Thank you for listening to the media ministry of the Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. If you are blessed by what you hear and would like to help keep our little church going as a ministry partner with your cheerful gifts, please listen for instructions at the end of this message. We open our Bibles together to Proverbs once again, this time chapter 6, and we're going to look at verse 23. Proverbs 6 verse 23. The imagery, please notice, is very similar to what we just sang in Psalm 119, verse 105, and we'll bear that out in the message. But as I am about to read that, please note another place where it says a very similar thing. A very familiar image from the Psalms. Proverbs 6, 23, hear now the word of the Lord. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Once again, for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Well, we've thought about this imagery with earlier scriptures and Psalms, but it bears repeating. If you can't see where you are, what should you do? Turn on a flashlight and shine it on where you're standing. If you can't see where to go, shine that flashlight around and find the safe place to follow. I've noticed on a quick video flipping through, I don't know if it's an ad or a clip, but I've seen in certain places, I guess other parts of the world, it's pretty popular to be putting in floorboards, kind of the framing of the floor by the walls with LED lights that kind of go along it. It's not too much, it's subtle, but I thought to myself, Boy, that's a great idea, because that would help me a lot, not get lost at night and bump into things and stuff like that, you know? You gotta find that light sometimes or not. And just having that light on all the time, along our feet, guiding the way of the hallway and around the room to know where we are, that's kind of the way we want to be giving ourselves to the Word of God. That's the way we want to be making good use of the Word of God. The reason God's children should listen to and live out their Heavenly Father's biblical instruction as given through their covenant parents is to illuminate their way to truly live and live forever. I give that to you as the idea of the text and you'll see that in a moment. Children, this is particularly mom and dad calling out to you to know what to do with the Word of God. and use it right as a lamp and a light for your life. Again, the reason God's children should listen to and live out their heavenly Father's biblical instruction as given through their covenant parents and church is to illuminate their way to truly live and live forever. Well, you notice in the verse there is the word for, and it's to be treated similar to sometimes therefore. I know I've heard many quote Pastor Bell in the past, and I've heard it elsewhere. What's the therefore therefore? Or what's the wherefore therefore? Well, it's just for, but it's the same question. What's the for therefore? It's a referent, or it's referring to referents that come before that are important to look at. And it's verses 20 through 22 in particular. Let's go through them. First verse 20. So the for is referring to this section. First of all, verse 20. My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Children, I want you to see that your father and your mother are trying to teach you important things from the word of God. And there's appeal to you to listen to them. Here we have the for. as the last part, verse 23, starting here. This section ending in verse 23, although there's some continuation, is an appeal from a father to his son, appeal from a father to his children. But not just that on behalf of his wife, it refers to the mother of the children. It's an appeal from covenant parents in church to their covenant children with the privilege and opportunity of having been born and raised in the church by their tutelage in life to remember to do their parents' instruction, to know how to live by it. Proverbs is so much a book of how to live wisely in a wicked world. Proverbs, we remember also a recent sermon on Proverbs 22, 28. Actually, I had a note there, and I think I lost it in my travels to finish the sermon, but there is a Proverbs, oh, excuse me, actually, let's look back to, I believe it's chapter one. Many of the chapters start like this, my son, my son, you can see it almost at the beginning, hear ye children. Let's see. My son, verse 8, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. I had that somehow edited out. Sorry about that distraction. But notice right at the beginning of the Proverbs and every chapter after it for a while building into this and several times in some of the chapters, it's the appeal from a father in the church and a mother in the church often to the son or by extension an understanding daughter. to parents in the church, to children of the church, please don't forget what we've gone out of our way to instill in you, to teach you about life in Christ and living for Christ. It's in your own best interest. Please don't forget. So you see that in verse 20, leading into verse 23, our verse tonight, the four. First of all, a father's appeal to covenant children on behalf of them and the mother. Now, don't forget a recent sermon on Proverbs 22. Let's look together at Proverbs 22. Still with a sense of this is coming from the appeal of a father and mother to their covenant children. Proverbs 22 verse 28. Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. And I won't go back and revisit that whole sermon other than to say, children, don't think you've got to figure it out for yourself. Be thankful you've had the path laid before you and the lamp and the light given to you to know where you are and where to go. Know what the Word of God is and use the Word of God. There's this appeal, don't forget, don't think you've got to come up with something else. A lot of people talk about that, oh, you know, I ask a lot of hard questions. I don't just trust anything just because my parents did. Well, that's not really the sentiment of the scriptures. It isn't spiritual or authentic, necessarily, simply to question everything you've been taught. Actually, that's often unbelief and doubt that Jesus speaks against. He calls us not to doubt, but be believing. And he's given us covenant parents to teach us, and we particularly have a privilege of being covenant keepers rather than covenant breakers. And often when people want to pretend to be authentic, it's actually their way to get a foot over the fence and eventually be on the other side with unbelief and agnosticism, if not pure old atheism. Ultimately, why? So we can live however we want. and then suffer all the consequences the Proverbs are warning about. Don't remove the ancient landmark, learn from your parents. Look ahead also to chapter 24. New is not necessarily good. New is often the dangerous Athenian disease in Acts 17, remember. Proverbs 24, 21 to 22. My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change. For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? Don't be so quick to change. Walk the old paths. Mind the same way that leads to life. So it's a father's appeal, let's go back to our chapter and verse, Proverbs 6 verse 23, the 4 starts, it's coming from a father's appeal, it's a continuation of thought into verse 21. Bind them. Bind what? The commandments your father and your mother have taught you. The law of God is understood, that your father and mother have taught you since you've been a child. Don't forget. Remember. So therefore, how do you do that? Bind them continually upon thy heart, and tie them about thy neck. Now, this is a figurative expression, but there can be benefits. You can think of different ways to make application of that, and we've done that when we've preached in scriptures like Deuteronomy 6, verse 8, and 11-18, when there's this call to bind God's law on our heart and around our neck. The idea is keep it close. like the, you know, the things around the eyes, keep it close, keep it guiding you straight, not to go off the path. There are these imagery, sometimes it's literal at those times, but the way to keep applying it is to remember, teach our children to remember the commandments they learned from their parents by using cues. So, for instance, memorizing the Shorter Catechism, learning how to think logically with them and memorize the scriptures given with them, remembering to have family worship and remembering why we do what we do, remembering church history, teaching our children about things that really matter, but that require thought and discipline and time. Boys, it's all right. It's okay. Now look with me a similar idea here of how to remember what your parents have taught you so you don't forget. Look at Proverbs chapter 3 verse 3. Proverbs 3 verse 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. So you can see this is really mostly figurative. How are you going to write it on your heart? I mean, we're not talking about literal heart surgery. We are praying, Lord, put these things on my heart. Meditate, think about them deeply, regularly. So it's just if you've bound them around your heart every time you're opening it up. You know, I've been memorizing a certain scripture recently. I open to it regularly and I just meditated on it on the bus in the morning, on the trolley different times because of something that's come up. And I'm like, I want to have that scripture ready better to answer that if it comes up again. And I've been giving myself to it. It's a sense of I'm binding it around my heart. Meditation, memory work, those kinds of things. But binding around your neck. I don't think we necessarily think of a literal chain or something. The idea of having the scriptures with you, actually the lapel that I have that holds my chaplain card and my different pictures and things that let me use the federal stuff, I can't get on my computer without the chip, I plug it in. I got a lapel, I ordered it online, because they do encourage you to get one that can snap off in the back if somebody grabs it in an aggressive way. And the one I found, I wanted to find a scripture. And I got one that has Philippians 4.13 on it. So it's literally around my neck. And sometimes I've had a person in the elevator say, hey, I love that verse. And that reminds me, yeah, me too. And what is it? I think you know. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. So there's maybe a place for that sometimes. But the idea is there. And you see it again in chapter 7. Notice also an appeal from the parents again. But this idea of binding on your heart, So when we encourage our kids, don't forget, don't forget to study your catechism. Don't forget to study your scriptures. We're going to go over it Sunday night, or different things. Good parents are helping our kids remember and repeating and repeating, so that when they step out in life, they've got it. They know how to use the Bible as a light for their feet and their path. And you see the same again in chapter 7, verses 1 to 3. Keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments and live and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers. Write them upon the table of thine heart. You think about writing it upon your fingers. I mean, I guess you could think about a ring with a scripture on it. But you know, sometimes people have a habit, at least I've seen this in the old times, I wanna make sure I don't forget something. What do they do? Tie a little string around their finger, right, you know? Sometimes I'll literally stick a memo on my forehead, you know, or put it on somewhere so I won't forget. And we, more than anything, wanna not forget the word of God and our covenant parents call to know it and love it and live it for life. Now notice that, verse two, keep commandments and live. That's reflecting Deuteronomy we've studied. You want to live, you want a good life, you want the Lord to bless you as is in the fifth commandment honoring your father and mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. As Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, the first commandment with a positive promise. for the children to live. Now notice this idea, another image, keep my law as an apple of your eye. What is the apple of your eye? It's your pupil, remember. So sometimes we say, Lord, keep me as the apple of your eye, which means he sees our reflection in his, we would see our reflection in his pupil, metaphorically. That's how close, right? The way that we keep close to Him is to keep His word as the apple of our eye. You know, if somebody's looking at us often, if we look in the mirror, hopefully we're seeing often His Bible right there reflecting in our pupil. Bring it close. That's the way to be binding it on the heart, binding it around the neck. Exodus 13, 1-16 has a lot of laws at that time which were more literal, but the point was keep God's words close. Constantly be thinking about it. Because that's how it becomes your lamp to your feet and your light to your path. And if you forget it, you leave it over here, you're never making use of it, you are just going to walk into one wall and walk off over a cliff all the time. Because you don't know where you're going and you don't know where you are. You can't see. Now, verse 22, the next verse in Proverbs 6, related to verses 20, verses 20 to 22, leading into the four, informing the four, therefore, verse 22. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. Does that now sound amazing? How many people are going to the wrong people and the wrong places to try to have that? And what we're encouraged is that is the word of God. that our parents have given us that we need to make good use of. And therefore, with that, if it's gonna be like that for you, then therefore, verse 23, for the commandment that thy parents have given you from your youth, that you need to remember and bind on your heart and neck, and it will be your living companion for life and frankly through death into eternal life like no one else or anything else can. And let me tell you something, when I visit a lot of patients in the hospital, that's all they got. And at moments for some, it's about to be the end, and that's all they got. That's all anyone will have, really, in our hearts, is the word of God to be our companion. Let it be a light, a lamp. It'll be a lamp to you. You'll know who you are and where you are, and let it be a light to your path. It'll tell you where you're supposed to go and how you're supposed to get there. It's your life. It's your lifeblood. And there's this appeal from the parents. So, verse 22, look at the benefit. Verse 20, a father's appeal to the covenant children to remember. How do you remember? Verse 21, tie it around your heart and your neck. Verse 22, the benefit will be it will lead you through life all the day and night as your most trustworthy life companion. Remembering that the word is Jesus Christ, who says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is my shepherd. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear none evil, for thou art with me. Verse 23, ultimately, by keeping God's command, the law or the Torah, as a lamp and a light for the way of your life is receiving reproofs of discipline, it's ultimately from Father God. He's the one really appealing to you through all the scriptures. He's the one that works through your covenant parents. Matthew 28, 18 to 20, this is really about discipleship. Jesus says, all power has been given me in heaven and earth. Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. Matthew 7, earlier on, 13 to 14, go the narrow way, enter the straight gate. leads to life. Few there be that are on it. Most of the world's the broad way, the easy way, but they're all going to go to hell. They don't think about heaven. They don't think about the fact that their life is so short and going to end so soon. Then they can't think about it anymore. It's been decided for them. Train children to keep the lamp of your word, the lamp of God's word at your feet, where you know where you are. You stand on the rock of God and you don't step off it. and you know to keep walking the path that Jesus gives. Covenant parents in the church, literal or spiritual, are used by God to start you here, children. And you are to keep using God's word to keep you here. Notice in this text, the