If you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter three. It's
your turn, let me make a couple of announcements. Novi Sparks,
her abdominal pain has come back. Remember, she had this awful
pain for such a long time, they finally found it and did a surgery
to correct it. Ed told me it lasted about 30
days. And it's back now, they're making trips to the ER and she's
just in such pain again, it just breaks my heart. So let's remember
her in prayer. Aaron Simpson has had his second
treatment and is preparing for what we hope will be the transfusion
they're going to do is remember him in prayer. Many of you heard
Barb Collins fell off her porch and she has broken multiple bones
in her leg. They're going to now, It was
going to be this morning. They delayed it until this afternoon
to do a surgery to replace her ankle and her knee and just this
could be an extensive surgery. Remember her in prayer because
of COVID rules. Steve can be the only one there.
He's by himself. Kingsley just doesn't seem like
such a great day to have a party, does it? We will, we'll celebrate
you and Maggie while we pray for Barb too. So we have no shortage
of things to go to our Lord and pray about. All right, Proverbs
chapter three. We'll read the first 19 verses. My son, forget not my law, but
let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life
and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake
thee. Find them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of
thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not
wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from
evil. It should be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance
and with the first fruits of all thine increase. So shall
thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out
with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening
of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the
Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the
man that giveth understanding. For the merchandise of it is
better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof
than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies,
and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared
unto her. Length of days is in her right
hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways
of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree
of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone
that retaineth her." All right, let's stand together as Shawn
leads us in singing our call to worship. Please stand. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty art, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. This spotless Rome, the same
appears When ruined nature sinks in years, No age can change its
glorious hue. The robe of Christ is ever new. When from the dust of death I
rise, To join the ransomed in the skies, Even then shall this
be all my plea, That Christ has lived and died for me. O let the dead now hear thy voice,
now bid thy people to rejoice. Our beauty this, our glorious
dress, Jesus the Lord, our righteousness. You may be seated. If you would, please turn in
your red hymnal to song number 224, I Know Whom I Have Believed. I know not why God's wondrous
grace he hath made known. Nor why unworthy, Christ in love,
redeem me for his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair, nor if I'll walk the vale with Him
or meet Him in the air. But I know Whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Let's open our Bibles to Proverbs
chapter 6. Pastors ask we read Proverbs
6, starting with verse 16 down through verse 26. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren. My son, keep thy father's commandment,
and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually
upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest,
it shall leave thee, and when thou sleepest, it shall keep
thee, and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For
the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and the reproofs
of instruction are the way of life. To keep thee from the evil
woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, lust
not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee
with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman
a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulterous will
hunt for that precious life. Let's pray. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this opportunity to gather together as a people. Thankful for the opportunity
to worship. We pray for your presence here this morning, You've
said in your word where two or three are gathered together,
you'll be in the midst of it. Lord, we pray for your presence
here this morning. Lord, we pray for our pastor. We thank you for him. We pray
that you would, Lord, take that which you've laid upon his heart,
Lord, that you've studied and prepared in order to enable him
to speak freely here this morning. Lord, indeed, we pray that you'd
be pleased to speak through your servant. Lord, speak to the hearts
of your people. Give us hearing ears and a heart
to receive and rejoice in thy word. Lord, teach us from thy
scriptures. Bless us to know the Savior. Bless us to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, we thank you for your grace,
for your mercy and goodness towards us. Lord, we know that it's only
in Christ, only in our Savior, Lord, that you've blessed us
and provided for us. Lord, for those of our number
who are in a time of heaviness, or in a time of trouble and sorrow,
Lord, we pray you'd be with your people. or thou art a great physician. And though we come to thee and
look to thee for strength and health and for grace in all things,
we pray for our brother Aaron, that we pray your hand be upon
him, upon the physicians, those that attend to him, or be with
him and Michelle, or give strength in the days to come. Lord, for
Novi, we pray that you bring her some comfort. And Lord, for
Bob, we pray that you comfort her and be with them in days
to come. Lord, it is a time of heaviness
and a time of trouble, but Lord, cause us to rest in thee, Lord,
knowing that thou doest all things well. And again, we pray for your presence
here this morning. Again, we pray you'd be with
our pastor. Be with Frank as he stands in this place. Lord,
who's sufficient? Who's sufficient for these things?
