Man, the title of my sermon tonight is Chasten Thy Son from Proverbs 19 verse 18 there where
it says, Chasten Thy Son while there is hope.
And obviously when the Bible says, Chasten Thy Son, this would also apply to your daughter
as well.
Obviously, the Bible will often use words like man or son and actually it's just referring
in general, okay, to both male and female.
And so I want to preach about disciplining your children and this is such an important
subject because there are so many times in the Bible where you see godly people have
ungodly children and it's just such a shame to see a godly generation produce an ungodly
generation or a righteous king to raise up a son that brings the kingdom into wickedness.
So that proves that it's possible to be a good Christian and to love the Lord and still
fail at parenting, right?
So it's not enough to just assume, well, I'm a good guy, therefore my kids are going to
be good or I'm a good woman, so the kids will be good.
Well, you also have to follow some biblical principles on child rearing.
Obviously everything does bring forth after its own kind, so it's very important to be
the kind of person that you want your children to be, but you need to also follow some biblical
principles.
And one of the biggest things is that you have to discipline your children.
And today this is going by the wayside in America, which is why our country is going
by the wayside, which is why morality is going by the wayside, which is why even sanity is
going by the wayside.
And we're living in a crazy time where men call good evil and evil good and they put
sweet for bitter and light for darkness and so forth.
And so we need to be different than this world around us.
Look, they are getting to the point now in this world where they're getting away from
spanking.
The world will tell you, you don't need to spank your children or it's abusive to spank
your children, but this is a lie because the Bible commands us to spank our children.
Now let's look at a whole bunch of verses on this in Proverbs.
Of course, it says in verse 18, they're chasing thy son while there is hope and let not thy
soul spare for his crying.
A lot of people, they think they're being compassionate or merciful by not spanking.
So they spare the rod because of his crying, like, oh, I just don't have the heart to do
it.
Look, you have to chase in your son while there's hope and let not thy soul spare for
his crying.
And let me point out, it says, while there's hope, you know what that means?
You eventually get to a point where there isn't any hope.
And you don't want to get to that point where your kids are already off the deep end, where
their behavior is already ridiculous.
You've got to nip that in the bud while you still have a chance to nip it in the bud.
Once they grow up and leave, it's too late at that point.
They are who they are.
And even some damage is already done, even by the time they turn five, six, seven, eight
years old and you haven't disciplined them, you know what?
They could already be just completely screwed up at that point.
So you need to make sure that you chase in your son early.
Many times while there's hope, you need to get this done the right way.
Now let's back up and just look at a whole bunch of verses in Proverbs.
Go back to chapter 10 of Proverbs.
We're just going to go through a whole bunch of verses in Proverbs just to show you that
this is biblical because a lot of people think that corporal punishment is not biblical.
Now the word corporal just simply means a physical bodily punishment, right?
Like Latin corpus corporal, like because you're smiting their body, right?
You're disciplining the body.
So this is talking about spanking when we say corporal punishment.
Well, in the previous generation or if you went back 50, 60, 70, 80 years, everybody
in America used this kind of discipline.
Corporal punishment, they would spank the kids and not only did the parents spank the
kids, if the kids went to school, they would get a spanking even at school.
They would be disciplined by other adults that weren't even their parents, okay?
So this is something that was just universal in our country, in our society.
But nowadays, there's this new enlightened thinking that says not to spank the children
and we see the product today, a bunch of monsters that are coming out of these homes where there's
no discipline, okay?
Literally criminals and reprobates and just crazy people that will do horrible things,
okay?
Now look what the Bible says in Proverbs 10 verse 13.
The Bible couldn't be any clearer about this subject.
It says, in the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back
of him that is void of understanding.
Go to chapter 13 verse 24, Proverbs 13, 24, so the rod is for the back of him that has
no understanding, right?
So God is saying some people need a whipping, okay?
The Bible says in verse 24, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth
him chaseth him betimes, and if you look up that word betimes in the dictionary, you will
find that it means early, chasing him while there's hope, chasing him betimes.
Don't spare the rod.
If you spare the rod, you hate your son.
That's a very strong statement that the Bible's making.
So not only should we not spare for his crying, but it says if we do spare, we hate our son.
Now look, if it sits there and says, let not thy soul spare for his crying, and you say,
oh, well, I just love him too much, well, the Bible says you hate him.
So which one, who should I believe, you or the Bible?
Okay.
So the Bible says, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth him chaseth
him betimes.
Okay.
Go, if you would, to chapter 22, verse 15, Proverbs 22, 15.
And while you're turning there, I'll give you Proverbs 19, 29, judgments are prepared
for scorners and stripes for the back of fools.
Proverbs 22, verse 15, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction
shall drive it far from him.
Look, children are going to do stupid things.
The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
We should not expect our children to be perfect.
Our children are going to make mistakes.
They're going to do dumb things.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but that's what the rod of correction is for.
