(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now I'm going to come back to Proverbs 29 in just a moment, but if you would turn to Judges chapter number 2. Judges chapter number 2. And I just want to show you one verse there before I get started here. Judges chapter 2 verse 10. Judges is right after Joshua, after the first Bible of Moses, you have Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Judges 2, 10, the Bible reads, And also, all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. Now this is talking about the fact that when the generation that went with Joshua into the promised land had all died off, that there arose another generation that came after them that knew not the Lord, they did not know the Lord's works, they did not know about his miracles, they did not know the Word of God, and the Bible talks about the fact how they went into idolatry, they forsook God's Word. Now that's a tragedy that parents who love God raised children that did not love God, they did not know God. Now I want to tell you this first of all, it is possible for good godly Christian parents to raise children that are ungodly and wicked. Now the proof for that is simply in the fact that every single person on this planet is descended from Noah, who was a righteous man, who was a godly man. Did all of his children turn out right? No. Look at Abraham, look at Isaac, look at Jacob, these were godly righteous men, but are all their descendants serving God and living for God? Absolutely not. Because of the fact that it is very possible for people who are godly righteous people to raise ungodly children. So I'm preaching this morning about the subject of child rearing because it's a vital subject, it's not automatic. Just because you're a Christian, just because you love God and you love church and you love the Bible, does not mean that your children are automatically going to do the same. You've got to follow biblical principles in raising your children if you expect your children to turn out right. And the Bible gives us a lot of biblical principles to go on here. First of all, it's possible that they won't turn out right. Just because you're a good person, if you don't put these principles into practice, you can turn out bad kids. Think about Eli. The Bible says that the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. Eli was a godly righteous man. But because he failed as a parent, and the Bible talks about his failings, he raised bad children. In Matthew 10 21, the Bible goes so far as to say that in the last days, the brothers shall deliver up the brother to death and the father of the child. And watch this, the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Now that's a pretty extreme statement to say that children would rise up against their own parents and cause their parents to be put to death. That shows you that parents will not just automatically turn out children that love them and automatically turn out children that will obey them and live a righteous and godly life. Now let's go to Proverbs 29 and go through this. I have several points this morning. And I'm going to start with a few points that are maybe a little more obvious and then get into some other points that you may not have thought of. But in Proverbs 29 15, and most of the points are found in Proverbs, although we're going to go elsewhere. It says in Proverbs 29 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. So the first thing I want to point out is that rearing children has to be a priority in your life. It can't be something that takes a back burner. And the Bible says here that a child who's left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Why would a child being left to itself bring his mother to shame? Because his mother is not making rearing him a priority. She's got other things that she's doing. She leads him to himself and then he raises up and brings her to shame. Now let me give you some scriptures here to show you that the primary job of a woman today should be homemaking and child rearing. That's a biblical concept. Whether or not that's in fashion, whether or not that's what people believe today is irrelevant. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5 13, with all they learn to be idle. Idle means they are not doing anything important. They're not getting anything done. It says with all they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers, like a tattletale, also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house. Did you get that? Guide the house. Give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. In Titus chapter 2, the Bible says that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste keepers at home, good obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. So what we see in these two passages are the term guide the house. Now that is a leadership role in the house. Guiding the house. Guidance is someone who is directing things. Guidance is when a mother is running the household, giving the children the chores to do, leading them, giving them rules and guidelines to follow. So she's supposed to guide the house and keep the home. If you look up the word keep throughout the Bible, it's often used about a garden. Like in the Garden of Eden, they were told to dress and to keep it, to basically take care of it, to protect it, to guide its growth. That's what the Bible is teaching here, is that a woman's job, according to the Bible, is to guide the house, to rule in the home. Obviously not to rule over a dad, but guess what? Dad's not there most of the time. Dad is usually off at work. The husband is usually off working. I mean, I don't spend my whole day sitting at home. I spend most of my time out of the house, out working, and so have people done for thousands of years. You know, men go off to work and somebody's got to be left in charge to rule that home. Somebody's got to be there to guide that house. I don't guide the house as much because, frankly, I'm not there. Somebody else has to be there to guide that home. My wife is the primary caregiver of the children because I'm out working. Although, ultimately, yes, the man is the leader, practically speaking, the woman is there to guide and to rule that home in his absence, which is every day, pretty much, throughout the week when he goes off to work. And obviously, the father has a role as well, but right now I'm talking about mothers. You see, there are a lot of things that women who should be taking care of their children can get caught up in to where they would leave their children to themselves and then those children would grow up and cause shame when childbearing is not a priority. Now, today, we have all