Special Study

ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE THIRSTY

Matthew 5:6

Christ’s teaching on the Mount began when He saw in the multitudes their need of the saving revelation of God (Matthew 5:1; 9:36; Mark 6:34). Christ was moved with compassion on the people He saw. Apparently, they lacked the strength, energy and sustaining grace to live the Kingdom life and so He taught them. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

The fourth beatitude is, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). The judgement of God on earth and the fear of eternal judgement make the inhabitants of the world to seek and desire righteousness (Isaiah 26:9). Jesus reveals that we, as believers, can be filled with righteousness. And this happens when we are passionate for it. It is possible to be full of righteousness.
It is possible to be full, to be filled with,

1. The fruits of righteousness (Philippians 1:11),
2. Joy (Acts 13:52),
3. Goodness and knowledge (Romans 15:14),
4. Desired physical blessings (Mark 7:27-30),
5. Wisdom and spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9),
6. The Holy Ghost (Acts 4:31),
7. The fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

There is no limit to the infilling and fulness of any true believer who is really thirsty for God.

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This study is going to be divided into 3 sub-topics for further understanding of God's word.

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1. THE GREAT PASSION OF THE THIRSTY

Matthew 5:6; Psalms 42:1,2; 63:1,8; 84:2; 143:4-6.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness….” Hunger and thirst, in the natural, are indicative desires that show you are alive and not dead. Though you might not be saturated yet, but when you hunger and thirst after righteousness, it shows that you are spiritually alive.

True spiritual yearning and thirst for God’s righteousness moves the believer into the action of prayer, and into places where he can be satisfied. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1, 2). The spiritually alive manifests a longing, a passion and a desire to possess the nature of God. Like the hart, when your longing for the sustaining water of life is a consuming one, you will leave everything you do to seek it and run after it. Physical thirst has the power to redirect your thoughts, imagination and feelings and get them focused on the possible solution. Then, you passionately seek to satisfy that quest. So also is hunger for righteousness. When the thirst or hunger for righteousness is in you, material things, friends, people, opportunities and privileges will not be important to you at that moment.

Why are many people so indifferent to spiritual things? They are not thirsty and hungry for them because they are satisfied without the river of life. Even when God wants to fill them with His righteousness, He does not find them thirsty. How can they be made thirsty? It is by waking them from spiritual deadness through salvation and restoration. The passion of the thirsty is an

I. Individual desire,
ii. Internal desire,
iii. Intense desire,
iv. Increasing desire,
v. Incomparable desire,
vi. Interminable desire, and
vii. Instructive/influential desire.

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2. GOD’S PROMISE TO THE THIRSTY

Matthew 5:6; Isaiah 44:3; 41:17,18; 55:1-3; Psalms 37:3,4; 21:1,2; 145:16-18; Hebrews 10:22,23.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled ”. God is ready to fill us with righteousness according to His promise. But He first identifies the believer to find out how thirsty for righteousness he is before releasing the blessing. He keeps what He has; He does not play with or waist precious resources of the Kingdom on those that do not need them. God wants us to manifest thirst before He pours righteousness upon us. “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring ” (Isaiah 44:3). He does not grant righteousness, as an experience, to just anyone. He gives to those who manifest and reveal their heart-hunger and earnestness for it. The only thing that satisfies a child of God is righteousness. There is something deadly wrong with a Christian who is not thirsty after the righteousness of God. God’s promises to fill the thirsty with righteousness are great. But we must thirst and respond to His call so He can fulfil them in our lives.

He has given His Son, Jesus Christ to atone for your sin and make full provision for your righteousness. If you passionately desire His righteousness, “…he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4). God imparts His nature of holiness to those who are alive in Christ and thirst for it. And if we have not experienced the promised fulness of righteousness, it is because we have failed to do our part of passionately desiring it. If we desire and seek Him with faith He will fulfil His promise. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” He will fill us with His righteousness. When God makes promises He fulfils them, when the conditions are met: “… for he is faithful that promised ” (Hebrews 10:23).

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3. GRACIOUS PROVISION FOR THE THIRSTY

Matthew 5:6; 6:33; Psalms 48:9,10; 118:19-21; Isaiah 45:8,24; 46:12,13; 51:1,5,6; Hosea 10:12.

Righteousness is not a product of human endeavour, trial, struggle or work. It is a provision of the grace of God. A study of the word “seek” in both Old and New Testaments reveals a list of things God commands us to seek after. But many Christians today do not seek the fulness God has promised and provided for through the vicarious death of Christ. When you examine yourself sincerely and compare the list of what you seek with what God asks believers to seek after in His Word, you will discover a wide margin of disparity. The same applies to Christian assemblies whose posters and handbills display their passion and emphasis and what they call people to seek. But if the church is going to please God and remain at the centre of His will, it must abandon all the temporary but legitimate things it is preoccupied with to seek His righteousness. God has provided for our righteousness. Therefore, He issues a command: “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Even in the Old Testament, saints of God sought, desired and thirsted for God’s righteousness and God answered their prayer. And if our desire is so intense, and we seek the Lord in prayer, He will fill us with His righteousness. But if symptoms of decay and death are visible in your life, repent of your sins. To be filled with His righteousness, “break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12).

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HYMN:

HO, EVERY ONE THAT IS THIRSTY IN SPIRIT

1. Ho, ev’ry one that is thirsty in spirit,
   Ho, ev’ry one that is weary and sad;
   Come to the fountain, there’s fulness in Jesus,
   All that you’re longing for, come and be glad.

   “I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
   I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
   Open your heart for the gift I am bringing;
   While ye are seeking Me, I will be found.”

2. Child of the world, are you tired of your bondage?
   Weary of earth-joys, so false, so untrue?
   Thirsting for God and His fulness of blessing?
   List to the promise, a message for you!

   “I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
   I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
   Open your heart for the gift I am bringing;
   While ye are seeking Me, I will be found.”

3. Child of the Kingdom, be filled with the Spirit!
   Nothing but fulness thy longing can meet;
   ‘Tis the enduement for life and for service;
   Thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet.

   “I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
   I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
   Open your heart for the gift I am bringing;
   While ye are seeking Me, I will be found.”

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LIFT THE FLOODGATES

1. In Thy name, O blessed Saviour,
   Gather’d in this sacred place;
   Here we seek a Father’s blessing,
   Plead and pray for needed grace;
   From the ocean of Thy fulness,
   Boundless, fathomless and free;
   Let a tidal wave come sweeping.
   Setting hearts at liberty.

   Lift the floodgates, lift the floodgates,
   Let the tide come sweeping in;
   Blessed tide of full salvation,
   Washing, cleansing, from all sin.

2. Lift the floodgates, let salvation
   In tremendous currents flow,
   To the uttermost fulfilling
   Thy blest mission here below;
   Until myriads of sinners,
   Borne on love’s resistless tide,
   Shall be swept into the kingdom,
   And believers sanctified.

   Lift the floodgates, lift the floodgates,
   Let the tide come sweeping in;
   Blessed tide of full salvation,
   Washing, cleansing, from all sin.

3. It is coming, we believe it,
   Thou dost hear and answer prayer;
   It is coming, we shall see it,
   Thine almighty arm made bare;
   Tides of power, tides of glory,
   Holy tides of perfect love,
   Satisfying, overflowing,
   Coming on us from above.

   Lift the floodgates, lift the floodgates,
   Let the tide come sweeping in;
   Blessed tide of full salvation,
   Washing, cleansing, from all sin.

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