So look, if your child does something wrong, that's normal, but you have to punish them
for that so that they can learn to do what's right.
Okay.
Chapter 23, verse 13.
The Bible says withhold not correction from the child.
Now, some people will say, well, all these verses about the rod, and look, if I had a
nickel for every time I heard this, I'd be a wealthy man.
They say, oh, well, all those verses about the rod, it's not saying to beat them with
the rod.
It's that rod that has like a little cane on the end of it, and it's for like gently
leading the sheep or whatever, you know.
But what does the Bible say?
Right here it says, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with
the rod, he shall not die.
How can you misinterpret that?
There's no way around that, folks.
Whatever shape that rod is, it's being used for corporal punishment, okay.
So he says, if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat.
Now, isn't that as much of a commandment as thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver
his soul from hell.
Look, if you love your child, you don't want them to go to hell, so you need to discipline
them.
Now, what does disciplining your children have to do with them not going to hell?
I'll tell you why.
Because you are an image of God unto your children.
So when children look to their father, you know what, that is a symbol of their father
which is in heaven.
So we want to be the best representative of the Lord that we can.
If we're a good father, then that could give our children a good view of God, right?
Because we're the father in their life, and that's going to prepare them one day to have
a relationship with God the father.
Now, if a father doesn't discipline his children at all, you're basically teaching them that
God doesn't punish.
And so this is a person that's going to have no fear of God, because they have no fear
of their earthly father.
Why would they have any fear of their heavenly father who they've not seen if they don't
even fear their earthly father who they have seen?
Now I know when I was growing up, I definitely feared my father.
And the Bible says in Leviticus 19 that every man should fear his father and fear his mother.
So we're supposed to fear our parents, we're supposed to fear God.
Well, if you have no fear of your parents as a kid, you're probably going to grow up
and be a person who doesn't fear God either.
Because you're being trained or programmed by your parents that there's no discipline,
no consequences, anything goes.
And then you have a generation today that thinks that God's just okay with everything.
Right?
God is not mad at you is the name of the book by Joyce Meyer, is it?
One of those phony TV preachers puts out, God's not mad at you.
It says on the back of the book, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, God's
not mad at you.
Really?
Because the Bible says God's mad at the wicked every day.
And we just were studying an exodus where God's anger was kindled even against Moses.
So how does she know that God's not mad at me or you or anybody?
God gets mad at us.
But you know, they have a warped view of God because their parents gave them a warped view
of God by not disciplining them.
So if we beat them with the rod, they shall not die, thou shall beat them with the rod
and deliver his soul from hell because you're putting the fear of God into them.
Okay.
Now obviously when the Bible says beat here, that word has a bad connotation in 2019.
When we hear the word beat in 2019, we might picture something that would be inappropriate
for child rearing.
Like when we hear the word beat, you know, you might picture someone, you know, punching
someone or something like that.
Obviously that's not what God's saying to do here.
The Bible's really clear that this discipline takes place to the back, right?
So this is happening on the backside of the Bible.
This isn't pummeling someone or beating them up or something.
Okay.
What this would be is a spanking on the rear end, the padded area that God has provided
to receive this discipline.
Okay.
And the thing is that, you know, spanking your child is what's intended here.
And when you spank your child, you don't want to injure the child.
You're not trying to create an injury.
Okay.
Obviously that is not the right form of discipline to injure or abuse or beat up your child.
That's not what this is saying here.
Okay.
When you spank your child, the goal is that the spanking hurts.
So that basically they're getting a punishment and they realize, hey, I need to stop doing
that because if I do that, then I get punished and I don't want to get a spanking.
And this works as a deterrent so that kids can learn what's right and wrong and do the
right things.
You say, well, why the psychology?
Just shut up and do it because the Bible said so.
Okay.
And you know what?
You find a whole slew of godly people who got discipline this way and that's why they
fear God and love God.
And by the way, they also love their parents.
You know what?
I love my parents.
I love my dad.
I love my mom.
I'm thankful for them.
I respect them.
I frequently speak to them and enjoy fellowship with them.
And you know, today you have a generation that curses their father and does not bless
their mother.
And part of it is because they didn't receive the right discipline.
So you know, spanking your children again, when the Bible says beat them with the rod,
it's not saying, you know, what we would maybe think of as beat in 2019 of like, you
know, a beat down or something.
But what it's referring to is spanking them.
Okay.
Now, I've seen this mistake made by parents so many times where they spank their kids
in such a way where it doesn't hurt at all.
Like the kid will literally be like laughing in their face while getting a spanking.
And I think that these kind of spankings are counterproductive.
It's almost worse than no spanking at all.
If you're going to give a spanking, that's a total joke.
Now obviously with a very small child, a little bit goes a really long way.
You know, you can give just the lightest spanking to a little child and you know, they, it really
makes an impact.
Okay.
But as they get older, I mean, come on, you got to make an impression folks.
