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The cry of humanity is after happiness. Men seek it in all manner of avenues. They are commonly mortified and disappointed. In the text we may learn -

I. THAT IN RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE IS SATISFACTION.

1. The sphere of intellect is filled with God.

(1) He is the Origin of all things. They came out of nothing by his power.

(2) He is the End of all things. They were made for his pleasure. In his pleasure they consist.

(3) Science is miserably deficient when it ignores God. The Godward side is the nobler side of all things.

(4) The pure knowledge of God is the crowning science. God is self-revealed. Herein is satisfaction; for there is nothing above or beyond.

2. The sphere of affection is filled with God.

(1) Illicit affections are demoralizing. In demoralization there can be no satisfaction. Reason is insulted. Conscience is outraged. God is provoked.

(2) Inordinate affections are demoralizing. A man comes to resemble that he loves. If he love supremely that which is inferior to himself, he is degraded. He may love his neighbour as himself. He may not low the World as his neighbour.

(3) God alone may be supremely loved. The supreme love of God is what the Bible calls "perfect love." There is nothing above, nothing beyond. Herein our happiness is full.

3. Righteousness secures the highest favour.

(1) No approval is comparable to that of God. It is founded in justice and truth.

(2) The sense of that favour is the earnest of a magnificent reward. What resources are behind the favour of God!

(3) In the sense of righteousness is the soul of contentment. It sends joy into affliction. It is the crown of martyrdom. Witness the face of Stephen, and the triumphing of his "noble army."

II. THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS MUST BE SOUGHT IN THE SPIRIT OF EARNESTNESS,

1. God ]PGBR> is in earnest.

(1) This is evinced in his "unspeakable Gift." Had he given a world for us, there would have been millions of worlds left. He, the Maker of all worlds, gave himself for us.

(2) It is evinced in the glories of heaven. He must love perfect righteousness with all the strength of his being. He is himself that righteousness. He must love his saints correspondingly in proportion to the measure of their righteousness. This viewed in Christ is great. Heaven is the expression of that love.

(3) It is evinced in the horrors of perdition. Hell is no scarecrow. It is the antithesis of heaven.

(4) By all these arguments we should "hunger and thirst after righteousness."

2. Satan is in earnest.

(1) This is evinced in the number of his agents. They are numerous as swarms of flies. He is called Beelzebub, "lord of flies."

(2) In the order in which he marshals them. "Legion" (cf. Revelation 16:13, 14).

(3) In the variety of his "devices." His subtlety and ingenuity are surprising.

(4) In his indomitable perseverance. If thwarted, he changes his front. He pursues us to the very gate of heaven.

3. True repentance is earnest.

(1) Its earnestness is here likened to the strongest instincts of our physical nature.

(2) What is the world to a man who is in the arms of death? To save his life, the mariner will throw overboard bales of richest treasure. So will the true penitent give up everything for the salvation of his soul.

(3) His hunger and thirst are stimulated by his convictions. He is convinced that God is righteousness itself. Sin is seen to be hideous and odious.

III. THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS MUST BE SOUGHT IN THE SPIRIT OF MERCY.

1. The righteousness of God cannot be compromised to his mercy.

(1) Time was when man had no need of mercy. He was created in innocency. But he transgressed the Law, and became obnoxious to judgment. Mercy can have no place until righteousness be vindicated.

(2) Righteousness is vindicated in the vicarious sufferings of Christ. These sufferings therefore opened an avenue for mercy.

(3) Righteousness must still be vindicated in the conditions of mercy. Repentance is therefore indispensable. In it the sinner confesses the righteousness of God. So is faith. In this the sinner renounces false righteousness.

2. Hence the spirit of mercy is required in the suppliant.

(1) If we would be forgiven we must also forgive. This is insisted upon in the Lord's Prayer and in the comment which he added (see Matthew 6:14, 15). This is the moral of the parable of the debtors.

(2) Beneficence is another form of mercy which is required by the beneficent God. The sinner must repent of his covetousness. The sinfulness of covetousness is not duly estimated. No sin is, in Scripture, more severely denounced (cf. Psalm 10:3; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 6:10; Ephesians 5:3, 5).

(3) Have you sought without success the righteousness of justification before God? Have you sought it in the spirit of earnestness? Have you sought it in the spirit of mercy? "He will have judgment without mercy that hath shown no mercy." - J.A.M.

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Parallel Verses

KJV: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

WEB: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.