In his sermon, Scott Brown examines John 7:37-52, where Jesus invites those who thirst to come to Him and drink, symbolizing the reception of the Holy Spirit. This invitation highlights the exclusivity and life-giving nature of Jesus' words. The sermon outlines six different opinions about Jesus from the crowd, ranging from favorable speculation to plotting hostility. Brown emphasizes that Jesus' words are unparalleled, urging believers to meditate deeply on His teachings. This meditation is crucial for spiritual growth, shaping believers into a church that prioritizes Jesus' words above all else. The sermon ends with a reflection on the uniqueness of Jesus' compassion, authority, and the transformative power of His words, encouraging believers to marvel at Him and His teachings.

John 7, 37, to the end of the chapter. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore, many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, Truly, this is the prophet.

Others said, This is the way, this is the Christ. But some said, Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the seat of David and from the town of Bethlehem where David was, so there was a division among the people because of him. Now some of them wanted to take him, but no one laid hands on him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why have you not brought him?

The officers answered, No man ever spoke like this man. When the Pharisees answered them, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, He who came to Jesus by night, being one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

They answered and said to him, Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your holy word. Thank you that you have given the Spirit when Jesus was risen that will teach us all things and will give us great joy as we go to the wells of salvation to receive what you have for us.

Lord, your anointing on today upon our ears that we may hear in Jesus' name. Amen. God brings His people together to shape them, to take them out of their tailspins, to lead them to living waters. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ has said in John 7.37, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

In this section of John, the temple police are so taken by the words of Jesus that they went back and reported to their superiors, to their chagrin, no man ever spoke like this man. And I pray that, you know, our time here in this very section would shape us. It would help us as a church to become a certain kind of people. And this is a passage that should lead us to refresh our astonishment in the words of Jesus Christ. And This passage also helps us to cut through all the differing opinions about Jesus.

But here we see that Jesus' words were like no other words that are ever spoken. It would be good for us as a church if we were a people and I pray that we Even more become a people like this that We are deep in our meditations of the words of Jesus Christ. That we hunger, that we thirst for his words. Wouldn't it be good if the chief mark of our church was that people would observe that we were a people who loved the words. We hungered, we meditated upon the words, we hung over the words, we hung on them, around them, and we just could not get enough of his words.

That his words were flowing out of our hearts like living water because we had eaten of Jesus Christ and this really is the central matter of the Christian faith and so I you know You can try all the voices you want, all the answers you want, they'll all fail. Nobody ever spoke like Jesus. Nobody ever spoke like Jesus Christ. And so in this section of John 7, there are many opinions and positions about Jesus Christ that were represented among the Jews. We'll cover those.

And this section, of course, begins with an invitation in verses 37 through 39. And Jesus invites his hearers to come and drink and to fill their hearts with living water. And so Jesus says on the last day of the feast, because this whole chapter speaks of what happened in the feast of tabernacles and Jesus says if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink He who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water and You know Jesus issues this invitation to come to him, to singularly come to him, to come to him and to come to him alone and receive his words. This is the exclusivity of the gospel and the exclusive value of the words of Jesus Christ. And I think this just confronts us with the reality that we're all aware of and that is that the heart will always fill up with something, but what are you going to fill it with?

Which is why Solomon said, Above all else, guard your heart, for in it are the wellsprings of life. And so in this passage you find a crowd that is divided and let's talk about that for a minute. Verse 43 makes this very clear that this is the heart of the matter. So there was a division among the people because of him And this calls us back to realize what should be the normal condition in the church and that is that the church, the true church is always divided from the world. And Jesus said that he did not come to bring peace on earth.

He said, I did not come to bring peace, but rather a sword. And so in Matthew chapter 10 verse 35, he says, for I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother And a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's enemies will be those of his own household And then Jesus said he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me or even son or daughter or anyone or anything and Jesus says and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me and then he says he who finds me finds life and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. So Jesus Christ is a divider in that sense, and these divisions here in this chapter are representative of what Jesus taught us about division. Of course, there will be a final division at the end of the age when all the dead who have ever lived will be raised and appear before God and Jesus Christ and He will judge all. Here in this passage there are these various opinions now I've tried to make it very easy for you to see what these are.

I've named these divisions under six different headings and we've covered the invitation to come and drink now, the divisions, and the first opinion is These are the favorable speculators. Then the second, you have the convinced contrarians. Third, you have the confused biblically illiterate scoffers. Fourthly, you have the plotting frustrated killers. Fifth, you have the hesitating but spellbound admirers, and then finally you have the progressively yielding to Jesus Christ, represented by Nicodemus himself, the one who came to him by night.