And again, you don't want to injure them or, you know, beat and bruise them or something.
But what you do want to do is make sure that it hurts so that they actually get the message.
Okay.
So, I mean, you'll literally see parents spank their kids and they're just like, no, no,
that doesn't hurt.
Okay.
It needs to hurt.
Make it hurt or else you're wasting your time and you're making a joke under them.
It needs to actually hurt.
Now, you know, what do you use to spank your kids?
Well, you know, I recommend using a paddle to spank your kids.
Okay.
I think that, you know, one of the best things you can do is those paint stir sticks from
Home Depot and Lowe's.
And I'm not talking about that little tiny one.
Okay.
You got to get the full size.
Okay.
Now, sometimes you go to Home Depot and Lowe's and they don't have the paint stir stick.
Okay.
So, what do they have?
They have pieces of wood in the, I don't know what section it is, but there's some.
No.
Okay.
You're missing the whole point here.
Are you listening to anything I'm saying?
No, no, no.
There's, it's in like the modeling section or something.
Molding.
I don't know if it was in molding, but it's basically, you know, it's like the exact piece
of wood that the paddle, that the paint stir stick would be, except it's just, you're buying
it instead of getting it for free.
Yeah.
It costs like a buck or something or two bucks or something.
Small price to pay, you know.
What's that?
Lath material.
Okay.
I don't really know anything about wood.
I just wander around until I find it and then I, I wander through the store until I find
the little flat pieces of wood and I put them in my cart and I pay for them and leave, but
I don't know what they're for.
I'm not a carpenter.
So, anyway, you know, it's just like a thing, it's like a glorified ruler is what it is.
You know what I mean?
It's just like a flat, long, thin piece of wood and, you know, that, that, that provides
a great, you know, stinging sensation without injuring, you know, without, and look, never
spank your kid through a diaper.
You know, people will spank their toddler like through its diaper.
This is dangerous because that, there's all that padding, okay, and what happens is if
you just hit the pad with no force, it just bounces off and they're not getting spanking.
And then, so then people will hit harder, well then, then it could be so jarring that
you could like actually injure them by like hurting their back or something, you know,
just by like pummeling this diaper.
So you know, you want to actually spank on, you know, their actual skin or just through
a thin layer of clothing.
I mean, look, who when you were a kid when you were going to get spanking ever just like
put on some extra underwear or shove some in your pants, who pulled that trick before?
Okay, so that's what I'm saying, you know, so you don't want to just spank them through
some thick clothing or diaper or whatever because that kind of just defeats the purpose.
You know, you want to actually, you know, because, because like I said, you don't want
to hurt, you don't want to injure the child.
Obviously, you love your children and you know, you want them to, to be healthy and
all you're trying to do is just discipline them so that they can learn right from wrong.
Now a lot of people would say, you know, is this even legal?
Look, spanking is legal in all 50 states.
Spanking your children is legal in all 50 states, friend.
Now if, if Christians keep watering down the subject and never preaching on it and never
doing it, well then yeah, maybe someday it will become illegal because of idiot Christians
not exercising their right and then if you don't exercise your rights, you lose your
rights.
So then if Christian pastors will back off from preaching this subject, then yeah, it'll
probably become illegal.
But guess what?
It's in all 50 states, but you know what?
If they make it illegal, I'm going to keep doing it because the Bible commands me to
discipline my children and we ought to obey God rather than men.
So I'm not going to let some government idiot tell me how to raise my children in my own
home.
Okay.
I'm going to do it according to the word of God.
And so I'm, you know, because I love my children and care about them and so this is important
to me that I raise them in a biblical way.
So you want to make sure that you actually make an impact.
You don't want to injure them, but it needs to hurt or you're wasting your time.
Okay.
Go if you would to chapter 29.
Actually yeah, go to chapter 29.
While you're turning there, the Bible says in Proverbs 26 three, a whip for the horse,
a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left
to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
The rod is talking about the physical discipline.
Reproof is talking about actually explaining to the child that they did wrong, you know,
correcting them, telling them verbally.
The reproof is something that's done verbally, okay.
But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
Let me say this.
The mother is typically the primary caregiver in the home, isn't she?
Because we as men, we go out to work all day.
We typically spend at least eight hours a day working minimum plus a little bit of commute
time plus other things that we have going on in our lives.
So we're not just at home full time with the kids, but mom is.
And so this sermon needs to be listened to by the mothers especially.
Obviously the dads are involved in this too.
You know, we're there in the evenings.
We're there on days off and so forth, evenings, weekends.
But mom is the primary caregiver that needs to issue these spankings.
And so if mom isn't going to spank, if mom's just going to leave the kids themselves, not
reprove them, not spank them, then the kids are going to be monsters and they're going
to bring the mother to shame.
You know, moms ought to be ashamed if their kid is a brat and misbehaved.
