Delight in the Word!


Sermon by Charles M. Wingard on December 31, 2023 Psalms 1:1-6

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I’ll invite you to take your Bible and turn to Psalm 1. What’s on my heart tonight, the burden of my message, is simple. I want you to delight in the Word. Don’t just skim over the Bible’s pages, but delight in them. Don’t just grab snatches of a sermon while you daydream about other things; no, delight in the Word! In a few hours, 2024 begins and your ministers want you to go throughout the new year delighting in the Word. “Your Word is a lamp unto our feet.” That’s been our teaching theme throughout the year. “Your Word, O God, is a lamp unto my feet.” And it always will be as we delight in the Word. Let us go to God in prayer.

Great and glorious God, grant us understanding tonight of Your Word. May the Gospel come to us not only in Word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, for we ask this in the blessed name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hear God’s Word:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Here ends the Scripture lesson and this is the Word of the Lord.

In 1800, fifteen year old, Mary Jones, began an extraordinary journey. The poor daughter of a Welsh weaver, she set out, determined of all things, to own her very own Bible. You’ll sympathize with Mary; after all, she had to walk two miles to the nearest home where there was a copy of God’s Word for her to read. So for six years, Mary saved till she had enough money to purchase her own Bible. And now money in hand, she walked twenty-six miles, barefoot, only to be told that all the Bibles had been sold. Now the story has a happy ending. Thomas Charles, the Bible seller, was also a minister. He didn’t have the heart to tell Mary that there was no Bible for her, so he sold her a copy set aside for someone else and proceeded to found the British and Foreign Bible Society so that no one in the British Empire need go without a copy of God’s Word. But back to Mary. Six-year saving, twenty-six miles walking, barefoot, all so that she could own her own copy of God’s Word. Think of Mary Jones when you think about delighting in the Word.

Delight in the Word. That’s the burden of tonight’s message. It comes right here from Psalm 1. Look at verse 2. The blessed man’s “delight is in the law of the Lord.” I want you to zero-in on that word “law.” Of course it means God’s commandments and prohibitions, but it means much more. It also means the entirety of God’s revealed will. The law of God is God’s Word, and in that Word you must delight. And as you delight in the Word, here’s what’s going to happen during 2024. As you delight in the Word, your faith is going to be strengthened. Your love for God and for your neighbor will flourish as you delight in the Word. Why? Well each time you read the Word, each time the Word is proclaimed from this pulpit, Christ is offered to you. He is offered to you to be believed upon as Savior, to believe upon Christ as He delivers you from God’s just wrath against sin. Each time the Word is proclaimed, Christ comes to you in power and sanctifies you, enabling you to die more and more unto sin and to live unto righteousness. Each time the Word is proclaimed, Christ comes to you to sustain you in your afflictions. If you are delighting in the Word – here is the marvelous thing – if you are delighting in the Word, then you are delighting in Jesus Christ. And it’s my desire for you in 2024 to delight in the Word.

And I know that’s your desire too. I know it’s the desire of everyone here present tonight. But you ask, “How? How can I make certain that I will delight in the Word?” Well Psalm 1 tells us how. First, delight in the Word by choosing your companions carefully. Look at verse 1. “Blessed is the man” – that is, the man upon whom God’s favor rests, that’s the blessed man; he is the truly happy man – “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord.” The man who delights in God’s Word never walks with the wicked, never stands where sinners stand. He never takes his seat among scoffers who mock God and His Word and His people.

I can’t help but see a progression in wickedness here. Don’t you see it? The spiritually careless man, he has dropped his guard, he takes a casual walk with the wicked. What can be the harm? That walk leads to a lengthy pause to consider the wicked man’s ways. Now, there is no turning back. He finally sits with the wicked, completely at home with evil. You can see the progression, can’t you? And here’s a truth – you will always travel in the direction of your companions. You can take your companions from among the ungodly, or you can take your companions from among those who delight in the Word. And of course that’s what we want you to do in 2024.

Let’s clarify what we mean about the “counsel of the wicked.” That counsel doesn’t have to be profane. When you first hear it, the counsel might even sound attractive, but what’s absent from the counsel of the wicked is God. The counsel of the wicked is always without reference to the Word of God. There’s no concern for the salvation of your soul. There’s no interest in your duties before God your maker. There’s no thought given to being summoned before God the great Judge. Here’s another truth – you’ll always walk in one of two directions – toward God and righteousness, or away from Him in wickedness. It’s going to be one or the other. So be careful in 2024 about the company you keep. William Plumer is right. It has ever been and will ever be true that, “If men would be saved they must forsake bad company.”