kinds of electronic gadgets that can basically compete for attention. And many mothers today, instead of spending time with their children, guiding their children, teaching their children, nurturing their children, they're basically sitting around and playing a game on the computer, playing a video game, or just surfing Facebook. Now, here's the thing about Facebook, okay? You can see how someone could become an idle, tattling, busybody. And that's what I read in the scripture here, did I not? It said that women who are not guiding their house and rearing their children, it says that they learn to be idle, tattlers, and busybodies. Now, what is a busybody? If you look up the word busybody in another place, it says busybody about other men's matters. And what that means is people not minding their own business, but rather getting obsessed with other people's business, other people's lives, other people's drama, and they're basically just a busybody about what everybody else in the world is doing, and tattling about what everybody else is doing, and they're idle, they're sitting around on Facebook accomplishing nothing of value. Their own children are not getting the training and instruction and discipline and love and nurturing that they need because they're too busy fooling around with people in distant cities that have nothing to do with their life. And they spend time on that instead of spending time with their children. And they can get caught up in that. Now, there's nothing new under the sun. That is just something that can become a distraction. But even before that existed, even before the internet even existed, because the internet just provides a lot of entertainment. I mean, you can go on the internet and watch any movie, listen to any music, play any game, there's so much entertainment there that the temptation is there to neglect your work that you should be doing and get caught up in the internet. And it's not Facebook, it could be anything on the internet. And I'm not saying the internet's bad, but it is bad if it turns you into an idling, tattling, busybody that is busy with that instead of doing your work. Nothing wrong with using the internet as a tool, nothing wrong with using the internet and staying in touch with people, but you don't need to stay in touch with every person you've ever known and follow the twists and turns of the life of every person that you went to 7th grade with. It just doesn't matter as much as your child should matter. But even before that existed, it was soap operas. You know, women that would sit in front of the soap opera, watch soap operas all day, following what? Other people's lives. Oh, I wonder if so-and-so is going to end up with so-and-so and I wonder if he's going to find out that she did it. And it's the same thing. It's following other people's lives, being a busybody about other things, instead of taking care of your own house and loving the children that God has blessed you with and training them. It could be anything. It could be even the four soap operas. It could be sitting around and just reading novels. You know, reading stories all day instead of doing your work and training your children and spending time with them. Sometimes it could just be laziness that causes a mother to leave her child to itself. It's a lot of work to teach a child to read, for example. It's very difficult to train a child how to read. It's a lot of work to try to explain things that are complicated unto a child. And sometimes, frankly, adults would rather talk to other adults than to talk to a small child. It's work sometimes, but it's something that has to happen in order to rear Godly children. It must be a priority. It cannot be on the back burner for a mother. But secondly is this. In the same verse that we just looked at in Proverbs 29, the Bible says, The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. So in the latter half of that verse, we see that children ought not be left to themselves. Mothers should be taking care of the children. And dad, when he's around, he should be taking the children and teaching them and talking to them and spending time with them and loving them. When he's there, he has a role as well. But in the first part of the verse, it says, The rod and reproof give wisdom. And so the second stage of childbirth, not only does it have to be a priority and it's going to take some time and other things need to go out the window, but secondly, we need to discipline our children. Children must be disciplined. Now the Bible says, The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Now a lot of people will try to twist the Word of God. They don't like what it says, and so they'll try to twist it. And I've heard a lot of people say, You know, the rod there, it's not really talking about spanking. They'll say, The rod there is this rod with a hook on the end, they would say. And it's used to basically, you know, gently guide and to nudge the sheep and kind of tug it along. It has nothing to do with spanking. It's more of just a gentle guidance. It's a metaphor. It's figuratively speaking. Okay, we'll go to chapter 23 and let's see if that's true. Because I have a lot more respect for someone when they just come fight out and just say, Hey, I don't believe the Bible. I mean, if somebody just tells me, I don't believe the Bible, that makes sense. But when someone tells me, I believe the Bible, but I don't believe in spanking, that makes no sense. When people try to pretend to be a Bible-believing Christian as they twist and change what the Bible says, that doesn't make any sense to me. Either take it or leave it, my friend. The Bible is not a smorgasbord. Do you believe it or do you not believe it? Do you accept it in total or do you not? Don't try to sit there and say, I believe the Bible, but I don't believe in that. If it's all from God, if all scripture is given by inspiration of God, don't tell me that the rod is other than what it is. Because look at Proverbs 23, 13. The Bible says, Withhold not correction from the child. Children need correction and you ought not withhold that correction. For if thou what? Does that say nudgest? If thou nudgest the child? No, it says, If thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Now the implication there is that if you don't beat him with the rod, he will die. Is it not? If thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. What's that talking about? Well, the next verse explains it. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. That's pretty explicit. He said, If you beat him with the rod, you'll deliver his soul from hell. Why is that? Because children who grow up without any real discipline, without getting spanked, you know what they think? They think God's not going to punish either. And they say, Oh, I don't believe in hell. God would never send anybody to hell. God is a forgiving, merciful God. He'll never punish anybody. You know who thinks that? People who didn't get spanked. Because here's the thing. When you have a father on this earth, he is an example of your heavenly father. And your father, disciplined and punished, you know that your father in heaven is the same way. Now obviously, once we're saved, we can never go to hell. Once we believe our Christ, the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Perish means die, but have everlasting life. Jesus said, He that whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Once you believe on him, you'll never die. You'll never perish. But there are people out there who don't even believe the Bible because they just can't imagine that God would punish anybody and send anybody to hell. But guess what? He will. Whether your dad did or not, he will. He will punish. He's a God of justice and judgment. But look, this is a serious matter. We need to spank our children. Now when the Bible says beat their, you know that word has a bad connotation today. You know, if somebody said, hey, beats his kids, they would probably picture you, you know, socking him in the face or something like that. Okay, that's not what the Bible is saying here. No. Obviously. Obviously the Bible is talking about just, you know, spanking, talking about basically inflicting punishment without injury. Okay. Well, you know, our goal is not to injure the child. Our goal is to basically inflict pain on the child, to basically teach the child that what it's doing is wrong. And to punish the child so that it will realize, hey, I'm not going to do this again because my rear end is becoming inflamed. And so God has provided a special padded place on the body for this correction to be received. Okay, so I'm not saying that you should pummel your children. I don't think you should injure your children or just buffet your children. What I'm saying is that, you know, your children should be spanked. They should be beaten with the rod on their backside in the padded area that God provided. That's what I'm saying. And it does not injure the child. It just hurts. It just stings. It just burns. Okay. And I grew up being spanked. This week, some people who were anti-spanking, they tried to tell me, they said, well, you know, if you spank your children, your children are going to grow up and hate you. Well, wait a minute. I was spanked my whole life and I love my parents. You say, if you spank your children, you know, they're going to grow up and be violent people. I was spanked and I never harmed or attacked or assaulted anyone. So that goes out the window. And you look at the ones who have not been spanked. They're the ones who are beating everybody up on the playground. They're the ones who are biting and spitting at everybody and attacking them because they've never been shown a boundary. They've never been taught proper behavior. They've never been disciplined. Let's look at some more scriptures. Let's let the Bible speak for itself. It says in verse, go to chapter 13, Proverbs 13, 24. The Bible says, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son. Now, this isn't even talking about somebody who might even use the rod. They might even spank, but they do it very sparingly, you know, as a last resort, for example. And many people say spanking is a last resort. I'll get to that later. It's not a last resort. It's the primary mode of discipline that God gives in the Bible. I'll explain that a little more later. But in Proverbs 13, 24, it says, he that spanked, spareth his rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes. Betimes means early. Before it's too late, he corrects it early. Go to Hebrews 12, and while you're turning there, I'll read for you from Proverbs 22, 15. The Bible reads, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. So the rod will correct the foolishness of children. Psalm 89, even in the book of Psalms, you go to Hebrews 12, but in Psalm 89, it says in verse 30, If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with strikes. Nevertheless, my love and kindness will I not utterly take from it, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. So when we discipline our children, it's not that we don't love them, it's that we do love them. Because the Bible says, he that loveth them, chasteth them. He that hated them is the one that spares the rod. And the Bible says, I'm not taking away my love from the child. He said, I'm just going to visit him with the rod, that he might learn to amend his ways. Look at Hebrews 12, verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Do you see how it goes hand in hand? Discipline and love? Lack of discipline, lack of love. That's what the Bible is saying. It says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son that be receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers? Then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reference. You see how the father who corrects you is respected? He's referenced. The Bible says we have fathers that corrected us, therefore we gave them reference. You see, children do not respect a parent that does not correct them. They lack respect. They lose respect for their parent. Look, I respected and referenced my mother and father growing up because they disciplined me. I had a healthy respect for them. I didn't just blow off my mouth and tell them. And I remember being at a friend's house and hearing one of my friends say to his parents, I hate you. I never, I mean, that was the furthest thing from my mouth as a kid. I never would have had the guts to say something like that to my parents. Because it just never would, I was shocked. I mean, my jaw dropped open when I heard that. And you know what I saw? A parent that didn't discipline. Because the child who said that to their parent, no consequence for it. Just, ugh. I mean, good night. If there was ever a time to discipline, it would be when such a wicked, evil, perverse thing came out of their mouth as I hate you to their own parents. That would be more than anything a time to discipline. And there was no discipline. But here's the thing, parents who discipline their kids, that's probably never going to be said to them in the first place. It should be unknown and unheard of. But let's keep reading. It says we gave them reference. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? Talking about God Almighty in Heaven. