In his sermon 'Meditation (part 2)', Steve Hopkins encourages the congregation to embrace daily meditation on God's Word, drawing from Psalm 1. He emphasizes that biblical meditation involves pondering, musing, and deeply contemplating the truths of the scripture, unlike secular meditation which often seeks to empty the mind. Hopkins identifies distractions and worldly cares as significant impediments to meditation, urging believers to prioritize time for this spiritual practice despite their busy schedules. He stresses that daily meditation is a means of grace, akin to prayer and scripture reading, that nourishes the soul and facilitates spiritual growth. The sermon concludes with a call to resolve and commit to daily meditation, ensuring that it becomes an integral part of spiritual life, promising that it will yield spiritual fruit and prosperity.

Turn in our Bibles once again to the book of Psalms, Psalm 1, where we'll be continuing part 2 of meditation on the Word of God. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord. We'll read again verses one, two, and three. Let's read together the Word of the Lord. 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 we thank you God for your infinite goodness, for your infinite unbounded love for your people and for your mercies oh God which truly endure forever. We ask again, once again, God, this afternoon that you might be pleased to give the Spirit and power to work through the preaching of the word and to cause us, Lord, in this time, to so delight in your word that it becomes our meditation day and night for we ask it in Jesus name amen let's be seated I ended our last session meditation part one with this prayer said father I pray 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.

After we all got home last Sunday after church, we sat down as we always do for sermon review and I put the question to every member of the family because I said I said you know that ministers so often they preach their hearts out and afterwards many times are left you know wondering does any good come from it pastor elders ministers they'll lay down a teaching from God's word on a particular subject and cry out to God for the people under their care and pour out their hearts before God in prayer for them. And then afterwards many times wonder how many have been affected. So I asked my wife, my sons, and my daughters a question after the service last Sunday, wondering how much of what was delivered in the sermon last week on meditation struck their hearts with conviction. Because you know there seems to be, I think on any given Sunday when the Word of God is preached, a few ways that people tend to be affected. One person is maybe greatly affected by the message.

At the same time, another seems to not be really affected at all. Another is somewhat affected, and then another is not really affected at all. One is as they say, like sitting on the edge of their seat because God the Spirit is taking the word and applying it to them And they're like a person on the edge of their seat. His spirit is moved by what he's hearing. The word preach is being driven by the spirit home to the heart.

Something's going on deep within, something that he may not even be able to explain. But he knows that God is dealing with him or her personally. And the response is that some measure of change takes place. So that person is, in at least in some way, is different than when they walked through the doors earlier. The word preached by God's grace has struck the heart Another person the second is maybe stirred to some degree of conviction by the word preached.

He may not be on the edge of his seat, but he's been moved somewhat. Something in the message has spoken to him personally and resonated with him, has struck a chord, and though he may not have have yet come to a place of resolve to make some change in his life, he knows that he needs to make. He at least now is under conviction. God is working on his heart and he knows it. And then the third person I mentioned in the congregation and you always hope this isn't the case with anyone in your congregation.

He isn't on the edge of his seat like the first, He isn't even somewhat moved by the message like the second. He's entirely unaffected and may be even able to settle in for a half hour's nap during the sermon. Another's eyes may even be in the same category, maybe open and locked on the minister, but his heart is still far from him. It's somewhere else. It's not on the word that's being preached.

So after We got home last Sunday after church. This is kind of a lengthy intro here, but when we sat down together to review the sermon, I put a question to every member of the family because I wanted to know, honestly, did the message hit its target? The message on meditation meditation on the Word of God and I asked have you resolved this day? Even committed this day. This was last Sunday after church or will you resolve and even commit right now to set aside some time?

Even if it's only a few minutes every day to meditate on God's word, or commanded to meditate on the word of God. Everyone said they would. And when I conclude the message this afternoon, I want to ask every one of you the same question. Will you resolve, commit to set aside some time every day, even if it's just a few minutes to meditate on God's Word, on God and His Word. Because the things we've been looking at are so important for our spiritual growth, my spiritual growth, my family's spiritual growth, every member of this church's spiritual growth.

