I love that.

This doesn't now you have to follow this because this this is kind of a paradox. It's kind of a thing here. OK, so just bear with me on this. OK, all right. Follow me. All right. This does not mean that the person is now so satisfied with the righteousness given him that his hunger and thirst for righteousness are forever vanquished elsewhere. Jesus does, in fact, argue along such lines.

Whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry. And he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 4, 14 and then John 6, 35. So there is a sense in which we are satisfied with Jesus in all he is and provides.

Kevin Wilson (43:10.632)
Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we continue to be unsatisfied. An example from Paul really helps us understand this paradox. says,

I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. But he can also say, I want to know Christ. Remember when Paul said that too? I want to know Christ.

and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering becoming like him in his death in other words da carson says paul has come to know christ but knowing him he wants to know him better in a similar way the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is blessed by god

and filled, but the righteousness with which he is filled is so wonderful that he hungers and he thirsts for more of it. He, you simply can't get enough of it. This is what that scripture is saying. This is why we can't just brush past this and go, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteous for they shall be filled. Well, yeah, I know what righteousness is and I know what hunger and thirst is. So, you know, right.

It's so much richer. It's so much deeper. It's this well that never quite, it's always full, but it, it's, it's always asking for more. Right? This is, this is who we are when we're hungry and thirsting after righteousness. This built in cycle of growth is easy to understand as soon as we remember that righteousness in this text refers not to obeying some rules.

Kevin Wilson (45:16.504)
but to conformity to all of God's will.

And I looked up the word conformity and it literally means the act of changing one's beliefs, attitudes, or actions. See the more a person pursues conformity to God's will.

the more attractive that goal becomes.

Kevin Wilson (45:51.404)
So hungering and thirsting after conforming to all of God's will. It's really what that scripture is talking about. Right? It's changing my beliefs. It's changing my attitude. It's changing my actions to say, God, I don't know what's good for me. I don't know what's good for my life. I don't know what's good for this season. I don't know what's good for anything. You know.

God can form me, shape me, mold me into your will.

Let's talk here just in, in closing some quick characteristics of a person who hungers and thirst after righteousness. All right. Number one, they care more about pursuing God's will.

than protecting their reputation. There is so many times that we neglect doing God's will. You know why?

Because our reputation's on the line. We don't want people asking us questions. Well, why, why'd you do that? Well, why'd you have to go up for prayer today? Well, why, why'd you go up after the pastor said, you know, blah, blah, right? Well, why did you, why'd you do that?

Kevin Wilson (47:16.654)
Right? We, we don't want to make certain decisions in our lives and say no to certain things because then people are going to ask us. But what you have to understand is that people are watching our lives. And when you make right choices, when you make righteous decisions, do you understand that they may in that moment, not understand those things right away? But do you know that if you continue to make those right choices.

Kevin Wilson (47:44.984)
they're going to be skinned to see positive change in your life. And they're going to it. Do you realize that's admirable? Right. Those people in the beginning, they might say, you're crazy. You're stupid. Why would you do that? so you're doing that just because you're religious. You're doing that just because you go to church. What did your pastor tell you that? Did God tell you to do that? And his word, right? They say things like that.

But, but when their life's falling apart and yours is not, Proof will be, the proof will be in the pudding.

Kevin Wilson (48:27.97)
Another characteristic is they are not, you're not easily distracted by the cares of the world.

Kevin Wilson (48:39.202)
Think about it. When you're hungry. Your singular focus is food. Somebody could say to you, look. Hey, we're going out to Cedar Point. We're getting ready to go play golf. We're going to play pickleball or we're going to play, you know, whatever. We're going to play disc golf. All the things you say. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Your number one thing, if you're actually starving, your number one thing is.

can we get food on the way or is there going to be food there? You know how this looks in your life?

on a random Thursday morning?

Kevin Wilson (49:24.76)
kind of goes into my next point. The first thing a person, I'm actually doing the next point right now. I know it's kind of running in together, but the first thing a person who hungers and thirst after righteous wants to know is, is God there? Where are we going? You say, well, Kevin, that's nerdy. Well, Kevin, I feel like if, I say that to my friends,

Is God there now? Are we talking about his guy going to actually show up and, and, and, you know, you can touch his hands and touch his face. No, that's not what I'm saying, but our is the place that you're going to go on a Friday night, a Saturday night or vacation or wherever is God there is God welcomed there.

You see, well, but that'd be kind of weird because if, if, if, know, if I have to ask that, you know, if I'm going to a party or if I'm going to this, you know, here or there or making this decision, people are going to think I'm weird. Well, if you, if people around you think you're weird, you probably have the wrong friends.

Kevin Wilson (50:28.3)
Yikes.

Next one. If characteristics of a person who is hungry and they thirst after righteousness, this is one of the things that they don't do. They don't ignore God.

Kevin Wilson (50:49.184)
If you have to ignore God to do something, it's the wrong thing to do.

A person who's hungering and thirsting after God's will for their life doesn't ignore God because the only way that righteousness is actualized in your life is that you're following hard after God.

Kevin Wilson (51:20.534)
Another characteristic is they don't get stuck on positional righteousness. A person who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, they don't get stuck on this detached, well, know, well, God's my righteousness. Well, you know, he did that. He did that on the cross. You know, I can't be righteous on my own now, Kevin. Right. You get stuck there.

Instead of realizing that that righteousness puts you in a different position. See, when you have positional righteousness, your actions should line up with your new position. Right? Because you got to remember, this is a pattern of life in conformity to God's will. That's what that righteousness is talking about. So your position

Your positional righteousness should change how you live.