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Obviously spanking's not a fun thing for the parent or for the child. But nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness under them which are exercised thereby. It's something that at the end of the day, the fruit of it is worth the action. People look at our children all the time. And I remember my pastor back in Sacramento, he used to tell a story. He was out in the store one time and he has four children with him. And somebody walked up to my former pastor in Sacramento and said to him, Your children are so well behaved. What is your secret? How do you get them to be so good? They're just so good. And he just looked at her and he just said, It's because they're scared to death of me. And he just looked at her and just said, I'm so mad. I mean, she's just going, oh, oh, sorry. And he just laughed and walked. He was kind of messing with her, obviously. But here's what's funny. People love a well behaved child, don't they? Don't you love a well behaved? I mean, I love a well behaved man. I love it. Honestly, I just love it when I'm just out in public and I see children being loving and respectful to their parents and obeying their parents and being good. And you can just see that they just don't have an attitude and they're dressed in a way that's respectful and they act in a way that's respectful. And you just look at them, doesn't it just bring joy to you? Even if it's not your kids, don't you just like it? Who likes that? Just to see kids that are being good. It's great. But then some people who will look at that and say, that's great. And then you say, okay, here's how you achieve it. They like the fruit, but somehow they don't like the tree or the stick that you took off the tree. They basically want to have the product without the process. You can't get to that result without having the process that the Bible lays out. If you're going to have a good child, you've got to have a good child-rearing method. And it's not attachment-parenting. It's not time-outs. It's not Barney and Friends method. It's not Dr. Spock method. It is the Bible method. And it's not for us to sit there and say, well, I'm going to experiment with something new. You can experiment your child all the way to hell. You better get in the Bible and you better follow the tried and the true plan that's been in the Bible since before the world began. God's faked the word and this is the truth. And you don't mess with this other stuff. Now, go to Deuteronomy 25. Deuteronomy 25. Now, here's the thing. A lot of people will ask this. When do you start? When do you finish? Now, I'll say this. I don't think it's the same for everybody. And if it were, God would have told us. God would have said, here's when you start, here's when you end. Every child's different. Obviously, a baby is born without any knowledge between good and evil. I mean, when a baby is born, they don't know right and wrong. They don't know good and evil. They're not able to discern between right and wrong. Obviously, spanking a newborn baby is not going to accomplish anything because they don't even understand that. Their brain is not even developed enough to even comprehend what that means. So the question that people often ask is, well, when do you start? And I would say this. You start when there's just a defiance. When it's clear that they understand what you're saying and they're defying and just, no, I'm not going to do it. Now, obviously, a baby is just not capable of discerning those things. We started spanking our children at all different ages. It just depends. But I'll tell you something right now. I've heard some people say, wait until there are three or four. No. That's way too late. Because, let's face it, who in this room, let's just look around the room. Who in this room has a two-year-old? Okay, show us your two-year-old. All right, let's look at these two-year-olds. So Silas here is a two-year-old. Everybody see Silas? Okay, and then Mike. Now Rebecca is three, right? So there's a three-year-old, Rebecca in the brown dress right there. Who's got a two-year-old? This is a two-year-old. Okay, look. She is a two-year-old and she's a three-year-old. What's that? I guess she's three and he's two. Well, that's what you said, right? You said he was three. Oh, yeah. You've got to write the first time and now you're dating yourself in. You've got to quit while you're ahead. So, you know, there's a three-year-old, there's a two-year-old. You know, these kids are more than capable of defying their parents right now. And the thing is, people act like you're doing them. And obviously, the discipline is basically appropriate to the age. Obviously, a really young child needs a much milder discipline. And then the older they get, basically, the more serious the discipline has to be. I mean, some of my kids, I mean, the first time they get a spanking, they're more offended than anything. I mean, it's more just thinking, what? More than the pain is just thinking. I love the spanking. And it's funny because even before they're spanked, even before they're spanked, they're learning it from watching the other kids get spanked. Because my youngest, my youngest, Anna, was fussing or doing whatever. And basically, my wife went to the refrigerator to get the spanking paddle to spank one of the older children with this big wooden paddle. And she just instantly straightened up. Just in case. Just in case it were to come her way. And so, look, don't let somebody give you some arbitrary age, okay, and tell you, you have to wait until it's... You know, when it's clear to you that your child is defying you, that's where it needs to start. I don't care how early that is. But when they are defiant of you and telling you no, you know, and that is the time to begin. And the Bible says, He the loveth and chaseth it then betimes early, okay. You don't want to wait too long. Now you say, when do you stop spanking? And this is another issue that people will say, you know, when do you stop? Now, I believe this. I believe that if you spank your children properly, and if you do the other things... I'm trying to get off this spanking point because I have a lot of other stuff in my sermon. If you do all the other things you're supposed to be doing as a parent, because spanking is just one small part of it, okay. If you do all the things you're supposed to be doing as a parent, and you're disciplining your children, obviously they should be disciplined more in the early days, the terrible twos, you know what I mean, when they're really pushing the boundaries and trying to assert their will. Obviously it should be tapering off. Obviously the older they get, you should be spanking less and less. Not because you're changing the rules, but