Keep thy Heart
Keith Welton
Jan 4, 2026
Psalm 1
1 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;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 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.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Ps 1:1–6.
One of, if not the most influential books in Christian History, next to the Bible, is John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.
-First published in 1678,
-remained in print for over 345 years,
-sold more than 100 million copies,
-been translated into 200+ languages, and stands as the most influential Christian book in history after the Bible.
The book is an allegory that traces the journey of a man named Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Through vivid characters such as Evangelist, Faithful, Hopeful, and obstacles like the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair. The book presents the Christian life as a spiritual pilgrimage shaped by Scripture, suffering, temptation, and perseverance.
Great figures like:
Mr. Worldly Wiseman – a pompous, self-important advisor.
Talkative – who boasts about faith but can’t back it up.
Ignorance – who thinks he’s saved but isn’t
Behind this monumental work stands the author, John Bunyan (1628–1688), whose own life mirrored the journey he described. Born in England to a poor tinker (a traveling repairer of pots and pans), Bunyan had little formal education and spent his early years wrestling with intense spiritual fear and guilt. He converted to Christianity and became an influential preacher and preacher (other work is grace abounding in chief of sinners) Some teased that he could “preach the gospel and fix your kettle at the same time.”
Bunyan’s greatest suffering arose from his refusal to compromise his commitment to God’s Word. During a period when preaching outside (and controlled by) the Church of England was illegal, Bunyan continued to proclaim the gospel. In 1660, he was arrested and imprisoned in Bedford jail, where he would spend more than twelve years. The imprisonment brought severe hardship: poverty, separation from his family, and deep anguish over his blind daughter. He was repeatedly offered release if he would simply promise to stop preaching, but he refused, believing obedience to God’s Word outweighed obedience to human authority.
Rather than breaking him, prison refined Bunyan’s faith. With limited resources, the Bible became his constant companion, and his writings reveal an extraordinary saturation in Scripture. He drew strength and filled his heart and mind with its truth.
Charles Spurgeon, a 19th‑century English preacher said of Bunyan, “Prick him anywhere, and you will find that his blood is Bibline — the very essence of the Bible flows from him.”
God’s people are *not defined by a life absent of suffering, but rather a life of constant communion with God through his word.*
Bunyan was fruitful because in these challenging times he pressed into God, and that meant pressing into his word. Godly people know God and are becoming increasingly like him. Not perfect but growing closer. They find their confidence in him.
The New Year naturally brings a time of reflection, and I want to capitalize on that. We are getting ready to kick off 21 days of prayer and fasting, and I want to encourage you to participate in that. I want you to consider how you could pursue God more intently in this next season, and consider what you may need to remove to make more time to seek him.
This psalm shows us what the one blessed by God is like. That is the topic of the psalm. We are given a picture of one who is blessed, and it centers on a delightful commitment to God and his word.
I read a wonderful book recently called Heart Aflame by Matthew Bingham on spiritual formation. That book has shaped this message. Bingham said, “Spiritual formation cannot be reduced to Bible reading, but it also cannot be separated from it.” Heart Aflame by Matthew Bingham (p92).
If we are going to be people who honor God we need a commitment to read and know his word. If we are going to bear fruit in the dry seasons we must drink deeply from the fountain of his word.
Look at three things this passage teaches about the blessed person:
- Confident in the Lord.
Blessed is the man who. What or who comes to mind when you think of someone who is blessed? It is not how many followers he has, how much money he has made, how big his house is, how good looking he is. May not see him in a new sports car. This blessed man ain’t worried about those or what you think about him. His focus is elsewhere.
Blessed by God. It includes women. Hebrew had a collective singular and would use the masculine form for that.
He is first known for what he does not do. There is something different about him. Many would say do whatever you can to gain. Might makes right. He would say don't compromise.
The Christians allegiance is to the Lord. Right here it tells you he is going to have opposition, resistance, and friction in life. He is going against the current. The blessed man is not giving into others.
We live in a time where it is becoming increasingly more challenging to follow Christ. Not esteemed in society. Positions on marriage and sexuality that bring us into stark disagreement with society. Views have been challenging not just by individuals but also with government figures and policy. Need to be strong and steadfast. He is like a tree, not easily moved!
He is someone you can trust. He acts this way because his desire is not on worldly gain. actions and inclinations are on the Lord.
**These outward actions are the result of an inner conviction.**
There is something else that is guiding him, informing. He is not living for the world.
Ill:
*His actions are a result of his affection.*
He is known for what he does and does not do. But this is only the surface of the situation. He is also known for what he does and doesnt delight in.
- Delights in the Lord.