Lord, bless your word. Lord, cause it to go forth in
power. Lord, accomplish the purpose in which you serve. Bless us
in days to come. Continue to watch over and protect
and keep us. We pray for our young ones that
you would edge them about and keep them above all that you
reveal Christ to them. God bless us, bless us this time
again. Set aside the thoughts and cares
of this world. Let us see Christ. In his name
we pray and give thee thanks. Bye. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still He loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest,
glory to His name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change but Jesus never
Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name All may
change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who poured and erring, Peter,
never needs thou fear. He who came to faithless Thomas,
all thy doubt will Let the love disciple on his
bosom rest. Bids thee still with love as
tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never
Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name All may
change, but Jesus never Glory to His name He who made the raging
billows Walked upon the sea Still can hush our wildest tempest
As on Galilee Prayed in anguish in Gethsemane
Drinks with us, each cup of trembling in our agony Yesterday, today,
forever, Jesus is the same All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change but Jesus never
Glory to His name As of old He walked to Emmaus with them to
abide So through all life's way He walketh ever near Soon again shall we behold Him,
hasten, Lord, the day. But we'll be this same Jesus
as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name All may change,
but Jesus never Glory to His name If you would open your Bibles
now with me to Proverbs chapter 6, the passage that Brother Eric
just read for us. On this day when we will, after
the message, have a church dinner to honor our high school graduates,
I've titled the message, A Message for Our Graduates. We have this every year, and
every year I think about bringing a message to our graduates, and
I've never felt like I have had the Lord's leading on it until
this year. The rest of you, rest assured,
this is a message for all of God's children. I pray will instruct
us wherever it is that the Lord takes us from here. I have a
message for our graduates. For the rest of you, I've had
a subtitle. led, kept, and instructed. And
what I hope the Lord will be pleased to show us this morning
and settle this matter in our heart, the importance of God's
word in our lives. Verse 20, Proverbs chapter six
says, my son, my daughters, keep thy father's commandment and
forsake not the law, but thy mother. I can, Safely, tell Kinsley
and Maggie, you two are blessed. Blessed young ladies, you have
parents who have raised you under the sound of the gospel. Well,
it's such a blessing. They brought you here to classes
year after year. I remember when both of you turned
three to start Sunday school. I remember that. I remember that
morning. They brought you here to countless many services, haven't
they? Your parents have brought you here to teach you so that
you're taught The Word of God. And you're doubly blessed. You
have parents and grandparents that have taught you that they
believe God. They've taught you the Word here
at home, too. And now you, too, are stepping out to begin your
adult lives. And this is a new phase in your
lives. You're going to go do new things.
And if you'll allow me, I can say to my daughters, don't forget
what you've been taught. Don't forget. It's too important.
Hold your place there, look at 2 Timothy 3. I'll tell you the same thing
the apostle Paul said to young Timothy. 2 Timothy 3. Verse 14, Paul told Timothy,
but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been
assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, And that from
a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus. You girls have been blessed.
You've been blessed because you've been taught the word of God.
Now don't forget, don't forget, don't leave what you've been
taught. I make the charge, that same charge to every single person
here. Don't forget what you've been
taught. You've been blessed to have been taught the Word of
God. Now don't forget it. Don't forget it. Don't come in
here on Sundays and Wednesdays and forget what you hear as soon
as you leave. Don't forget. And I hope that
you'll take some fatherly advice from me, from the Word of God.
Just don't go out there and live like you've not been instructed. Don't live like you haven't heard
the gospel. And don't leave it. Don't leave
it. Don't leave the gospel. Make it central to your life
to be in the worship service and hear God's word as much as
you possibly can. And take it and read it. Read
it at home. Read God's word. Be instructed
by it. Don't come in here and give mental
credence to grace. We preach sovereign grace, Hurricane
Road Grace Church. We preach God's grace. Don't
come in here and give mental assent to it and then go out
there and live like you're not dependent upon God's grace. You
know, like it's all up to you what you can, like one man said
to get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can. Don't do
that. Don't live like that. Back in our text, the words that
Solomon uses here, the commandment and the law, they both mean the
whole word of God. And what a blessing I can say
to you two girls. Don't forget what your fathers taught you.
Don't forget what your mothers taught you. That's a blessing.
Solomon here, he means something even greater than that. When
he talks about the father, he means God the father. The commandment
of God the father. And when he talks here about
your mother, he means the church. He means the bride of Christ.
When Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, chapter four, verse
25, he talked about Jerusalem, meaning the church, he said is
the mother of us all. That's what the church is. And
he said, now keep this, this commandment, keep your father's
commandment, keep the law, the commandment that you've been
taught in the church. What is that commandment? What
is it that Solomon was talking about here? Well, the commandment
of God's word is to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God gave us a whole book to tell
us that commandment, to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Trust Christ to be all of your salvation. Trust him
to be everything that you need. Trust Christ to be your righteousness. Trust him to be your obedience
to the law. Righteousness is not in what
you do. Righteousness is Christ. It's Him. It's what He's done
for His people, in and for His people. Trust the blood of Christ
to cleanse you from your sin. Not that you don't sin as much
as somebody else or that you're any better than somebody else.
You're the finest young ladies anywhere. I'd stack you up against
anybody, anywhere, and you're blessed. God blessed you. He
has blessed you to put you here. Borrow a phrase from Brother
Henry that was just one of my favorites, you're better off.
But don't you forget this, you're not better. You're better off,
but you're not better. Trust Christ. Trust him to be
your righteousness. That's the commandment of scripture.
The Apostle John told us that, 1 John 3, verse 23. This is his
commandment. I love the plainness of scripture.
You can't mistake this now. This is God's commandment. that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. That's God's commandment, to
believe on him. That's the commandment of God, and that's the gospel
that God's church preaches. That's the gospel that by God's
grace has been preached from this pulpit from the time we
started. The gospel is a commandment.
It's not an invitation. It's a commandment to believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now don't put any confidence
now in yourself, in what you do or what you don't do. all
of your confidence that the salvation of your souls on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's a commandment. And you've heard that all your
lives long. Many of us can say that here.
You've heard it your whole life long. You've heard it for many,
many, many years. What a blessing. Everybody hadn't heard that commandment.
Many people hear an invitation. Won't you let Jesus into your
life? Won't you let Jesus save you? Won't you make his blood
effectual to you? Everybody hasn't heard this commandment
now. Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt.
No question about it. No ifs, no maybes. Thou shalt
be saved. That's the commandment, that's
the gospel you've heard for years and years and years. You too,
all your life long. Now don't turn your back on it. Look what
Solomon says, verse 21. Bind them continually upon thine
heart and tie them about thine neck. Now bind God's word, the
gospel, bind it continually upon your heart. Don't just agree
to it in your head like it's some sort of mental exercise,
like you remember history class or math, something that you just
learned in a class you know is true. Take the gospel into your
heart, into your innermost being and believe it. That's where
life is found. Look back at page Proverbs chapter
four. Take this in your heart. In verse
23, Solomon says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life. This is where life is found is
by believing God's word in our heart. And binding God's word,
binding the gospel to your heart, it means taking in the innermost
being to believe it. But the heart is the seed of
affection. He means love it. Love God's
word, love the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And
I know we need God to give us a love for it. Naturally, we
don't love it, naturally speaking. I know, especially our little
ones, I know coming and hearing a preacher, it seems like the
most boring thing in the world. You wonder, how can that fella
talk so long? And I'm very conscious to try
to keep my messages to about 40 minutes. Landry and I was your age, they
were men, they'd come to a conference where you'd have three speakers
in one sitting and they'd speak for over an hour, over an hour. I mean, just, I know, I know,
I know. We need God to give us a love
for it. So I pray for you every single
day. Love God's word, take it and
love it. Ask the Lord to give you a love
for his word. And I know why we can't, but
yet I have to just wonder, how can we not love it? How can we
not love the word of God? The word of God reveals to us
the best news human beings have ever heard. This word proclaims
the gospel, that almighty God has chosen to save sinners, sinners
who don't deserve it, sinners who are his sworn enemies. God
is determined to save his people. And God has given us a book that
tells us this is His commandment. Sinner, believe on my son. Believe on my... Have you ever
heard better news than that? This is a commandment. But what
a gracious, loving, glorious commandment to sinners to come
to Christ and believe on Him. How can you not love that? That
is good news. And if God gives you a love for
it, you'll never leave Him. And then Solomon says, Take this
commandment, this gospel, God's word, and tie it about your neck.
