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Well, but I just wanted to take one thought there in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4. If you got your Bibles there, just go back to Ephesians 6 verse 4. It's a verse that we've used in some previous sermons and we are going through a series on the family. Okay, I've still got another three sermons to go. This sermon and two more sermons and then we can take a break from the family. Okay, but Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4, the Bible says, And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Alright, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The title of the sermon tonight is the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We've been going through husbands and wives and marriage and children and homeschooling. What I want to cover today are these two aspects that we're commanded to do in this verse. To raise up, to bring up our children in nurture and admonition of the Lord. These are two things as parents that we must apply to our child rearing techniques, to raising up our children to have the best child possible and following not just our opinion, but it says of the Lord, what the Lord says about raising children. Alright, now these two concepts, the nurture and admonition, what are these things about? So let's talk about it. What is to nurture? When you think about nurturing a child, it's similar to nourishing, to nourish a child. When you think about nourishing a child, we think about feeding that child, make sure that they're fed, make sure that they're no longer hungry and that they have what they need to grow and to develop. It's the same kind of idea with raising your children. To nurture them is for them to teach them, to instruct them, to provide direction for their lives as they grow. The teaching is important. Now, I think most people recognise we need to teach, but the Lord says also the admonition. What does it mean to admonish? To admonish is to correct, to discipline, to blame, to discipline. Like I said, but the word admonish is a gentle way of saying it. It's a gentle way of saying it because as we saw at the beginning of that, it says provoke not your children to wrath. So there's a bad way to raise your children where they're angry kids, wrathful kids, they're disobedient or you can raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But notice those two things need to come together, the teaching and the discipline. You can teach them all you want and if you drop the discipline, they're not going to turn out to be good kids. They might have a lot of information in their head, but they're not going to grow up to be obedient children. And if all you do is discipline your kids and not teaching them, they're going to think my parents hate me. Why do they keep disappointing me? Why don't they teach me something so I know what I need to do so I don't continue being disciplined? Now, I'm going to read to you from Malachi 2 verse 15. The Bible says, Speaking of a marriage here, Again, these are things we've covered before, but why did God allow marriage? Why did He want one man and one woman to be one flesh? The Bible says that he might seek a godly seed. You know, God wants our children to be godly children. God wants us to raise a godly generation that he can look down on and be pleased in a generation that will serve the Lord. We saw that with John the Baptist as we're going through the book of Luke. We saw that John the Baptist was tasked with raising up a new generation that would be ready to receive the Lord when he followed after him. So, these are things that God wants. We need to nurture the kids and we need to admonish. You drop one of these things, you're going to fail. God gives us these instructions. Now, before I get into it, I want you to think about, you know, I don't want to boast here. I really don't want to boast, but just to honest truth, my wife and I get a lot of compliments about our kids. Honestly, just everywhere we seem to go, we get a lot of compliments about their behaviour, about being good, and it's sort of like, you know, I'm glad to receive it. I'm glad people appreciate, you know, seeing obedient kids, you know, especially a large number of kids. I appreciate that, but at the same time, you know, raising kids isn't really complicated. It's actually quite simple, all right? Now, you might say, that sounds weird. How can it be simple? Well, you know, some tasks are simple, but still require a lot of work. All right? Some tasks are simple, but still require a lot of work. I want you to think about the bricklayer, all right? You know, when someone, you know, you're building a house and you get the bricklayer, you know, their task in the scheme of it all is quite simple, you know, laying bricks one after another, you know, following the directions that was laid out. It's not a complicated job, okay? Now, are there complexities to it? Of course there is, but, you know, in light of the whole house being constructed, it's quite a simple job, but it's very hard, okay? It's a very hard job, especially in the sun, you know, brick after brick, you know, being bent down and pick them up. Look, it requires someone with a lot of strength. It requires someone to be committed to it. It requires someone, hey, it doesn't matter how hot it gets, they're going to take advantage of that time and place that brick one after another, okay? And in light of it, because it's simple, but still it's a lot of hard work, that's why there aren't that many bricklayers and that's why bricklayers get paid a lot of money, okay? The job is simple, but the work is hard. It requires hard work. And I liken child rearing to the same idea, okay? Having kids, I mean, it's not difficult, right? I mean, if you're in a loving marriage, you're going to have kids. It's going to come, all right? Having kids, you know, having 10 kids, really, that's not something to be, look, it's awesome, okay, but better than having 10 kids is having 10 obedient kids that are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, right? I'd rather have five kids that are great kids and have 10 kids that are wild and disobedient and I have no control over it, all right? Now, hopefully both those things come together, all right? So it's like bricklaying. It's not difficult. This is what you need to do, nurture and admonition, that's it, all right? But it requires the effort, day in, day out. And so we're going to go through these two concepts, guys, the nurture and admonition. The first thing, I'm going to give you some ideas and I hope this is a very practical sermon for those that