because they're learning. Obviously they should be learning. If you just have to keep spanking them, keep spanking them, the same thing, you're doing something wrong as a parent. Because there should be growth, there should be learning, there should be progress being made. And so there should come a time, listen to me now, there should come a time when you don't need to spank your children anymore because they're just doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're just obedient, they're not defying you, they're not telling you no. So obviously the spankings taper off as they get older. But let me say this, and what I'm about to say is very controversial. What I'm about to say will fly in the face of what a lot of people believe, and a lot of people will be offended by this, but it's true, and I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible. If it's needed, there will be no cutoff in my house. Now people will freak out, hey, I will spank them if it's necessary. When they get older, if they're teenagers, I will spank them if they need it. You say, oh, I can't believe you spanked a teenager. Listen to me, there will be no cutoff in my house if it's necessary, but I don't believe it will be necessary because I'm raising my children, I'm teaching them, I'm guiding them, and by the time they get to that age, they shouldn't need to be spanked like a child at that age. When they're a teenager, they should be transitioning into being an adult, right? So I'm going to start treating them like an adult, and that's going to be the transition. But let me tell you something, listen to me good. If they need it, they will get it at any age. I'm not kidding. I'll prove it to you from the Bible. See, God teaches, and these are scriptures that you've probably never seen anyone turn to. Even if you've been in church your whole life, you've probably never even seen some of these scriptures. I'm never going to do it right now unless you've read the Bible cover to cover, which you ought to do. But the Bible teaches, the Bible teaches corporal punishment of adults. It's a biblical teaching, and you say, what in the world? It's biblical. Now, here's the thing. You know what? You say, that's cruel and unusual punishment. No, you know what's cruel and unusual punishment? Locking somebody in a cage. And that's what our government does. Instead of giving corporal punishment, it gives them a time out for like ten years. Think about it. It's true. You say, what does this have to do with a certain amount of child rape? Because it's a similar concept. Our government today wants to give criminals time outs instead of punishing them for their crimes. Now, obviously the punishment that a government does to criminals is different than a punishment that a parent gives their child. Very different concept. But the principle is the same when it comes to the fact that they want to lock people in a cage, which is very cruel. People literally go insane from being locked up. They lose their mind. It's not a humane way to deal with people. And you say, but it's biblical. No, it's never biblical. God never, listen to me, never in the Bible did God tell us to put people in prison. The concept of prison is not a biblical concept. The Bible talks about the heathen putting people in prison, but in God's law, the only type of punishments that there were in the government of Israel was that there would be a financial penalty where you would pay the victim, or you would be beaten, or you would be killed, or you'd be maimed if it was necessary. And that's another sermon to go through all those punishments. But let's read the Bible. And look, this is not about, and look, put on your thinking cap. I don't like it when people half listen to my sermon and they're not paying attention, and then they walk out and they don't understand what I preach. If you don't understand what I'm preaching right now, it's not my fault. Because I'm making myself really clear, I'm explaining everything, but people just, they zone out and then they walk out. He said this! You know, why don't you pay attention to what I'm actually saying and perk up the list. It says in Deuteronomy, what chapter did I turn to? I'm sorry. 25. 25. Deuteronomy 25. This chapter is not about child-rearing. I'm not saying it's about child-rearing. This is a scripture about the government punishing people by using corporal punishment. It says in verse 1 of Deuteronomy 25, If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down. So you see how this is a criminal proceeding, you got the judge and everything like that. The judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. 40 stripes he may give him and not exceed. So he's saying no matter what the crime is, no matter what he's done, he should never be beaten with more than 40 swats. Again, not talking about child-rearing. You should not give your child 40 swats, okay? I'm saying, or anywhere close to that. I'm saying here that this is an adult. This is a criminal. This is somebody who's gone out and committed a crime, and they're being punished by the law for that crime. Instead of locking them in a cage for 10 years, they get a punishment, and then it's over. And then they can go back out into society, and hopefully they've learned their lesson. And I'll bet you a lot of them did. But let's keep reading. Instead of going in a cage with a bunch of other criminals where they can all swap tips about how to be a better criminal, and they can lift weights so they can, you know, outrun the police better next time, or overpower victims better. So it says here in verse 3, 40 strikes, he may give them and not exceed, lest if he should exceed and beat them above these with many strikes, then thy brother should seem vile with thee. He's saying if somebody beats him more than 40 swats, you know, the guy who's doing the beating is going to seem vile, because that guy is obviously a cruel person. He's saying that's cruel to beat somebody and to exceed 40 swats. There's got to be a limit on that. That's what he's saying. And so we see that. Go to Proverbs. A lot of other scripture on this subject. Go to Proverbs. Now, that's not talking about childbearing. That's talking about a criminal. Everybody got that? A criminal committing a crime. You say, why bring that up? Because if you don't spank your children, they're going to become criminals. That's why. And then they're going to get punished by who? The government. I remember one time when I was in junior high, I went to this really bad school where, I mean, we got beat up and kicked on and robbed every day. It was the worst year of my life. This school was like this living hell. And so this school that