'They shall be filled,' says our Lord. Now all these promises appended
to the Beatitudes have a double reference--to the certainty of the
present, and to the perfection of the future. That there is such a
double reference may be made very obvious if we notice that the first of
the promises, which includes them all, and of which the others are but
aspects and phases, is cast into the present tense, whilst the remainder
stand in the future. 'Theirs _is_ the Kingdom of Heaven,' not _shall
be_--'they _shall be_ comforted,' they '_shall_ inherit the earth,' and
so on. So, then, we are warranted, indeed we are obliged, to regard this
great promise in the text as having two epochs of fulfilment--one
partially here upon earth, one complete hereafter. And these two differ,
not in kind, but in degree.
So then, with regard even to the present, 'they shall be filled.' Should
not that be a gospel to the seeking spirit of man, who knows so well
what it is to be crucified with the pangs of a vain desire, and to set
his heart upon that which never comes into his hands? There is one
region in which nothing is so impossible as that any desire should be in
vain, or any wish should be unfulfilled, and it is the region into which
Christ points us in these great words of my text. Turn away from earth,
where fulfilled desires and unfulfilled are often equally disappointed
ones. Turn away from the questionable satisfactions which come to those
whose hearts go out in longing for love, wisdom, wealth, transitory
felicity; and be sure of this, that the one longing which never will be
disappointed, nor, when answered, will prove to have given us but ashes
instead of bread, is the longing to be like God and like Christ. That
desire alone is sure to be fulfilled, and, being fulfilled, is sure to
be blessed.
It is not true that all desires after righteousness are fulfilled. Those
which spring up, as I have said, in men's hearts sporadically, and apart
from the background of the experiences of my text, are not always, not
often, even partially accomplished. There are in every land, no doubt,
souls that thirst after righteousness, as they are able to discern it.
And we are sure of this, that no such effort and longing passes
unnoticed by Him 'who hears the young ravens when they cry,' and is not
deaf to the prayer of men who long to be good. But the experience of the
bulk of us, apart from Jesus Christ, is 'the things that I would not,
these I do, and the things that I would, these I do not.' The hunger
and thirst after righteousness, imperfect as they are, which are felt
at intervals by all men, do not avail to break the awful continuity of
their conduct as evil in the sight of God and of their own consciences.
And so, just because every man knows something of the sting of this
desire after righteousness, which yet remains for the most part
unfulfilled, the world is full of sadness. 'Oh, wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' comes to be the
expression of the noblest amongst us. Then this great Gospel comes to
us, and the Nazarene confidently fronts a world dimly conscious of its
need, and sometimes miserable because it is bad, and says: 'Ho! every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.... Come to Me, and drink.'
What right had He to stand thus and promise that every desire after
goodness should be fulfilled in Him? He had the right, because He
Himself had the power and the purpose to fulfil it. For this is the very
heart of His Gospel: that He will give to every one who asks it that
spirit of life which was His own, and which 'shall make us free from the
law of sin and death.'
Thus, dear friends, we have to be content to take the place of
recipients, and to accept, not to work out for ourselves, this
righteousness for which, more or less feebly, and all of us too feebly,
we do sometimes long. Oh, believe me, away from Him you will never
receive into your characters a goodness that will satisfy yourselves.
Siberian prisoners sometimes break their chains and escape for some
distance. They are generally taken back and again shut up in their
captivity. If we are able, as we are in some measure, to break the
bondage of evil in ourselves, we are not able to complete our
emancipation by any skill, effort, or act of ours. We must be content to
receive the blessing. There is no loom of earth which can weave, and no
needle that man's hands can use which can stitch together, the pure
garment that befits a soul. We must be content to take the robe of
righteousness which Jesus Christ has wrought, and to strip off, by His
help, the ancient self, splashed with the filth of the world, and
spotted by the flesh: and to 'put on the new man,' which Christ, and
Christ alone, bestows.
As for the future fulfilment of this promise--desire will live in
heaven, desire will dilate the spirit, the dilated spirit will be
capable of fuller gifts of God-likeness, and increased capacity will
ensure increased reception. Thus, through eternity, in blessed
alternation, we shall experience the desire that brings new gifts and
the satisfying that produces new desires.
Dear friends, all that I have been trying to say in this sermon is
gathered up into the one word--'that I may be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith.'