have children that maybe some of these things you already set in place, but if you haven't, I hope you'd consider these and apply these to your house. But first of all, point number one with nurturing your child is you need to set rules. You need to set boundaries, okay? You need to set rules in your house, all right? And then when your children come to church, you've got to give them rules in the church as well, okay? You don't want them to be wild in the church. You want them to follow the rules and the laws that you set in place. Hey, if you ever take your kids out to visit a family friend or they go out to the shops or go out to a restaurant, you want to set rules there as well because you want to set a good example to those that are watching you, especially if you have a large family, all right? People are watching you. You may not like it, but it's going to happen when you have a number of kids. People are going to be watching you. You need to set up rules and you want to be able to keep the rules as similar as possible, all right? So if you've got a rule in your house, you know, to straighten up the chairs, then when the kids come to church, and of course, things get a bit messy, but at the end of the day, they need to think, hey, at church, I need to set up the chairs as well and not leave them disorganized, okay? If you set the same kind of rules, then it's easy. The same thing applies wherever I go. And, you know, if you teach children to respect the property in their house, then they're going to respect the property in the church. They're going to respect the property of others, you know? And, you know, I've seen children where people are invited to someone's house and they just destroy the house, you know? What does that tell me? It tells me that in their house, there's no order. It tells me in their house, they have no respect for the things that mum and dad have worked hard for to provide for the family, all right? So set the rules, you know, keep the rules as similar as possible and say, why would I need to do this? Because God sets rules, okay? God has order, God puts commands, God puts laws for his people and it's found throughout the whole Bible, all right? And if fathers, like I said, I covered before in the Father's Day message, if we're this earthly reflection of our Heavenly Father, then we should lay down some rules and some commands for our children as well, okay? We're not asking anything that's too crazy, all right? Children need boundaries, all right? And I'll tell you this, the happiest children are children that have boundaries, okay? And they stay within those boundaries. They're the happy ones. I mean, you would think the happy ones would be the ones that have no boundaries. They can do whatever they want and parents let them do what they know. They end up being miserable, selfish children. Those that have boundaries, generally speaking, are the happiest children that I've seen anyway, all right? Now, go to Colossians chapter 3 verse 20, Colossians chapter 3 verse 20, because what are the benefits of having rules? These are basic concepts, I'm not teaching anything too deep, guys. Like I said, raising kids is simple, just requires work. Colossians 3 verse 20, the Bible says, Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Parents, do you want your kids to be pleasing to the Lord? Do you want the Lord to look down and shine His face upon your children and see beautiful kids that He loves and appreciates? Of course we do, all right? But in order for that to happen, children are to obey the parents. Now, how can they obey if there are no rules? You need the rules in place, you need the boundaries in place in order for them to even be able to obey, okay? That's if you want the Lord to be pleased with your family, to be pleased with your children, all right? This is very important, especially because obviously we want the Lord's blessing and face to shine upon our family and upon our children. So point number one was to set rules. Point number two, parents, is to lead by example, to lead by example. Show your children, don't just tell your children, all right? Don't be a parent that says, do as I say, but not as I do, okay? Because when you say that, and look, I've probably said it, all right? I'm not saying that I'm perfect at all. It means here that I need to work on myself, all right? Just to let you know, okay? But if you tell your kids, do as I say, but not as I do, what are you telling your kids? We're hypocrites. We're hypocrites. We're no better than the Pharisees that we read about in the New Testament, all right? That's a bad company to be involved with. You're kids, you shouldn't be doing that, but then you're doing it. That's crazy. That's hypocritical. And God gave us, in His Word, God has given us examples to follow. As believers, as new believers, He's given us the pastors, He's given us godly men, He's given us the Word of God, He's given us these stories of the apostles and the prophets, so we can read about these men, so we can see certain men and see the example that they set and follow after them. How much more, then, do your children need an example? Okay, parents, the ones your children look up to the most, it's going to be mum and dad, all right? Unless you've destroyed your reputation, all right? But generally speaking, as kids grow up, they look to mum and dad as their inspiration. They look to mum and dad as their example. So if you set a bad example, guess what? Your children are going to be doing the same thing. And look, this is part of learning, because when I had my first kids, we were teaching stuff, and all of a sudden this is cool, and I started to see them doing some bad habits, doing some wrong things. And then I recognised, hold on, that's because I do those things. They're just copying me. And then I had to figure out, hey, I need to change something about myself. Don't do what you wouldn't do, sorry, don't do what you wouldn't want your children to do. So parents, we need to examine ourselves. We don't want to be hypocrites. And if you need to make sacrifices, hey, for your kids' sake, do those sacrifices. I've used this example before. But when I was a new father, Isabel was really little. She was our first daughter, and we taught her about the dangers of the worldly music and the immodestly dressed women and all those kinds of things that you want to teach a young girl. And then because you're a new parent, and you're not that mature necessarily, I'm watching television, I'm watching the television, and then there's a commercial. And when you grow up watching television, it's like so many things go on that