You know, if you see kids throwing themselves on the ground, throwing a fit, temper tantrum,
being rude to adults, not obeying, not, you know, just acting like a monster, then you
know what?
It brings reproach to their mother because you know what it shows?
That she's leaving it to itself.
And the reason why many children are left to themselves today is because there's so
much entertainment readily available to get wives too busy from taking care of their kid.
So you know, they could get tied up on Facebook, they could get tied up on a video game.
Believe it or not, you know, adults often get tied up on video games for days and weeks
and months on end.
You know, which obviously this is not an activity that adults should be spending hours and hours
on.
Okay.
And you say, well, video, what video game?
I don't have PlayStation.
Okay.
You've got your little game.
What is it?
What is that stupid game?
The Farmville?
Is that even still a thing?
Candy Crush.
Is that a thing?
Nobody wants to say because you've been doing it.
You don't want to get busted for doing Candy Crush.
You know, and Farmville, and somebody help me out.
The kind of video games that mom, I'm not saying you're playing Grand Theft Auto or
something.
Okay.
But I'm saying, you know, whether, you know, you get caught up in, even if it's just solitaire
or something.
You know what I mean?
Now look, when I was a kid, I was addicted to video games.
I literally, there were times when I just woke up and played video games all day till
the sun went down.
Okay.
But you know what?
When I became a man, I put away childish things.
Now I have a personal rule for myself that I only ever allow myself to play any kind
of video game if either A, I'm really sick in bed.
Sometimes I'll play a little video game a little bit, you know, just to pass the time.
And then number two, if I'm on a very long international flight, sometimes I'll play
a little video game.
I was playing some stupid video game yesterday flying from home from Turkey and it was like,
I was eating, it was like something that the airline provided and I was like eating all
these little fish or something.
But it was just because I was so desperate to get through this 13 hour flight without
just losing my mind.
Okay.
So I played that for an hour or something.
But the point is, you know, when you're, when you're an adult and you're just playing video
games day after day, just grow up.
All right.
There's a whole world out there folks.
And you know what?
You need to be doing your job as ladies if you're home with the kids.
You know, your husband, is he going to work and playing a video game all day?
I sure hope not.
You know, I mean, I hope he's not going to work and signing in and just playing a video
game all day and getting paid to play a video game.
Okay.
No, he's actually going out there and turning the screwdriver, digging the ditch, whatever.
So why are you at home fooling around on a video game or the days of our lives or whatever
the soap opera.
I don't know.
That's what's that 30 years ago or something, you know whatever the, the soap opera or reality
TV shows or whatever the Netflix or Hulu or Zulu or whatever.
What is it that people are doing?
You know, Facebook, Instagram, you know, and look, I'm not.
Not saying that, you know, Facebook is bad in moderation.
Okay.
But, you know, I am saying that the soap operas are bad period.
You know, the, the, obviously there's a lot of garbage out there, but look, even if it's
not garbage, even if it's the cleanest video game ever, okay.
Or the cleanest activity ever when you're just neglecting your kids and they're just
doing their own thing all day and then you wonder why they're a brat, okay.
So you need to just treat your parenting ladies as a job.
Like your husband goes to work and then you go to work taking care of the kids, you know,
cooking meals, taking care of the house.
It's not that like, oh, score, I love this fundamental Baptist lifestyle where my husband
goes to work and I sit on my butt all day, you know, sign me up.
The feminist movement's a joke, man, this is, this is the life.
The whole point of being a stay-at-home mom and being a stay-at-home wife is that you're
actually doing your duties as a wife and doing your duties as a mother where you are cleaning
the house, raising the children, homeschooling the children.
So spend time with your kids, treat it like a job because a child left to himself is going
to bring his mother to shame.
So you need to, you need to have some discipline.
Like I said, hey, look, you know, I'm a recovered video game addict so, you know, here are the
rules that I've set for myself where I would rarely ever touch a video game and if I did,
it would only be very limited.
Hey, why don't you make, if you love Candy Crush or whatever it is, you know, you need
to make some rules for yourself that, hey, I'm not going to play it until all my other
duties are done or whatever.
Or maybe it's time to just hang that up because what does it profit, okay?
So don't leave your children to themselves and you know what, don't expect your husband
to do all the discipline.
He's not with them all day.
He's out working all day to bring home the bacon.
You need to clock in as a mother and do your job.
He's doing his job, you do your job, amen?
The rod and reproof give wisdom but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.
Why?
Because she's the primary caregiver so a lot of the responsibility lies on her for why
the kid's a brat, right?
She needs to discipline.
She needs, and it's just, it's laziness.
If you're a lazy mother, then basically the kids are just running amok and you're just
in your own little world on your phone or your computer doing whatever, okay?
You need to turn those devices off and engage with your children, interact with your children.
And look, I'm not just up here preaching this as an exercise here or just as a theory or
just well, I just needed something to preach tonight.
Look, I am seeing a lot of bratty kids everywhere I go.