I went to was a very bad school with a lot of really bad kids. So they tried to bring in these people to try to scare them straight. You know what I'm talking about? Did they ever do that to you when you were in school? So they brought in these guys to come in and scare us straight. I wasn't one of the wicked miscreants, but these other kids, some of them were criminals already as a young kid. And we terrorized the whole school. But we were basically brought in with these guys that were going to scare them straight. And these guys were from juvenile hall and from the police and everything. And they were explaining how bad it is in juvenile hall and explaining how kids become criminals and all this stuff. And I remember, this is what stood out in my mind, what this guy explained to us. This is when I was 12 years old. He explained to us, he said these kids, a lot of them, he said they've never been shown a boundary in their life. No one's ever told them no. No one's ever disciplined. No one's ever punished them. They've never seen a boundary. And he said the first time they see a boundary is basically when we're arresting them. When we're putting the cuffs on them and throwing them in jail. That's the first discipline they get. So look, you're going to get disciplined in your life, my friend. Your kids are going to get disciplined. Oh, I just love them too much. Well, what would you rather do? Would you rather give them a loving spanking on their behind when they're a little kid? Or would you rather wait until the judge gives them a spanking? And he's going up to 40 swats. I mean, that's a serious beating there that we saw in Deuteronomy where he's saying you lay them down in the courtroom and you spank them. And it's a lot harder of a spanking of an adult man in the court system. Look, they're going to get disciplined. And look, if you don't beat them with the rod, they're going to go to hell. That's the worst punishment of all. And so the bottom line is people are going to get punished for their actions. Is it better to swat the hand that reaches for the cookie jar and say no, no? Or is it better when they're committing armed robbery and getting the spanking? Or the ultra-timeout? You know, the extended timeout or whatever. Look at Proverbs 10, verse 13. The Bible says this. And look, these scriptures are not talking about children. These scriptures are talking about adults. Look at Proverbs 10, verse 13. The Bible says, in the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found. Proverbs 10, 13. But a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. Look at chapter 17, verse 10. And these are talking about adults, these are not talking about children. Look at Proverbs 17, 10. The Bible says a recruit. Now you say, what's a recruit? A recruit is when somebody tells you you're wrong verbally. It'd be like if I walked up to somebody like I walked up to Brother Garrett, and Brother Garrett was doing something wrong, and I walked up to him and said, hey, you need to fix that. You need to change that. You know, and that happens at work, doesn't it? You ever have people come up to you at work and say, hey, why don't you tuck in your shirt? Get that shirt tucked in. Who's ever had somebody say that to you at work? Exactly. That's a recruit. It's when somebody verbally, not physically, but just verbally just tells you, hey, fix that. Some people, they can't handle that kind of, because their parents never did that. And so, who do you think you are to tell me to tuck in my shirt? But people who've been raised right, they say, yes, sir, and they tuck in their shirt. And they keep their job, and they get a promotion, and they can provide for their family. But here's what's going on in the scripture. A recruit, a verbal review is what that's saying, enter it more into a wise man than a hundred strikes into a fool. So basically, a wise person, when somebody says, hey, tuck in that shirt, he says, yes, sir, he tucks it in. You know, no big deal. But the fool can be beaten a hundred times and still go out and do the same stupid thing. Right? That's why I'm saying, when the child is young, the Bible says that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from it. But when that child becomes an adult and they're a fool, it's too late to fix it. You know, you give a hundred strikes. That's two and a half times what they're supposed to be getting by law. Even a hundred isn't going to do it. It's too late to fix it. So it's a lot easier to correct the problem when they're little. So should you have to be spanking your teenager? Not necessarily, because it's better to correct the problem. But look, I don't have teenagers, because my oldest is just about almost 11. So I don't have teenagers at this time. But I will tell you, you mark my words, my children will be spanked as long as it is necessary. Now I hope that they will shave up and learn and grow and do the right things and be good. And it won't be necessary the older they get. But you know what? I will do it as long as it's necessary. That's all I'm saying. Look, if you would, at Proverbs 19.29. But it's better to take care of it early. The earlier the better. Proverbs 19.29. And this is just one aspect of child-rearing. I've got all these pages, all these other great points that I'm in. I don't know how many to get to. But anyway, Proverbs 19.29 says, Judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the back of fools. Now I don't want to raise a fool. I don't want my child to be called a foolish man when he grows up. Notice, it didn't say a foolish child. It said a foolish man. Every child is foolish. Foolishness is found in the heart of the child. But men ought not to be foolish. They ought to be wise. And men that are fools, the Bible says, stripes are for the backs of fools. Chapter 20, verse 30. A lot of scripture on this, is there not? Proverbs 20, verse 30, the Bible says, The blueness of the wound cleanseth away evil, so do stripes the inward parts of the belly. And so the Bible, again, is saying that to clean you out on the inside, you need basically a spanking. You need those stripes. And that's talking about adults. Again, that's talking about a more severe punishment for those that are adults that are fools. Luke, you don't have to turn there. Turn to Proverbs 29. I'll read for you from Luke. This is Luke 12, 47. This is Jesus talking. Jesus said, And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask more. The Bible's real clear about even a servant, an employee, being beaten if they don't do their job. I mean, that's what it's talking about. That used to take place in the world today. And so this is a biblical concept. It's very clear. So let me get off spanking, and I'm going to cut off my last two points. I might preach it. I'm probably just going to preach this tonight. Let's give you a two-part. Because I've got a lot of stuff I want to preach. I'm going to preach it tonight. I'll finish the sermon tonight. But I do want to get on one more point before we close this morning. Go to Proverbs 29, verse 16. Verse 15 is where we started, where the Bible said that the rod and proof give wisdom, but a child left himself, bringing his mother to shame. But look at verse 16. It says, When the wicked are multiplied, transgression and priesthood, but the righteous shall see their fault. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest. Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy as he. A servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understand, he will not answer. Seeest thou a man, and focus in on verse 20 here. Seeest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There's more hope of a fool than of him. Verse 21. He that what? Delicately bringeth of his servant from a child, shall have him become his son at the length. An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man abounded in transgression. So, let me say this. First of all, obviously, child group's got to be your priority. Especially ladies while you're at home. Men, when you get home, you don't step into that role as dad. Teach, train, discipline when you're there. When you're not there, mom's the primary caregiver. She's the one who's doing it. But it's a man's job as well. It's both father and mother's responsibility. Number two, obviously, you've got to use corporal punishment. It's biblical. Get off your trendy child rearing and get on the Bible's program. But number three, gentleness is something that you need, according to the Bible. Delicately bringeth your child. Now, what does that mean, gentleness? Well, the Bible says, go to Ephesians 6. The Bible says in 2 Samuel 22, 36, Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy gentleness has made me great. So David said of God his heavenly Father, that his gentleness had made him great. Gentleness is important. You say, what is gentleness in regard to child rearing? Well, notice in Proverbs 29, the same scripture that was telling you to use the rod to discipline, was the same scripture that was telling you the dangers of being furious and angry all the time, and the dangers of being really hasty with your words. Notice it's all sandwiched in amongst child rearing verses. Why? Because a lot of times, instead of disciplining, what do we do? We just yell at the children. You know, just get mad at them. Just scream at them, get angry, throw things, yell, call them names, rip on them, criticize them. And see, look, people think that they're being nicer to their children by doing that instead of spanking. But I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I'd much rather would have had a spanking than to get yelled at. Spanking was much to be preferred over being berated, being criticized, being yelled at. Look, it's more humane to just discipline your children properly, affirm your love toward them, not saying hateful things to your child or angry or furious things to your child, and that's a substitute for spanking. You see, we need to be delicate with our children. We need to understand that gentleness, kindness are things that ought to describe our parenting. Being kind to our children, being loving to our children, being nice to them. I mean, every time we talk to our children, it shouldn't be barking at them. You know, it should be, hi, how you doing? You know, it should be friendliness, kindness, gentleness, affection. Look what the Bible says in Ephesians 6, 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. And by the way, let me say this, it don't matter whether your parents are acting wrong or not. You see, when my parents yelled at me, you just obey your parents. That's no excuse for you to do wrong. Nobody's parents are perfect. I got spanked, I got yelled at, I got everything in between. You know, no parents are perfect. Kids just need to obey. So he says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. So parents are told not to provoke their children to wrath, but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He says something very similar in Colossians 3, 20. He said, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. And so, you know, we don't want to discourage our children by saying, you're worthless, you're an idiot. You're never going to be able to amount to anything in your life. You're going to fail. You're a bad kid, why can't you be like Toto? You know, this verbal lashing actually can sometimes hurt more than the physical punishment. When the Bible says that words can enter into the innermost parts of the belly like wounds, and that the people's words can be like the piercings of a sore. And so, we are not trying to... And look, here's what happens. Parents who don't discipline their children, their children act like a monster, and then they get mad and start screaming. And then sometimes they'll use spanking as a last resort after they've yelled, after they've chewed them out, after they've told them off. And look, a lot of times children are trying to get attention. You know, children do things to get attention or to get a reaction from you. And when you keep giving them a reaction, they're going to keep pushing the button to see if the light bulb is going to come on. So it's better to just discipline, correct the problem. And here's the thing, I don't want to go through life mad at my children. I want to have sweet fellowship with my children. I want to teach them and train them and spend time with them. Well, if I'm just mad at them and that's my form of discipline, anger, then I can't have a relationship with my children. Whereas if my children do something wrong and I spank them, it's over. They've paid for it. And then 10 seconds later, we can be friends again. Same thing with the criminals. They'd just be punished and then put back into society and give them another chance instead of just lock them up for years and years and years, put them in a time out, ground them for a week. You know, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do it. Ground them for a week. You know what? I'm going to punish them right now and the problem is going to be fixed and then we're going to move forward. That's what I believe. I don't see anything other than the bug. And here's the thing. A lot of times when people have teenagers that are defiant, teenagers that are rebellious against their parents, sometimes it's because earlier on they didn't spank when they should