emphasis is how you turn the light on. And not only to read it, but apply it. To learn it, but also live it. To see it and shine it. Jesus says, build your life upon the rock by keeping his commands. Keeping his commands not only is love of him, but it is the way you're building on the rock so that when life storms hit, and they will, often and hard, Rather than building your life on the sand of this world, go buy your fancy house. You know how many times a literal storm will knock that thing into the sea? Go buy your fancy cars. Just go ahead. And give up all of your family and your children. Give up all that really matters in the church. For whatever you think, it's all sand. And it disperses and so do the people when they're not built on the rock, keeping God's commands. And here it says, more than just opening the Word, keeping the Word of God is how it's a lamp to you. Do you see that? For the commandment is a lamp, the law is light, where proofs of instruction are the way of life. The commandment, keep his commandment, keep it, verse 22, you gotta keep it. Yeah, it's nice to have the Bible, do you read it? Yeah, it's nice that you read the Bible, do you believe it? It's nice you believe the Bible, do you live it? That's where the rubber meets the road. That determines what life you have and where your life is going and whether it ever ends in the celestial city or falls off the cliff along with the swine into the lake of fire. Learn in the doing, keeping of God's commands is actually The greatest aspect of the lamp, of the word being a lamp to your feet, of actually doing it. So we see in Psalm 111 verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. His praise endureth forever. So often people just don't want to actually do his commandments, which is nothing else than to snuff out the lamp of his word. and then not to know the right direction to go at because you're snuffing and dampening the light of it. So often, doing God's Word is the lamp, or at least it's the proper use of the lamp, and it doesn't do much for you if you don't actually live it. Keep this in mind with Psalm 119, verse 105. And this is a parallel text that you've sung. I want to invite you to turn with me to Psalm 119, 105. what I think we're more familiar with and doesn't get in as much to the idea of doing it, but it's implied just as much. But I want to look at it there with you with other things in review when I preached on that before. Psalm 119 verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. As I've said, I encourage you, beloved, to memorize that. Wrap that around your neck and around your heart. You know, when we're going around in the dark, we even have these cool new headlamps. You know what I mean? People camping, riding their bikes. You know, frankly, I don't want to get you nervous. I got to do this. I have a nice bike light, but the wrap that puts it on broke a while ago. And I keep meaning to get a new wrap, but I can't seem to find the exact one. So I'm just going to pretty soon measure it and do my best, see if I can make it work. And I'm telling you, sometimes when I'm riding in the morning, when it's very dark or at home the same, I'm like, I got to see better because I got to slow down. I'm not sure what that is right there. And it's a dip sometimes, you know, like I need the light to guide. I got to make good use of having the light. God's word is a lamp and a light. The earlier sermon I preached for you on Psalm 119, 105, I gave to you the point of it is this, God's word guides your present situation and your future direction. Its lamp in your hand glows upon your feet to give you a sense of where you are and in what direction to step. But our proverb today says particularly, if you're going to actually make use of it. Now you turn on the light, Okay, I had my devotion, and then you turn the light off for the rest of the day? That's not the idea. That's not how you make use of it. The sermon point was this, walk safely in the light of God's word. When you open it, every time you open it, and shed light on where you are and where you are to go. As I said, I took this one fella that I had the opportunity to visit with a couple times this week, very troubled, a lot going on, but he wanted the word of God. And one thing he said is, I really struggle to understand it, and I think there's a lot of reasons about that. Nonetheless, he had his Bible, said, well, can I sit down and can we study the Bible together? I had this opportunity, about 40 minutes, I came and visited him the next day, did it again, he's writing them down. in his book. And I said, well, I want to go to some that have just images that I think you can understand. Let's start there. And when it's Psalm 23, he understood what it is that God is a shepherd and we're the sheep. And we're the sheep. He knew what that meant too. We came here. I said, this is one I want you to think about a lot. And I've been thinking a lot about it for myself to revisit it. What is it that the word is a lamp? What is it that it is a light? You understand that, right? Yes. I'm telling you, you got to open your Bible every day. You got to give your life to it every day. It'll change your life. And it'll start quick if you do it. I mean, imagine if you're going through your life in darkness, and then you finally have the sense to turn on the light and keep it on. Not just in the reading of it, but in the doing of it. What a change of life so