Hungering for God: Righteousness and the Satisfaction of the Soul

praise God can we just give it up for this team that leads us in worship so grateful listen all the things you could be doing all over the world isn't it a good place to be in the house of the Lord it is a great place that we get to be together and know that you're not all alone I'm gonna do something I've never done at Journey Church before I've been here a long time and I just just don't want to take this for granted so I'm just going to get awkward for just a moment God put this on my heart this morning we were praying around the building and you know we've got some church merch out there that we just it's always our leftovers that if you ever want leftover Church merch so that's where you can get that a few times a year we just get stuff with journey because we love this church but I just want to ask a favor here this morning it's going to get a little awkward and normally don't do this so if

you're visiting I just want you to know we normally don't do this because this has to do with you okay I just want to know if you're busy for the first time would you just give me a wave just a wave all right you're visiting for the first time uh I'll tell you this uh here this is a um that's a sweatshirt for you who else just gave me a wave I see that this is a windbreaker you know how windy it was this week I know it's a day late but this is a windbreaker all right this is a windbreaker all right all right and then I've got this I see that these are shorts that you could sleep in these things these are sweat shorts you know they got these I was gone for three months but I came back and these are awesome so like pajama shorts for you all right there you go so praise God hey if they're not the right size if they're not the right size you can go back and get some new ones but I think

God gave me the right size for each of you so um awesome you know that just kind of came out of nowhere but I'm I just here's why it actually came out of there I'm so grateful if it's your first time because that's why this church was started I don't want to take you for granted this church is made up of people church is not a building it's not a name it's not a program Jesus said he would build his church and if you don't know who Jesus is today I want you to know he knows you he loves you and that's what this church is all about we have a saying around here it's all about Jesus and it sounds so simple but we can spend eternity getting it on Jesus and there's always more you know in 1987 the band U2 powerfully proclaimed a theology that so many are still wrestling with today it's in the chorus of the song but I still

haven't found stay with me what I'm looking for I mean deep down inside so many of us can resonate with that you know like when you go to the fridge and you open up the doors have you ever found yourself just opening up the doors of the fridge and you're staring and then you find yourself wondering have I been here for minutes hours days I don't know I don't know what I want do I want something with cheese do I want something sweet do I want something Savory have you ever actually just closed the doors because you're confused why you're there to begin with like I'm not actually even hungry like why why do I have these doors open when it comes to food it can be confusing how many of you've ever said to someone hey let's go out to eat and they say sure and then it's like hey where do you want to go do you want to go to Mexican no you want to go Pizza no

Burgers no Thai food no do you still want to go out to eat yes Chinese no anybody else ever been in that boat before you know you want to eat but you just don't know what to eat we're starting a series today called hungry because you actually are made to hunger and and God actually has put something deep down inside each and every one of us that what we have inside of us physically actually is meant to relate to what God put in US spiritually that we are all hungry for something but some of us still haven't found what we're looking for there's a saying that could be used as a principle that just works across the board in the marketplace in the church world and that is this that

what you feed grows and what you starve dies what you feed grows and what you starve dies so if you if you want a robust Faith you want to grow in your faith you've got to feed your faith it won't just happen naturally you got to feed your faith you got to see what is it gonna what is going to take to grow in my faith and then you got to do that if you want to get rid of sin you've got to starve sin but if you keep going back to that which is sinful in your life that which is not of God it's going to keep growing so we've got to understand this principle that what you feed grows and what you starve dies how many you when you bring home a house plant it just will not live bunch of murders in the house today it's because you're not feeding it you're not watering it you're not talking to it you know you're not you're

not doing what it takes to get a house plant to survive anybody else addicted to Sweet Treats we're in a season of fasting right now and I'm not fasting from all sugar but I did decide to give up sweet treats and then I saw a bunch of donut holes today and I'll get behind me Satan I thought I was doing real well I heard Pastor Brad gave up coffee I'm like that takes a saint to give up coffee like listen when it comes to sweet treats you know I if you just do a little bit of research studies are actually showing that the processed sugar that's actually like in all of our food today sugar actually they're finding has the same addictive Tendencies as street drugs they're actually saying that that Sugar actually can be as addictive as cocaine and I use that word I don't I don't use that Loosely addictive because I mean

it's addictive because what sugar does is it releases dopamine it makes you feel better so neurologically your brain says you feel better when you eat sugar so keep coming back to the sugar and for some of us we're addicted to it so we keep going back to it we we feed it and and certainly sugar does not have the same impact as cocaine but the problem is it does have some ill effects obesity diabetes and and many other problems that maybe we can't even always see on the outside but it's not always good just ask my dentist I mean at the end of the day at what seems like it's good may not be good and there's something inside of us that I believe God put in us the text we're gonna primarily focus on today we're going to look at two two two places one is one verse I want you to get and then