Think about this, right? I'm giving you an analogy and we're closing. Just give me just two minutes. We're gonna close. Let my producer know that. sometimes I go really long. Anyways, think about this. Think about when you got married. And I'll pick on you husbands out there or boyfriends or whoever, But husbands, the stuff that I'm gonna say, you shouldn't be doing that if you're...

If you're not married, so let me make this clear. I'm talking about husbands, okay? Husbands are wives, but I'll pick on you husbands. Think about when you got married. Your position in life changed.

Kevin Wilson (53:06.626)
Right? You, there are things that you used to do before you got married that you can no longer do. And I'm making this analogous, right? As I go through this example, I want you to understand, I'm making this analogous to your positional righteousness, where you say, well, God, Kevin, when I, when I got saved, God's righteousness,

Kevin Wilson (53:32.716)
was bestowed upon me. And the reason why I go to heaven and I get into heaven, because God is going to see Jesus righteousness, not mine, because my righteousness is filthy rags and you are 110 % right.

But because you have changed change that righteousness has changed positions for you. Now you're in a different position because Jesus righteousness is attached to your life. That means that things change. You don't live the same way. It is the same way as a husband who is married to his wife.

The things that he used to do before he got married to her are different.

One of the things is he only has intimate relationships or relationship with his wife. That's it. There is no other woman. Right? There is no other woman that he gives his love to. There's no other woman that he gives his heart to. There's no other woman that he gives his affections to.

Imagine if a husband married his wife and he said, know, baby, I love you, but, but, but, for two nights out of the year, I'd love.

Kevin Wilson (55:08.494)
to have relations with my ex-girlfriend. You know, she really, really was great to me. She really meant a lot to me. But look, look, honey, like, don't get upset about it because, but honey, you get me for 363 nights.

out of the year.

And every woman in the audience right now is getting ready to throw their phones or beat their radio and go, absolutely not. He would be out of my house in a nanosecond as he should. Why? Because his position changed. The moment he said, I do to you, his position changed. Now his life should conform.

to the life of a married man. Which means he doesn't get to go and have his affections with other women. He doesn't get to do all of these other things. Now, technically, can he do that? Can he? Yeah, he's got two legs, two eyes, two arms, two hands. He can get in his car and he can go to his ex-girlfriend's house. He absolutely can. He sure can.

But why would we say that that's wrong? Why would he even abstain from that? Why? Because he is now married, which means he behaves differently. He is exclusive to you, his wife. Conformity means to the act of changing one's beliefs.

Kevin Wilson (56:56.556)
He doesn't believe that he should be married to this other person anymore. He doesn't believe that that person was the, is the one for him anymore. His attitude and his actions, everything changes. This is exactly what happens.

when we gain our positional righteousness with Jesus, it is not some detached thing that is hard to reach and we can barely and it's like, God, you, have to be my righteousness because I ain't, I don't have any, I can't, I can't do anything right. I'm just going to depend on you. I'm going to fall under your mercy. I'm going to fall. Yes, he's there for mercy. He's there for grace. But Paul said,

He says, should we continue in sin that grace me about? No, God forbid.

Kevin Wilson (57:49.644)
So if we're struggling, we need to ask ourselves, are we truly hungry and thirsting after righteousness? Are we truly starving? Remember what we said?

that was all about, right? Those words translated, hunger and thirst there is related to words that describe someone dying of starvation and one in danger of death through dehydration.

My question for all of us today.

Kevin Wilson (58:32.876)
is are we hungry enough?

Kevin Wilson (58:39.296)
Is your plate so full of other things that you simply don't have room for the things?

Kevin Wilson (58:52.45)
that actually matter, right? Is your plate so full that you don't have the room for the things that are actually good for you?

Kevin Wilson (59:06.38)
I encourage you.

I encourage you and I implore you.

to clean your Begin to put things on your plate that will extend your life.

that will make you, that will give you vitality, that will energize you, that will change your life and those around you. I implore you.

To think about what you're consuming. say, Kevin, I'm pretty full. I, I, I, you know, I really don't see a need, man. I've got everything I want, everything I need, you know, I've got quote blessings. Let's, but you need to, you need to take a step back and ask yourself, what are you considering blessings in your life? Is it because you have a full bank account? Is it because you have investments?

Kevin Wilson (01:00:10.412)
Is it because you drive a new car every two or three years? Is it because you have great health and your grandkids are good and your kids are good and everybody has successful careers and you don't, you know, you've got the lake house or you, or, or maybe it's not that maybe you don't have any of that stuff. And you say, Kevin, you can't be talking to me because I don't have any of that stuff.

Kevin Wilson (01:00:38.222)
But you know what you have? Some of you have addictions. Yeah. Some of you have things that you continue to go back to over and over and over again to get your fill. That's your source. That's what you're filling your plate with. It may not be riches. It may not be 401ks. It may not be the lake house. It may not be the summer home.

But you're going back to the same thing. could be pornography for you. It could be working. You're a workaholic. Right? You could be at a point in your life where work has become everything and you filled your plate with work because that's where you feel needed and wanted and that's where that's what fills you. That's what fills that empty void or at least you think it fills an empty void.

You could be filling your plate with with addictions, addictions such as, painkillers or alcohol or, or whatever. can have a codependency of whatever it is. It could be binge watching television. could be distracting yourself from the, from everything. no, no, no, no. Kevin, please don't, don't talk to me about serious stuff because I need to be entertained.

But I don't want that stuff. gets me going. It gets me rattled.

That's the stuff that's good for you because what you think is rattling you today pales in comparison to what's going to rattle you later. If Jesus is not the center and the focal point of your life. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they.

Kevin Wilson (01:02:43.64)
will be filled. bless you.