He doesn't mean like a noose. He means like a necklace. Tie
it about your neck to adorn your life. I know that the instruction
of this word, the instruction of this book, I know that it
is absolutely contrary to everything people in the world teach. And
the things that appeal to this flesh, I know it is. but I implore
you, all of us, follow it anyway. Follow the word of God, the teaching
of it anyway. Be modest, be humble, quiet,
meek, hardworking people. There's nothing more beautiful,
there's nothing more useful in a person than a quiet, meek,
modest, humble person who looks for ways to be helpful makes
it their goal not to try to seek glory for everything they do.
They're just meek, quiet, humble people who try to be helpful
where they can. You girls have seen that, the
examples of that in your home that you grew up in. Now all
of us ought to strive to be that kind of person. It's beautiful. Let me show you that, 1 Peter
chapter three. That does happen to be my opinion,
By God's grace, it's my opinion, because that's what the word
of God says. 1 Peter 3. Verse three. Who's adorning? Let it not be
that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, of wearing of gold
and putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the
heart. In that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek in
quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
Now, if God says that's a great price, God calls that inner,
the beauty of that inner man, he calls that beautiful, then
it is. You know, the world tells you,
don't be meek. They say that's, you know, despicable. But God says a meek and quiet
spirit is of great price. Strive for that. Follow, that's
the teaching of God's word. And I tell you, look back at
Galatians chapter five. I'll tell you why that person
is beautiful, that adorns, has adorned the inner man, the heart
that way. It's because they're adorning themselves. They're
wearing the fruit of the spirit. Galatians chapter five. See,
this isn't something that we can just, you know, make happen
on our own. This is the fruit of the spirit
and the arts of God's people. Galatians five verse 19. Now the works of the flesh, are
manifest. These are the works of the flesh.
This is what the world and the flesh teaches you, which are
these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like. Of the witch I tell you before,
as I've also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now that's the
way of the world. Everybody here knows that's the
way of the world. That is what the world teaches you. Not only
is that the way of the world, those things which are despicable,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, murders, drunkenness, adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. The world prizes that. It teaches
people to do that, teaches people to value those things. That's
the way of the world. That's ugly. But listen, that
person is beautiful who wears the fruit of the spirit. Verse
19. I'm sorry. Verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit,
this is what is adorning the man of God that makes them beautiful
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts. If
we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let's
not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another and envying
one another. That's contrary to the fruit
of the spirit, isn't it? Those fruits of the spirit, That's
beautiful. That's what makes the believer
beautiful. And you see that. It doesn't take a real smart
person to see how beautiful and useful that person is. And I
know that the instruction of this word is the opposite of
anything spiritual that the world loves and teaches. But follow
this word. Don't just listen to some man
that wears a suit or wears a funny outfit, stands up behind a podium,
follow this word, check him out and see, does that really what
the word of God teaches? The commandment of God's word
is to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you
trust him. Trust him to be all it takes
to save you without you doing anything adding to it. People
write great big books to try to define what saving faith is.
And this is what saving faith is. It really is this simple.
Trusting Christ to be everything it takes to save you without
you adding one thing to it. That's what saving faith is.
And nothing is more beautiful than to find a sinner trusting
the Savior. Nothing's more beautiful than
that, than having God-given faith to trust Christ. And Solomon
says, now tie that instruction around your neck like a necklace.
Seek to have that kind of beauty. Just don't leave home without
any more than you wouldn't go out without combing your hair
or washing your face or wearing some girly jewelry or something. You just wouldn't do that, would
you, Cynthia? You're smiling. You wouldn't do that, would you?
You wouldn't go out without clothes on. Don't go out without this
beauty, this ornament of God's grace and faith in Christ. Just
don't go out in the world without it. It makes you beautiful. Then
Solomon gives us three words of instruction on why we should
not forsake God's word, why we should not forsake the gospel. These are three words of instructions
that tell us why we're to keep and value God's word, to keep
it with us at all times. And these are three words I want
our graduates to take with you, all of us, all of us take these
words with you. The first one is lead. Verse
22, back in our text, Proverbs 6. When thou goest, it shall
lead thee. Now keep the Word of God. Keep
it with you. Read it and make it your business
to be where you can hear it taught. God's Word is going to lead you.