So that's the basic outline. But as we get to the end of this exposition, I want us to slow down and ponder two things. There are going to be two applications that come from this sermon, of which we will spend a significant amount of time in the sermon. And so let's begin with these six opinions. One of the things that we notice here is not very many of these people are really thirsting, they're debating, and They are sort of commentators.

They're the armchair experts without expertise in many ways and they're They're just they're talking and they're debating most of them, but the first opinion I'm describing as the favorable speculators verse 40 therefore many from the crowd when they heard this saying said truly this is the prophet. Now, at worst, they were saying that he was a good teacher. They had positive feelings about him. And they didn't say he was God. They didn't say he was sent from God.

Now this is the opinion of Islam and Mormonism And even in Buddhism, the inclusive non-judgment religion of the East, Jesus is an enlightened one. He's right there with Buddha. He's right up there with Buddha. And they were admitting that he was a wise man, but not sent from God, not the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world So at worst that was their opinion at best they were comparing Jesus to the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18 Where where Moses says that that there is a prophet like him coming in Deuteronomy 18 15 the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst from your brethren Him you shall hear and then there are blessings promised as a result. So at best they were saying, he's really an awesome teacher, he's amazing, he's really wise, kind of like Buddha or like Mohammed.

Or they're actually connecting him with the prophecy that Moses declared. And they're like many people in this world. They think really well of Jesus, but they don't actually follow him. There's no evidence that they're true followers of him. One of the commentators said words are cheap and perhaps that's who these people were representing.

They seem to be at least still thinking it true. They could have been on the road to faith. The second opinion I'm gonna classify as the convinced contrarians at the beginning of verse 41. Others said, this is the Christ. Now that sounds pretty good.

This group went a little further than the previous group, and they're saying, here is the Messiah. And these words could be expressing saving faith, but we need to be careful here for a couple of reasons. First of all, This is the same confession of the devil. The devil knows that Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, and he confesses it, and James tells us that even the demons believe this stuff. They believe that already.

At the same time, you know, the Apostle Peter said a very similar thing, which was a true confession of faith. This is the Christ, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On the other hand, the crowd was looking for a political messiah. That's the Christ they were looking for they so It's not clear who these people really are But we do know that there are people that believe that Jesus Who is sent from God, but they might have the wrong idea of his claims and his commands and they've not taken the step of faith to follow him. This crowd could be representative of those kind of people.

And then the third opinion, I'm going to call them the confused, biblically illiterate scoffers at the end of verse 41 and verse 42. But some said, notice there's this, well they said, he said, she said, they said, you know, that's what you find here in this section. But some said, will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seat of David and from the town of Bethlehem where David was. So these were ignorant scoffers from Galilee?

Are you kidding? That's not what the Bible says. That was their proposition. The Messiah can't come from Galilee. That's their idea and that he's from Bethlehem.

Now they're actually representing Micah 5-2, which says that he will come out of, he will be born in Bethlehem. But their ignorant opinion is really kind of consistent with what we read earlier Can anything good come out of Nazareth? No way. These are these are ignorant scoffers and they're misinformed because he was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem but he was also prophesied to be in Galilee as well in Isaiah 9 1 it's very clear by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people who walked in darkness shall shall be a great light." They're ignorant. They're not thinking they grab They're grabbing one thing they have a shallow understanding of Scripture and Their views are built upon it.

Matthew Henry says it was a culpable ignorance. They were willingly ignorant and they were taking one piece of Scripture and twisting it to their own destruction, grasping at straws and judging by that one straw, But they they didn't understand the scriptures. So they were ignorant. They were scoffers the fourth group here the fourth opinion I'm calling the plotting frustrated killers and verse 43 and 44 so there was a division among the people because of him, but some of them wanted to take him, but no one laid hands on him. This was frustrating.

They couldn't pull it off. They wanted to silence him. They wanted to take him and imprison him. And they just couldn't pull it off. Here's this one man, and they couldn't capture him.

Because God Stopped them. Nothing can speed up or slow down God's plan and This is this is another one of those pictures of the sovereignty of God No one can place a hand On anyone unless God allows it and that's true of every single person in this room You might fear that somebody's gonna put their hand against you and hurt you in some way Is there anybody like that in this room? Do you have do you have somebody in mind or something in mind that you think might be able to harm you, here's the reality. Ain't going to happen unless God allows it. It's not going to happen.