you just don't recognise as problems. I mean, you sort of do, but you just, I don't know, I guess, I don't know, what's the word I'm looking for, I'm not sure, but it's like you get comfortable with what you're seeing. And so there's the TV commercials going on, there's some wicked music, and there's some wickedly dressed women or whatever, and then my daughter's like, Dad, this is evil. Dad, this is wrong. And I'm like, of course it is. What in the world am I doing? And I turned off the television, but I needed my child to sort of open up my eyes and make me realise, wow, yeah. And then I started to really notice, wow, the way I live my life is super important as far as how my children perceive what it is. Because obviously Isabel was learning things that Christina was teaching her, and I was doing the opposite. It's not good, all right, it's not good. So definitely if you need to make sacrifices, make sure you do it, all right. Lead by example, make sure your children see you, read your Bible, make sure you see your children pray, and make sure your children see your love for the family and love for the brethren of the Lord, okay, the brethren in the church. Make sure your children see these things, all right. They see Dad opening the Bible and reading it. And when they walk past, they go, wow, Dad's reading the Bible. Or sometimes they see you in prayer. You know, your knees bowed and just praying to the Lord. Hey, make sure your children see these things. It's going to stay in their minds. As a child, when I saw my parents praying and reading the Bible, it stayed in my mind. It's there. You know, I can picture it as it is. And I remember just as a child seeing my parents praying and reading, and I'm just thinking, well, if my parents need to do this, then surely I need the Lord as well. Surely I need to be praying and seeking the Lord in His Word, all right. So make sure that you lead by example. Point number three, teach them Bible doctrine. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, Deuteronomy chapter 6. Point number three, teach them Bible doctrine. And some of these points are sort of similar to what Brother Jason preached not long ago. But anyway, maybe the Lord wants us to cover these a couple of times. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. The Bible reads, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. So you notice there in verse number five that this is the first time the greatest commandment is written down, which is to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And then what? Teach it to your kids. Tell your kids these things, right? Verse 6. And these words which I command thee shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. So we see that the greatest commandment, the first time it's written here, it's found here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5, and then it says, hey, teach it to your children. We see that in verses 6 and 7. But also notice that it says, teach them at all points during the day. At all points. You know, I taught last week on homeschooling, but really I think if the Lord had his say, he'd say, hey, it should be all schooling. All right? All parts of the day is a time to teach. All points of the day is a time to learn doctrine, and know how the Lord feels about different things that we go through. Teach them at all points during the day. Teach them while you're traveling. Teach them while you're traveling to church. Teach them after the church, right? Ask your kids, hey, what did you get out of that sermon? And see what they got. Let them ask questions and inquire about things. There's been times that I've gone to church, and we heard a horrible sermon, a radical sermon, right? And then we drive back home, and I'm like, kids, what did you think of the sermon? And they're like, Dad, it was bad. I'm happy. I'm happy, because then they know what the word of God says. But I'm testing it, because if they don't know, then at least I can explain it to them. I've heard some crazy things behind you, and I have people, but such as losing your salvation, and what have you. Definitely teach your kids at all points. Hey, read the Bible to them before bed. If your children can't read the Bible for themselves, open the Bible. Instead of reading them Little Red Riding Hood or something, or some other make-believe myth, open the word of God and read to them the Bible. I appreciate my mom. She brought me up. She'd tuck me in bed, and then she'd read me the Bible. My favourite story that I would ask from her is to read me about Samson and all those battles that he did. I guess I thought of him like a superhero or something of the Bible, but read the Bible to your children. And let me give you some examples of how you can teach them doctrine. Motivate your children to read their Bibles for a prize. Maybe offer them a prize. Hey, on Sunday, we had a prize for the memory verses. And how many hands went up because they memorised it? Look, they should always memorise the verses anyway, but sometimes offer them a little bit of a prize, get them motivated if they're starting to lose interest. You can read a chapter as a family. Every day, open the word of God, read a chapter, and ask the kids in their own words to explain what was read. Christina does this every morning. She opens the Bible, reads a chapter, and then she asks the kids, hey, what did you get out of it? And once you get to the little kids, they're like, Jesus is God. That's all they remember. They just have these basic things. That's fine if that's all they get. Fantastic, you know. You know, link their academic studies back to the word of God. I kind of covered that last week. I won't go over to that right now. And, you know, fathers, you should preach to your family, just short sermons. You know, I used to, in preparation to be a pastor, because I was only preaching once a month in my churches that I was at. You know, there were times that we would just, you know, in the midweek I'd be like, all right, kids, it's time to preach a sermon. And then I'd just take the Bible, just ad hoc. I didn't prepare. You know, we had that little pulpit that we used to start with. You know, that was Nicholas' pulpit. And I'd just open a chapter and just start preaching from that chapter as best as I could, just to get into the practice of preaching for myself, but also so my kids could learn some other times outside of church. So that's some examples. And I really think it's important. Especially if you want your kids to sit still in church, and you want your kids to pay attention to what's being learnt, they're not going to learn that at