quickly. What a blessing. And there's lots of light in it. There's a lots of a sense of self and purpose in it. And everyone in the world is just looking for a sense of self and purpose. And it's all here for us. Lots of clarity on reflection and direction. I want you to consider reviewing the refrain of Psalm 119, according to thy word. Now, I've told you before, it's there seven times, and I don't know how I missed it. I had a chance to study and look for a little more today. You know, in Psalm 119, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13 times I see that phrase, according to thy word. Quicken me, according to thy word. Sometimes you even see it according to thy law. So I mean, I can't even give it all to you, and I'm not even sure I caught it all. But just to update you, there's a lot more than seven times. Not sure how I missed it last time. Sorry about that. But it kind of excited me, actually. It's just there so much. According to thy word, according to thy word. Everything is according to thy word. Lord, let me make use of your lamp as a lamp to my feet. Your word is a lamp to my feet, and let me make use of it as a light to my path. According to thy word, according to thy word. I don't know why this happened. I don't know why that happened. Did you turn the light off? Did you keep the light on? It's that simple. And the doing of it is the keeping it on. And the doing of it is the walking forward with it. I'll give you the verses quickly. I know some of you are note takers. For sake of time, I was going to have us go through all of them. I'll just give them to you. Verses 9, 25, 28, 41, 58, 65, 76, 116, 124, 149, 154, 169, 170, according to thy word, according to thy word, according to thy word. Now, I was going to try to look up every time the word, word, is used in Psalm 119. Guess what? I gave up pretty fast, because I didn't really have a lot of time, and we don't have enough time to even do it, really. I mean, it's just constant, right? Even as we just sang that section of Psalm 119 tonight to open our worship and look at the page before, it's like, what, five, seven times? Just in those two pages. Just in those two alphabetically divided sections of Psalm 119. It's all over the place. But let's go with two in Psalm 119. Let's look at verse 11. Psalm 119, verse 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. You put that light in the heart. That's the idea of binding the heart. Get the word of God in your eyes, in your heart, meditate, think about it, pray it, sing it, live it. Verse 16. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. Now, not just word, but essentially the same idea in different words, thy commands, thy law, thy judgments, thy precepts. And in the section of the psalm we sang tonight, those who love your law have perfect peace. It's a whole better life to know who you are with God's lamp showing you who you are and where you are in Christ in this world. As Paul says in the New Testament as lights against the dark backdrop of the sinful world. It's a lot better to see where you're going and to know you're stepping safely. You know the fear of trying to step out, uncertainty, often slip off a rock, break your ankle, what have you, fall into a pit. It's just so much better to see and know where you're going and know where you will be, in and with Christ, here and for eternity. It's the center, by the way, Psalm 119, it's essentially the center of the whole Bible. If you open up to the middle of your Bible, you're almost always going to open up to Psalm 119. And Psalm 119 is the center of the Psalter. And it's the longest psalm, and it's organized by the Hebrew alphabet. It's just there to be your center. Your source of seeing. Your source of shining. In the keeping of it. In the use of it. That said, be warned. First, by Proverbs 10, verse 17. He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuseth reproof, erreth. Our text today says that the light, God's word as light, is so by virtue of us receiving the reproofs of it. Including thinking of the context from our covenant parents as they teach us and lead us and correct us and guide us by it. Be warned by Proverbs 13 verse 9, the light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Although in Isaiah were promised and encouraged that the Lord will not put out the smoking flax of those who believe in him, but the light of the wicked will be put out. all the lights of Hollywood, all the lights of New York City, all the lights of the riches of this world, which Moses said, I don't want anything to do with, because I'm hoping in heaven. They're going to be put out very quickly. They're not a lamp. They're not a light. They are detour neon signs of pleasure that send you to Satan and send you to hell. They're the red lights of the red light district. They're the kinds of things that blink on and off and tempt in off colors and dampness. But where they bring you is the danger of what The father and mother go on to warn about in the end of chapter six into chapter seven. I mean, there's so much before in the chapter. Don't go with those fools as your friends. They're going to get you in a lot of trouble. And then later, don't go with that adulterous woman. She's going to lead you like a pig with a hook in your nose, and she's going to lead you into death. It's going to ruin your life. Remember instead this, bind it around your heart and neck. Psalm 36 verse nine, for