So in the time we have together this afternoon, once again, I want to just pour out my heart before you, even as I poured out my heart before God for you in prayer, hoping and praying that we will all see the great blessing, the great blessing of daily meditation on God and the things of God in his word. In a few minutes, I'm gonna be talking about impediments to meditation because there's a lot of them. They're there for every one of us. Distractions and impediments are plentiful, maybe more in our day and time than ever. And I struggle with these impediments and distractions as well.

Meditation is a means of grace. It's a means of grace. A means of grace given to the people of God are those means by which our souls are nourished and by which we're fed and grow. And I asked the question in our last session, do you want to be fed and nourished by God's Word? Of course.

Then resolve to set a course for daily meditation. It's a means of grace, just like prayer and the reading of the Word of God. Now, I wanted to say also because, you know, I'm always convicted, you don't wanna talk down to the congregation. I don't wanna ever come off that way. Many of you may be veterans of meditation.

I don't know everybody's personal life, you know. Daily meditation on God and things of God, maybe for some of you it's been a part of your practice for years and you've experienced the blessing of it in your walk with the Lord. And you could come up here right now, you could share about it and I could learn from you. And I would gladly learn from you. You know firsthand the blessing of it.

And if that's you today, I hope you'll pray for your brothers and sisters in the church that have not yet known the blessings you know and encourage them to take the leap also. If you were here last Sunday you heard me define meditation, both what meditation is and what it is not and I said you know if you do a search on the internet on meditation what you're gonna get is what Buddhism it's all you're gonna get devil has a counterfeit for everything I talked about how God told Joshua in Joshua chapter 1 1400 years before Christ This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, this is a command, but you shall meditate therein day and night." And then this Buddhist monk comes along about a thousand years later brings in the counterfeit. First the genuine currency, then the counterfeit. And I said, you know, you do a search on it. And what do you get is what you get is one article after another on the internet, complete with pictures many times, you know, men and women sitting with their legs crossing yoga style, holding their fingers together in some yoga position, trying to empty their minds in order to reach a state of focus or calmness.

And I said, this isn't biblical meditation. This is a satanic counterfeit. And these do not be mixed with biblical meditation either. Emptying the mind leaves a vacuum for spiritual deception. And the enemy of your souls is ready and willing to bring in that spiritual deception if you'll just empty your mind and leave that vacuum.

Biblical Meditation doesn't seek to empty the mind it seeks to fill the mind with the truths of God's Word and Drive those truths home to the heart and then we looked at what is Biblical meditation then the Hebrew word translated meditate in Psalm 1 2 in our opening passage means to ponder. When we ponder something we weigh it in the mind, says Webster. Luke 2-19 says Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. She weighed them in her heart and turned them over in her mind. The word meditate as it's used in Psalm one is also translated to muse.

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. The word meditation is also translated to mutter To mutter means to speak in a low voice like like we might say today Speaking to yourself under your breath, you know Like mumbling almost, you know, but to yourself and I quoted dr. Biki saying quote it implies that one talks with one's own self, end quote. David does this in Psalm 42 11.

He speaks to his own soul, to his own self. Why art thou cast down within me? Why, Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me, hope thou in God?" So to meditate on God's Word is to ponder it, to weigh it in our hearts, to engage in deep thought and serious contemplation of it, and then to speak to our own souls concerning it. When we meditate on the Word of God, we set aside time to solemnly and seriously contemplate and dwell on a passage of scripture or passages of scripture and ponder them in our hearts.

Seeking God of course, never apart from God's work, seeking God to help us to understand the truths that are being communicated to us in the word that we're meditating on with the intent to bring those truths home to our hearts and be affected by them and then speak to our own souls concerning them. We want to be affected. And then I said just briefly someone might argue our opening text says his delights in the law of the Lord and his law he meditates. Was that just the Ten Commandments? No.

