Proverbs 19 too, also that the
soul be without knowledge, it is not good. And he that hasteth
with his feet, sinneth. And this word also refers us
back, of course, to the previous verse, better is the poor that
walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips
and is a fool. You see that the walk is spoken
of in both verses. Foolishness being without knowledge
the same theme and In this verse It speaks of
hasting With the feet the feet represent the whole walk of man
his path his way in the scriptures And for a man's soul to be without
knowledge, as it puts it in verse 1, the opposite there of walking
in integrity is to be perverse in your lips. But here, for a
man's soul to be without knowledge results in haste. in his walk,
hasty in his way, in his path. Hasty feet are feet that engage
without thought. They respond and go the way that's
dictated by a man's nature, without consideration. It's an automatic product of
the heart. Follow your heart, the world
says. And that's what people do who have no knowledge in their
soul. And notice it's soul knowledge. Head knowledge is knowing something,
technically being aware of it, but it not affecting who you
are. Soul knowledge, the soul is who you are. We are a soul,
we have a body. Soul knowledge teaches us that
our heart is evil and should not be followed We have to be
careful in our walk because our heart would take us instantly
the wrong way Soul knowledge teaches us that our way must
be governed not by our hearts but by Christ crucified Does
that sound like a stretch? Listen to 2 Corinthians 5.14. What governs our way in this
world? For the love of Christ constraineth
us. What does he mean by the love
of Christ? Well, we find out as we read. Because we thus judge, we're
not hasty in our steps. We reckon things a certain way. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then all were dead. And that he died for all,
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. I love those
words for them, don't you? He didn't just die, he died for
somebody. He died for his sheep, those
that the father gave him, his elect. And that's love. The love of Christ constrains
us. What do you mean, Paul? He died for us. He died for us. And so we live unto him. So a lot in that word unto, we
live unto him. Not just for him, but we should
do that too. But unto him. Soul knowledge
is the gospel. That's clear in the scripture. You remember how in the beginning
of this book of Proverbs, Solomon spoke of wisdom and knowledge. Let's turn and look at it. Proverbs
chapter four, let's look back at chapter four. I'm talking about soul knowledge.
We know what he's referring to there, because we see it all
through the book of Proverbs, and he established that early
on. Look at chapter four here. Ye children, the instruction
of a father is attend to know, understanding, the knowledge
of the soul. For I give you good doctrine, I give you good teaching,
forsake you not my law or my word. For I was my father's son,
tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught
me also and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words,
keep my commandments and live, get wisdom, get understanding,
don't forget it. That doesn't necessarily just
mean that, well, I used to know the scriptures, I used to know
the truth, but I forgot. Well, if the Lord teaches you
something, you're not gonna forget it in the sense that you don't
know it anymore, but you're gonna forget it in moments, in situations,
in circumstances. It's gonna not be foremost in
your mind, something else is, the flesh, your own will. Forget it not, neither decline
from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, don't forsake
wisdom. She shall preserve thee, love
her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore get wisdom with all thy getting, get understanding,
exalt her, and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to
honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine
head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to
thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my
sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many. I've taught
thee in the way of wisdom, I've led thee in right paths, when
thou goest thy steps, Shall not be straightened, and when thou
runnest, thou shall not stumble. You see, the walk, that's our
text. Wisdom, knowledge of the soul. That's how we walk. That's how
we run in this world. Take fast hold of instruction.
Let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. Enter not in
to the path of the wicked. See there? Your feet are gonna
haste. to destruction if you don't have
this knowledge in your soul. And listen to Proverbs 2, a portion
of that in context with chapter four of Proverbs here. Turn over
there if you want to, Proverbs 2.1. My son, if thou will receive
my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline
thine ear unto wisdom. You see, wisdom, understanding,
knowledge in the soul starts with the ear. You can hear with
the ear and not understand. But you can't understand without
hearing with the ear. How are they gonna believe on
him of whom they've not heard? How is Christ and his death on
the cross for his people gonna govern your life unless you've
heard of him and believe on him? Incline that ear, apply that
heart to understanding. See, it has to go past the ear,
doesn't it? Can't go in one ear and out the
other. Apply that heart to it. Yay. Pray for it. You see that? Hear it. Nothing happens if you don't
show up. If you don't hear it, if you don't care. If it's not
that important to you, Lord's not gonna, he's gonna speak to
you through the gospel now. And then apply your heart, consider. And then you're gonna realize
when you apply your heart that you need him, cry, cry. You see, he's the one that calls
your heart to listen. And when your heart listens,
your heart's gonna turn to him. The one that opened it. The one
that gave you ears to hear. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver, and searches for her as for his treasures, then
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge
of God." There's only one way to get it, crying to God for
it. And he get, look at verse six,
for the Lord giveth wisdom. That's why you cry. That's why
you call upon him, because you got to get it from him. You're
not going to come up with it. You're not going to wake up with
it one day. No man can beat it into your head. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding. How many lives have been ruined
by hasty feet? How the dull and dead soul of
man causes him to rush headlong into destruction. Here's the
instruction of the gospel. Here's wisdom from the Lord.