we'll look at a story that supports this verse it comes out of the Book of Matthew Jesus is in his sermons in Matthew chapter five I'm going to focus on verse six Jesus is in a sermon he starts off the sermon with What's called the Beatitudes it just simply means the blessings you could think of Beatitudes it's just that be attitudes because to be blessed Jesus said it's not what happens to you it's not the things that you have it's what you choose to do so Jesus actually says blessings in life are a choice so many of us think we're not blessed because we don't have enough we see people with a nice car a nice house or good looks we say oh they're blessed but according to the scriptures a blessing is actually a choice in fact in the original language the Greek the word bless is a deep happiness it's what we all want it's what this nation was built upon the pursuit of happiness so

where do you get this happiness where do you get this blessing I want to look at one verse today and I want to look at something that supports this that Jesus said this absolutely profound that he says that if you would go after this you would understand what you're made for that you would understand that God put this inside of you and you wouldn't seek after the wrong things Matthew chapter 5 verse 6. blessed are those Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied would you read that with me read the verse on the screen so we could read the same verse Matthew 5 6 read this out loud blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied we all want to be satisfied

every single one of us we are made to be satisfied it's why we do what we do why does someone go out on Saturday night to get drunk they want to be satisfied they're not satisfied with their work schedule they're not satisfied with their lives so somewhere they're they're trying to find some satisfaction why does someone work 70 hour work weeks like a dog they're they're hustling just to make more money because they want to be satisfied okay can you ever make enough money to be satisfied uh deep down inside the reason all of us do what you some people get religious to be satisfied they read more books they listen to more sermons more podcasts more TV programs they go to conferences they they try to be more religious to be to be satisfied

it's the reason every addict takes their first hit of meth or heroin no no child grows up and says I want to be a drug addict you take your first hit of a drug because you want to be satisfied and and it leads you down a road that's not life but it's actually death and Jesus says narrow is the road that leads to life in fact if you take this principle of what it means to be satisfied Jesus says you got to hunger and thirst none of us like to hunger and thirst oh when you're hungry what do you do you go get a snack and Jesus isn't talking about hunger and thirst like hey you should go for a snack-sized bit of righteousness no he's talking about I want you to hunger to yearn to starve after this

Jesus is insane I want you to thirst for like that Costco's sample size of something you know they give away drinks they put in the little tiny glass and they only fill it up just a little bit and you're like that's not enough give me just a little bit more then you buy a crate of whatever that sample was Jesus I want you to go after this this is what you're made for and what you're feeding in your life what you're going after is what you're going to keep coming back to and Jesus said I want you to go after righteousness here's the reality I know that righteousness today doesn't tickle ears you didn't wake up this morning yearning like oh Lord I just want to be righteous

you didn't wake up dreaming oh Lord me today I just seek after righteousness may I find righteousness would you just bring righteousness right in my path so many are praying this prayer here's why today righteousness may not be something we go after or we hustle after because we don't actually know what it means it's not something that's promoted today or pushed today the word righteous I'm going to give you a paraphrase of the actual definition of this word so that we can be on the same page of what Jesus said the word righteous means to be right with God it means to be right with God we could also put it this way it means to have a right relationship with God so I need you to use your imagination here this is this is what this means if it means to have a right relationship with God to be right with God to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to go

after God is to be right with God notice here that I did not say that righteousness is Right living because there are a lot of people that do right things and they are not satisfied have you ever known some of those people the religious that look good on the outside but they're as Grumpy's I'll get up you think you're religion I don't want your God that's not a happy God that is not a blessed God I just don't want to be like righteousness is not about living righteous now you can look righteous but that's a self-righteousness that this is something deeper Isaiah the prophet wrote some 700 years before Jesus was even born pointing us to the real righteousness of God he says in chapter 64 verse 6 he's writing to a rebellious generation sounds a lot like the times we're living in

and he says we we have all become notice here that he's a prophet he's a preacher and he puts himself in this picture he says we all have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous Deeds are like a polluted garment this is a graphic gross picture that the prophet gives us he says if we took all of our righteous deeds and we said hey let's compare this to our god who's perfectly righteous it's not exceptional it's awful so you look at all of our righteous Deeds the best thing we could do compared to a god that's perfectly 100 righteous it doesn't look good in the NIV the same exact verse is

translated just a little different when it says all of us there's a Level Playing Field here there's there's not some person like man they're righteous they're more righteous no the prophet wants you know all of us have become like one who is unclean and all are righteous acts are like filthy rags this picture of a polluted garment or filthy rags if if you go back to the Hebrew the translators I think were being kind that the phrase literally is a used woman's hygiene product so you take something that no one would actually want and that's what our righteous Deeds are to God now let's just be really clear here just so you don't tune me out yet he's not pointing a finger of judgment