And He'll protect you and carry you through all the way, no matter what happens. But we're all on God's calendar, and this is a very vivid, vivid record, remembrance to me, you know, at the end of this week, I'm going to go perform a funeral of one of my dear friends. You know, who knows how long a man should live? He died when he was only 42 years old, but who knows when it is your time, but God knows. And He will, when He takes you, take you at the right time.

There's no such thing as an untimely death in God's eyes. In our eyes, they're almost always untimely, but not in God's eyes. The reason is because we don't think like God. We're so corrupt, We're so worldly, but God is wise, and we should be thankful for that. You know, why did Pharaoh fail to kill the Jews?

Why did Sanballat and Tobiah fail to stop the walls of Jerusalem getting built? Why did Haman fail to exterminate the Jews? Why did Nero not find himself able to exterminate Christianity? Because God is in control and these rulers were finding that out. The fifth opinion, the hesitating but spellbound admirers, verses 45 to 49.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees who had said to them, Why have you not brought them? So the Pharisees sent out the temple police and they're not very happy. You know, the Keystone Copse have failed again. These idiots, they can't get him. What's wrong with them?

That's their opinion. But the officers, these temple police answered no man ever spoke like this man. And so they went to arrest Jesus, but they got arrested. You know, they went to take him, but they were taken by him, that's what happened. They could not get over his words, and it left them spellbound, and they could not do what they were commanded to do.

They were in a bad position in that sense. And these men understood the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and they were spellbound. You remember what that was like when you were being converted you said these these words are life to me these are amazing and you're just stopped in your tracks and you just want more of his words. These men were in that kind of situation. You know, Christianity is a word-based religion.

It was the words that were offensive to people it wasn't so much what he did is what he said we need his words you know the Bible says that the word his words are like water that they're like a hammer that they're like fire, that they're like a sword, that they are counselors, they are living waters. And so they recognize that. You know, Perhaps Psalm 19 was swimming around in their minds where David says the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. It makes wise the simple. It rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes.

Perhaps they were thinking his words are like a honeycomb, like David said in Psalm 19, or like gold. I think that's what they were thinking. And so the Pharisees are acknowledging this and they make various snide remarks. Look at verse 47. The Pharisees answered them, are you also deceived?

Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is a curse. They're just belittling them and then the sixth opinion Nicodemus This is the one who's progressively Yielding his heart toward the Lord Jesus over time. Nicodemus, and it's interesting that John makes this note, do you see it right there in front of you? Nicodemus, he who came to Jesus by night being one of them, said to them, does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

And so Nicodemus sees their duplicity, he sees that they're breaking one of their own laws because among the Jews you had to have witnesses before you could convict a man. You had to do an investigation before and come to a ruling before he was exposed. That was their law. This is the law of witnesses dealing with sin. It's interesting to me that, you know, we just experience in our own nation this very same thing happening in the public arena with the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice and our nation's I think our nation's conscience was just further seared where a public figure was accused and convicted before him being investigated it's astonishing to me to see that It was a violation of the Word of God.

That's what happened. So here, in fact, when we get to the next chapter, I believe we find another example of how the Pharisees didn't obey the law themselves. They didn't obey the law of witnesses when it came to a woman caught in adultery. And finally, when Jesus says, where are the witnesses, they all walk away sheepishly because they knew they were breaking the law of God by even bringing her and exposing her publicly without dealing with witnesses. And so everybody walks away.

Well, Nicodemus is confronting these men because he's saying, you ignore whatever you want to ignore and you're ignoring this man and he's progressively Yielding he's in process. He's He's researching and I John wants us to know that God can even single out a Pharisee. He can single out the hardest-hearted, most legalistic religious person who you think could never have a soft heart. And Nicodemus is no longer an enemy of Jesus. He's really broken rank here.

I'm sure this was a problem. It was 18 months from the time that he went to Jesus by night under the cover of darkness. And it'll be six more months before he goes and he takes the body of Jesus and goes with one of his friends, Joseph of Arimathea, and they put Jesus in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb because he loved Jesus by that time, but he was obviously beginning to love Jesus. It was A.W. Pink who said that first of all in John 3 Nicodemus comes at twilight at midnight and then he comes in twilight in John 7 And then he says in John 19 he comes in the daylight of his soul That's what's happening to him He's also taken by the words of Jesus and then the Pharisees confront Nicodemus Verse 52 they answered and said to him.