God's Word leads His people wherever they go. And you know where the
Word of God always leads you? Always. It always leads you to
Christ. That's how you can tell if it's
the Word leading you. If you think you're being led
somewhere else, You might twist in God's word, but that's not
what God's word leading you to do. God's word always leads us
to Christ. This is the inscription I put
in the Bibles of our graduates this year, and I think as much
as I can remember to say the exact same thing every year,
this is what I put in the inscription in our graduates' Bibles. This
is my prayer for you. May the words of this book be your constant guide and companion,
and always lead you to its author and subject. The author and subject
of this book, you know, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this book
will always lead you in the straight and narrow path. That straight
and narrow path just means this, it's Christ alone. Without any
of my work, that would be it. That's the straight and narrow
path. That's where this book always leads. Christ the Savior,
we must know Him. We must believe Him. If we were
to have eternal life, we must know Him. I'll tell you how important
this book is. The only place we can know Christ,
the only place He is revealed is in this book. The preaching
of this book is the only means God ever uses to save His people.
So make it your business to be where there's a pastor who preaches
the word, who teaches the word. This is the way that the Lord
leads his people. It's through the teaching of
his word. Now Kinsley and Maggie are in a very exciting time of
life. They're moving on to new experiences,
new places. And I say to you, God, I tell
you, Go get an education, go expand your experiences, go learn
things about God's world, you go. I also say to you, come back
here. I say that to you, come back
here. Now, I don't have, this is the one thing I must, I don't
have scripture for this. This is just frank, this is my
desires, my selfishness, and what little bit of wisdom maybe
that the Lord's given me, you come back here. It's selfish
for me, I don't want to see it, but it's good for you. As you
come, finish school and you, you know, begin your life, your
adult life, get married and maybe the Lord give you a family, you'll
be a whole lot better off if you live in a place where your
mama is. Just trust me. That's just my selfish desires,
but you go and you learn. This is an exciting time of life
for you. And if you don't come back here,
You go somewhere where the gospel is preached. You go somewhere
where you can be under the sound of the gospel. Nothing is more
important. Nothing is more important. And I promise you this, the word
of God is not going to lead you. If you think, oh, I could go
here, I could go there. I know the gospel is not there,
but I feel led to go there. Well, the word of God is not
leading you there. I mean, I promise you that. The word of God is
not leading you there. You go somewhere where you can
hear the word of God preached. If you want to go somewhere where
you'd be absent from the public worship service, I just promise
you this, the word of God's not leading you to that. If you think
it is, you're mistaken. Just make it your business to
be where the word is taught because that is how God shepherds his
people. That's how God feeds his people.
It's just, it's through the, the weekly, weekly, just week
after week after week preaching of the word. I know we all love
conferences. We all, we just, we enjoy those
things and I wouldn't quit having them. I'm not, I'm not saying
anything against them, but I'm telling you the truth. Conferences
aren't how God feeds his people. It's through weekly, week after
week after week, faithful teaching. That's how God feeds and instructs
and leads his people. It really is. Follow the teaching
of this book spiritually. It points you to the safe. And
like I said a minute ago, follow it in your physical life too. This book will teach you, will
lead you to walk wisely. It'll lead you to live quietly
and peaceably. The way of this world, it seems
worse now than any time of my life. Maybe I was younger and
wasn't aware of it. I don't know, but it is so prevalent
in this day to just be looking for a fight all the Time. Just don't do it. The word of
God leads us to live peaceably. And listen, a fight's going to
be easy to find. I mean, they're easy to find,
but you'll be happier if you live peaceably, quietly. And
this book will lead you to do that. It'll lead you to have
peace in Christ. If you follow the teaching of
this book, you won't miss that. Because this book gives you light
so that you know, you know, where you're going. Jan and I are doing
some remodeling and we've got some stuff moved around, you
know, in this construction zone we're living in. And I just,
I walk through the house, you know. I like it at night. I don't
turn the lights on. I just, I know where everything
is. And me and I ran into something the other day and just busted
up my shins, you know, because it was out of place. And I wouldn't
have done that if I turned the light on. You won't misstep in this world
if you have light to walk by. This word gives it to you. Look
at verse 23. For the commandment is a lamp,
it's a candle, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction
are the way of life. It gives you light to walk by. And I have to give you one other
thing on this point of being led, being led by God's word.
Right now, life, for you too is pretty great, isn't it? I
mean, it's exciting. You just can't wait, can you?