he's looking at the reality of Who We Are we are much more sinful than we even fully understand like if you really knew the gravity of God's glory and his greatness and his Holiness you would start to understand how sinful you actually are and what Isaiah's pointing us to is you don't get saved because you're a good person or because you do something it's because God is righteous and in the Old Testament and in the New Testament righteousness is described as a breastplate something a soldier would wear to protect his organs a breastplate is something you put on it's not something you're born with it's not something you do by being a good soldier is something you put on and it's really the picture of Jesus that you're not righteous on your own

so your heart's not protected by righteousness because of what you do it's who Jesus is so when you have Jesus he takes your filthy garments and he gives you his righteousness so what's on you is his righteousness so when you have Jesus you actually have you could never have on your own you are made righteous so he doesn't look at you based upon what you've done or else he could probably bring up against you what you haven't done or what you've done wrong but instead he looks at you and he sees his righteousness so when Jesus says hunger and thirst for righteousness that means we're going to go after righteousness what does that look like well in the wisdom of Proverbs here's what it is this is why you shall be satisfied Proverbs 12 28 in the path of righteousness is what life that's what we all want

when you follow the path which Jesus said is a narrow path when you hunger and thirst for righteousness it's life and its pathway the pathway of righteousness There Is No Death so the writer actually expounds and says not only is there life and righteousness there's eternal life God gives you a glimpse of Heaven in your heart when you start living for the right things you start hungering and thirsting for righteousness there's no guilt there's no shame you're actually starting to experience what Jesus prays later in the same sermon God's Kingdom Come and his will be done in your life as it is in heaven you don't wait to get to heaven to start experiencing Heaven because you've got righteousness in your life and there are far too many children of God that are malnourished that are not eating that are not drinking righteous that they know of it

they know that Jesus forgives sins they know that Jesus is God they know that Jesus died on the cross he rose from the grave but but then we're just kind of stuck there it's sort of like eating donuts for breakfast lunch and dinner last week we had donut Topia in the morning anybody enjoy those good donuts come on that's just a taste of what heaven will be like but those had a lot of calories they had a lot of calories there was a lot of fat in those things a lot of sugar in those things you see they're good they're good for just a glimpse we don't do donutopia every week if you missed out on that we'll just we'll try to get another time but here's the deal if you were just to eat donuts all the time it would taste good at first but eventually you're going to get tired

of it eventually you know you're going to get sick eventually you're going to realize after several days weeks or months of eating Donuts all day long that it has no nutrients you're not going to get your vitamins you're not going to get your antioxidants you're not going to get the very things that your body is craving after so what begins to happen is your body changes and instead of being better you get bigger and at first it tasted good are you tracking with me here this is a spiritual analogy some of us are eating junk food and we're not satisfied with where we are in our spiritual lives we're apathetic we're lazy we wonder well we we've become a glutton to the things of the world but but we're not

hungry for the things of God now the longer you eat those sweet treats like me which by the way that's a stronghold in my life the harder it is to eat something healthy because if I compare the donuts to the broccoli by golly they're both colorful one's going to give me life one's going to make me feel good in the moment but has no lasting effect the writer of Hebrews the writer of Hebrew says listen some of you should be teachers by now but you're still coming to church and this is what he says in Hebrews 5 13 12 13-14 he says you need milk not solid food even though you've heard of Jesus and he's using this spiritual analogy of food here for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness

so you've heard about it but you don't know much about us he's still drinking milk since he's just a child verse 14 says but solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish Good and Evil you know when a baby's brought into the world they're they're they're craving they're they're thirsty they're they're longing for something and the mama gives them milk and that's for a season it gives them nutrients and they start to grow but at some point the mama says enough is enough we're gonna give you some solids so we give them things like applesauce isn't it awesome to watch a child eat for the first time Some solid foods they get that spoon and they're trying to get it in their mouth and they're just scraping you know there's the throat it's all over their face it's behind them it's

next to them it's on top of them and they're just hoping to get some of that in their mouth and the parents take pictures because they're starting to transition it feels like sometimes as a preacher I'm just like throwing food out to some of y'all some of it sticks you know some of you are like that one was good that was that was a good one but but with the writer of Hebrews that is it's time for you to start making your own meat and potatoes and not just have somebody else give it to you but but you get it because then what's going to begin to happen is you realize man I've really come a long ways some of you are much harder on yourselves than you ought to be you are much further than you used to be I know you're not where you want to be but you've come a long ways and God has a great plan ahead of you he's going to keep growing and he's going to keep showing you one of the