Are you also from Galilee? Search and look for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." That was not true. There were prophets that came out of Galilee. Jonah came out of Galilee, and you can read about that in 2 Kings 14 verse 25, but there were prophets that came out of Galilee, but they just wanted to mangle whatever scripture they wanted to for their own ends. And then in verse 53, we find ourselves at the end of the feast.

Look at verse 53. This is a really remarkable way to end such a chapter of conflict and diversity among people. And everyone went to his own house. So they took down the booths that they'd been camping in for the previous week, and they packed up and they all went home. But I think what I'm so taken by here in this section is this phrase that no one ever spoke like this man no one ever spoke like this man and I I I have two applications and the first first is let's take this as an opportunity to ponder Jesus and who He really was.

You know, there is none like Him. You know, Peter said that he went about doing good, and he says that he was healing all who were oppressed by the devil. John said, we beheld as glory, The glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth That's what people said about him and and we I think we've it's been very clear nobody makes claims like Jesus Jesus claims to be the only way to God he claims that he came from heaven he claims that his father sent him from heaven to earth He claims to be the only person who can forgive sins. He claims to be bread and water and eternal life. He claims that you can't do anything without Him.

He claims to raise people from the dead. He claims that he's the one who's showing the Father's glory. He claimed to have authority over the Sabbath, being the Lord of the Sabbath, and he did have authority over the wind and the waves and the demons. And he claimed to speak the words of God. There is none like him.

There is nobody that spoke like Jesus. And there never will be for you or me. And you can keep searching, but there is no one like him. And maybe you're still searching, but you won't find anyone that speaks words of life like Jesus. You can spend all your life long looking and you will die and you'll never find anyone like Jesus.

There is no one like him. You know Jesus was the most delighted and delightful being who ever walked the face of the earth. You know in Hebrews 1 9 we learned that he was actually the happiest of all the disciples but then John tells us that he that that everything written about him was written that your joy might be made full there's no one like him no one ever spoke like Jesus About two months ago I was preaching in Africa and we had this conference really on Jesus Christ And all through the conference we sang this song, and I can't get it out of my mind, All that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. He's the fairest of ten thousand.

You know, all that thrills my soul is Jesus. That's the chorus. It's a beautiful song. I found myself singing it. We may have sung that song twenty times while we were in Africa.

It really bears witness to this whole thing. You know, Jesus, he wanted children around him so that he could touch them. There was no one that spoke to children or about children like Jesus. You know, he loved children so much That he spoke about those who would cause them to stumble in Mark 9 42 he said but whoever causes one of the least of these little ones who believe in me to stumble It would be better for him If a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea You ever seen a millstone You've seen probably seen millstones They'll take you down fast. That's how Jesus feels about about people who don't treat children right and lead them in righteousness, who lead them astray.

You know, Jesus had no fear of man. He wasn't like the rabbis who were trying to please one another, and they were always quoting one another. He had no pressure on him to impress men. There was none like Jesus. Nobody ever spoke like him.

Nobody ever spoke like him so unaffected by the pressures of this world. He felt no pressure from this world in the sense of being bowing down to it. You know, one time somebody came to him and said, Teacher, we know that you are true and care about no one. For you regard, you do not regard the person of men but teach the way of God in truth he was totally unaffected by man and Everything he spoke Came out of truth not not pride not trying to promote himself How different he was than we are? The Bible says that he was gentle and humble in heart.

The Bible says that you'll find rest for your souls in him. You know, even a prostitute wept at his feet and and and poured costly perfume on his feet and dried it with her hair. One time there was a man with a speech impediment who was brought to Jesus because he was deaf and he didn't just heal his hearing problem, but he healed his speech impediment on the spot. And he says, Ifrothra be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, And the impediment of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly Jesus was so good.

He was he was such a marvelous compassionate Person You know what there was a multitude with him one time who hadn't eaten. They were spellbound too. He was speaking. They'd been with him three days and the disciples wanted to get rid of him, get rid of all these people. And the Bible says that Jesus said this, he said, I have compassion on the multitude because they've now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way For some of them have come from afar and then he feeds four thousand of them No one ever spoke like Jesus can you imagine can you imagine in your wildest wildest dreams that you would stay in one place for three days and not eat just because of his words no one ever spoke like Jesus no one you know we read about these stories that we just have to recognize Jesus was the most wonderful person who ever lived.