You can't wait until it's time for the lesson. You just can't,
I know you can't. You can say it, it's okay. I know, it's exciting. And we're excited for you. I
want you to be excited about this. I'm just excited for what
you're gonna do next. And I don't wanna be a downer
now, but I wouldn't be a faithful pastor to you if I didn't warn
you. It won't always feel this way.
It won't always feel this way. At some point, you hear us talk
about folks here that you know, and we pray for them. One day
it's going to be you. You're going to find yourself
under the burden of trial and trouble. And like the apostles
out there on that little ship when that storm came up, you're
going to be scared. You're going to be hurt. You're going to be
sorrowing. And you won't know which way to turn. You won't
know which way's up. At that time, immerse yourself
in the Word of God. You won't know which way to turn.
This book will lead you. It'll show you which way to turn.
And you know the way to always turn. The way this book tells
you. Turn to Christ. Turn to Christ. Rely on Him. Cry out to Him. Beg Him. This word will lead
you to depend upon the Savior, to depend upon his power, to
depend upon his grace, to depend on his wisdom. When you don't
understand what's going on, to depend on him, your wisdom. This
word will lead you always to Christ. All right, the second
word is kept. Verse 22 says, when thou goest,
it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall
keep thee. Now, why does Solomon say the
word of God will keep you when you're asleep? Well, when we're
asleep, that's when we're our most helpless, our most vulnerable.
You know, we don't know what's going on around us because we're
asleep. Well, the word of God will keep you. It'll keep you
pointed to Christ. It'll keep you, keep you relying
upon Christ. It'll keep you worshiping him.
It'll keep you bowing to him. This book will keep you. It'll
keep you from error. if you follow its teaching. It'll
keep you, very importantly, from falling into false religion and
having a false hope of eternity. Verse 24, it'll keep you. To keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Now the evil
woman here is a picture. It's a picture of false religion. And you're gonna see it as you
go off to campus and you meet new people You're going to see
it. Holly told me when she went off to college, she said, I heard
you, I heard Henry. She said, I've heard Todd. I've
heard them talk about Armenians. I've heard them talk about people
that really believe the eternal life is in their decision. I've
heard you talk about people that that really believe that salvation
is all these ceremonies and all this stuff, you know, religion.
I heard about that. She said, but it's like a blind
person hearing about a draft. And she said, well, I was shocked
when I saw one. Imagine never seeing a draft,
just reading about one and you suddenly see one, you know, wow.
You're going to see that. You're going to see that on campus.
It's, wow, I guess they still have those people preaching whatever,
yelling on the green or whatever, you know, like they have when
I was in school, my word. You're going to see some things
that are just going to utterly shock you. Well, false religion,
it lies to you. It lies to you by flattering
you. Psalm here talks about a flattering
woman. She tells you things that aren't
true. But they flatter you. They tell
you, oh, you can do things to make God happy. You can do things
that will make God save you. They flatter you by telling you. You're not that bad. You're good
girls. You're not that bad. I know. Yeah, you're a sinner, but you're
better than most. And you can do things to get
God to save you. Every once in a while, Janet
will say, tell me, let's go have some porch time. We'll sit on
our front porch. And I finished my notes yesterday
and made me another cup of coffee and said, let's go have porch
time. We were sitting out there, and we were sat there a few minutes,
and I told her, let's go to the back porch. She said, why? One of
our neighbors was playing Joel Osteen while I was drinking my
coffee, trying to enjoy some porch time with my sweetie. And
it just ruined it. And this is what he was saying.
Oh, God treasures you. Oh, God says you're good. God
says there's good things in you that make you a better person
and God just bless you because you're so good and you make God
happy and God's going to do this for you and this for you because
God just treasures you and God says you're so good. That appeals to the flesh, to
the dead flesh. But if you know anything at all
about yourself, anything at all about God Almighty, that's offensive. Oh, that slatters the flesh. Somebody, my neighbor apparently,
and some other people listen to that, they believe that. It
makes me angry. It drags their soul to hell. Those things that appeal to the
flesh, It'll appeal to you. Just like Joelstein did by telling
you, you can do things to get God. And you know what God's
going to do for you? He's going to make you rich.
Oh, He's going to make you rich. And He's going to heal all your
sicknesses. It flatters you by telling you
that God will give you things that this flesh wants. Everybody
wants money. I mean, there's nothing wrong
with needing money. You've got to have it to pay your bills.