things we do in our house is we do this hello fresh you ever done a hellofresh it's a miracle you get a box of food with all the ingredients you don't have to go buy it but man it's so good it makes you it makes you feel like a chef because you're adding herbs and flavors and all these things that normally you wouldn't do and you think man there's so much more to cooking if it's up to me it's a frozen pizza in the oven 20 minutes is done but God says there's more there's more there's more there's more there's more but you got to hunger and thirst for this so what does that look like I want to look at the life of Jesus and I don't have a whole lot of time but I want I want to look at an example so that we can understand the application what does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness what does it mean to be satisfied John chapter 4. I want to pick up in a story where John chapter 4 John the author writes the story of Jesus life as an eyewitness he was there with Jesus and we're told in

John chapter 4 what this looks like I'm going to read through quite a bit of text but I'm going to give you commentaries we look at the text so we can understand what does this look like to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness John 4 starting with verse 1. now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John let me just pause there rumors are going out Jesus is actually baptizing more than John the Baptist uh oh there's a religion starting there's a coup happening there's there's something new happening in this world John notes in verse 2 although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples this was a total rumor so this is what Jesus did he left Judea and departed again for Galilee let me just pause right there Jesus is the perfect picture of complete righteousness so if we really want to

know what does it look like to live a righteous life look at Jesus incredible life not a boring life an absolutely awesome life but even when you're righteous people will spread rumors and when people spread rumors about Jesus what does he do he doesn't run after those rumors and try to debate the Pharisees aren't you glad he's not like those people in this world that says well let me tell you that he doesn't argue with them what does he do he leaves he left I tell you I have so much to learn from Jesus I've had rumors spread about me you want rumors but about you just be a preacher all kinds of rumors are spread and you know what my flesh wants to do my deep desire wants to do I get defensive all right let's let's put on some boxing let's let's go at it let's see who's telling the truth here come on let's Jesus doesn't have to defend himself

if you have righteousness you've got the Lord let him fight your battles maybe it's time to go to a place where you're welcome and that's what happens here he goes to Galilee instead of Judea he goes from the spiritual place to maybe the place you wouldn't think is spiritual verse four and Jesus that says had to pass through Samaria I just believe that in your life that Jesus has to meet with you he wants to meet with you you see Samaria for the Jews was com considered unrighteous that if you're a righteous person you go around Samaria you don't go through Samaria but Jesus shows us because he's righteous he's willing to go to the places no one else would go so he came to a town of Samaria called sicar near the field that Jacob had given to a son Joseph Jacob's Well was

there so Jesus wearied as he was from his journey was sitting beside the well it was about the sixth hour it was in this place that this could be a whole nother sermon that Jesus comes to Jacob's Well Jacob is the one that wrestled with the Lord could be a christophany it might have been Jesus that wrestled with Jacob and blessed him and gave him a new name a new Destiny called Israel but this is a well that Jacob left behind that was used for Generation after generation Jesus is tired he's weary so he sits down at the well what do you get from a well water Jesus wants some water he's thirsty but he's got nothing to draw from the well now water is absolutely critical to the world the world that we're a part of this this

globe called the earth is made up of 71 water pretty important I think the Lord knew what he was doing when he spoke water into existence and said the way this world will Thrive is through water my body is made up of 60 water my brain is 75 percent water my blood is 83 percent water 17 sugar water is essential to the human race you can live a long time without food but you cannot live a long time without water so here Jesus is at this well and

he wants some water which brings us to point number one today there'll be three points to the sermon if you want to write them down you are made for this You're Made for This I want you to see the parallel Jesus said hunger and thirst for Legends you're you're made for the you're destined for this you were born for this this is all over you scientists say this you're made for for water you are you are made for this you're made to hunger and thirst you are you are made for this now let's continue the story verse seven a woman from Samaria came to draw water so she's got what's needed to get water Jesus said to her give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food the Samaritan woman said to Jesus how is it that you a Jew asked for a drink from me a woman of Samaria and John notes in parentheses

for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans it was considered unclean unrighteous for a Jew let alone a rabbi for for a male teacher to talk to a woman in Samaria may I just tell you today if you're new to church new to the Bible new to Jesus he breaks down barriers over and over racial barriers gender barriers socio-economic barriers there is no greater Liberator than Jesus the world will never be able to solve what Jesus alone can solve and he's talking to her because he's the one that made her he's the one that knows her and Jesus answered her because all he wanted for from her was a drink let me just pause real quick do you think maybe Jesus wants something simple from you and you start going on some tangents about something else I'm not judging you it's that's for myself