I mean there are bratty kids in this church.
There are bratty kids in other churches I visit.
I mean I'm seeing some things that are disturbing to me and I mean this is a trend that we need
to fix.
And look, I'm not saying my kids are perfect.
My kids have said and done stupid things and let me say this.
If my kids do or say something stupid, I want you to come tell me about it.
Don't ever be afraid to come tell me that my kids did wrong because you know what?
I want to find out about it and I want to discipline them.
Don't think you're going to offend me or something.
Well, I don't want to offend Pastor Anderson by criticizing his kid.
Hey, this is what will offend me.
If you go and talk bad about my kids to other people behind my back, that's going to offend
me.
But I'm never going to be offended by you coming to me and saying, listen Pastor Anderson,
here's what your teenager did.
Here's what your son did.
Here's what your daughter did.
Look I want you to come tell me about it and you know by default, I'm going to believe
you and come down on them by default unless it's shown to just be totally bogus.
But listen, I want to know about it and you know what, if somebody comes to you and tells
you what your bratty kid did, don't get mad and shoot the messenger.
Discipline your kid and fix it.
Don't be offended and wear your feelings, they have it in for my kid or whatever.
Hey, you know what, you need to fix the problem and when adults are coming to you telling
you that your kid's being bratty, that's when you need to spank your kids and fix the problem
and not just, well, I don't understand why she told me rudely.
You know, you need to be more focused on what she told you that your kid did and come down
on that and fix that and apologize to the person who's telling you this and deal with
your kid.
That's the way my parents would have reacted.
If somebody would have come to my parents at church and said, you know what Stephen
did?
He did.
They'd just be like, oh, you know, I would have got disciplined for that.
They wouldn't have been defending me and saying, how dare you say that about our poor
little precious.
You know, they would have come down on me and, and so, you know, come to me and tell
me if my kids have an issue.
I'm not saying my kids are perfect, but I will say this.
When my kids do wrong, they get punished and that's how they learn to do right.
And so my kids are not monsters.
They're good kids.
Now they're not perfect, but when they do wrong, I discipline them and I fix the problem
and we move forward.
I'm not saying that your kids have to be perfect and you know what?
Don't freak out.
If somebody comes to you and tells you that your kids were bad or something, don't just
freak out.
Like they don't like me now.
They don't like my kid.
Look, I have 10 kids.
If your kid's bratty, I'm not saying that it makes you a bad person, but I will say
this.
If your kid's bratty and you refuse to do anything about it, then you are a bad person
and you're a bad parent if you just ignore it.
You're not a bad parent because your kid did something wrong.
You're a bad parent because your kid did something wrong and you refuse to discipline them.
He says in verse 17 of the same chapter there, Proverbs 29, correct thy son and he shall
give thee rest, yea he shall give delight unto thy soul.
People say, you know, how can you have 10 kids?
I can barely even handle my one kid.
It's because your kid's not giving you rest.
Because your kid's not a delight to your soul.
I have 10 kids because my kids are a delight to my soul.
That's why I keep having more, because I like them.
If my kids were complete brats and monsters, I wouldn't want to have any more kids.
Oh man, I have two, I can't even imagine.
Get them under control.
For 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.
Seest thou man that is hasty in his words?
There's more hope of a fool than of him.
He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son
at the length an angry man stirreth up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Notice that interposed with these verses about child rearing are verses about anger
and fury and being hasty with your words.
Why?
Because people who don't discipline their children, you know what they often use is
words instead, or they use anger instead.
You see people who don't spank their kids, they end up yelling really angrily at their
kids all the time and just constantly chewing them out, because it's just easier to yell
from across the room than to get your lazy butt out of the chair and actually go do the
disciplining.
It's a lot easier just to yell at them, but you know what?
You need to actually be slow to speak and slow to anger, but you know what?
Sometimes you need to be a little quicker to discipline.
And don't try to use anger as a substitute for spanking.
Getting angry and yelling at your kid is not an appropriate form of discipline.
Now look, there are times when you do need to get angry and yell at your kids.
There are instances for that, but that is only in certain cases.
It's not just a constant thing.
The constant thing should be discipline.
That should be ... A lot of people, this is what the world says when they actually do
spank.
They'll say like, oh, well, you know, I only use that as like a last resort.
Spanking is like the last resort.
So what's the first thing they do?
Yell and get angry.
For me, spanking is not a last resort.
Spanking is a first line of defense.
Okay.
And you know what?
When I was a kid, I would rather get a spanking than to get yelled at.
Who felt that way as a kid?
Like you'd rather just get a spanking, get over with than to get the long lectures and
getting screamed at and anger and all that.
So you know, if you want to have a good relationship with your children, it's better to turn down
the anger, quit getting angry at the drop of a hat.
Don't spank and anger.
Don't just lose your temper all the time.
Look, it's sort of like for me, I just drank a cup of coffee before this sermon.