have or they didn't spend enough, they were too busy, they got busy with other things. None of us is the perfect parent, of course. But maybe we got too busy or didn't discipline right or we got too angry too much and didn't really follow the Bible's advice fully. And, you know, there's a lot of other points I'm going to go into tonight, but then as a teenager they're frustrated with their teenager because now the teenager is rebellious and defiant. So then instead of going back and saying, okay, here's where I went wrong, you know, I've made mistakes, I'm going to start doing it right from now on. Instead of doing that, they just keep on with the yelling and the anger and the frustration. Look, bend them over your knee and give them a spanking. I'm not kidding. I mean if my kids is, nah, I'm going to date this unbeliever. I'm going to go out, I'm going to go date him whether he's saved up. I'm going to hang around with fags at school. That's what I want to do. I'm going to go ahead and stay out until the middle of the night. You can't tell me what to do. I'm 15, I'm 16. You know what, my kids, God forbid that they would come to that, they're getting a spanking. I don't care how old they are. They're not getting grounded, they're not getting yelled at, they're not getting their cell phone restricted or put on parental mode, they're not getting their Facebook. No, they're getting a spanking. You see, I don't agree with it. Well, I don't know what to tell you. But, you know, that's what it says. And I've got so many more points. I'm looking at the clock and there's no way I'm going to get to office. Really, you're getting an incomplete picture this morning. That's why you've got to come back tonight, folks, for the rest of the sermon. You're not getting the whole picture. You need more than this. But let me just give you one more scripture. Proverbs 22a, you don't have to turn there. He that stoweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and listen to this, and the rod of his anger shall fail. Did you hear that? The rod of his anger shall fail. That's from the exact passage on child rearing. They talked about using the rod to discipline your children. And it says the rod of his anger shall fail. So the rod of anger is not success. Getting mad, yelling, getting angry, fury, that does not fix the problem. The rod of anger, and you know what? When you spank your children, you shouldn't be spanking them in a rage. You should fix the problem before you get so mad about it. I'm constantly saying to my wife, and obviously my wife is great about this, and she's a great mother, nobody's perfect, but I'm constantly saying to her, honey, don't get mad, just fail. Seriously, I just tell her, honey, don't get worked up. There's nothing to get worked up about. Let's just fix the problem and let's just move forward. Why don't you just punish and let's move forward. Let's move on. Let's not get all worked up about it. There's no reason to get worked up about it. Wow, your child's misbehaving, join the club. All children misbehave. All children, the Bible says foolishness is found in the heart of a child, not in certain children. All children are going to make mistakes. It's part of the learning process. They're going to do wrong. Don't get all mad and all that. Just stay cool. Stay calm. Don't get all furious and angry. Discipline and move forward. And by the way, when you're done disciplining, don't bring it up again. Move on. Don't just keep revisiting it. Remember when you did that? Once you've been punished, that's why I don't believe in criminal records. If somebody has done the time for the crime, let it go. Amen. If somebody's been punished, let it go. What if they're in danger of the people? If they committed murder or rape, the Bible says they should have been put to death anyway. I don't want to talk about that. But if they stole... The Bible says that rape is a murder should be put to death. What about pedophiles? They shouldn't be a background check. It should be an underground check because they're underground in this cemetery. But here's the thing. People will commit a felony. Let's say they steal something. Or let's say they commit some kind of fraud or whatever. Or let's say they do drugs and they commit a felony. Then they have to carry around with them for the rest of their life. That's not right. That's not just. Because then they can't move forward. They have to hang that over their head for the rest of their life. Punish them and let them move on. Let it go. But you know what? With our children, that's how it ought to be. When we punish them, it should be like it never happened. It should be we move forward. We can get along. We can have a loving relationship with our children. And you know what? Honestly, kids deep down would prefer to be spanked. Now if you ask them, do you like getting spanked? They're going to tell you no, I know. But honestly, if they'd be honest with you... And some kids probably would tell you the truth about this. That they'd rather just get a spanking and have you treat them nicely. Have you treat them lovingly and kindly. And quit bringing it up. Not keep revisiting it. But to just spank and it's over? It's like it never happened? That provides closure. They can move forward. They can go on with their life. They would prefer that than punishments that last and last and last. And so I'll leave you with that. But just keep in mind, it's not going to happen by accident. You've got to take a lot of time and a lot of effort to rear your children. There's so much more. Have them in church. Read the Bibles with them. Set the right examples. Spend time with them. Train them. Spanking them and being gentle and careful with your word. That's just one aspect of it. But honestly, dig into the scriptures and make this a priority in your life. And make a decision today that says, you know what? I'm going to quit fooling around so much during the daytime with everything else. And I'm going to make dealing with my children the front burner. I'm going to tone down these other entertainment things. And I'm going to focus on the children. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word here, God. There's so much wisdom here that even just in an hour of preaching, I can't even scratch the surface. I have to just barely touch on it because there's just so much wisdom in the Bible. Help us to apply it to our lives. And God, help a godly generation to be raised up as a result of these principles from your word. Help us to take them to heart and help our children to grow up and to love us and to love you and to live a godly and honest life. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.