Jesus answered her if you knew the gift of God and who it is that's saying to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water the woman said to him sir you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep where do you get that living water are you greater than our father Jacob yes he is he gave us the well and drink from himself as did his sons and his livestock Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life the woman said to him sir give me this

water so that I will not be thirsty to come here to draw water this is a curious conversation it starts with Jesus asking a question and it ends with this woman asking her question may I just say it's always good to talk to Jesus it will be an adventure you never know where it's going to go it starts with Jesus asking for what water and it ends with Jesus explaining that he has what water and she says I think I want your water so there's water and then there's water here's a parallel here there's water and then there's water there's the physical that which we can see and then there's a spiritual that which

we can't see now this is how good God is he he made in the physical that which we experience so that we could understand the spiritual so when Jesus says hunger and thirst for righteousness we know what it's like to be hungry when you fast from food you get an idea in your head I'm going to fast for one day I'm going to fast for one week I'm going to fast for 21 days you get that in your mind you think I'm going to do this I'm determined to do this for God I don't know if you're like me but like that first day you fast you're like five minutes into this you're like I'm gonna die not sure I could do it Lord I had Big Dreams big Ambitions I was really gonna fast for a day not sure I can make it to lunch oh your stomach starts grumbling and you know like if you were to talk to

yourself just psychologically stand outside of your you're not going to die but it feels like you're gonna die so in the physical world it's meant to point us to the spiritual world now we could put it this way and this is used in in the marketplace as well we could put it this way what's the thing under the thing Jesus is thirsty but we're going to go from the thing to the thing under the thing I could put it this way and this is this is a free counseling for you the problems of your life actually aren't the problem they're symptoms of a greater problem Jesus is going to point that out here you're made for something more so this brings us to point number two today and and and we're going to see this in verse

16 through 18. so Jesus she she wants this water she wants this water verse 16 Jesus said to her go call your husband and come here so you want this living water let's bring your husband along the woman answered him yeah um hey uh well uh ah I have no husband Jesus said to her you are right in saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the guy you're sleeping with now this one you have is not your husband what you've said is true so the thing in This Woman's life she's thirsty she comes to this well alone at the heat of the day she is thirsty she's

lonely she's been used she's been abused but those aren't the problem Jesus has told her the greater problem you need some Living Water you need something that's going to satisfy you you need something that's going to last a lot longer where you don't have to keep coming back to a well she says I want that he says okay you're missing it you thought I was talking about a real well I wasn't talking about it real well I wasn't talking about physical water I'm talking about something deeper the thing under the thing so since you couldn't see I have to bring it out of you I have to show you what you're going after you've you've been used by men you've been abused by men you keep going into the arms of another lover and that will absolutely never satisfy who's Point number two don't miss this year nothing else will satisfy you you can word that however you want nothing in this world will satisfy you nothing

physically will satisfy you no romantic relationship no person no food no drug nothing No gambling that one day you're gonna hit it big I'll tell you no spiritual things like astrology or or or or tarot card nothing will satisfy you Jesus went to length to show us the depth that all of us crave for and we're looking for him we could judge This Woman based on her relationships but more than likely she was used by these men she was abused by these men and here she is she's with a guy that will just take her now she's all alone with Jesus and he says you're right to say you have no five husbands here's what I love about Jesus and please hear me on this today

having five husbands will not stop Jesus from talking to you another way to put this it doesn't matter what you've done Jesus just wants you he is looking for broken people he's looking for hurting people he is looking for people who have sinned he's looking for people that that have had sin done to them he is looking for people that are longing for something more and you know it that nothing will satisfy you and Jesus wants to give you something greater he wants to give you what you're made for so what will satisfy you remember the text today Matthew 5 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied now I don't know about you but

I'm so glad that Jesus did not say this blessed are those who go do good things for they shall be satisfied some days I want to do it some days I don't he did not say blessed are those that live a perfect life for you shall be satisfied he didn't even say blessed are those who are more religious for they shall be satisfied he said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness that I want what God wants for my life what does that look like we can look at all of our failures we can look at all that I've tried to do all that I've been up to this point in my life and say nothing will give me what God Alone can give me and when This Woman's exposed for who she is look what she does verse 19 and 20. the woman said to Jesus sir I perceive that you are a prophet

or you've talked to Susie down the street how do you know everything about me so let's not talk about the guys I've been with let's not talk about the guy that I'm living with she totally changes the subject and she knows this guy's religious some way so she says our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship when it comes to her life when it comes to sin she changes the subject when you get real with Jesus so many of us just want to change the subject we we actually do what this woman does we start to debate things that don't matter where is the right place to worship what is the best Church what is the right music what what should this look like you know God did not create you to debate