Now look, I don't drink coffee.
I'm not a coffee head.
I'm not addicted to coffee.
So I'll sometimes go literally years without drinking coffee.
But the reason why is because I save it for when I really need it.
Like a minute ago when I was like seeing blurry up here and falling asleep.
So my wife brought me a cup of coffee and I drank it and that's why I'm able to be even
able to deliver the sermon right now because I'm so tired from not sleeping for the last
two nights, barely at all.
So here's the thing.
Because I never drink coffee, if I get in a situation where I really need it, it works.
Other people just have to drink coffee every day just to feel normal.
So then when they're really in a bind, they've got nothing.
It doesn't work, right?
So like me, I save it for like super days of jet lag or whatever and it's a very rare
occurrence for me.
But when I need it, it's there for me.
Amen?
Okay.
So here's the thing.
That's kind of how anger is.
If you're just constantly angry with your kids and yelling at your kids every day, you
know what?
It's going to go in one ear and out the other.
It's like drinking coffee every day.
It starts to have no effect except to just not give you a headache and make you feel
normal.
But it doesn't give you that boost that it gives the non-coffee drinker.
I know I'm offending all these coffee drinkers.
What do you mean I'm addicted?
I can quit any time, you know.
I can't quit any time.
This is water, all right?
Everybody always thinks this is coffee.
This is actually always water, okay?
But anyway, the point is that, you know, reserve anger for, you know, very serious situations
because then if you really get angry, it makes an impression like, oh man, I really crossed
the line.
Dad's furious.
Not just, oh, here he goes again.
Dad's furious every day.
You know, the Bible says that we should not be angry people.
We should not be angry people.
We should not let anger rest in our bosom.
We should not let the sun go down on our wrath, right?
The Bible warns us a lot about the wrong kind of anger and being a continually angry person.
So look, don't be this person that reserves spanking for just the last resort.
Look, spanking should be the go-to form of discipline because that's what God said works
over and over again.
Anger should be only for an extreme situation.
And then when you blow up, it'll be like, wow, it really meant something like the rare
cup of coffee that actually does give you a little boost when you need it.
But don't just immunize your kids to anger to where it, you know, oh, well, yeah, I'm
getting yelled at.
Here we go again.
It's all that ever happens.
That's just going to make your kids resent you.
And what does the Bible say in verse 22?
An angry man stirreth up strife and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
You know, I don't want to abound in transgression.
So I don't want to be a furious person, right?
Now there's a time for anger, but again, it should be reserved for situations where it's
merited, not just I'm just mad all the time because that's a bad attribute.
Now go to Hebrews chapter 12, lest someone would think, oh, well, you're in the Old Testament.
You know, spanking is in the Old Testament.
Well, the New Testament reiterates spanking.
So this is a biblical form of discipline in the Old and New Testament.
Plus, not only that, the book of Proverbs isn't really an old covenant book.
I mean, it's a book of wisdom that's applicable at all times and in all generations.
It's not limited to, it's not a book about animal sacrifices or something.
Okay.
Obviously Proverbs and its wisdom is all applicable in the New Testament.
Okay.
And so this is reiterated in the New Testament.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 says, you've forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
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.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and
not sons.
Well, the Bible is saying, of course every father disciplines their son.
If you're not getting disciplined, are you even a son?
So the Bible is taking it for granted that children are being physically disciplined
by their parents, that they're getting spanked.
It's just taken for granted.
Well, I mean, what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Is that even out there?
Does that even exist?
Well, unfortunately, today it does in America because we're that crazy.
We've gone that crazy in America where we think that you can just tell a child, no,
no, Johnny.
No, no.
Oh, here, let me distract you with another toy over here.
You know, I mean, now you have kids just punching their parents in the face, punching other
kids in the face.
They're just violent.
They're monsters.
I hate you.
I would have never said that to my parents.
First of all, I never, I didn't feel that way, but second of all, I would have never
dared to say that to my parents because I had the fear of my parents.
Okay.
But today you see kids saying that to their parents and other horrific things.
Verse nine.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us.
Again, the Bible is taking for granted that of course every parent spanks their child.
Of course every parent will chase in their son.
The Bible just takes that for granted because that's what every normal society does in the
history of mankind.
He says we've had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us.
If you didn't, then you grew up in a strange home with strange upbringing because the norm
is for children to be spanked.
The Bible takes it for granted.
He says we gave them reverence.
Why did we give them reverence?
Because they corrected us.
You know what that means?
If you don't discipline your kids, they're not going to respect you.
They're not going to reverence you.
They're not going to fear you.
We gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection of the father of spirits and lip 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, but grievous.
Look, nobody likes getting spanked or issuing the spanking.
Kids don't like getting spankings and parents don't like giving spankings, do they?
I mean, it's just like, yes, I get to spank the kids.
No husband likes to get home and the first thing he does when he walks in is, oh, he's
spanking or whatever.