with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. I want to encourage you to remember another way to remember and do this and make good use of it is open your Psalter and sing it. I've shared with you before some of those darkest moments in my life. The only thing I can do is open this altar and sing it. And the light shines, and I know where to go. The light shines, I know where I am, and I know where Christ is taking me. It doesn't remove the difficulty, the danger, and the darkness all around. But I know where I am, I know who I am, I know Christ and my identity in Him, and I know where He's taking me. And ultimately, heaven itself. I encourage you to make good use of singing in the Psalms. That can't be overstated. Remembering Psalm 119 verse 105 sings, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Remember Isaiah 2 verse 5, O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. You might say, open your Bibles, keep them open and do what it says. Thinking about when we bring our collective lights together, the radiance and the influence of the world is even brighter. You are the light of the world, Jesus says. To draw others by your good works of light to come and worship our Father in heaven. Revelation 21 verses 23 to 24, And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor unto it. 1st John chapter 1 verses 6 to 7. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I encourage you to pray Psalm 13 verse 3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. The concern is ultimately eternal death. Lighten mine eyes that I don't sleep the sleep of death, not just in the world to come, but just sleep through this life and not make the most of it for Christ. and the most impact for Christ in the world. Beloved, let the lamp of God's word show you who you are standing in Christ Jesus, and let it shine forth along his path to follow after Jesus on the narrow way, keeping your eyes on Jesus the way, the truth, and the life. He is the word and the light, and all the scriptures will enlighten your eyes with him. John 1 verses 1 to 9, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He, that is John the Baptist, was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, Jesus Christ. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. How do we know this? What did I just read to you? His word. As a lamp for your feet, and a light to your path, as you follow Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who is the word and light itself. And he says later, therefore, John 5, 39, Beloved, when you feel lost about who you are and where you are, and you don't open the word of God, you stay in the dark. You stumble in darkness. You walk in circles and end up right where you left off. Nowhere good. Or you simply never move on from there in the first place. You have to start with the first step. On that note, look at verse 101 of Psalm 119. Psalm 119, 101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. That's important to keep in mind with verse 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. First, I gotta not step out in darkness and turn on the light and open the word. You see, God's word guides our feet through the darkness, but we must be willing to step out of the darkness Verse 101. And when I preached on that text for you, the point of the text was this, to keep on God's way, we must keep off the devil's path. And how are you going to know? Well, first of all, the point of that sermon, watch your step to walk in the word. Let his light shine. Let your light shine. You know, here's the thing, and it's so simple. Every night, you need to turn on the light to see where you are and which way to step safely. I mean, do you walk in your house and not turn on the light as one of the first things you do? I mean, we just need to recognize we have to do this all the time. We have to turn on lights all the time. It's just a daily experience in existence so we don't harm ourselves or others. And it's just as much spiritually. You need to turn the light on all the time. You need to leave the light on all the time. If we don't want the devil to come and sneak in as a roaring lion, what's one of the things we do with our houses? We leave the lights on outside. We have the lights in the hallway outside. Don't go all day in the dark. Turn on the light of the sun every morning and meditate on it at each step along the way of your day. The parents say, beloved, let it be your lamp and light because it'll be your companion day and night. In the darkness of every moment of temptation, in the darkness of every moment of depression, in the darkness of every moment of exhaustion and anxiety, you need to keep on turning on the light. and directing the light. You need to keep opening God's word. It is that simple. You can't do it without it. Keep turning on the lights so you can properly see and safely make progress in sanctification and living and walk in it. Keep his commandments, receive his rebukes, not only as if only from your father and mother, but ultimately from your father of heavenly lights. beginning of the Lord's prayer, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy will be done. Not just reading it, but applying it. Not just having it open and then closing it. Leaving it open, giving yourself to it, learning it and living it. Not just putting batteries in the flashlight and leaving it off, not just having a candle and lighting it, but as Jesus says, put it under a bushel, but