church. They're going to have to learn that at home, and then once they've learnt that at home, they're going to be able to apply that in the church. All right? The fourth point of nourishing or... What's the word? No, before admonition. Nurturing. Sorry. The fourth point for nurturing your children is to encourage questions. Encourage them to ask questions. Turn to James chapter 1. Now I know, guys, I've been a parent now. I've got a lot of kids. And I know that it can be frustrating with answering questions. Because there comes a time when kids grow up and they're just so curious about the whole world. They'll ask about everything, right? And once they explain it, they'll probably ask again. And you can get frustrated a little bit, right? You just want a bit of peace and quiet, and you just want your kids to be a little quiet. But again, remember that. Earthly Fathers, we're a representation of our Heavenly Father. Do not discourage questions. That's the point where in their young minds, they're wanting to absorb a lot of information and learn to be patient. God wants us to be patient, right? That's one of the fruits of the Spirit, how you can use this opportunity with your kids to learn patience. But look at James chapter 1, verse 5. James chapter 1, verse 5, the Bible says, James chapter 1, verse 5, the Bible says, So notice there that the Lord says, if you need wisdom, go and ask the Lord, right? And does the Lord want you to go and ask Him? Of course, all right? Ask God, and it says, He, speaking of God, giveth to all men liberally. What does it mean to give liberally? He's wanting to hand out that wisdom. And so many times, when we need wisdom, we don't go to the Lord, right? We're in difficulties, we're in struggles, we don't understand why our life has taken a direction that we're not happy with, and we resist to go and ask wisdom of the Lord. But God wants to give you that wisdom, right? Because He is our Heavenly Father, and He wants us to grow spiritually and mature and be in fellowship with Him. How much then, if that's what the Lord wants with us, it should be the same thing as parents that we want with our children, okay? We want them to ask questions, and we should be able to give that answer to them liberally, all right? And then it says in verse 6, oh, sorry, and then it says, and uprateth not, okay? He doesn't uprate. He's not critical or severe when you ask questions, okay? You can come and ask the Lord again, time and time again, the same questions, and He doesn't get critical with you. He's happy to answer those questions. He's happy to give you that wisdom. We should mimic our Heavenly Father. As parents, we should also be the same way with our children. Why is this important? Why should we always be ready to give them an answer? Because look at verse 6. Think about this. Obviously, let's think a secondary application here of our children to all the parents. But let him, or the child, ask in faith, knuffering, wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind, and tossed. Is that what you want your children to grow up to be? People that are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, not knowing what to stand on? No. We want them to come and ask in faith, not wavering, knowing, hey, if I ask, we don't want them to be afraid to ask, right? If they're afraid to ask questions, and they feel like they can't approach Mom and Dad, if we take this principle, they're going to be wavering with whatever. Look, if you're not going to give them the questions, they're going to go and seek the world. Then the world's going to give them an answer, all right? And that's how you're going to find them wavering to and fro, not knowing where to stand. Hey, we should be parents ready to answer questions, to encourage them to ask questions. Don't get frustrated at it. I know, it's hard. It's hard, all right? Simple things, but they're hard to do, all right? They are hard to do. All right, that was nurturing. That's training your child. Obviously, homeschooling is all part of that. We covered that last week, all right? Let's talk about admonishing your children, admonishing your children. That's to discipline. That's to correct, all right? When they've done something wrong, it's not, oh, good work, little Johnny, you know? No, if they've done something wrong, you need to point that out that they've done wrong, okay? To admonish. And the Bible is crystal clear when it comes to corrective discipline, all right? This isn't a gray area in the Bible, all right? And what I'm going to teach tonight on this topic is obviously out of favor in the world, out of favor in society, all right? So go to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs 23 verse 13. Proverbs chapter 23, and we're going to spend a lot of time in the book of Proverbs. And the Proverbs is a book of wisdom. The Proverbs is a book of learning. The Proverbs were written by King Solomon, who was one of the wisest men on the earth. And so if we're going to find good wisdom, if we're going to find good instruction for raising our kids, it's definitely going to come from the book of Proverbs, all right? Proverbs chapter 23 verse 13. The Bible says, Withhold not correction from the child. How? For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Verse 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. Wow. Big words. Strong words. Strong words. What is the command to the parents to their child? Hey, if they need correction, the Bible said put him in the naughty corner. It didn't say that, did it? All right? It said beat him with the rod. Now obviously, okay, the word beat is to strike. Obviously we're not talking about child abuse. We're talking about, and remember the word admonish is a gentle word, right? A gentle correction, but still in the Lord's mind, correcting your children with a rod, with an instrument, is part of that admonishment. God sees that as gentle punishment, all right? It's part of raising up your children, and first thing I want you to notice, it says with a rod, with an instrument. That's what the Lord commands, with an instrument, you know? That could be a belt. I know my dad used his belt on me a few times, right? With our kids, we use wooden spoons or, you know, just whatever we find, really. But something we find with wooden spoons, they break quite easily after a few rounds. But, you know, we are commanded to beat. You know, it's obviously not child abuse. Obviously it's not to injure the child. You know, we don't want to break bones or cause any long-term damage, and obviously it needs to be self-controlled. You need to be controlled when you discipline your kids with the