Don't think that being a Christian is a duty bound joyless existence. Some may think of a nun, who has cloaked her anger with a holy robe and find joy in making others adhere to the letter of the law. That’s not it. A christian is one who has found God and the fullness of life in him. It’s a delight to serve God.
“His delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.” v2
Favorite movie, cartoon Emperors New Groove, Krunk is taking out Emperor Cous Cous to kill him, and an angel and Satan appear on his shoulders. The satan character says, “He wants to take you down the path of righteousness, but I want to take you down that path that rocks.” Image 1 https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FL7SAeAFmXsM%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=05a8ddbb9f9c9a7f96d38dda134a557074cbd6f240d6458942997385bd722a53
Funny. But that is often how people think of serving God. Its a carnal, fleshly perspective. The truth is that there is a joy in the Lord that you cannot find any where else.
I remember in high school hearing about people that would go to church events and when I heard there was no alcohol or parties I felt sorry for them. They couldn't live it up with me and all my friends, my friends who would be miserable the next day, didn't trust anyone around them, and lived in constant fear of getting caught, or what others might think about them.
Delight: this is when something brings you pleasure or joy. He finds joy in knowing God and being with him. That is something that can’t be taken away.
This makes us think differently. The psalmist has seen guys who are blessed. They are respectable and not stooping low to get their way. Not domineering or oppressing others with lies. They are prospering and bearing fruit, even in hard seasons. Life is not easy but they are still finding joy. Their joy is connected to serving the Lord. Psalm 7:4. Bruce.
This means when we are not finding delight in the Lord we want to work toward it. We are missing something. And this is one of the great fights of the spiritual war we are in. To change our hearts. We long for more of God. We feel our lack of interest and it worries us. When you don’t want to do the things of the Lord, that is when you most need it. When you don’t want to read, when you don’t want to go to church, get into it.
Develop a spiritual diet. A person who doesn't eat vegetables misses out on key nutritional elements that are essential for healthy life. There is a problem.
A friend in college went on a Little Debbie diet. Couldn’t break 120 pounds and wanted to see what would happen. After a couple days of this diet, he had no energy and was just sleeping all the time. Actually lost weight. He realized he needed more. His body was longing for more. There was a delight next time he ate carrots. It is what he needed. Similar in our walk with God.
He finds delight in walking with the Lord.
Look at what he does. He meditates on the word day and night. Merism. All day long. Searched high and low. Include young and old, rich and poor.
Meditation is an ambiguous term today. Yoga often tells you to empty the mind. Many spiritual people will use images of nature, peaceful music, and meditation to reach inside you. That is not the biblical view. The biblical view of mediation is us seeking to know God and conform our life to him, his commands, and his calling.
Meditate. ponder, give serious thought and consideration to selected information, with a possible implication of speaking in low tones reviewing the material, talk in normal tones so others can hear, make a judgment about something after a thought process. of inarticulate sounds: a. growl, of lion growling over prey. Grunts at dinner table. GRoup of guys with slab of meat. Chewing it. Ingesting it. Working it down. Enjoying every minute of it.
Vegetarians. Cow: Eat grass. Swallow it. Later bring it back up. Chew it again slowly. Digest it deeply
Tomas Watson. “Meditation is the chewing of the cud. The beasts of the field chew the cud; so must we chew upon the truths we have heard.”
This is what he is doing. This is what is running through his mind. Not the latest blurb on the news. Not all the problems in life. Not how dumb everyone else is and how they are going to ruin his life. He is looking to God and promises that in him, and focused on doing the things God calls him to do, and the power that God supplies. His mental health is being restored not because he doesn’t have problems but because his focus is on the Lord.
Wants. Needs. I need to work out. Not always want to.
William a Brakel, Meditation is pressing more “deeply into divine things so as to be kindled with love, to be comforted, and to be stirred up to lively exercise.”
Read the word. When you come across something that stands out. Work on knowing what it means. Work on knowing it in your heart. As you work toward believing it, acknowledge the parts that are hard, and what God word says to taht.
How do we know when meditation is success, when we feel our hearts warm to the things of God.
- He meditates on the word to know God.
To know God. We know him through his word. Since the fall, God's presence is mediated to us. We cannot see him and live. Like looking at the sun without glasses, he is too holy and pure. He has given us his word. We can know him definitively. None of this, “I’m a spiritual person.” People say that and it is essentially James 1:26, even the demons believe in God and shudder with fear. You believe. Good. You are not submitted to him in any definitive way. You believe in God but there is no reading the word, no going to church, and that means no one holds you to anything. You are spiritual.
In Scripture, spiritual
Ephesians 6:17. “Taking… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
John 6:63. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
He is like a tree planted by streams of water. Think of those big massive trees next to a quiet stream. Roots go down deep and it is always taking in. Even in droughts the roots it has go deep and nourish it. That tree is not easily moved, it is stable. That tree doesnt easily wither in hard times. It bears fruit. And the comparison of the tree that is always drinking is to the one who meditates on the word day and night. Always drawing near to God.