You have to go to school. My goodness. But to think that
that's the blessing of God. It's something that appeals to
the flesh. And that evil woman, that false religion, it lies
to you. It lies on God and flatters your
flesh. And you know why? To get your
eyes off Christ. It'll do anything it can to get
your eyes off Christ. And the flesh will fall for that
flattery just exactly like a young man and old man too, fall for
a pretty woman. I wish I could do that. Bites
her eyes and he just helpless, you know, and thinks he's falling
in love with her, with her beauty, with her charm. First thing she
does when she gets involved is fleeces him. She's not mean. She's not nice to him anymore.
Now she's mean. Look at verse 25. Lest not after
her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with thy eyelids.
For by means of a whorish woman is a man brought to a piece of
bread. That's all he's got left is a piece of bread. And the
adulteress will hunt for the precious life. She's not looking
to give him life. She's deceiving him. She's flattering
him so she can fleece him and take his life. Take his life.
That's what this false religion will do to you. Take your life.
But you don't want to keep you from that? I mean, that is so
dangerous. And I worry. I worry about our children. I
worry about all of us that we fall into that. Well, you know
what'll keep you? You know what'll keep you from
something you're utterly defenseless against it, just like when you're
asleep. You know what'll keep you? The word of God. It'll keep you
from falling into false religion and then falling into hell. Because
it won't, it'll show you that the flattery of, false religion
and it'll keep you from following them. The Word of God keeps us
by telling us the honest truth, by telling us the truth about
ourselves, that we are sinners who are lost and undone, have
no help, no hope in this world whatsoever. There's nothing good
in us whatsoever. Now that doesn't flatter the
flesh at all, does it? It offends the flesh. But that's
the truth that keeps us. keeps us trusting Christ, keeps
us by knowing how much we need Him. The Word of God keeps us
by telling us the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of sinners. And you and I are sinners. Trust
the Savior of sinners. The Word of God keeps us by keeping
us dependent upon Christ, keeping us relying upon Him, keep us
hiding in Him, keep us leaning upon Him. That's the only way
we can be kept. The Word of God leads us, it
keeps us. And the third word is instruct. Verse 22, when thou
goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall
keep thee. When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. You
know, the Word of God is a living book. And it talks to people.
It actually does. It talks to people who are awake.
It talks to people who've been given life so they can hear.
And when this book talks to you, you know what it'll talk to you
about? He'll talk to you about the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll
tell you who He is. Now, is there anybody here that
doesn't know Christ and wants to? Is there anybody? Then get
in this book. It's the only place He's revealed.
If we're going to know God in saving faith, we're going to
know Him from this book. And more than likely, we're not
going to know Him from just reading it at home and trying to figure
this out on our own. How can I know? How can I understand?
Some man teach me. Some man guide me. Find you a
man who dares to tell you the truth from the word of God. Listen to it. Ask God to give
you faith to believe what he's preaching. This book will talk
to you. It'll tell you. It'll tell you
who you are. And like I said a minute ago, this is where it
was instructing you and where it leads you to the same place
to be dependent upon Christ. This book will talk to you and
will comfort you. Nothing can comfort the hearts
of God's people like this book, like the word of God, like the
gospel. When you're suffering and you're sorrowing, that suffering's
real. That sorrowing is real. But this
word will talk to you and keep that in perspective. It'll still
hurt. I'm not telling you it's going
to take the hurt away. I'm not going to tell you it's going to take the need
away, but it'll keep it in perspective. This book will talk to you. It'll
show you the way that you should go. If you don't know which way
to go, tell you what to do. Just stay where you are and wait
on God's word to instruct you and lead you where you should
go. This word will talk to you and tell you how it is you should
conduct yourself as you go. This book will talk to you all
the time in whatever situation that you're in. This book has
got something to say to you, something that'll help you. So
read it. Commit it to memory. You know
all the memory verses you've had to memorize over the weekends.
You know all the memory verses you had to memorize over every
week, don't you? And then in Bible school, and
then you get a little older, some of you got chapters some
of you memorize. You know why we do that? It's
not just to give you something to do. It's not just to occupy
you so you don't get yourself in trouble. It's so that sometime
when you need it, it'll come back to you. I used to substitute teach my
dads. I won't call them the older ladies.
Dad called them experienced. And this is what they told me.