From time to time, I do premarital counseling. Here are some of my first questions to the couple. “When you are with this person that you are planning to marry, when you are with this person, do you desire to be more holy, to be more obedient to God, or do you drop your standards and compromise your integrity?” We’ve had some interesting conversations. Those are good questions to ask those that are contemplating marriage. They’re good questions for all of us to ask as we think about the friends that we make. When we are with them, are we more holy, more obedient to God? Walk with the godly, stand where they stand, sit where they sit, and I assure you in 2024 you’ll find yourself delighting in the Word.

That’s my desire for you tonight, that in 2024 you delight in the Word and I know that that’s your desire too. But you ask, “How? How can I make certain that I will delight in the Word? Well Psalm 1 tells us how. First, delight in the Word by choosing your companions carefully, and next, delight in the Word by fixing your thoughts securely. Fix your thoughts securely on the Word of God. It’s in the Word that you’ll find great delight. Look at verse 2. “His delight” – and that means the blessed man’s delight – “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Day and night. It’s the poet’s way of saying “ all the time.” There’s no long gaps when the blessed man is failing to think about the Word and the meaning that that Word has for his life.

We all have an active thought life, and our thoughts are often scattered. We think about our jobs, about our family, about our fears, our finances, the weather, tomorrow’s bowl games. We jump from one thought to the next. Our thought life is simply unruly. Well, meditation narrows the scope of your thought life. When you meditate, you fix your thoughts on the Word and upon its application to your life. When you meditate, you’re always asking yourself questions. When you meditate, you ask yourself questions, as you read God’s Word and hear it preached, you ask, “What am I learning about God’s character and works for which I must stop and praise Him? What sins of mine are being exposed? I’ve got to stop! As I think about those sins, confess them and repent of them. What duties must I perform? What Biblical virtues must I pursue? As I face this decision, how can I make sure that I am deciding this critical question Biblically?” This is what it means to meditate upon the Word of God, to always be placarding ourselves with questions. Meditation, fixing your thoughts securely on the Word, and without meditation there is no delighting in the Word.

And I want to share with you an added benefit of meditation. When we meditate, when we fix our thoughts securely upon God’s Word, it becomes much easier for us to talk with other people about the Word. Have you ever thought about that? The more you meditate upon the Word of God, the easier it becomes for you to talk with others about God’s Word. Before his conversion, John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, was a profane man. What was one of the influences that led him to Jesus? Well, it was the spiritual conversation of others. He overheard three or four poor ladies chatting while they knitted. They talked freely and intimately about the Word of God. It was obvious that they had thought long and hard about the things of the Lord. Those ladies possessed a spiritual life that John Bunyan didn’t and he wanted it for himself. The dear ladies possessed a walk with the Lord that Bunyan didn’t have and he wanted that walk to be his own. These precious ladies were Baptists, members of the same church, the church pastored by the saintly John Gifford, and their church became Bunyan’s church where Bunyan grew and thrived in the Lord.

You see, those who meditate upon the Word are best able to talk with others about the Word. Wouldn’t it be wonderful at the end of 2024 when you are gathered a year from now on evening worship on the last Sunday of the year to look back over the year and say, “We meditated on the Word, we talked amongst ourselves about the Word, and as we talked, others were drawn to the Word and have been added to our church family.” Delight in the Word, and you will as you fix your thoughts securely on the Word.

My desire for you in 2024, and I’m sure I’m speaking for all your ministers here at First Pres, my desire for you in 2024 is that you delight in the Word. I know that’s your desire too, but you’re asking tonight a good question – “How? How can I make certain that I will delight in the Word?” Well Psalm 1 tells us how. First, delight in the Word by choosing your companions carefully, by fixing your thoughts securely, and next, delight in the Word by cultivating your fruit diligently. Look at verse 3. “He,” that is the blessed man who delights in the law of God and meditates on it all the time, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water.” He is stable, not tossed about. When others shrivel up under the scorching heat of worldliness, he stands strong. When others’ faith melts in the face of persecution, he has the confidence to persevere. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” He is durable. He is dependable. You can count on him. He is the kind of person that you look to in times of trial. “

In all that he does, he prospers.” He is prosperous. He is always advancing the cause of Christ – in his home, in the church, in his place of work, in the neighborhood. In all that he does, he prospers. He prospers for the Lord.