The law of God is used here in synonymous with the Word of God. I proved that with various texts last week. We won't go through that again. But every reference to the testimonies and the commandments and the precepts and the statutes and the judgments and the law of God refer to the Word of God Refer to the Word of God in other words to meditate on God's law is to meditate on God's Word very simply And then I emphasize the need not only to read God's word daily, but also to meditate on it to really you know We think sometimes I'm reading it therefore That's as far as I need to go. No No reading without meditation is unfruitful says Puritan Richard Grinham back in the 1600s.

We tend to read a chapter of scripture or two and then check it off our list. Listen, neglecting any reflection, write that word down if you're taking notes, any reflection on the word. We need to be reflecting on the things that we're reading. I quoted Charles Spurgeon, the reading of the word is not enough. You have to open an oyster, remember that?

You have to open an oyster if you would extract the pearl. Isn't that a great analogy? That takes some effort. You got to open the oyster if you're going to get the pearl out. Of course, he goes on, many love wheat, but they don't grind it.

They love the wheat, God's word, don't grind it. They want the corn, they won't go into the field to get it. The fruit's hanging on the tree, they won't pluck it. The water flows to their feet, they won't stoop to drink it. Reading the Word of God is not enough, says Spurgeon.

When you think reading God's Word, think, okay, I'm going to consume His Word, I'm going to read His Word, I'm going to take it in. When you think meditating on the word that's been read, think digesting it. It's not having food on your table that will feed you, writes the Puritan, Edward Calamy. You've got to eat it and digest it, or else your food won't do you any good. I also quoted a couple of the other Puritans.

They wrote 41 books according to Dr. Joel Beeke, 41 books on meditation and Dr. Beeke said he read every one of them. Of course, Wow. But Thomas Brooke put it like this back in the 1600s, meditation isn't hasty reading.

It's serious meditating on holy and heavenly truths that make them prove sweet and profitable to our souls. Thomas Hooker, meditation is the serious intention of the mind whereby we come to search out the truth and settle it on the heart. Does everyone get that? Notice the goal in meditation of each of these writers, it's to affect the heart and to profit our souls. We can read and maybe our hearts aren't affected, our souls aren't profited, but you meditate on God's word.

You turn it over in your mind, you ponder it, you seek to get that pearl out of the oyster and to squeeze that juice out of the grape for the effect of the heart and the profit of our souls. Paul said to Timothy in 1st Timothy 415, meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all." 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're reading apply to our lives? Do you do that when you're reading? Do you meditate with the intent? How does this apply to me and in my life?

Thomas White, meditation is a serious solemn thinking and considering of the things of God to the end that we might understand how much they concern us personally. When we open the scriptures every day, we should be asking ourselves some questions. How does what I've read from God's word just now apply to me personally? To my marriage, to my family, my children, my relationships, to my employment, my walk with the Lord. Am I being sanctified?

Am I growing in holiness? Am I growing in obedience in Christ's likeness? Are the things I'm reading making the distance from from my head to my heart? Has my heart been raised to a greater love for you God? Oh Lord give me the Spirit to open my understanding as I meditate on the things I'm reading your word and show me how the things I'm reading apply to me.

And as I meditate on your word day and night speaking to my own heart concerning these things let me then be as the psalmist said that tree like the tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. It's the fruits of the Spirit that brings forth the fruits of the Spirit in its season. Let me be. We need to be meditating on the Word of God, seriously, solemnly dwelling on his word, considering and thinking on the passages that we read, seeking to extract the truths contained, get the pearl out of the oyster as Spurgeon said, with the intent to bring them home to our hearts, speak to our own souls, apply the things to ourselves for the benefit of our progress and our sanctification and our growth in holiness. Why so that we can be more and more set apart into God that we might learn of him and grow in the grace of Him and the knowledge of Him and the likeness of Him and in the comfort of Him who died for our sins and rose again for us.

I said at the onset we would talk about impediments to meditation and there's plenty of them. Maybe some of you already launched this last week said, you know what? I've never tried them. I've never meditated on God's Word, but I tried this last week and you already know there's impediments. There's distractions.