rod. Now, there's a false teaching, okay, in a lot of churches, and it's the idea that anger is sinful, that anger is sinful. Now, the Bible says, be ye angry and sin not. So according to the Bible, there is a way to be angry without sinning, and we know that the Lord is angry with the wicked every day, all right? So if anger was a sin, then essentially what we're saying is that God is sinning. Of course not. Anger is an emotion, and God has given us emotions so that we can react to situations, all right? If somebody was mistreating my children, I'd get angry about it, right? If I didn't get angry about it, I'd be like, oh, well, whatever. You know, they can continue to do. God has given us emotions for a reason, and man was created in the image of God, and many of the emotions we have, in fact all the emotions that we have, are also emotions that God has, okay? So when your kids are disobedient, you're going to find yourself, especially if they're not listening to you, you're going to find yourself getting angry. You're going to find yourself getting angry at your child for not listening. Are you sinning? Of course not. God wants you to respond, all right? He wants you to respond and get angry so you can do something about it, and what God wants you to do about it when your children are disobedient is to discipline your child with a rod. All right, now, with anger, you don't want to lose control, okay? You've got to have self-control. You've got to have self-control. If you find yourself getting to a point where you're so angry and you're losing control of your emotions, I would encourage you to take a time out. Go into a bedroom, shut the door, pray to the Lord, and then calm down, and then discipline your child, all right? But it's fine to discipline them out of anger because anger in and of itself is not sinful, okay? It's just if you're out of control, you need to calm down before you strike your child, all right? The next thing I want to say is don't strike with your bare hands. The Bible says use a rod. I'll give you two reasons for it. Have you ever tried to strike your kids with your bare hands? It hurts. Why would you want to hurt your own hand when the Lord says, hey, use the rod of correction? Use the rod of correction. And also what I find with the rod is that it helps with the consistency of the discipline, okay? You can strike a lot easier, okay? It's a lot cleaner. It stings more, okay? If you use something which is a little bit flexible, it stings more like a belt. It stings more instead of having to cause damage or anything like that. And with each strike, you give the same level of pain. It's consistent, okay? It's consistent. And I would also encourage, say, well, where do I strike my child? I would encourage on the bare bottom, all right? On their bottom, it's away from any vital organs. You know, there's plenty of protection to the child, plenty of padding in that area, and, you know, it's a high sensory area. So even with strikes that aren't that hard, it hurts a lot on that area. It's almost like the Lord had that area just for the reason of discipline. Now, I was trying to find somewhere in the Bible that covered this idea of smacking on the bottom. I couldn't really find anything. But, hey, hundreds of years of human history proves this is the way people do it, and it works, okay? It works really well. And, you know, you might ask, say, well, what's the position? Should they be bending down on the knee or standing up? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what position you put your child in. The key thing is that you are using that rod of correction. Using that rod of correction, okay? That is the instruction. That is the command of God. Point number three. Well, that's a question, I guess. Why do we smack our children? Why? Go to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22, verse 15. Proverbs 22, verse 15. I'll just quickly say, it said in Proverbs 23, 13, for correction, right? It said in Proverbs 23, 13, we hold not correction from the child. So it's for correction. And by Proverbs 22, verse 15, it says, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Hey, the second reason why we ought to smack our children is to drive out the foolishness. The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of the child. You know, if you leave your child to do as they wish, without any kind of training, any kind of discipline, the Bible says they're going to end up foolish. Okay, they're going to chase after foolishness. Parents need to step in and drive that foolishness away. Hey, we want to prevent them from making the same mistake again. We discipline them, right, with the hope that they've learned the lesson and they're not going to do it a second time. More often than not, though, they are going to do it probably a second time or a third time. Okay, some children require the discipline more than others to learn the lesson. That's something else I've learned with having children. They don't all learn at the same rate. They don't all react to discipline in the same way. You know, one child might require one smack, right, with a rod, and they've learned the lesson. Another child might need it two or three times before they learn the lesson. All right, so you're going to learn that with multiple children. They all react in different ways, but regardless, it's the same approach that God gives us, using that rod, all right? And then Proverbs 23, sorry, Proverbs 23, verse 14. We already read that. Proverbs 23, verse 14. Remember it said, Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and then there's these amazing words straight after it, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. You know, I used to read this and just not understand what it was about, right? Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Now, is it saying, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Well, get the rod of correction on you, and thou shalt be saved? No, of course not, okay? But there is some type of correlation between disciplining your child with a rod and with them getting saved. There is something, there is some connection there, and I'll tell you what that is, all right? Because a very young child, especially a very young child, okay, lacking understanding, they are not yet ready to understand the gospel, okay? They don't fully understand the gospel, but there is something about the gospel that you can train them, okay? And that is, for the wages of sin is death. That's part of our gospel message, right? The wages of sin is death. Hey, one thing our kids can learn at a very early age is that there is punishment for sin, all right? There is punishment for sin, and so when they do wrong, when they disobey, and they get a little bit of a smack, the first thing they're going to understand is, wow, if I do wrong, disobey, I'm in trouble. There's a consequence. I'm accountable for the actions that I do, all right? And so when they grow up, it's going to happen naturally when they can understand the gospel, and you show them that the punishment for rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord's going to cast them into the lake of fire, that their soul could very well end in hell should they reject the gospel, and they're going to understand that because that's what they've learned as a child. There's punishment for doing wrong, and they would see that God is the same way, that God will punish wrongdoers. I mean, how many times do we go out soul-winning, and people just refuse to think that God will punish them? Just with Matt, we're talking to a lady. It was the last week, and all I had to do was get to hell, and she walked off. She just couldn't process that God would send anyone to hell, all right? She wanted to hear it, but then as soon as hell came up, gone, all right? I would assume she wasn't trained this basic principle as a child, okay? God did not accept the fact that we're accountable for our actions and that there's a punishment for sin, all right? So, you know, as the child grows, they're going to understand a very important concept that is part of the gospel, and I truly believe you apply that, and they're going to be saved at a much earlier age and hopefully preserve their life, not just their life, obviously eternal life, but also on the earth because they have the Holy Ghost living in them, right? Now, the next question that comes up is, at what age should I begin smacking my children, all right? And at what age? You know, the Bible does not give us a specific age. Go to Proverbs chapter 13, Proverbs chapter 13 verse 24. Proverbs chapter 13 verse 24. The Bible says, He that spareth his rod hateth his child, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. That word betimes means early, okay? Early in their life, if you love your child according to the scriptures, then you will chasten him early on. And, you know, I'll just give you my experience. We've started disciplining our kids pretty much around six months old. That's really early. How's that possible? Well, obviously, the kind of punishment you give them would need to be appropriate to their age, okay? But at six months old, think about a little baby, right? Babies not knowing much. All they know is eat and, you know, nappy change and that's all. But there comes a point in time when the child starts to get fidgety and you need to change that diaper, that nappy, right? And then the kids start to explore. You know, the kids, they want to put their hands down there, right? And, like, you're trying to clean them and they're trying to put their hands down there, you know, and get all messy and you need to tell them at that point, no. Look, they're going to learn. I've already experienced this. At six months old, they already know. When you say no and you give them a light tap, okay, they're little. You're not going to use a rod, you know, at really that age. But just start getting that process going on. You give them that light tap, something appropriate for them, which is, oh, wow, what was that, right? Then they will, look, trust me, it happens. After five or six times, they're no longer putting all their hands down there. They've learned their lesson. Even at that age, all right? And, you know, I've heard people say, well, you know, I'll just wait for the terrible twos. You know, when my kids get to the terrible twos, that's when I'm going to start to discipline them. Why? Why wait till they go for the terrible twos? You can prevent the terrible twos, all right? You can prevent it as long as you start disciplining them before that time, all right? So, at what age? Hey, really early. Kids, even at six months old, know what's going wrong. All right? And there's not really a lot for them to really figure out. I mean, but they get it. They get it, all right? Now, after you smack your child, this is just as important as smacking your children. What you do after you smack your children, after you discipline them, all right? Now, if you've done it properly, okay, and you haven't just given them a light tap, if you've done it properly and there's been a bit of pain, there's been a little bit of tears, all right? If you've done it properly, then your child will be upset, not upset that they got smacked, but they should be upset that they did wrong, okay? They should be upset about what they did, how they misbehaved. And this is the perfect time. Once they accept what they've done and they've taken the punishment, this is the perfect time as parents to teach them to apologise, to say sorry, to ask for forgiveness, all right? And, you know, after we discipline the kids, look, it takes five seconds. It's done. Next thing, say sorry, you know, and they ask for forgiveness and I forgive them, say sorry. If they've done wrong to someone else, then tell them, hey, you've got to go to, you know, your sibling or you've got to go to mum and say sorry to them, okay? Teach them to apologise. You know, one of the hardest things in our society is for people to just admit mistakes and apologise and say sorry. You know, I grew up as a child. When I did wrong and I did something, you know, I misspoke to my dad or talked back to my dad, you know, and even after getting disciplined, I was really stubborn. I was really hard-headed and I'd just have a hard time saying sorry. It was super hard. I just didn't want to say it. I didn't want to admit it, you know? And then, but the problem with that is you just keep dwelling on it. You start growing bitter and if you just say sorry, it's over, all right? And I learnt this in life. I've learnt that, hey, saying sorry is so easy. And usually when you say sorry to someone, just in general, just in life, I'm not even talking about just children, just as adults, when you say sorry to someone, they're usually very quick to just forgive you. Say, oh, cool. You know, it's awesome that you recognise you've done wrong. It's all good now. It's all, you know, and then life is easier. What I found in life is just easier to admit you're wrong and say sorry than holding back and being stubborn and rebellious and, you know, even in the workplace, you know, in the workplace, I'm thinking, oh, man, if I admit to this mistake, I might get in trouble. But then when I say sorry, it's like they appreciate the honesty, all