he did not create you to argue but what we are going to see here is to hunger and thirst for righteousness is actually to yearn for God you were actually created to worship you are made for worship the writer of Romans says in chapter 12 verse 1 when you offer your life as a Living Sacrifice that's worship meaning worship does not happen at a church worship does not happen through a song worship is your life to God that you can worship in your car at your work at home wherever you are your life can be worshiped based upon this text today that means you're hungry and going after God that means I'm made for this I need this I want now you're giving back to God the one that made you your life the psalmist David who's described as a man after God's Own Heart he writes it

this way oh God you are my God earnestly I Seek You My Soul thirsts For You My Flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water that's a worshiper someone that says I want to I'm gonna pass out because nothing else will satisfy me like you satisfy me in fact he uses a word I seek after you I earnestly seek after you do you know you're made to seek after God you are made to seek after God you know why you're made to seek after God because God is the great Seeker he's been doing it from the very beginning you know why Jesus had to go through Samaria he was seeking this woman this goes back to Genesis chapter three remember when Adam and Eve sinned they pulled from the fruit because they thought it would satisfy them they

thought they needed something more than God and it didn't work so they go hide from God and you know what God does he seeks them out he goes to the garden and he says to Adam where are you and it's not because the Creator lost the man that he made he's seeking him out he's showing him I know what's happened and Adam and Eve cover themselves up because they're full of Shame and God said who told you you're naked I love you just for who you are there's a real consequence here but we see that God is a Seeker that's his heart and when you seek Him guess what you get God he's been seeking you all along Luke 15 one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible Jesus is criticized for

hang out with drunks and sinners so he he says three stories about seeking a Shepherd that seeks after the lost sheep a woman that seeks after a lost coin and finally a father that will never give up on his son he seeks his son he sees his son at a far distance he runs after him we should be Seekers of God Psalm 24 ask this question listen to what Psalm 24 says who shall Ascend to the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place the question who can go to God well he answers it in verse 4 he who has Clean Hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully here it is if you don't seek after false gods and you go after God this is what you get God and so we see in verse 5 he the person that

goes after God will receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the god of his salvation who gets God those who go after him who gets righteousness those who go after God so this woman is debating and saying hey hey I know you're religious I know you're Jewish but the Jews they worship in Jerusalem we Samaritans worship here and Jesus is going to cut to the chase there's the thing there's a thing under the thing verse 21 Jesus said to her woman believe me the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father you worship what you do not know that's what the right of Hebrews was saying you're still stuck in the milk I want to give you some meat here we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews now notice what Jesus says verse 23 but the hour is coming and is now here

someone say now here is now here when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and Truth for the father is what seeking he's been seeking for someone that's going to really worship him look at verse 24 God is spirit and those who worship must worship and spirit and truth you need to invite God you need you need to realize that God will be where he's welcomed and if God is spirit and you worship him with your spirit you need the truth the truth is the word the word is found in the Bible so we need the spirit and the word the spirit and the truth look at verse 25 and the woman said to him I know that one day the Messiah is coming he who is called the Christ and when he comes he

will tell us all things you know what so many of us do we make excuses and if you're looking for an excuse you will find one but with Jesus he's going to cut through the excuses and he says in verse 26 Jesus said to her I who speak to you am he this is what I love about Jesus he does not disguise it he does not hide it he says I don't want you to go try to find some different place I didn't make this complex I don't want you to think that this water is something other than it is I was trying to use an analogy that you could understand but you missed it so let me just I'm right here this is where you get that water I was talking about this is where you're really satisfied this is where you're not going to thirst again this is where you know your maker this is where you find your purpose this is where you're going to be set free this right here I

Jesus says am he but you got to worship me no one else because I am the truth the rest of the world is going to look for it but it's in Jesus which brings me to point number three today which is the most important Point Jesus satisfies the soul he alone will satisfy your soul he alone is whom you're made to know to worship it is Jesus that will satisfy you so when Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous for they will be satisfied I know the one who will satisfy your soul is Jesus let's look at the rest of that story verse 27 just then Jesus disciples came back and they marveled that Jesus was talking with a woman but no one said uh Jesus what are you

looking for why are you talking with her she's a Samaritan she's a woman you shouldn't be doing this no one asked him that so the woman she left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people notice this what she came thinking would satisfy her water she left because of the water and this is what she did in verse 29 come and see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ and all the people that hurt her a woman preacher preaching about Jesus they went out of the town and were coming to him here's how you know you're you found the righteousness you're hungry and thirsting for you tell other people when you are satisfied by the righteousness of God you can't keep it

in because when you see other people completely wrecking their lives you say I know why you're doing this because I was doing this too and let me just tell you I was doing it differently than you but we're doing it for the same reason because we're all just like filthy racks polluted garments for God and people say say what and you say Okay simply put here let me just say this we're Sinners we need a savior that savior's found in Jesus Christ that's what changes everything you don't have to try to explain this away you don't have to get religious say make sure you go to the right Church make sure you do this no here's what you need Jesus you need the word you need the spirit you need the word you need the spirit you need the truth you need the spirit you're ultimately defined by what you thirst after if you're thirsty for this righteous it says you'll get it meanwhile look at this we'll close this in verse 31 and 32 meanwhile the disciples they were urging

