Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

church extension work. He suggests thebook as useful study material for all pastorsand elders in churches seeking new meansof outreach, as well as those who arespecifically serving in young churches.The book is published in a spiralbinding with large margins so that it can beused as a working manual. It may beordered from Perspective Press, LookoutMountain, Tennessee 37350, for $4.95Cono Church NewsletterBOOKSWhen the Walls Come Tumblin' Down byGordon C. Hunter. 139 pages, 3 parts, 12chapters, Price $3.95. Word Books, Waco,Texas.Gordon C. Hunter is director of Faithat Work, Inc. in Canada. With twentyyears experience in the pastorate, hespeaks, in this, his first book, with clarityand by illustration about the walls thatseparate man from God, man from man,and nation from nation. The secret ofmaking these walls come tumbling down isfound in Jesus Christ. You will like it.M.W.D.Paul Harvey announced onDecember 3, 1970 that big cigarette firmsare just waiting for the green light. Ifmarijuana can be legalized they will hastento start marketing "pot" cigarettes.W.M.S. TOPICfor May 1971Studies in the Sermon on the MountDr. Martyn Lloyd-JonesChapters 7 and 8Mrs. W. R. McWhinney"Blessed are they which do hungerand thirst after righteousness: for they shallbe filled."This Beatitude is the logical conclusionto the previous ones; it also introducesa change in emphasis, and issomething for which we should beprofoundly thankful to God. We have beentold we must be "poor in spirit," we must"mourn," we must be "meek." We havebeen looking at our own helplessness, ourbankruptcy in spiritual matters. We haveseen the sin that is within us; that selfconcern,that self-interest that leads to war,whether between nations or individuals.And we look for a solution. "Blessed arethey which do hunger and thirst afterrighteousness." The whole world is seekingfor happiness but never seems able to findit. This Beatitude tells us that they arehappy who hunger and thirst forrighteousness.APRIL "^^|What is righteousness? In thiscontext it is more than justification; itincludes sanctification also. It meansultimately the desire to be free from sin inall its forms and manifestations. Sinseparates from God, so it means to be rightwith God. It means to be free from self, —pride, sensitiveness, self-assertion; to bepositively holy, to show the fruit of theSpirit in the whole of one's life and activity;to walk in fellowship with God, to be likethe Lord Jesus Christ Himself.Do we desire such righteousness?The Psalmist wrote, "As the hart pantethafter the water brooks, so panteth my soulafter thee, O God. My soul thirsteth forGod, the living God." We do not feel thatwe can attain this righteousness by our ownefforts. The first Beatitude tells us we mustbe "poor in spirit," which is the very oppositeof self-reliance. This hungering andthirsting means a consciousness of ourdeep need, a desperate need; not just apassing desire, but a need that must besatisfied. One writer said when the prodigalson was hungry he was willing to feed onhusks; when he was starving he turned tohis father. Are we hungry and thirsty? Howgood is our spiritual appetite? One way tofind out is to make a careful study of theeleventh chapter of Hebrews; study thesegreat and glorious examples of people whodid hunger and thirst, and were filled; thenexamine ourselves. This blessedness is thegift of God's grace and cannot be obtainedby our own efforts. But by disciplining ourlives we can avoid those things that woulddull our spiritual appetite, and throughstudy of the Word, prayer, Christianfellowship, and the right kind of reading wecan keep this righteousness constantlybefore us.Why should this hungering andthirsting be most important to every one ofus? All who lack this righteousness of God,the Bible teaches, remain under the wrathof God. Only this righteousness can fit usto be right with God and spend eternity inHis holy presence. If we could see plainlythe hatefulness of sin, we would hungerand thirst after righteousness. And if wecould know the glory and the wonder ofthis new life of righteousness, we shoulddesire nothing else. If we see these thingstruly we shall become like the Apostle Pauland say, "That I may know Him, and thepower of His resurrection, being madeconformable unto His death; if by anymeans I might attain unto the resurrectionof the dead."The promise is that he who hungersand thirsts after righteousness shall befilled. This is the gift of God; this is thegospel of God's grace, for which we areprofoundly thankful to God.