In his sermon, Steve Hopkins discusses the concept of biblical meditation, distinguishing it from secular or Eastern practices. He emphasizes that biblical meditation involves deeply pondering, musing, and contemplating the truths of God's Word, rather than emptying the mind as in other forms of meditation. Hopkins warns against the counterfeit practices that mislead believers and highlights the importance of filling the mind with Scripture. He cites various Puritan writers to illustrate how meditation should lead to personal reflection and spiritual growth, encouraging believers to engage deeply with the Bible to internalize its teachings. Meditation, alongside prayer and the reading of God's Word, is presented as a vital means of grace that nourishes the soul and fosters spiritual development. Hopkins encourages consistent daily meditation, suggesting it is essential for sanctification and living a life in accordance with God's will, ultimately leading to personal transformation and alignment with Christian values.

Psalm chapter 1 verses 1 through 3. Let's read together the word of the Lord. Of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Let's pray. Father, as we enter into or onto the subject of meditation. It's my prayer God that the flock at Burnet Bible, every one of your your children assembled here in this meeting house and and all those watching at home and all those who may listen to the recording of this message maybe at a later date that we all might be so moved God by your spirit and so and challenged and inspired by your word that we might even this day resolve to set our sails to a course of daily meditation on your word that will grow and resolve and intensity and continue from this day forward to the end of our lives for our spiritual growth and comfort, and above all, for the glory of your name. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.

Let's be seated. The title of This afternoon's message is meditation on the Word of God. I want to begin with a very direct question. Do you meditate? Do you have a set time, even a few minutes, that you have set aside every day to meditate on God and the things of God.

Meditation on the Word of God, I fear, is for the most part a lost means of grace in our churches today. Few read the Word of God daily in this land where Bibles are so plentiful, yet fewer still, I fear, meditate upon God's Word daily. But praise God, I think we're seeing a resurgence. This means of grace is being recovered by many. At the beginning of the new year, we looked at the spiritual disciplines of daily private prayer and of the reading of the Word of God.

And we found that communing with God in prayer and reading God's Word are not only commanded the people of God, but they are a means also of grace. These are means of grace. Means of grace are those means by which our souls are nourished, and by which we are fed and grow. Prayer is a means of grace. The reading of God's word is a means of grace.

Meditation on God's word is also a means of grace by which our souls are nourished and by which we're fed and grow. But what exactly is meditation? What is meditation? If you had to define it right now, somebody said, what is it? What is meditation?

What is it? What would you say? What would you tell them? Well, before we go there, first let's look at what meditation is not. Have you ever noticed how the devil develops a counterfeit to everything in the Word of God?

He's got his counterfeit. Look up, for instance, meditation on the internet, or maybe you may not want to, but look up meditation on the internet, and all you will get is one article after another. I counted 215 of them in a row before it said, do you still wanna go on? 215 in a row that led people astray. All you get on an internet search on the topic of meditation, unless you put in Christian meditation, you put in meditation, they go straight to Eastern cultic teachings.

And that's all you get. All you get on The internet search on the topic of meditation is basically Buddhism or some variation thereof. God tells Joshua in Joshua chapter 1, this is 1400 years before Christ, he says, This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night." And then about 1, 000 years later, a Buddhist monk comes along and brings in the counterfeit. First comes the genuine currency, and then the counterfeit currency. Again, search the topic of meditation on, let's say, a Google search.

And all you'll get is one article after another Many complete with pictures of men and women sitting with their legs crossed in yoga style, holding their fingers and their thumbs together, trying to empty their minds in order to reach a state of focus or calmness. This is not biblical meditation. It is a satanic counterfeit and any mixture thereof with Christianity is not of God. Emptying the mind. That's what they say, I'm going to empty my mind and then seek for calmness and serenity.

Emptying the mind leaves a vacuum for spiritual deception to flood the soul. Biblical Meditation doesn't seek to empty the mind it seeks to fill the mind with the truths of God's Word and then drive them home to the heart. Thomas Watson, Puritan pastor in the 1600s says as a hammer drives a nail to the head, so meditation drives a truth to the heart. I would encourage any believer, maybe that listens to this on sermon audio, Lord forbid anyone here who has been drawn away by any of these false notions concerning meditation to any degree to cease and disassociate Immediately Paul says in second corinthians 2 6 wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?