You know, there was a boy who was having severe demonic seizures and he was foaming at the mouth and he would throw himself down and he would go stiff, he would throw himself in the fire, you know, he would throw himself in the water and have to be rescued. You know, this little boy was just in a terrible situation and his father took him to the disciples to cast this demon or these demons out of him and they couldn't do it and they brought him to Jesus and the father said can you do anything? Can you have compassion on us? And Jesus said, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. And immediately the father of the child cried out with tears and said, Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief. And Jesus relieved that boy, And he never threw himself in the fire again. And he never had another seizure because of the compassion, because of the words, The words that Jesus spoke healed that little boy. No one ever spoke like Jesus. No one You keep looking keep reading keep watching keep finding something to fill your soul You'll never find words better than Jesus never Live your whole lifelong and die in your sins.

You'll never find words like His words. Jesus had tenderness for people That you hardly ever have tenderness for there is a rich man a proud pompous rich young man He had everything he had it all together. You know people like this. They have everything together Not only wealth but personality and they also they do everything right and This young man he's called the rich young ruler in the Bible and he kneels down before Jesus and he says to him, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus knew he was a fake.

Jesus knew he was just going through the motions. Jesus knew he wasn't even sincere. He knew that. Even sincere he knew that but what's astonishing are these words then Jesus looking at him loved him and said one thing you lack go and sell whatever you have and give to the poor. Well, Jesus went right to the problem.

No one ever spoke like Jesus. No one. You know, people wanted to touch the hem of his garment, and in Mark chapter 6 we read that wherever he entered into a city that they would lay the sick down in the marketplaces and they begged him that they might just touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched him were made well. No one ever spoke or touched like Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ loved old people, did you know that?

He loved the elderly who needed help from their families. Because in his society the elderly were kind of being ignored by their families. Well, it's you know, you know what that's like. But Jesus was an advocate for honoring your father and mother so that you wouldn't let the traditions of your society or your religion to put your parents away and Quit caring for them and put them off on somebody else and So in mark chapter 7 verse 9 He says all too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition for Moses said honor your father and your mother and he who curses father and mother will be put to death and And then he he tells them stop listening to the Pharisees who say, give all your money to the temple and not give it to your parents. Give the money to your parents to support them.

That's what Jesus is saying. You know, from the littlest child to the oldest, most helpless elderly person, Jesus had compassion. No one ever spoke like him. He was often found telling people not to be afraid. You remember Remember when the disciples were in the boat and the sea was raging and they thought they were gonna die?

He says three things to them. Be of good cheer. I am here. Be not afraid. He was always telling his disciples not to be afraid.

He didn't want them to be afraid. There was no reason for them to be afraid. That's why he told them not to be afraid. There's no reason to be afraid. Jesus went right to the heart of problems.

Remember that paralyzed man? The room was so crowded, his friends couldn't get this paralyzed man in to see Jesus so they went up on the roof tore a hole in the roof and lowered him down and he'd been paralyzed and Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter and says Your sins are forgiven and he picked up his Palate and he walked and you remember what people said after that They said we never saw anything like that Nobody ever spoke like Jesus Nobody ever got to the heart of the matter like Jesus. Nobody. And no one can get to the heart of your matter like Jesus. No one can.

Not your counselor, not that book, not anything. Jesus Christ and His Word alone is sufficient. Jesus went to weddings. He was very intimate and personal. There is no one like Jesus.

No one. His words tell you who you are. His words interpret the whole story of your life. His words reveal the most intimate parts of your thoughts. His words explain your emotions.

They unmask your motives. His words are healing words. His words can heal your broken relationships and your broken heart at the same time. Nobody ever spoke like Jesus. So that's the first application.

Marvel at Jesus. Just marvel. Just be amazed. Nobody ever spoke like Jesus. So don't look, don't look anywhere else, you know, for what you need.

Look to Jesus. What would it be like if that really was the prime characteristic of who we were as a church. Like God actually formed us into a church where the words of Jesus were the most important things in our lives. That's what we wanted more than anything else. I pray we have a church like that.

The second application has to do with meditation on the words. And let's become a church that's marked by careful prayerful thoughtful Impactful Meditation on the words of Jesus like to slow down maybe this church needs to slow down a little bit and meditate on The words of Jesus, maybe we maybe we run too fast maybe we need to seclude ourselves our hearts and center our minds more carefully, more ponderingly on the words of Jesus Christ. I've been very convicted about that this week. Thomas Watson said that meditation is the soul's secluding itself by a serious and solemn thinking about God, that the heart may be raised up to heavenly affections." Isaac Ambrose said, it was a deep and earnest musing upon some point of Christian instruction to strengthen us against the flesh, the world, and the devil. Now, we all know that the world around us hinders meditation, and we prefer action to meditation.