Let’s think for a moment about this word picture. A believer, you are like a tree. A tree doesn’t plant itself; neither did you plant yourself in the Christian faith. God did. By His sovereign grace, you are His planting and He is producing fruit in you. Earlier this year, pastors Lowry and Felker preached ably on that fruit. You know them – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. If you want to delight in the Word in 2024, then cultivate that fruit. Make 2024 a year in which you increase in love and joy. Find concrete, specific ways to love more. Those that God has placed around you, those that are in your church family, those that are in your home and your neighborhood – think of concrete ways in which you can love them more. And in fellowship with your precious Savior, cultivate a joy that is not dependent upon circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord who has ascended and is at the right hand of the Father. Next comes patience. Some of us, as we grow older, become more irritable. I’m not thinking of any preacher, or person in particular! Patience. Determine to exercise patience in the midst of trials and adversities and disappointments. I don’t have to handle them by becoming impatient. As I exercise faith, I can patiently endure and in enduring, glorify my Savior.

In 2024, cultivate kindness and goodness. Don’t let opportunities pass by to do good. They come your way every day, every hour. Do good. Show kindness. You can make the world a better place. During 2024, cultivate faithfulness. Increase your faithfulness to God and to others. He has planted that faithfulness in you, now cultivate it in cooperation with His Spirit. Cultivate gentleness. I’ve said multiple times, if I could have a do-over in life – and you know you don’t get do-overs – but if I could get a do-over in life, the one thing I would want most is to be more gentle. More gentle in the home. More gentle in the church. More gentle in the courts of the church. More gentle like Christ. Cultivate self-control. You know, without self-control there is no growth in Christ-likeness because growth takes discipline. Make this a year in which you cultivate self-control. You’ll delight in God’s Word this year, 2024, as you cultivate this fruit diligently.

But there’s a warning and we mustn’t move past it too quickly. The wicked are neither stable nor fruitful nor prosperous. Far from it. Look at verse 4. It says, “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.” Chaff – weightless, inconsequential, worthless, blown away. When I, as a boy, in Smyrna, Tennessee – my father was a pastor there and behind the manse was, I was told, the largest oak tree in the state of Tennessee. Now I don’t know if that was actually true or Presbyterians in Smyrna didn’t have anything to brag about but they said it was the tallest oak tree in the state of Tennessee! And I could well believe it because we would join hands, we young people, and make a circle around it. And it took several of us to reach around the entire base of the tree. Well, a number of years later I returned to Smyrna and I wanted to see that tree, so I drove to the manse, went to the back, and it was gone, all of it – gone. And I asked somebody, “What happened to the oak tree?” And they said it was rotten to the core and a wind came and it blew down and it was gone. In the end, a mighty tree, so strong when you looked at it, it was rotten to the core and it was blown away by the wind, just like chaff.

And a professing believer can be like that. Outwardly looking like he is all a warrior for righteousness and inwardly rotten to the core. And the day will ultimately come when the winds of temptation or final judgment will drive him away, just like chaff. Don’t let that be your story. Cultivate fruit – day by day, week by week. I want you to be able to say at the end of 2024, “I am ending this year better than when I began. I am more Christlike, more stable, more prosperous in my service to the Lord.” Delight in the Word, and I know you will, as you cultivate your fruit diligently.

Well I think it’s obvious by now that my desire for you in 2024 is that you delight in the Word, and again, I know it’s your desire too, but you ask, “How? How can I make certain that I’ll delight in the Word?” Well Psalm 1 is telling us this evening. First, delight in the Word by choosing your companions carefully, by fixing your thoughts securely, by cultivating your fruit diligently, and finally, delight in the Word by celebrating your destiny joyfully. Look at verses 5 and 6. They set before us a great divide between the righteous and the wicked, between the believer and the unbeliever, between the law breaker and the law keeper, between those who delight in the Word and those who despise the Word. Look at verse 5. “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment.” In other words, as one commentator says, “They won’t be able to hold their ground. They’ll be overwhelmed. They’ll be terrified without hope.” That’s what judgment holds for them. “Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They’ll be separated from the righteous. Far removed will the righteous be from the very presence of evil.