And what communion has the light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? That's Satan, another name for Satan. And what part has he that believes With the infidel that is an unbeliever So we understand at least in part what meditation is not but exactly what is biblical meditation The Hebrew word translated meditate in our opening passage, Psalm 1-2, means to ponder or to muse. When we ponder something, we weigh it in our mind, says Webster.

Luke 2 19 says, Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. It's a pondering of the things of God and the truths of His Word in our hearts. To muse on something is to engage the mind in deep thought and serious contemplation of it. David says in Psalm 143, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.

I muse on the works of thy hands. And now listen to this. The word meditation is also translated to mutter or murmur. So to ponder, to muse, to mutter or murmur. Joel Beeke comments here, It implies that one talks with one's own self.

I'll think about this for a moment. David did that. This is His words, Beke's words. David did that in Psalm 42 and 43. Oh, my soul, why art thou grieving?

Or you may read, oh, my soul, why art thou cast down? Dr. Beke says, you talk with your own soul. And we need to do that, especially when we come in times of distress and trouble. When we can hardly think straight.

When we can hardly pray. When we're overwhelmed by troubles and agony and distress and impossible burdens and you stop and you say, oh my soul, stop and consider, consider your God, don't be discouraged, hope thou in God who is the health of thy countenance and thy God." It's a close quote. So to meditate on God's word is to ponder it, deeply consider it, to muse on it, to weigh it in our hearts, to engage in deep thought and serious contemplation of it. Can you say today that that's a part of the practice of my life? I ponder the Word of God.

I don't just read it. I ponder the Word of God. I deeply consider it. I contemplate it. I engage in serious contemplation of it.

I weigh it and I speak to my own soul concerning it. Is that your testimony today? Do you meditate on the Word of God? When we meditate on the Word of God, we solemnly and seriously contemplate and dwell on passages of Scripture and ponder them and weigh them in our hearts, seeking God to help us understand the truths that are being communicated to us in His Word. Is that your practice?

You're reading and you, Lord, I want to get something out of it. What is in this for me? What do you want to speak to me here? What do you have for me here? Because, and I'll get to it more in a moment, We tend to just read God's Word, and then we just check it off the list and say, okay, I'm done.

I read my chapter for the day. I'm good. But when we meditate on His Word, it's a solemn, quiet thing. It's a serious contemplation and dwelling on the passages of Scripture and the truths contained therein. A pondering of them in our hearts.

A seeking of God to help us understand the truths that are being communicated to us in His Word with the intent to bring those truths home to our souls, home to our hearts, and commune with God and speak to our own souls concerning them. Our text says, the godly man, His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that they meditate day and night Is your delight the law of the Lord this afternoon in his God's law? Your meditation day and night That's the question for all of us now Now someone might argue in our opening text we read, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, he doesn't stand in the way of sinners, he doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. Are we to understand that meditation is limited to the law as in the commandments of God? We only meditate on the Ten Commandments and maybe the nine pages of laws that follow.

Is that what we're to understand? Well, no. One of the things we need to understand about the text before us is that the law of God, as it is used here, is synonymous with the Word of God. Okay, The Bible speaks of God's word using various terms and heads. We read, for instance, in our session on the Word of God a couple of weeks ago, where I ended with several passages from Psalm 119 of the statutes of God, of the judgments of God, of His commands, of His precepts, of His testimonies, of His law, all of which refer to the Scriptures.

And it'll be taken as synonymous with the entirety of the inscripturated Word, everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Calvin comments here, when David speaks of the law, it ought not to be understood as if the other parts of the scripture should be excluded. Under it, it's under the law, as the head is comprehended the whole of the body. That is the whole of the body of Scripture. The prophet in commending the law includes all of the rest of the inspired writings, close quote Calvin.

In our last session on prayer and consuming God's word, we ended with numerous passages from Psalm 119. If you're here, you probably remember I noted that out of 176 verses in Psalm 119, 175 explicitly refer to the word of God under one or more of these heads. Under one of these heads. Let me read a few of the passages. If you have Psalm 119 open, Psalm 119, verse 14.

I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies. Verse 14, I will meditate in thy precepts. Verse 15, I will delight myself in thy statutes. 16, I have hoped in thy judgments. Verse 43.