Jesus saying Rabbi eat but he said to them verse 32 I have food to eat that you do not know about they're looking at the food Jesus is looking at the food that what you're made for you're actually made for something more we know this because at the end of our Lives eventually our bodies start to not work the right way and that would be pretty hopeless if that was the point of living that you start off needing somebody to feed you and then you end needing somebody to feed you that's actually not what it's about one day when you put your hope in Jesus you actually get fully satisfied Jesus in the same sermon he said something that's so life-altering that if you would take this serious it will change you Matthew 6 33 he's in the same sermon he says but seek first make this a priority seek first the kingdom and what his righteousness for all these

things will be added to you he was talking about the worries of this world you really want to be satisfied go after God's ways that's his kingdom you really want to be satisfied go after God he alone is right and gives you a right relationship so many times we're going after the things of this world and what we don't realize we're doing is that instead of inviting righteousness into our lives we're inviting the enemy Charles craft puts it this way he was a pastor and Professor he's written many books on spiritual warfare he Likens demons to rats that rats only like garbage so if there's garbage out it's going to attract the rats now stick with me here some of us have problems in our lives because we've invited the rats into our lives we still allow garbage into our lives we still think something's going to satisfy us something other than God

do you know how to get rid of the rats I'll tell you one word righteousness demons hate it when you worship Jesus so right now if you if you're being tormented in some area of your life maybe it's your past maybe it's your family relationships maybe it's something in your own soul may I just encourage you you want to get rid of the devil in your life go to Jesus get rid of all that get get rid of all that in your life that actually would stop you stop you from from fully going to God you know it's in this place that I want to make sure that you have some Hands-On application of what this looks like sometimes we can say hunger and thirst for righteousness but it's like what does that really really look like well let me just give you some practical application just things I wrote down we have a Creator who's so creative so you may come up with more than just these so

this is not limited to a list it's not in any particular order but these are some things that will help you hunger and thirst for righteousness you say you still haven't found what you're looking for let me give you some tools here all right here we go first is this remove remove anything not of God it is shocking today how many places we invite the enemy into our lives I don't mean through blatant worship of false gods I mean through music through movies maybe it's through another area of your life it's absolutely incredible if you have an area that you're inviting the enemy into your life meaning you're trying to be satisfied in something other than God thank you you need to get rid of it and I'm not just talking about physical things like get rid of the Buddhas in your house which you should

I'm not talking about just spiritually I'm talking about false thoughts if you're thinking let me just put it this way if you're thinking of thought here's how you test this is this thought of God if it's not you got to get rid of it it's a lie it's of the enemy how do you know if it's of God I'll tell you God is completely good so if there's anything in you that says I'm not loved I'm not good enough I've Never Been Loved I'll never do this I'll never that's not of God God's a life Giver so you got to replace it with the truth how are you going to replace it well let me just give you some more things walk what do I mean by walk I mean it literally that wherever you go you invite God to go with you that's a new thing for some of you you think you have to go to church to meet with God you think you have to stop and pray or you have to read the Bible

wherever you go Paul says in Galatians walk in the spirit and you'll not satisfy the desires of the flesh so walk wherever you go invite God to go with you are you tracking me there so I'm talking about walking physically but I'm talking about walk spiritually walk walk water water food food do you track in the all right let's keep going talk do you know what I mean by talk talk to God tell him where you're at you got to start praying we had a sermon a few weeks ago about how to live a Victorious Life The Secret Sauce is prayer the one point of that sermons was to do what come on pray come on if you're not praying right now you got to start talking to God and what I mean by talk is talk so there's talk and then there's talk there's the thing but you know what God's not asking you to do is just pray

religious prayers he wants you to get honest with him talk to him Journal how many of you have spiritual amnesia so you forgot you at it I'll tell you right now you have spiritual Amnesia you will forget all the good things God's do in your life write down what you're talking to God about write down where you want God you're hungry and thirsty for righteousness start writing down God I want more of you I need more of you God you start journaling these things God you spoke to me at church on this day 11 6 you told me to hunger and thirst for you I'm gonna go after you I'm gonna give up something in my life so I could actually have more of you don't just Journal memorize you've got to repeat God's word some of you think that I just have a good memory I have a terrible memory I I struggled all through school all the scriptures that I have in my head and in my heart is because I repeat them I