We want to fellowship with our kids, we want to have fun, play with them.
But you know what?
It's grievous.
It's not joyous for either party involved here in the spanking, but nevertheless afterward
it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
You know, people love the fruit of spanking, don't they?
People come up to me and, oh, your kids are so well behaved.
You know, we'll be out in public, we'll be in a restaurant, we'll be in a store, oh,
your kids are so well behaved, they're so good, I don't know how you do it.
I do.
I spank them.
You know, it's funny how they like the fruit, they like the product.
Well, guess how we got there?
By disciplining our children.
Now, obviously, discipline is not the only thing and there's only so much I can fit into
one sermon.
There are lots of other elements to child rearing that are important.
I'm not covering everything in this sermon.
I'm just focusing on one thing in this sermon.
What am I focusing on?
Does anybody know what the sermon is about?
Spanking your kids, right?
I'm just trying to get one point across.
Now, there's a lot more to child rearing than just spanking.
Spanking is only one part of the equation but it's a part that is sadly missing today
in a lot of homes and even in our church and even in other churches that we're friends
with, you know, I see these bratty kids get away with murder and somebody tells their
parents and they just laugh it off, smile it off, don't care, don't, you know, you need
to deal with that stuff.
And you know, I'd rather deal with it when my kids 8 than when they're 18.
Wouldn't you rather deal with a 5-year-old than a 15-year-old?
Because the problems get bigger, the consequences get bigger, the stakes get higher.
And so, of course, it's not joyous, of course, it's grievous but afterward it yields this
wonderful fruit, right?
The peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
It's just like exercise.
You know, you go out and exercise and it's not necessarily fun for you all the time but
you like the fact that you're in shape at the end of it, right?
Whip your kids into shape, amen?
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down on the feeble knees and make straight paths
for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed.
Go back if you would to or actually just go to Ephesians Chapter Number 6, Ephesians Chapter
6.
And look, there are people, and I've done other sermons on this as well, there are people
who go too far with discipline, they go overboard with discipline.
I'm not advocating a militaristic approach to child rearing, over-the-top discipline,
just, you know, just beating your kids to the point of ridiculousness or going overboard.
There could be too much spanking for sure.
You can definitely overdo this.
You can do this too harshly, too often, too much but my sermon tonight is dealing with
the people who are underdoing it, okay?
Because, you know, we don't want to go to either extreme.
We don't want to overdo the spanking but we don't want to underdo it either.
So what I'm exhorting you to do tonight is to make sure that you discipline your kids
because there are some kids that just, they act like brats and they're just, you know,
brats and they mouth off and they throw themselves on the ground and they do whatever they want.
Somebody tells them not to do something, they don't even care, they laugh in the face of
their parents, they laugh in the face of whatever the authority figure telling them, hey, stop
that.
And it's because they have no fear of God, they have no fear of their parents, they need
some discipline in their lives.
So yeah, it can be overdone but it can also be underdone, okay?
So you want to use wisdom in this area and look to godly examples and role models to
learn how to do this, okay?
Whoever that is in your life, whether that's your parents or other people in the church,
the pastor, just, you know, look to other people and learn about discipline, okay?
How to do this properly.
But the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1, children, obey your parents in the
Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well
with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth and ye fathers provoke not your children
to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
So I want to close on this thought.
You children out there and I want to, now I've been talking to the parents, I want to
talk to the children now.
So every little child, I want you to look up here and let me explain some to you.
Whether your parents spank you or not, you are going to have bad things happen to you
if you disobey your parents and disobey God.
Because you know who can punish you worse than your parents?
God.
And God said, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right that it may
be well with you.
Because you know what?
If you disobey your parents, it's not going to be well with you.
And so parents need to spank their child because what they're doing is by spanking their child,
they're actually delivering that child from the wrath of God.
Because if that child grows up and does all the wrong things, they're going to face the
wrath of God which is way worse than anything that parents can do.
So you kids, you may think to yourself, hey, I got away with something or my parents never
found out what I did so I didn't get a spanking, I'm so smart.
Guess what?
God sees everything that you do.
Everything that you do, every idle word that you speak, everything that you do in secret,
every time you steal something or lie or disobey mom and dad or whatever sinful, wicked thing
that you do, God sees it and God will punish you worse than your parents.
You ought to be thankful that it's your parents punishing you and not God because God doesn't
use a paint paddle from Home Depot.
God uses a two by four.
Your parents are disciplining you so that you don't get disciplined by God.
Because you know what?
Your parents spanking you on your bottom in that stinging sensation and you walk away,
oh man, I got that stinging bottom from getting spanked by my parents.
That's nothing compared to when you grow up and act like a hooligan and you get in a car
accident and get all torn up in a car accident.
It's way worse than getting a spanking on your butt.