I will not forget thy word. Every reference to the testimonies of God, the commandments of God, the precepts of God, the statutes of God, the judgments of God, and The law of God refer to the word of God. David writes in Psalm 119, 160, thy word is true for the beginning. Every one of the righteous judgments endure forever. They're synonymous.

They're synonymous. In a verse 140, thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loves it. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Oh, brothers and sisters, do you meditate on the Word of God?

Do you take some time each day to be alone with God When you pray, when you read his word to actually meditate on it. So we see David speaks of the law of God being his meditation day and night. He's not only talking about the 10 commandments or even the nine pages of the law that follows. He's talking about every word that has proceeded out of the mouth of God. To meditate on God's law is to meditate on God's word.

Everybody got it? To meditate on God's law is to meditate on God's word. When we meditate, we deliberately, solemnly, seriously set our mind to think on God and the truths of His Word, weighing the things of God and the truths being communicated to us in his word so that we can take those truths home to our souls, be instructed by them and nourished by them and warmed by them and comforted by them. The Puritans would say, don't stop meditating on the Word of God until you've been warmed by what you're reading, until it's had an effect upon your soul. And then they would say, until you have come to a place where so warmed by it, so affected by it, you have a resolve to do something different in your life.

Change something in your life. In our last session on these things we looked at not only the need for scheduled daily private prayer but also the daily reading of God's Word. We need to be consuming God's Word every day. I hope everyone has set their wheels to this rail. I'll ask you, have you set your wheels to this rail yet?

Is there anyone that's still saying, oh, I'm resistant to private morning prayer? I know Jesus commands it in Matthew chapter six. I know that he gives the example in Mark 135, you know, of morning prayer and going out and being alone with God. I know these things, but I haven't gone there yet. I hope everyone has resolved to make that change.

If you have, you've already seen the difference, I'm sure, in your life. If you haven't, maybe, you know, it's like someone once said, if you don't do any things different, you won't ever see any difference in your life. If you don't do anything different, you'll always get the same results. I hope everybody has set their wheels to the rail of mourning, prayer alone with God, even if it's just for a few minutes alone with God and in His Word. But remember that We also need to have a time where we are, whether it's morning, whether it's afternoon, whether it's evening.

You know, Isaac, we read, and Genesis went out into the field to meditate in the even tide, in the evening. You know, we need to have that time that's set aside where we are, are alone with God meditating on his word and drawing from him that which he has for us personally. One of the Puritans, Richard Grenham, wrote in 1612, reading without meditation is unfruitful. Reading The Bible without meditation is unfruitful. You go, how could that guy say that?

What did he mean? As I said earlier, we tend to read like a chapter of scripture or two and then check it off our list, neglecting any reflection on the word. But what fruit has been produced in us? Spurgeon once said, the reading of the word is not enough. You have to open an oyster if you would extract the pearl.

He goes on, many love the wheat, but they don't grind it. Many want the corn, but they won't go out into the field to get it, to gather it. The fruit hangs on the tree, but they won't reach out and pluck it. The water flows at their feet, but they won't stoop to drink it. Brothers and sisters, when you think reading God's word, think consuming it.

And When you think meditating on God's word, think digesting it. When you read God's word every day, are you taking time to chew on it and digest it? It is not having food upon your table that will feed you, writes the Puritan Edward Calamy, but you must eat it and digest it, or else your food will do you no good." End quote. You gotta eat it, read it. Your Bible laying on the counter doesn't do you any good.

You've got to eat it, you've got to read it, you've got to meditate on it, digest it. Or else your food will do you no good. The Puritans wrote a lot about meditation on the word of God and specifically the Christians need to not only read, but also to meditate on the word of God. Thomas Brooks back in the 1600s writes meditation is not hasty reading. As I said before, We tend to read the word hastily.

We check it off our list of the things we need to be doing or we know we need to be doing. And so it's in kind of a legalistic way. We're kind of engaging in a kind of legalism. I did that. OK, I did that.

No, I did that. But what do we benefited if there hasn't been any serious contemplation of the things we've read? Thomas Brooks goes on meditation is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that make them prove sweet and profitable. Hang on to that word, profitable to our souls. Thomas Hooker, another Puritan.

