MATTHEW 5:1-12
that He will somehow count him righteous. That is just what God does. God takes a man’s “hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness” and counts that hunger and thirst as righteousness. God does this because He loves man (Ro.5:6, 8-9. See DEEPER
STUDY # 1,2—Ro.4:22; note—5:1.)
Thought 1. The question each person needs to ask is this: how much am I seeking after righteousness? Am I seeking
at all—seeking a little—seeking some—seeking much—seeking more and more? What Christ says is this: a person
has to crave, starve, and thirst after righteousness. A person must seek righteousness more and more if he wishes to
be saved and filled.
6. Every person has some pull and some influence that urges him to do good. The pull and influence need to be nou-
rished. In fact, it has to be nurtured or else it weakens, and it can be subdued and weakened so much that it is killed complete-
ly. It is just hardened against doing anything except what self wants to do (Heb.3:13 cp. Prov.21:29; 28:14; 29:1).
7. Righteousness is the only thing that will fill and satisfy man’s innermost need. Food and drink will not. Any honest
and thinking man knows there is nothing anywhere on this earth that can meet his deep need for life (permanent life, life that
never ends). Only God can fill a life and satisfy the deep need for permanent life. This is the reason Christ says to hunger and
thirst after righteousness.
Thought 1. Being filled means to “be filled with the spirit” (Eph.5:18). “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace....”
(Gal.5:22-23).
DEEPER STUDY # 5
(5:6) Righteousness: What is righteousness? (Also see notes—Ro.3:21; 4:4-5; DEEPER STUDY # 1,2—4:22; notes—5:1;
10:5; 10:6-7; note 3 and DEEPER STUDY # 1—Gal.2:15-16; DEEPER STUDY # 2—2:16; cp.Gal.3:10.) In the Bible “righ-
teousness” means two simple but profound things; it has a double meaning. It means to be right and to do right. It may be
said another way: to be good and to do good. This is critically important in the Bible.
“There is none righteous, no, not one” (Ro.3:10).
“There is none good but one, that is, God” (Mt.19:17).
“All...come short of the glory of God” (Ro.3:23).
What is being said is that God alone is righteous; He alone is perfectly good. Man is not perfectly righteous; he comes
short. How then can a man become perfectly righteous? What is the answer? The answer is what Christ says: “Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” What happens is this.
God takes a person’s “hunger and thirst after righteousness” and counts it as righteousness. The person is not righteous, but
God counts him righteous. This is the great love of God. A man hungers and thirsts after righteousness; therefore, God fills him.
Several things need to be said about righteousness.
1. Righteousness is explained throughout Scripture in the word faith. Faith is believing God and trusting the goodness
of God to take our faith and count it as righteousness (see DEEPER STUDY # 1,2—Ro.4:22; note—5:1; cp. 4:1-3). Hebrews
11:6 says it clearly: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
It is the person who diligently seeks God who really believes God. The man who so hungers and thirsts after God and His
righteousness shall be counted righteous and shall be filled. (See outline and notes—Ph.3:7-16.)
2. The righteousness of God has been shown to man. Just what God wants man to be and to do has been demonstrated
perfectly in Jesus Christ. This is the love of God. God has not given man just the written Word describing His righteousness;
He has given man a life—the life of His own Son—to show what He means by righteousness. Jesus Christ is perfect righ-
teousness; He did nothing but good. This is what the Bible means when it talks about Christ’s being “the righteousness of
God.” Christ is the picture, the expression, the pattern, the very image of righteousness—of being right and of doing right.
“Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us...righteousness” (1 Cor.1:30).
“...the righteousness of God in Him [Christ]” (2 Cor.5:21).
“Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Ph.3:9).
3. Righteousness involves the mind. Scripture says it involves being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph.4:23),
and being “renewed in knowledge” (Col.3:10).
What does this mean? Very simply, the man who seeks “after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” He “puts
on the new man” and is “renewed in the spirit of [his] mind” (Eph.4:23).
Another way to say the same thing is this: the man who seeks after God has “put off the old man with his deeds; and [has]
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col.3:9-10).
DEEPER STUDY # 6
(5:6) Filled—Life, Abundant: the believer who hungers and thirsts after righteousness is wonderfully filled with both abun-
dant life and eternal life.
1. He is “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge” (Ro.15:14).
2. He is “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph.3:19).
3. He is “filled with the Spirit” (Eph.5:18).
4. He is “filled with the fruits of righteousness” (Ph.1:11).
5. He is “filled with the knowledge of His [God’s] will” (Col.1:9).
6. He is “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52).
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