You see, you know this. You’ve been taught it from this pulpit. That God saves us from the penalty of sin through the work of Christ, He saves us from the power of sin by the inward work of the Holy Spirit, and in the day when Christ comes again, He’ll save us from the very presence of sin. “Sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.” There will be a separation. 

And then he says, verse 6 says the psalmist, “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” The way of the righteous is His way. It’s the way of our precious Savior, Jesus. The Lord knows that way. It’s His way and He delights in awe in all who walk in it. He delights in you as you walk in His way. The way begins in this life, but here’s what stands out in these verses to me – it begins in this life but it continues to all eternity because it’s the way of the eternal God. Those who walk in it belong to Him forever. And this is your destiny. You will be walking with God forever and ever.  How different is the way of the wicked? We’re told, “the way of the wicked will perish.” It ends in death and in eternal destruction.

So you, blessed man, blessed woman, blessed young person, celebrate your destiny joyfully. Keep your destiny in front of you. Never let it for a moment slip from your mind. It will keep you on your goal, entering your destiny joyfully. Keep your destiny in front of you. Never let it for a moment slip from your mind. It will keep you on your goal, entering into the heavenly city, a city which Jonathan Edwards tells us “is a world of perfect love,” where we’ll be perfectly loved and we’ll be perfectly loving and we’ll be perfectly lovely. Keep your destiny in front of you. It will keep the reverent fear of the Lord before your eyes. It will keep you from veering that destiny into paths of wickedness. Its vision will sustain you in your sorrow and your suffering. Delight in the Word, and I know you will, as you celebrate your final destiny.

Well the time has come for me to wrap up. Before I close, let me address one group of people who I know are here tonight. There may be only a few of you, or there may be many of you, but I want to speak to you especially. For you, 2023 has proved a tough year. You wanted to grow in Jesus. You dreamed big. But as you review the year, you conclude that there has been little or no growth at all. What should you do? My advice is simple and Biblical, put yourself where the Word is being preached. Put yourself where the Word is being preached. Why? Because it is there, in the place where the Word is preached, that God has promised to work in power to produce growth in the lives of His people. For me, one of life’s small pleasures is canoeing. I love to get into a canoe and go wherever the water takes me. But if the canoe is sitting on the riverbank, it’s going nowhere and neither am I. And there’s no pleasure in that. No, I need to be where the river flows. For me to move, I must put my canoe in the water where the power is.

So here’s my challenge to you tonight. Put yourself in the Word. That’s where God has promised to work. Put yourself in the Word. Read the Word. Above all, hear it preached. Have you ever thought about what a great benefit you have at First Pres here? Because you have a morning and evening service, you get twice as much of the Word preached as so many other congregations get. You get to hear the Word preached twice as much, so put yourself there in the pew, the place where the Word is being preached, and see what God will do. As you’re in the Word, you’ll grow in greater Christ-likeness. At times, that growth may be imperceptible; don’t let that bother you. Imperceptible growth is still growth. It’s real growth. Just delight in the Word.

Can you see how God is so good to you? He is so good to you and to me. Think about it. I began this sermon with the story of Mary Jones. For years, she walked two miles to read God’s Word. Then, she walked twenty-six miles to purchase her own copy, all so she could delight in God’s Word. God’s so good to you. For you, there are no long walks. Just take your Bible off your nightstand or off your desk or off the bookshelf, take your Bible and read. And what about preaching? Most of you drive fewer miles than Mary Jones walked to obtain her own copy of God’s Word. So come to the Word prayerfully. Ask God to give you a hunger to read it. Ask Him to give you a thirst to hear it preached. Pray, pray, pray as you approach the reading of the Word and the preaching of the Word and you’ll find yourself each day where God is working powerfully for your good and for His glory.

As you read the Word, as you listen to the Word, I can say with confidence that 2024 will be a year of growing in the Word and you will finish the new year better than when you began. So for a final time tonight, the burden of my heart, the burden of the hearts of every preacher in this congregation, of all its ruling elders – delight in the Word. That’s our plea – delight in the Word.

Let’s bow for prayer.Give us, O God, a hunger to read Your Word, a thirst to hear Your word preached, and we pray that You will work powerfully in our midst making us more and more like our Savior Jesus Christ. That’s our desire – to be like our Savior, to honor You, to be doing good to others in the name of the Savior. May all that be accomplished and even more as we delight in the Word. And this we ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

© 2024 First Presbyterian Church.

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