Meditation is a serious intention of the mind, whereby we come to search out a truth. Open the shell to extract the pearl, as Spurgeon said. To search out the truth and settle it in the heart. William Fenner, Another Puritan. Meditation pulls the latch of the truth.

Think of a cupboard. Pulls the latch of the truth and looks into every closet. And looks into every cupboard. And looks at every angle of it as it labors to affect the heart. Notice the goal in meditation each of these writers are aiming at to affect the heart, to profit the soul, to affect our hearts, and to profit our souls.

Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.15, he said, meditate upon these things, that is on the truths of God's word that he'd been expounding to them in First Timothy. And give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Brothers and sisters, meditation on the Word of God involves a solemn and serious contemplation of the things of God with a desire to understand how the things we are reading apply to us. Thomas White writes, Meditation is a serious, solemn thinking and considering of the things of God to the end. That means for the purpose that we might understand how much they concern us.

This concerns me. What I'm reading is not abstract, and it's not to be applied out there. It's for me. God's letter to me to the end that we might understand how much they concern us. Thomas White writes, he's saying how much the things we're reading and contemplating concern us personally.

And he says that our hearts may be raised to some holy affections and resolutions. Is that where you're at today? Are you meditating on the Word of God in the times when you read? Are you setting aside time to meditate on His Word with a purpose in mind? When we open the scriptures every day, we should be asking ourselves, how does what I've read from God's Word just now apply to me personally?

To my marriage? To my family? To my relationships? To my walk with the Lord? To my walk with the Lord?

We read from Jesus' high priestly prayer in our last session on the Word of God, Father, sanctify them by Thy truth. Thy word is truth. We're sanctified by the truth of God's word when those truths pierce our hearts, when they're brought home to our hearts, when they find a resting place in our hearts through serious contemplation and meditation on them by the grace of God. Oh, we need His grace, and we should be praying, oh God, give me understanding that I might understand Your word. Oh God, take the things that I'm reading and open my understanding to them and it'll help me to apply them to my life.

Are you being sanctified, growing in holiness and obedience in Christ's likeness? Are the things that you're reading making it the distance from your head to your heart? As Mr. Stubblefield used to say all the time, Are they making it that distance? Are the things you're reading in God's Word making it the distance from your head to your heart?

If they are, it'll cry out to God, Oh Lord, help me. Or maybe you've gotten cold. Oh Lord, warm my heart. Lord, I don't want to just read. I want to be changed more into the image of Christ.

Has my heart been raised? We should ask ourselves when we read, to some holy affection, to a greater love for you, God. Help me, oh God, Give the Spirit to open my understanding as I meditate on the things I'm reading in your word. Show me how these things I'm reading apply to me as I meditate on your word day and night. Oh listen to this straight out of our opening text.

Oh God as I meditate on your word day and night, your word that I love, I love your word, I love your law, I meditate it day and night, as I meditate on your word day and night, let me be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. Produce in me fruit, O God, strengthen me like that tree planted by the rivers of water and produce in me the fruits of the spirit ever increasing of love, of joy, of peace, patience, gentleness, of kindness, of faithfulness, and of self-control. As we close, to meditate on God's Word is to seriously and solemnly dwell on His Word, to seriously consider and think on the passages of Scripture that we read, Seeking with the help of the Spirit, always asking for the help of the Spirit, that we might be able to extract the truths that are contained therein, with the intent to bring those truths home to our hearts. And then we might speak to our own souls concerning them and understand how the things contained in God's word apply to us personally. For the benefit of our progress and sanctification, that's our growth and holiness, that we may be more and more set apart unto God, that we might learn of Him and grow in the grace of Him, and grow in the knowledge of Him, and in the likeness of Him, and in the comfort of Him who died for our sins and rose again for us.

Are you setting aside time every day to meditate on the Word of God. Please don't let these messages just dissipate. Please seriously consider. Are you setting aside time every day to meditate on the Word of God? Let's pray.

Father, and I pray, God, that none would walk away from this place today without a fresh resolve to set their sails to the course of daily meditation on your word. Oh God, would you hear my prayer? The prayer of those who are praying, Lord, this very same thing. Would you do that for us, Lord? Would you pierce every heart with conviction right now, Lord, that the man is blessed who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stands in the way of sinners and sits in the seat of the scornful whose desire and affection and delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law meditates day and night.

Oh Lord, let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.