Look at Proverbs 13, verse 24, it says, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son.
But he that loveth him, chasteneth him, betimes."
Now that right there says that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child.
Nope, not what it said.
He said, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son."
And I've heard people say sometimes, "Well, I just love my children too much to spank
them.
I just love them too much.
I just can't bring myself to do it because I love them too much."
The Bible says you don't love them enough.
The Bible says if you spare your rod, you hate your son.
If you love him, you'll chase him.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chaseth.
You say spanking, that's not love, you know, that's assault.
Look if you would at chapter 23, where God really spells it out, Proverbs 23.
And again, I'm not talking about, you know, taking your fist and pummeling your child
or, you know, assaulting your child.
I'm talking about, you know, spanking the padded area of their body that God provided
to receive the correction.
I'm talking about taking the rod of correction and applying it to the seed of learning, okay,
and spanking your child lovingly.
I'm not talking about injuring your child here.
I'm talking about basically inflicting a punishment, inflict, you know, and we all got spankings
when we were kids.
It was painful.
It stings.
It burns.
But you know what?
It gets the message through.
It teaches you to do what's right, and it makes you grow up and be a godly person.
That's why he said in verse 13 of Proverbs 23, "Withhold not correction from the child,
for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell."
Now that is just as much a command as thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul
from hell.
So is spanking your children something that's optional?
God condones it.
No, it's not something that God condones.
It's something that God commands.
It's something that God demands.
It's something that God says, if you don't do it, you hate your child.
You don't love your children.
If you love them, you'll chase in them betimes.
Betimes means early.
He says, "Don't withhold correction from the child.
If thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."
Go to Hebrews 12.
There are a lot of scriptures we could turn to, but I'm just going to the main scriptures
on this subject.
There are a lot of scriptures in the Bible on spanking, a lot of scriptures that explain
that if you love your children, you're going to discipline them and correct them.
For example, while you're turning to Hebrews 12 it says this, "My son despise not the chastening
of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even
as a father the son in whom he delighteth."
The Bible says that the father who loves his children, he will correct the son in whom
he delights.
You say, "Oh man, you know, I'm a child and I get the most spankings of anyone in my family."
You know, you're the one in whom they delight.
You may not want to be delighted in that much, but I'll tell you what, the more you are disciplined,
that just shows that your parents love you because they will correct the one in whom
they delight.
You see, if I didn't love my kids, I'd just stick them in front of the TV.
I'd just give them whatever they want to shut them up, right?
You know, I heard an expression one time.
There was a kid, you know, throwing himself down in the grocery store, throwing a fit,
and this is what my old pastor in Sacramento used to always say.
He'd always say, "Give him what he wants or give him what he needs."
You know, basically just shut him up, either give him what he wants to shut him up or give
him what he needs.
Well, the parent who doesn't love their child, they'll just give it what it wants.
Just get out of my hair, get away.
You know, I remember one time when I was a child, I was babysat and, you know, the babysitter
does not care as much about your development and your long-term growth as a person as much
as your parents do, right?
So when the babysitter, you know, they want, you know, the babysitter's talking on the phone and busy
and doesn't want to do anything to interact with you.
And you're saying, "Can I have a cookie?
Can I have a cookie?"
And the babysitter's like, "Here.
Just eat as many cookies you want.
Just leave me alone."
You know, and you just go and just feast on cookies.
It's a great day when you're a kid.
But the parent that loves you is going to correct you.
And when you're in sin, when you're doing wrong, they're not just going to put a cookie
in your mouth, stick you in front of the TV, get you out of their hair.
No, they care about you enough to want to train you and teach you and help you to do
right and to take the time.
And look, spanking your children is a lot of work.
It takes effort.
It's a lot easier just to yell at them or just to put them in front of the TV or just
give them a treat or whatever.
You know, spanking them and disciplining them can be a chore.
It's not something that any parent wants to do or enjoys doing.
But they know that if they love their children, they're going to do it.
Look at Hebrews 12, and I'll go through this quickly.
It says, "You've forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you is unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
Scourge means whip.
You know, it's like, you know, when you're a kid, your dad would take the belt off and
give you a whipping.
It says, "If you 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."
The Bible is saying, look, if you're not being chastened by God, you're not even His son,
because "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and discourageeth every son whom he receiveth."
So when you get chastened by God, and I've seen people who were in sin have some serious
chastening come into their life, and you know what I heard them say before, "Well, at least
I know I'm saved," you know, because God's not letting me get away with anything.
Well, that's a good sign, man.
That's good to know that God loves you and that He cares for you and He's trying to correct
You're his son, you're his daughter, he loves you,
he's trying to correct you.