Matthew 5:6 blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Hunger and thirst
1. Jesus paints powerful word pictures when He says righteousness is like human hunger and thirst. Righteousness in scripture is divided into character and justice. Jesus is saying we cannot live without food and a righteousness character is food to the spirit man. Jesus is saying we will not survive without water so our souls must be watered by justice a right standing before God. Our spiritual life depends upon righteousness. In essence Jesus is teaching us we cannot live without character and a right and just standing before God. God is both a king and a person. His kingdom was rebelled against and His person was offended by sin. Jesus came to reconcile us to these two truths.

The question we must ask ourselves do we hunger to be legally free to stand in God’s presence without sin? Do we thirst for a character that is free from sins controlling power?


Justice
1. We are born sinners, rebels against God’s kingdom and lawbreakers to His commands. Sin is treason in the sight of God and treason deserves the death penalty. We have sold out to Satan when we choose to sin. In sin we betray God, truth, right, character, His kingdom and His love.

2. If we try to pay for our sins we will fail because it cannot be done by doing good works or religious rituals it does not satisfy the death penalty required. These actions do not satisfy the penalty which is spiritual death to be put out of God’s presence and live without His power forever. We deserve what the penalty for sin says we deserve death. We will not be allowed into God’s presence and into heaven to pollute this very intimate and personal sphere of God’s existence.

3. When Jesus died on the cross He was separated from God. He tasted death for all of us. He satisfied the death penalty we were supposed to suffer. Jesus death was as our substitute, meaning He took our place. He satisfied God’s law and commands because he satisfied the penalty which is death. In essence the justice and anger of God for sin was satisfied. We now stand before God as though we have no sin. His blood has washed away our sins.

Therefore it is not what religion we believe in but whether we have put our faith in Christ to justify us free us by His death from the penalty of God’s law.

Character
1. Apostle Paul said he travailed in birth till Christ was formed in us. Another place Paul declares it is Christ in us the hope of glory. Jesus came not just to satisfy God’s law but to transform us to live in God’s presence. We have been born again so that God’s Spirit and not sin control our lives. To be a Christian we confess Jesus as our Lord. This means we give Him control of our lives. We turn from serving sin and Satan to serving God. Jesus came to give us the power of God’s Spirit to create in us a righteous character. Just like in Genesis the word and the Spirit of God have come to create order in the earth man so God can say all He has reordered is good. The Bible calls us new creations.

The new birth is about becoming victorious over Satan and sin.
The new birth is about becoming more Christ like in character.
The new birth is about having within ourselves through Christ dominion over evil.