repeat them I repeat them I repeat them I go to it and I read it and I come back and I reread it and then I underline it then I come back and I highlight it and then I come back and I Circle keywords and I come back and I say it out loud and then I write it down then I type it out and then I say it out loud again it's not that hard to memorize if you just repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat some of y'all have memorized Bible verse today and you didn't even expect to blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what righteousness for they shall be see some of you all memorized already or did she put it up no oh come on you just memorized a verse why because I repeated it with you over and over you got to start memorizing God's word the Bible says that if you hide God's word in your heart you won't sin against God but if you don't have God's word in your heart more likely you might sin and not even know it not just memorize meditate you know what meditate is the enemy has

stolen that word he's robbed that word he's perverted that word some of you are meditating on the wrong things I'm not talking meditation out with the bad and with the good that's not meditation according to God's word meditation is taking scripture and chewing on it over and over and over again meditation is taking God's word and thinking about God's word some of you need to replace the Earthly meditation with the scriptural meditation obey and abide let me just tell you this principle Jesus said in John 15 that if you abide in me and I abide in you you'll bear much fruit what does abide mean abide means obey you need to start doing what Jesus said to do I know that sounds really good but let me just tell you one really hard thing Jesus said to do love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you I like it all but that one Jesus well he said a lot of other really hard things too it means we have to do what Jesus tells us to do not because it's easy not

because it's fun but because we're going to hunger and thirst for I realize that when I follow Jesus guess what I get fruit I want fruit in my life I don't know about you but do what Jesus says do invite I don't mean invite other people invite the Holy Spirit invite the Holy Spirit Jesus said worship and spirit and Truth God is Spirit is a person we have one God and three persons would you get to know the person the Holy Spirit share with others be like that woman at the well be a Jesus Freak we had a staff person this week explained that when she got saved as a teenager she started telling everybody like oh Jesus is so great I can't believe what Jesus doing and you know who squashed out that fire faster than anyone else Christians church people oh this too will go away oh don't worry God doesn't always work that way and we

start to put out the fire and others people you know who used to be inviting people to meet with Jesus people that don't know Jesus and then when they get to know Jesus fan that into flame don't squash it out all right the last thing I'll just say worship worship worship worship worship worship worship worship when you don't know what else to worship we don't know how to worship just put some worship music on and it's not even hard these days just go to YouTube or Spotify or apple music type in worship almost always there will be Christian songs to Jesus those are just a few things I would say to start your craving and you're hungry and you're thirsting for righteousness and I'll tell you when you do guess what you get righteousness you get Jesus he's your breastplate that will protect your life that when the enemy comes you say no no I got Jesus I've got Jesus which is a

tool today when the enemy comes which he will the enemy hates this message today but Jesus loves it this is what I want to do I'm going to ask you if you want to follow Jesus today you can do it right now there's no better day not another day not someday but right now if you want Jesus in just a moment I'm going to pray I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you're uncertain of your salvation if you're not sure what happens to you when you die today you know the path of righteousness There Is No Death you get the gift of eternal life it's really simple you just talk to God that's called prayer and I'll even just have us all pray out loud together so you don't feel like you're alone in this so if you've ever believed in Jesus we'll pray this prayer out loud but I want to know who I'm praying with so with just every eye closed in every head bowed just right where you are I want to know if you want Jesus today would you just throw up your hands so I can see who I'm praying with praise God praise God

praise God praise God praise God praise him a lot of women warriors today praise God young men praise God the Lord's so proud of you if you're uncertain you want the hope of Salvation praise God the lord loves you so much he sees that hand he knows your heart you can put your hands down hands all over the room even I'm certain some watching right now online on television if you made that decision out loud pray something like this and let's just pray this together if you've ever believed in Jesus Lord Jesus I give you my heart forgive me of my sins today I follow you help me to hunger for you to thirst for you

and to follow you thank you for who you are I receive the Holy Spirit I receive eternal life in Jesus name I pray amen and amen can we celebrate Jesus today praise God if you made that decision make sure you tell someone you can fill out a card today and you could put it in any of the boxes you can tell someone you came with we'll have a prayer team right after the services on either side tell someone that you decided to follow Jesus the best decision you've ever made well we don't want to rush out of here we're going to sing one last song that has to do with everything we just talked about would you stand to your feet would you just turn your attention to the Lord just this is our closing song we want to focus on Jesus and we're going to say Lord right now we're hungry for you right now Lord we yearn for you we turn

our attention and our hearts to you in Jesus name amen