right? They appreciate the honesty. It makes life a lot easier. And it's the same thing as a child. If you teach them how to say sorry, it just makes life a lot easier. You forgive them. You move on. It's finished, all right? The other option, if you get from the super nanny, is to put them time out for five minutes, all right? And they're still stubborn. They're still frustrated. They're still hard-headed. And you're there for five minutes. And what I've seen in those shows like the super nanny, they put the child there. Ten seconds later, the child runs away. They're like, okay, get the child again. They're doing it for half an hour, doing it for an hour, trying to get that child to sit there still for five minutes, all right? Instead, you can just do the smack, sorry, forgive you. It's over. It's done, okay? It doesn't have to be something stressful for your day or for your family, all right? And forgive and forget. Once you've disciplined them, and look, I'm not the best at this sometimes, but once you've disciplined them and you forgive them, forget it. Move on. Don't bring it up again. Don't bring it up again. Your child needs to know they've been forgiven, all right? And if they do the same thing again a second time on the same day, don't bring it up that they did it the first time. It's already been forgiven. It's already been dealt with. Just carry on and do the discipline again, all right? And just deal with that one situation. You know, God says in Isaiah 43 verse 25, you don't need to turn there. He says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. Wow. How would you like that? God says, look, once I blot out your transgressions, I'm not even going to remember them anymore. I've forgotten all about it, all right? And you have just a clean slate with the Lord. I mean, how awesome is that? That's how the Lord operates, okay? That's how we ought to be with our kids. If they've done wrong, I will discipline them, forgiveness, apologize, dealt with, let's move on. Let's not bring it up again, all right? And then look at Proverbs chapter 13 verse 24. Proverbs chapter 13 verse 24. Oh, wait, we already read it, right? But it said, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son. Look, I do not believe that as parents that we hate our children, all right? I don't think you would really say to me, you know, Pastor Kevin, I hate my kids. But you know what? If you hold back the rod of correction, you are saying you hate your kids. According to God, okay? According to God, and then it says, but hear that love of him, chasteneth him, be times. Chastisement, discipline is an act of love. It's an act of love. You're raising your children to be good, obedient children, and they can learn from their mistakes. That is an act of love. And when the Lord God chastises us, it is also an act of love toward us, okay? He wants us to improve. He wants us to be more godly. He wants us to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ, all right? And sometimes, you know, when things have gone a bit hard with discipline, I sometimes tell the kids, you know, when I discipline you, is it because I hate you or is it because I love you? And so far, every time I've said it's because you love me, all right? So at least, you know, my kids recognize this. They recognize, even though they don't want to go through it, even though they might, you know, be fighting a bit against it, they know mom and dad are doing it because they love me, not because they hate me, all right? Now, just onto the last thing here. Is there ever a time not to smack? Do you think there's ever a time where you shouldn't, like your kids have done something wrong and you really shouldn't smack them? I've come up with a couple of reasons. I've come up with two possible exceptions to this. First of all, I think, just as a general rule of thumb, you should always apply the rod of correction, you know, as a general rule of thumb. But there's two exceptions to this that I've thought about just through my experience. The first one is when the parents have caused them to misbehave. I mean, parents can cause children to misbehave, all right? Maybe you didn't make the rules clear. Maybe mom said no and then dad said yes. So there's a lack of consistency and the kids don't know what to follow. Maybe they followed your bad example, all right? We already said parents ought to be a good example. Hey, if you told them not to do something and they've done it but it's because you've done it, it's probably a good time not to smack them and smack yourself, all right? Correct yourself so your kids can learn, all right? And, you know, if so, if you've done wrong, you know, if you've done wrong and you've caused your kids to do wrong, you should tell your kids, I did wrong. You know, you should tell your kids, I was wrong, I made the mistake. And I've done that a few times with my kids. You know, I've done it a few times where I've realised they've messed up because I've done something wrong. Or I've given bad instructions or something. And then I've gone and apologised to my children and said, well, you know, dad failed, you know. But don't use this as an excuse to never discipline, okay? Don't use it as an excuse to never discipline. This is a good chance for you to examine yourself and make appropriate changes in your own life, okay? If you recognise, wow, my kids misbehaved because of me, all right? So that's one exception when you probably shouldn't smack them but still you should explain to them what was wrong and that you yourself, you need to fix that, all right? The second one is to purposely teach your children mercy, okay? Because we serve a merciful God. And we, as believers, thank God, we're not receiving what we should receive. That is hell, okay? God in His mercy stepped in, He sent His only begotten Son to take on our sins, to take on the sins of the whole world and showed us His great love and His great mercy, all right? And we can go free. I mean, look, God is a merciful God. I'll just read to you one of my favourite passages in Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22 and 23. He says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, all right? Why does God not just step in and destroy us and consume us? Because of His mercies, the Bible says. Because His compassion fails not. Verse 23, they are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. One of my favourite passages. Because when I sin and I know I've done wrong and I've done the same thing that I've done before, I just remind myself His mercies, His faithfulness, His grace is new every morning. Thank God it's new every morning. I