Ephesians 5.15, seethe in that you walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise. See how wisdom, knowledge, understanding
is connected with the walk again. Redeeming the time because the
days are evil, wherefore be ye not unwise. For the soul to be
without knowledge is not good, but understanding, what's the
opposite of that? Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. Now that's not religion saying,
I just wanna know God's will for my life. Have you read the Word of God
It's not God's will for my life. It's God's will that we need
to know It's not all about your life. It's about him what he
did on Calvary We see again there the Word of
God knowledge and is paired with walking. To walk
circumspectly means to walk exactly, accurately, and diligently. Take care how you walk. My pastor, Jack Shanks, used
to illustrate that. I've told you this before. But
he would illustrate that picturing a cat walking on top of a wall. that has broken glass on it.
And you can just picture that cat. He's looking for a spot
and he puts a foot right there. They're very deliberate about
the way that they walk. He chooses his steps. And that's
us. That's how we walk as believers
in the fear of the Lord, in the knowledge of the Lord. Our young people, they're in
their class this morning, but what they learn is going to have
a lot to do with us. I've often seen the ruination
of young people be traceable back to one bad decision. And that bad decision is made
by a bad heart. The grace of God by the teaching
of the gospel that will keep their feet and ours See we don't bring our young
children or children that are older that are still under our
care and And love We don't bring them
to hear the gospel because there's nothing much else to do on Sunday. Make them understand why you
do bring them. We bring them for the same reason
that those men who lowered their loved one down through the roof
of a house, broke away the tiles of that roof and made certain
that the Lord Jesus Christ would see him. Mark 2 4 they bring
Their children to the house of God because in Mark 2 5 In Mark
2 4 is where they lower him down in Mark 2 5. It says that when
the Lord Jesus saw their faith He said under the sick of the
palsy that sins be forgiven day. That's why That's why That's why we want
their heart to have the understanding that the Lord gives. The Lord
giveth wisdom. Turn with me to Mark chapter
10, 13. Mark 10, 13, and they brought young children to him that he
should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those
that brought them. They said, you can imagine what
they were thinking. These little children don't know
who the Lord, they can't know who the Lord is. But does the Lord know them?
That's the question. If he knows them, they're gonna
know him. And when he saw that, he was
much displeased with them. And said to them, suffer the
little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of
such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God, like these little children
come to me as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And
he took them up in his arms. You think about this. What happened
here? I'm not sure exactly, are you? But I know this, I want it to
happen to my children. I sure do. He took them up in his arms,
put his hands upon them and blessed them, blessed them. What does that mean? I don't know what all that means,
but I know what I want from my children. I want the Lord Jesus
Christ to bless them. That's why we bring them. My
mom and dad brought me to hear the gospel before I could even
understand anything. I always sat next to my papa
because he always had a piece of candy or two in his pocket
for me. He put it there knowing that
I was gonna I was gonna want some and I would eat that candy
and it was like they had sleeping gas canisters under the pews. I would eat a piece of candy
and I would fall asleep on his arm. And I didn't have any idea what
the preacher was saying, but one day I did. One day I did. This world is no place to take
hasty steps. and our hearts are no reliable
decider of steps to take. Hear the counsel of the Lord.
Be sure that your children hear the counsel of the Lord and that
they apply their hearts to his wisdom. Ask for his grace to
cause them to call upon him and call upon him for your children.
that he might be their righteousness, that he might show himself to
them as their sin offering, as their counselor and keeper. Hear the words of David in Psalm
119, 132. Listen to this. Look thou upon
me. Lord, look upon me, look at me
and be merciful unto me. If the Lord looks at me, I just
have one hope. Mercy. Mercy. As thou usest to do unto those
that love thy name, order my steps in thy word. That's our text. Order my steps
in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. See, He's the one that lets or
don't let. He's the one who decides. He's
the one who says, Simon, I pray for you that your faith fail
not. He's the one that has power on
earth to forgive sins. Lord, look upon me and have mercy.
We pray that for ourselves and for our children. Let's pray
together.