You know, I remember when I was a teenager, there was a girl that I was friends with and
she got back sledding and was being disobedient to the Lord and she got in a horrible car
accident and she looked like, she was all sewn up.
It reminded me of like, I know this is a stupid ungodly movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
You know that girl that was all stitched up, who knows what I'm talking about.
Yeah, that's what she looked like.
She's had these giant 30 stitches all over her.
She was all sewn up.
Frankenstein had to be like sewn together or something.
She was all sewn up and her mouth was wired shut so she had to talk like this because
her mouth had to be wired shut and she couldn't eat any food.
She had to drink all of her meals through a straw.
She made a full recovery eventually.
So God was merciful, but she literally, I remember going to her house and visiting her
and she was showing me all these giant stitches.
It was horrible.
I remember her talking to me through those metal wires holding her mouth shut like this
and she said, you know what, this is God disciplining me because I've been back sledding and I've
gotten away from the Lord and I'm being disciplined by God right now.
That's why this happened to me.
She saw that.
She saw, you know what, I've been doing wrong.
I've been sinful.
I'm not obeying God right now.
That's why this happened to me.
You don't think God does stuff like that because guess what?
God can take you off your high horse.
God can take you down a notch.
Oh yeah, you got away with it and you're so smart and your parents don't know and you
snuck out in the middle of the night and you, you know, you did, Hey, you know what?
God will give you the worst spanking that you can imagine.
Your parents love you and are just giving you a gentle spanking because they don't want
you to have to face God's punishment and look, God loves you too and that's why God
will sometimes bring that car accident because that's what you need and even more serious
wake up call.
But wouldn't it be smarter to just when your parents spank you on your butt that you would
actually say like, okay, you know, I need to get right here.
I need to obey my parents and not force God to put you through something really horrible
and you know, that girl made a full recovery.
But guess what?
There are a lot of things that happen in car accidents that are permanent and be permanently
damaged.
You can even be killed.
Horrible things can happen, right?
And look, it happens in the Bible.
God kills people, you know, and, and, and so you need to take this thing of obeying
your parents and doing right seriously and you know what, whether or not your parents
catch you or spank you, you know, you're, you're going to get in trouble with the Lord
if you don't get in trouble with your parents.
Okay.
So we as parents, we don't want, none of us wants any of our kids to get in a car accident
and get all damaged and stuff like that.
We'd rather if we love them, spank them so that they actually do right and not have to
face those severe things.
And I'm not saying everybody who's in a car accident is being punished by God because
a lot of times those things happen to good people like Job or, you know, Job had bad
things happen to him.
He hadn't done anything wrong, but see that girl, she knew that it was a punishment from
God.
Why?
Because she knew she's being wicked.
Okay.
So yeah, those things can be a punishment from God.
And so we need to just straighten up and fly right.
Okay.
So I hope that this sermon will wake up some parents maybe that have gotten a little bit
lacks in this area and you're not disciplining your kids and you're, you're, you're, you're
sucked in by the video games or Facebook or TV movies, whatever that's just, you're rotting
your brain on instead of doing your job as a wife and mother and disciplining the kids.
And you know, and obviously men, you know, you need to, when you're there, when you're
around, you know, you need to discipline to parent, you know, it's better if it's coming
from both parents.
Don't make your wife do all the discipline, you know, because there are times when you
need to be there and discipline as well.
And also you need to lead your wife in this area and help your wife to be on the same
page and, and teach her and guide her in this area.
If she's delinquent in this area, because it's not enough for you to just throw up your
hands and say, well, my wife just doesn't discipline.
It's like, well, you know, maybe you need to teach her a little bit, train her on that
because, you know what, if you love your kids, this needs to happen.
Okay.
And you say, well, I don't know if spanking works.
Well, it worked for America for the first several hundred years.
How's this non-spanking generation turning out?
They don't even know what gender they are, right?
How's this, how's this little social experiment of not spanking working out?
Well, go down to the high school and when the bell rings and look at the product.
Is that a godly generation?
No.
We as God's people need to be different.
Stick with the Bible, old-fashioned.
And look, I'm not talking about anything crazy up here.
I'm talking about good old-fashioned discipline that everybody that's my age and older grew
up with virtually, that the Bible takes for granted.
It's part of that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And help us to study your word and make sure that we implement your principles that you've
delivered in regard to child rearing, Lord.
Help us not to get sucked into a worldly philosophy that says not to spank our kids, Lord.
Help us to make sure that we spank our kids, just the old-fashioned discipline that's been
going on in America for hundreds of years, Lord.
Help us not to buy into this new-fangled weird idea of positive only parenting because it
doesn't work.
Lord, help us to trust you and not lean onto our own understanding.
And dear God, I pray that every child in this church would love you and grow up to be a
godly Christian, Lord, because we need a generation of young people that would serve you.
And so I pray that our church would be good parents.
I pray that I would be a good parent, that my wife would be a good parent, and that our
children would grow up to honor and glorify you.