“Life close to God’s word is life close to God.” BB Warfield. p73.
The Lord renews you.
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Ps 19:7–11.
Bloom in the dessert because life is about knowing God more.
- He mediates to know himself.
Meditates on the word to keep his heart. He wants to serve God from the heart. Not just when people are looking at him. It is a genuine desire.
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23.
Heart is the hidden control center of the whole human being. The entire range of consciousness and perhaps even unconscious activities.
John Flavel, “The great difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God, and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.” Works. (London; Banner of Truth, 1968) 5:423, 425.
When you keep your heart with all vigilance, you begin to see just how quickly thieves can break in to steal it away, how quickly it begins to faint with the slightest weight, how the lust of the world captivates and lures it away.
Keep it. Be on guard. All diligence. Not when you feel like it. Matter of life and death.
“Keep the word, and the word will keep you.” John Flavel.
Growth is slow and meticulous. Formed over time, like the growth of a trees, new growth is weak and limber, but over time it grows strong and can bear much weight.
Its not easy. Hard things to understand. Hard things to think through. How can you delight in God when you have been arrested for being faithful to God?? How can you bear fruit when you cant work and your family is in want?? Those are hard things. But it happened with Bunyan. It is the testimony of the saints.
What is the orientation of your heart? What do you long for? Not so much what did you do but what do you long for? The world? Or how about simply ease, comfort. Quiet. Jesus didn’t call you to a life of ease and comfort.
Hearts are not grounded they go after everything, seek to please everyone. When we focus on God alone our lives become less cluttered. Less compromising.
Biblical simplicity. When life gets too complicated. There are often hard decisions you need to make. It is a pruning. What is most important. Great Danger for us.
Spinning plates. And you keep adding plates. At some point you with lose some plates or you keep spinning and wear yourself out, and you lose all of them. Often more effective being faithful with a few things. What is the most important thing for you? A complicated and cluttered life is a life with many masters. You serve God and God alone and your life will get more simple.
Examining self. What do I need to change, believe? God’s word useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 tim 3:16. Often we act like there is nothing to rebuke and correct. Either we are perfect or our conscience has been seared with hard heartedness.
This is how you can listen to messages. What do you learn about the word? How has your view of the world changed? What do you need to change or do differently? Confess your sins.
Read with expectation. Do you believe God is going to speak to you? Do you anticipate it?
Seminary. Those who expect nothing get nothing. Seek him. Do you critique yourself as much as you critique others? Worship leader, preacher, bible study leader.
- He meditates to understand life.
Notice how this psalm ends. A beautiful description of the blessed man in the beginning. But the way of the wicked will perish. How do you think through when you do right and are imprisoned and the wicked people prosper? God what are you doing? He reminds us to take the view from eternity.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
The times you struggle with God are the times your expectations of God are challenged by who God actually is. When he wants to take you deeper in your understanding of him and what he has done. Need to bring our head and heart into line.
- Known by the Lord
The Lord knows the way of the righteous. It is not lost on him. He is not lost. When John Bunyan was in prison was he lost? Did God forget about him? When David the annointed king was relegates to harp duty was his way forgotten? When Jesus was betrayed and handed over to a mob, was God unaware and unable?
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
God knew. God saw. God acted. He will do the same in your life.
God did not send his Son to die for us so taht we might then perish. We are going to see how Jesus delivers us from everything. It will come at a cost.
This is also what anchors the blessed man in the beginning and why he doesnt do certain things. He knows the Lord knows.
Practical Application. Let’s get practical. Spiritual disciplines. What is your plant to grow spiritually? These three pop up one after the other on the same screen.
- Make a plan to read the Word.
- Meet with God.
- Make a note of things that stick out. Good, uncertain. Things that challenge you or ways you need to change in life. Meditate on them to figure it out.
- Involve Others. Small group.
- Develop a conviction about Church. Come expectantly. Come looking to change. Come looking to share. Most people today go to church when it’s convenient. **The Christian life is a life of conviction and not convenience.** Listen to learn. Listen to grow. Write things down you need to hear. Write things down that you need to do different. I make notes during messages. Some meticulous. Some times just write down, I need to remember this. I need to do this. Review during the week. How did God speak to me. Did I respond. I don’t want to get to a place that God’s word, the preached word is just white noise that doesn’t matter. Those who take the preached word seriously are congregations that are growing. Come ready to share!
- Fast. Where do you need to simplify? What do you need to take out of your life to make room for God or depend on him more deeply. Where you do need to take a razor to remove the cancer, knife to the grissel, get the onion out of the grass.