facing it toward yourself and around your surroundings, helping you see where you are going and where you need to go. not just having the flashlight, but turning it on and facing it where the darkness will otherwise blind you of reality about yourself, your life, and others, and most dangerously, the darkness without the light blinding you about God and heaven and hell and salvation and damnation. Parents often teach their children to leave the light on in the hallway and to turn their headlights on while they're driving. As simple as it is, we can forget. And when you turn it on, it's like, oh, that was scary. That was dangerous. Didn't even notice until I turned it on. The parents here in the scriptures teaching the children, keep the light on. Don't go out in the dark without remembering to turn the light on. And beloved, darkness is there day and night, spiritually. You know, I've thought about this recently. When I try to open the combo lock on the gate here, I start to think I must be getting old, because I don't remember used to have this problem. I see some of you a little older than me already maybe understanding, but this is what I'm like. with the lock, you know, it's four number combination, no problem, right? But I'm often here or leaving when it's dark and I need to open or shut the gate and open or lock the lock. This is what I look like all the time. It's ridiculous. I said to myself, people must think you look ridiculous. And then I said to myself, this is ridiculous. This is what I do. Come to the lock and... I can't see anything. It's ridiculous. I try to lean it towards the light of the church. I can't do this. I can't get the thing to go going. And you know what I said to myself? Dummy, just turn on the flashlight on your phone, man. Stop worrying about the fact that you can't see it without it and you wish that you just should be able to see it. Just turn the light on and save some time and move on. And guess what I've been doing for the last week? I've been turning on the flashlight on my phone. And guess what happens? Those numbers that I can't make any sense of all of a sudden. I just turned the flashlight on my phone Clear as day I put that combo boom. I'm out of here. Why waste so much time? That's what we have to be with God's Word when we can't see when we know there's danger turn it on now Put use of a lamp now where you are and a light to shine where you're going next how silly it is to just Continue trying when we can't see and we won't see without the Word of God. And we need to do it all the time, day and night. Just accept it and make it a habit. Beloved, you need God's Word all the time, day and night as your companion. To see yourself and to know where you're going. That's never gonna change. Just like every day the sun goes down and you need to turn the lights on. Why fumble around in the darkness when you don't have to? My son, my daughter, the father and mother say, why? Don't do that to yourself. To avoid unnecessary stress and strife, learn to leave the light on every moment of your life. That's the message for you this evening. Learn to leave the light on every moment of your life. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And then back in Proverbs 6, verse 23, if we'll learn from our covenant parents who have been trying to teach us how to turn the light on and keep it on and direct it, the appeal is it'll be your life companion day and night. It'll guide you and keep you safe when you let it show you where you are and where you need to go. Most importantly, when it reminds you that the Lord is your shepherd, Jesus is your great shepherd of the sheep, you are in the blood of the everlasting covenant. You go and live like it and here's how. Beloved, learn to leave the light on every moment of your life. Let us pray. Forgive us, O Lord, how often we choose to walk in darkness. We choose to ignore your word, and if we read it, we shut it, and then go and do something else. As James says, don't be a hearer of the word and not a doer of it, deceiving ourselves. Lord, Help us to hang your word around our neck and our heart by these practical suggestions, and let it be our companion. Let Christ Jesus be our companion. Let us always be following after him, morning, noon, and night, when we go to sleep and when we rise. just as the parents in Deuteronomy 4 and 11, or 6 and 11, excuse me, are to teach their children whether they're getting up, walking along the way, going to bed, to study and know and love and keep all your commandments. The world, the devil, is trying to influence us to stay in the dark, to neglect the light, and to settle for fake light. But a lamp, a light of man's construction cannot give the heat and warmth and life of the sun. So Lord, help us to open your word constantly. Sometimes just for a few moments, just to revisit and maybe revisit memorizing something. Other times to get ourself to regular study throughout the books of the Bible. Sometimes to just be connecting the dots of how they relate with the study of the standards. But Lord, let us be people of the word and of the way and of the light. Let us indeed be the light of the world as we keep going to Jesus and the word that is all about him. We pray these things in Jesus' name, all your people saying, amen. Thanks again for listening to the media ministry of the Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. 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