Let's be really clear. Meditation is not something that the Eastern religions should own. You know, the world's entertainments will steal your meditations, all kinds of Projects and all kinds of things will steal your meditations But I think if we if we were more like David who said oh god my heart is Fixed or or like Joshua who said this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night or like Moses on the very last day of his life in Deuteronomy 32 he said set your hearts on all that I testify to you this day. You know, Paul said the same thing to the Philippian church. He said, whatever things are true and honorable and just and lovely think on these things think on them pause meditate saturate your mind slow down think on these things whatever is true whatever is pure and get rid of anything that's not true or pure or lovely get rid of it all I'm gonna give you some both negative and positive elements of meditation.

We need to be a meditative, careful, thoughtful, prayerful, responding people. And you know, it takes...we are people of the surface. You know, It's so easy in this life with all the bombardments of entertainment and information and movies and websites and now your new iPhone will tell you exactly how long you're spending doing different things. It's so easy to be distracted by so many things. But what are the consequences of that?

Very quickly I'm going to give you 11 of them. First, faith, hope, and love are starved without careful contemplation. Number two, no depth of life or thinking or feeling can be had without pondering deeply and slowing down. Number three, and by the way, on this matter of slowing down, you know that I have an internship with young men We have them read many books here's what I tell them Slow reading is best. You've not read until it's touched your affections.

Do not read without your affections being touched. Slow reading is better reading. Reading and hearing give you head knowledge, but head knowledge with meditation gives you a devoted love. And so it's often necessary to slow down in our reading. Number three, without meditation, we don't feel the sweetness of His love in our hearts.

Number four, without meditation, we remain unimpressed with Him. Number five, without meditation, we do not take seriously the judgments of God. Number six, without meditation we remain unthankful. Number seven, the providences of God will not affect us like they should. Number eight, we become bitter and judgmental and censorious.

Number nine, we do not read the scripture personally as if written to our own hearts. Number ten, without meditation we are healed lightly. Number eleven, we are not as happy as we could be. And here's what meditation can do for a church. It makes us alive, more alive to God.

It stirs up affections and warms hearts and activates our minds. Number two, it strengthens the heart against temptation. Number three, it softens the heart because without meditation the heart just continually becomes hardened to truth. It empowers sermons because without meditation the sermons we hear are no good beyond the moment Here pass it here's what pastors know Most of the time when people come for counsel, you've already preached 10 sermons about that, but they just didn't meditate on them and didn't take it in. Happens all the time and guess what we're all like that.

But meditation gives more value to sermons. This is one of the blessings of at least the opportunity that we have after the message after we take the Lord's Supper is that we have a meal we have a fellowship meal and We can talk about what we heard we can meditate on it. It's a great time to meditate on it. It's better to meditate on what we just heard than just to cogitate our food. And so let's do that.

Number five, it brings the pleasantness of Jesus. You know, Jonathan Edwards pointed out that Jesus Christ is called the Son of Righteousness and the Bright and Morning Star and the Lamb of God and The Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Let me read you what he said because I think it has to do with meditation He's called the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Sharon being a delightful and pleasant land bore the sweetest roses and the lily of the valley, excelling all other lilies for beauty, sweetness, and excellent virtue. He has represented us, to us, as flowers because they are pleasant to behold, beautiful to the eye, and pleasing to the smell.

He has compared to a rose and a lily because they are the chief flowers of beauty and sweetness." Well that's just another way of saying nobody ever spoke like him. Nobody has words more valuable. Look all your life long and you'll never find words more beautiful. So if you've been looking, stop looking, turn to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And I think God has this before us as a church to slow us down. And even maybe this week or maybe even today, maybe even at lunchtime, we would be meditating like we never have before, and that God would form up within us as a church a people who say, nobody ever spoke to me like Jesus. And that's really one of the most important issues. What about you?

Can you say that? Nobody ever spoke to me like Jesus. No one thrills my soul like Jesus. He is more than life to me. He's the fairest of ten thousand.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord, we thank you that You sent your Son and no one ever spoke like Him. And we can say there is none like you. O Lord, that you would fix all of our hearts upon the beauties of Jesus Christ so that what comes out of our hearts is His beauty. Amen.