There's stumbling blocks, right? An impediment, writes Webster, is something that hinders progress or motion. And you know, Webster, if you read his dictionary ever at all, I love to just open it up and read. It has 10, 000 passages of Scripture in it that he uses in his definitions. And Webster uses this sentence to help understand what it means, what an impediment is.

And he says, quote, the cares of this life are many times impediments to the progress of vital religion. We don't use those kind of terms anymore right? In other words you're growing in your walk with the Lord. The cares of this life are many times impediments. They hinder the progress.

The cares of this life, Webster says, that sounds like Jesus words in Mark 419. And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust for other things, desire for other things, enter in, choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. The deceitfulness of riches. That really jumped out at me. Because listen, making money tends to dominate the thinking and meditation of many Christians in America.

Are you with me? Is that true? Doesn't money making seem to dominate the thinking of most who are called by the name of the Lord? In America at least, we tend to meditate on our financial books more than on God's book. Certainly we need to make a living.

I'm not, no, we're commanded, you know, in Scripture. Certainly we need to make a living. I'm not, no, we're commanded, you know, in scripture. Certainly we need to make a living and we have many duties that we are bound to perform. But do we have our priorities right?

Rightly aligned. Are your priorities rightly aligned? Again, money making tends to dominate the thinking and meditation of many Christians in America, but it's not like it's a thing peculiar to the age in which we live. Listen to Charles Spurgeon preaching to his congregation in the 1800s on meditation and bringing up this very point. Listen to what he says.

This is I rather quote someone saying something like this than try to nail this myself, but listen, listen to what he says. What do many of you who are merchants know concerning this matter of meditation? You rise up in the morning just in time to take your accustomed seat in the omnibus. That's the horse-drawn carriage. You hasten to your counting house for your letters.

And there you continue all day long for business when you're busy or for gossip when business is dull, and at night you go home too tired and jaded for the wholesome recreation of your minds of meditation. Week by week, month by month, year by year, it is still with you one everlasting grind, grind, grind. You have no time for meditation and you reckon perhaps that if you were to set apart half an hour in the day to ponder the weighty matters of eternity it would be to you a clear loss of time. Ouch. Spurgeon.

Spurgeon says I do not like to preach a sermon without pressing it home to the consciences of my hearers. I never liked to bring you out a sword and show it to you and say, there is a sword and it is sharp. I always liked to make you feel that it is sharp by cutting you with it. Would the God that the sword of the spirit might penetrate many of your hearts now." Spurgeon was pretty rough on the merchants in his congregation, but he just wanted them to set their priorities straight in line with God's word. And as it relates to our text this afternoon, David, think about David for a moment.

David you know wasn't a beggar, he writes Psalm 1. He wasn't a poor man. He was engaged in in monetary pursuits. He he had assets and investments, he owned lands and fields and flocks and herds. Yet he says in Psalm 119, 99, your law is my meditation all the day.

How could that be? He wasn't only engaged in various financial enterprises, He was the king of Israel with all the duties of governing an entire nation and fighting their wars. Yet David found time to meditate. David found time to meditate. David brought his thoughts and meditations back to God continually during the daylight hours and made time to meditate on God's word.

And we can do that also. And not only in our daylight hours, but also at night when we're lying in our beds. In Psalm 63, 6, David writes, I will remember thee upon my bed and meditate on you in the night watches. Mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word. It's deliberate.

Psalm 1, 1948. That's day and night. That's what we read in Psalm 1. Your law is my meditation day and night. Your word is my meditation day and night.

I say all this because we tend to make excuses for our particular situations, don't we? I do. We got excuses. My situation is different. I can't meditate, I don't have time.

I think the issue is more one of delight. A question of what we truly delight in. Someone once said, you know, we do the things we wanna do. The passage before us says, his delight is in the law of the Lord. He delights in God's word so he meditates in it day and night.

In Psalm 10434 says his meditation was sweet. In other words, it wasn't a chore. It wasn't like, I got to do my chores now and go meditate. It wasn't a chore, it was sweet meditation. Something that he was looking forward to.