They said when we were girls and we were young, we had memory
verses. You know, I still remember them, they'd say. They said,
I can't memorize new ones. Try and try and try. I can't
memorize new ones. But those ones I memorized when
I was a girl. They come back to me now. When
that verse like that comes to your mind, you think it's coming
out of the blue, but a verse comes to your mind. You know
what that is? That's the word of God talking to you. That's
exactly what that is. It's talking to you. Sometimes
you come here a message and you think, that preacher is preaching
just to me. He knows exactly what I'm thinking.
He knows exactly what I'm going through. He knows exactly what
I'm done. And that preacher is preaching just to me. Really
not. You know what that is? That's
the word of God talking to us. That's exactly what that is.
And every time this word talks to you, it'll have exactly the
right message for exactly the situation you're in. It always
will. That's why we make so much of
God's word around here. That's why we give you young
ones. We give you memory persons. That's why we read God's word.
That's why we read it out loud. That's why we take a book and
go verse by verse through it all. We make much of the word
of God because life comes from this book. Instruction comes
from this book. That's how this book talks to
us is by just going through it, preaching it verse by verse,
line upon line, precept upon precept. And I pray that God
give us the grace to keep this book, keep the message of it,
to keep the gospel of it. to keep the author and the subject
of it in our heart so that we love it, so that we need it,
so that we enjoy it. One of the really good pieces
of advice that Todd Nyberg gave his preacher school, he said,
don't just take the Word of God and go looking for a message
in it. He said, it'll dry up to you. He said, just read it
for your own enjoyment. Just read it for your enjoyment.
That's what we needed. We need this book in our heart.
We need to be led by this book. We need to be kept by it, instructed
by it. One last word of warning. Go
out into the world. Don't think now that you can
go out and take the things of this world and love them and
handle them and take them up to your heart. And then you can
leave them and go your way unaffected. It's not possible, not possible.
And it very well could suck you in, take you away from Christ
and affect you in that way. That's good advice. That's good
advice for our children. It's good advice for all of us
living out there in the world. Don't think you can take these
things and handle them and think you'd be unaffected by it. Because
look at verse 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom
and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals in
his feet, not be burned? Can you be up next to a fire
and your clothes don't smell like smoke? Can't do it, can
you? It'll affect you. I'm telling
you the things in this world will affect you negatively, just
like smoke sticks to your clothes. So stick to the message of this
book and you won't go wrong. It's utterly impossible. I hope
the Lord blesses that. We're bowing in prayer here in
a minute. Thank God for the gospel, for the Savior, for the food
we're about to eat, and the men will set up some tables for us
to eat. Maggie, Kinsley, you get to go
first. So if I watch them, don't go through that line now until
they do, and then we'll follow them through and enjoy time.
And we're so thankful for you girls, so thankful for you. I
pray God the richest, richest blessings be on you. All right,
let's bow. Our Father, How we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that you've
given us an ear to hear it, a heart to love it. You've given it to
us here in this place to lead us, to keep us, and to instruct
us in the way in which we should go. Father, I pray you bless
your word as it's been preached. Bless it to the hearts of your
people. Show us your glory in it, that we would learn that
trust you more fully, that you use it to feed and comfort and
edify the souls of your people. It's something we can take with
us back out into the world in which we live to keep us. Father,
we thank you for this occasion. We thank you that we can honor
our graduates in this way and have a dinner together. We thank
you for this food and ask that you bless it to our bodies. Father,
I pray a special blessing on Kinsley, Maggie, As they grow
and continue to step out, Father, that you go with them every step
of the way. Don't let them go anywhere that
you don't leave them and aren't with them. Watch over them and
bless them in every way in which you bless your people. Keep them
safe as they go out and go into places that they were not always
with them. Mama and daddy aren't always
with them. The Father, you are. Keep them safe. Protect their
bodies, their minds, and their hearts, we pray. Now, Father,
all these things we ask in that great and precious name of Christ
our Savior. For his glory, for his sake,
we pray. Thank you. All right, Shawn,
you come lead us in a closing song, if you will. If you would, please stand and
turn to song number 228, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place. My faith has found a resting
place, not in device nor creed. I trust the Ever-Living One,
His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that he died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My great physician heals the
sick, the lost he came to save. For me, his precious blood he
shed. For me, his life he gave. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that he died for me.