can go every day and confess my sins to the Lord and be made right with Him. So I would say to you, and look, I don't really have a when you should give mercy. I just say, look, it will come down to your parental instincts. You know, there's been times when my kids have done wrong and they just knowingly have admitted to it, just knowingly, I messed up, why do I do that? And they've come and admitted that to me. That's been a time where I've probably been a little bit merciful, you know, because at least they recognise it. They're not trying to hide that from us. But you know what? It should be rare occasions. It should be rare occasions. It shouldn't be the norm. Because if you're always merciful, then they're going to get used to just getting away with things. They're just going to think this is the way it is and I got away with it. They're not going to appreciate the mercy. They're just going to be like, yeah, I got away with it once again. You know, the mercy should be something rare. Just that happens once in a while and you tell them, I'm going soft on you this time. I'm showing you some mercy. Hey, and give them the gospel there. Show them how our Lord God has given us mercy. Now, I'm almost done here. I just want to touch upon the laws of Australia. Because I believe most Australians think it's illegal to smack your children. In fact, again, we get a lot of compliments with our kids. And sometimes we get asked questions like, you know, how are your kids so good? And I'll be like, because I smack them. Because when they do wrong, they get smacked and then we teach them. And some of the reactions I've gotten over that. And it's weird because they recognise that it works. They're the ones that are doing the compliments. But when you tell them why, that's when they get all angry and all, you know. And I've had people in my workplace say, I'm going to report you to DOCS. Are they still called DOCS? Department of Child Services? New South Wales. What is in Queensland? I don't know. Anyway, it's where the government sends in their agents and check out your house and make sure everything's in order. And the concern there is they could take away your children. And I know some Christian families that are afraid to smack their kids because they think, oh, someone's going to report them and people take away their kids. But look, it's actually legal in Australia. I know it's illegal in New Zealand. I know it's illegal in some places in South America and Europe. But hey, thank God, in Australia, it's still legal. Let me just read to you from – I didn't write down the act. Anyway, I'll just read it to you. If you want the information, I can give it on to you. But it's called the Defence of Lawful Correction. So there's a government act that gives us defence for lawful correction. Now let me just read two points to you here. It says, in criminal proceedings brought forth against a person arising out of the application of physical force to a child, it is a defence that the force was applied for the purpose of the punishment of the child but only if, A, the physical force was applied by the parents of the child or by a person acting for a parent of the child. So maybe a guardian or something or a grandparent if they're looking after that child. And then, B, the application of that physical force was reasonable having regard to the age, health and maturity or other characteristics of the child, the nature of the alleged misbehaviour or other circumstances. So you can say, hey, disciplining your kids with physical force is defended in our nation, okay, still defended. Let me read to you point number two here. It says the application of physical force, unless the force could reasonably be considered trivial or negligible in all the circumstances, is not reasonable if the force is applied, A, to any part of the head or neck of the child. So if you discipline them on the head or the neck, then you can get in trouble. But if you're doing that, you're just stupid. I mean, why would you be smacking your kids across the neck? I mean, you can cause damage in this area. I said use the bottom, all right? That's where the padding is. And then, B, to any other part of the body of the child in such a way as to be likely to cause harm to the child that lasts for more than a short period. Hey, you know, disciplining your child on the bottom is a bit of a pain. There might be some slight bruising, but it's a short period of time. It's not something that you'd have to take them to hospital of or anything like that, okay? And so I just want to reinforce to you guys, hey, the laws of our nation still are in favour of the word of God. All right? Praise God. I'd understand if you were in a nation where it was illegal. Yeah, I understand the fear, but even if it was illegal in Australia, it's legal in God's word. At the end of the day, it's God's word that is higher above any law of the land. All right? And I will say this. Let me just cover one more topic. When your kids misbehave in public, all right? When your kids misbehave in public... Now, parents, you decide if you want to discipline them. You can. You can discipline them in public if you like. You know, it's lawful in Australia. But what we do is we wait to get home, and then we discipline them at home. All right? And I'll tell you two reasons for that. You know, we started with a verse that said, you fathers provoke not your children to wrath. Now, if I discipline my children in public, in the eyes of everybody else, it's going to be very embarrassing for them. All right? Just the way it is, right? Hold it against us that we've done that. But then the question is, well, how do you stop them from misbehaving in public then? If they feel like they're going to get away with it. Well, when we get home, the punishment is even worse than it was if you would have just been at home. Okay? So that's how we deal with it. Okay? We say, hey, we're not going to do it in public. We don't want to embarrass our kids. Okay? But hey, they've got to be obedient in public. Otherwise, the punishment is worse than it was just at home. So there are just some pointers. Look, we could have covered a lot of things, but I just want to make sure. I'll just read it again. Ephesians 6, 4. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You need both these things. Child rearing, guys, is simple. Okay? But it requires hard work. It requires mums and dads to say, hey, we want to make sure we raise a godly generation. We want a godly seed. We want the Lord to look down and be pleased with our children. I'm sure that's the hearts of every parent here tonight. Alright, let's pray.