Still, many can't find time in their busy schedules for meditation. It's like we become so absorbed with earthly things that we can't find time for heavenly things. Remember Martha and Mary in Luke chapter 10. We read there Martha was encumbered with many things. And remember, they were even things that were good and necessary, housework.

She was doing housework and she was serving her family. That's what's going on there. But then there's Mary kind of in the middle of the workday, and she's sitting at Jesus feet for a while. You remember how Jesus responds to Martha when she's like, Tell her to get up and help me. No, Martha, Martha, you're so full of cares and trouble about so many things.

One thing is needful and Mary has chosen that good part and it will not be taken away from her. We can find time to meditate in God's word if we delight in God's word. Again, Spurgeon writes, no spiritual exercise is more profitable to the soul than that of devout meditation. So why are many of us so exceedingly slack in it? Why is it that some Christians, Spurgeon asks, although they hear many sermons, for instance, make but slow advances in the divine life.

Spurgeon's answer because they neglect their closets and they do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word close quote. Spurgeon says if we neglect the prayer closet or a time alone with God in prayer how can meditation on the Word of God possibly follow? And if it doesn't follow, how can we possibly make any progress in our walk with the Lord? Brothers and sisters, we must treasure our time alone with God for prayer, the reading of the word, and meditation on its word. And listen, we must guard that time from the distractions of the world around us with all its impediments and allurements.

And there's plenty of them. I face them every day. We tend to get up in the morning and we jump right into the water so to speak. And we're in the water and like that fish and there's this dangling hooks all around us. Everyone loaded with bait to distract us.

Everyone of them. Everyone loaded with dainties designed to captivate our minds and dominate our thinking all the day. We talked about financial pursuits and then even necessary duties, you know, chores, household, whatever that can sometimes take priority. But what about politics? News stories.

Current events. Sports. Entertainment? There are so many hooks dangling with bait all around us. And we bite, we get hooked, we're drawn away, and so fastened on these hooks that we can't seem to break free the whole day.

And then tomorrow ends up being just like today. Brothers and sisters, are there dangling hooks loaded with bait that are keeping you from setting aside a time each day to meditate on God in His word? You're going to have to swim past them. I want to encourage you to guard those precious few minutes you've set aside to meditate on God and his word every day and let nothing interfere, let nothing interrupt. That may mean taking your phone and putting it shutting it off or putting it into another room.

Not let anything interfere, interrupt, or entangle your thoughts. I encourage you to not let anything rob you of the blessing of meditation on God and His word. And as I close, if you fail one day, don't think, well, I missed this morning, that's it. It doesn't have to be in the morning. Isaac you know went out to meditate in the field in the evening we read in Genesis 24.

Some people are morning people some people are evening people but we need to set aside a time every day to be alone and quiet in a place where we will not be interrupted and meditate. And don't be discouraged if you miss it one day altogether because what happens then is people will tend to well I missed it and then they're discouraged and they're tempted to abandon it all together. No, just get back on track the next day. God knows our frailness and our weakness. He knows.

And now the question I said I would ask at the end of the sermon that I asked my own family last Sunday, Will you resolve today, even commit today, to set aside some time each day, even if it's only a few minutes each day, to meditate on God and His Word? Will you do that? You won't be able to calculate the blessings in dollars and cents if you do. Veterans of meditation here in the congregation will tell you that. And our text says, as I close, you'll be like the tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth her fruit in its season and that your leaf will not wither and that whatsoever you do will prosper.

Will you resolve to set your life in 2025 on a new course on a course of daily meditation. Pray to God that you will for your good and ultimately for the glory of God. Let's pray. Father, I pray that this day will be a day of resolve for every member of this congregation, a blessed day of resolve to be obedient to your word to not let the book of the law depart from our mouths but to meditate therein day and night To meditate on your word as Paul said to Timothy and give ourselves holy unto them that our profiting our profiting may appear to all. Oh Lord would you grant this that we would be a praying church a Bible reading church and a scripture memorizing church and a meditating church a church that meditates on you and your word, oh God.

Would you grant that? I pray that you would, God. For the glory of the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I pray these things. Amen.