Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 29. Proverbs 29. This blessed book is the book
of wisdom. And our passage today, Proverbs
29, 15, deals with, and I've entitled this message, giving
a child wisdom. How wisdom is bestowed. Now the scripture
says, the rod, and that word there means a staff. It means
a staff, that which smites. The rod and reproof that which
corrects or rebukes, give or produces wisdom, prudence,
understanding. But a child left to himself bringeth
his mother to shame. A child, one needing discipline,
one needing wisdom, one needing reproof, fails to get fails to
receive it, bringeth his mother to disappointment. Disappoints
his mother. Now, correction. Correction of children is something
that is dealt with often in the scripture, especially in the
Proverbs. And therefore, the Spirit of
God has made it crystal clear. necessity of correction. We need correction. Now, now I know when it comes
to disciplining a child, there's no higher authority than the
word of God. It's not, it's not, you know,
laws made of men and stuff like that. It's God's word, God's,
God's law. And the scripture is explicit
when it comes to dealing with this issue of discipline. And you know, especially believing
parents, all parents ought to, but believing parents, they hunger
to know what does God have to say about this issue, about discipline. Now listen to what Proverbs 22,
15 declares concerning this subject. Foolishness, silliness, silliness,
is bound in the heart of a child. It's there. But the rod of correction
shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 13, 24 declares this. He that spareth his rod hateth
his son. But he that loveth him chasteneth
him betimes. So that means he does it quickly. Correcting a child and correcting
a child when it is needful is scriptural. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
8.11. Ecclesiastes 8.11. If you want to know when a child
should be disciplined, Ecclesiastes 8.11, because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Loving, consistent, timely, promptly,
firmness, with control of spirit. That is the way that discipline
for our children is supposed to be set forth. And whenever
a child is disciplined, and disciplined correctly, lovingly, I'm not
talking about abuse. But when they're given wisdom
to know the benefit of that correction, they're thankful. David said
in Psalm 119, 71, it's good for me. It's good for me that I've
been disciplined, corrected. It's good for me that I've been
taught I told you, Gabe was 18 years old. He may have been older
than that. I don't know how old he was.
But I remember him telling me one time, he said, Dad, the best
thing you ever did for me is with me. And I said, well, I
knew that. It was hard, but I knew it. And
that's right. We need discipline. Children need discipline. Now,
the natural meaning of this truth, of this issue of discipline and
the importance of discipline, correcting a child, that is essential. I've heard people say, I love
my child too much to spank them. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're
wrong. You know what the scripture says
concerning that? You don't love them. No, I love them too much. No, no, you don't. No, you're
going to you're going to that that child needs correction. But without the setting forth,
the naturalist is essential, but without the setting forth
of the eternal. That which is eternally profitable. Of children, all of us, we're
all children, we all were born into this world. that need of
being disciplined and taught, corrected for God's glory and
for our eternal good. If we didn't know about that,
where would be the glorious good news of the gospel? This issue of earthly correction
is right. But I want to hear what God has
to say about disciplining His children. The profit of being disciplined. For me, eternally. Because Almighty
God has set forth also in His scripture the horror of being
without it. Now we know this. Almighty God corrects his children. God's
got a people. He's got a an elect. They're his kids. They're my
sons. Sons of god. They're adopted. Adopted into his family. In eternal
electing grace. Adopted. And they're his kids.
Now, you parents, you corrected your My kids would tell me sometimes,
with so-and-so down the street, they let their children, I said,
I don't care about that. You're mine. And I said, you
can't. I don't correct them, I correct
you. God's gonna correct his children. And Hebrews 12, six
says this. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. The Lord
corrects, the Lord disciplines, the Lord teaches, and he does
so by trial, affliction, tribulation. Everyone that he loves, he corrects. He loves those that he's chosen
in Christ Jesus, and he's going to teach them. Let's behold how
our verse sets forth the glorious blessing of being spiritually
corrected. Because I said also at the end
of this verse, it sets forth the great disappointment to be
without correction. You children, you who are growing
up right now, be thankful your parents corrected you, be thankful
for that. Let me tell you what you're gonna
do. By the grace of God, you're gonna grow up, and if you have
kids, you're gonna do the same thing. And they'll be thankful. All right, our passage says,
Proverbs 29, 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child
left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Now, you already
know that that word rod there, it means a staff or that which
smites, it sets forth that which is the authority, the rule, the
correction, the instrument by which we're corrected. Spiritually
speaking, what is the rod of authority or the rod of God's
correction? What is his rod? I tell you what
it is. It's none other than the authority
that's set forth in the law of God. This is God's rod. This sets forth the authority. Almighty God has set forth in
His unwavering law that which He requires for righteousness
before Him. This is the standard. This is the rod of correction. This is what it's going to take
to please me. This law, it requires one thing
for righteousness before God. Absolutely one thing. Perfect compliance. When your children were growing
up, what did you demand? Obedience. Obedience. I told you before. I really tried
to not spank my kids. I really did. If it was a mistake,
even though it might have been a foolish mistake, it was a mistake. It was an accident. Okay, it
aggravated me, but I would try my best. You had to see my kids
growing up, but I tried my best. But if it was disobedience, if
I told them, this is what I want you to do or don't want you to
do, And they did it anyway. I had to spank them. I had to. Because of disobedience. This is the rod. This is the
rod. This is the authority. This is
the standard. God's law. Unwavering. And if it's not obeyed perfectly, I have no righteousness before
God. It must be. There's absolutely no hope of
acceptance with God without the perfect obedience of the law. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ
came in, turn with me to Matthew 5. Matthew chapter 5, when he
came into this world, this was his declaration. concerning the
law of God, Matthew 5. This is the demand to us. And he came into this world as
our representative. And so this was his attitude
toward the law, Matthew 5, 17 and 18. Think not that I'm come
to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to
fulfill. Or verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Now how strict is
God concerning his law, his standard, his rod? How strict is it? No deviation. in word, in thought,
in deed, none, none. Well, where's there any hope
for me? I have, I have. If God demands
of me absolute perfection, absolute, here's the rod. God's law. Well, our passage
back in Proverbs 29, 15 says this, Now listen to this, and reproof
give wisdom. I know what the rod is. That's
God's law. But the scripture sets forth
as two things that give wisdom. Now this is wisdom right here.
The rod, the law, and reproof. That rod of correction. But here's
the reproof. That reproof that that tells me something about
myself, corrects me on something, I can't keep it. There's the
reproof. See, man by nature thinks he
can. Now, we're brought into this
world dead in trespasses and sins, and here's what we're thinking.
We're thinking just exactly the way Paul the Apostle thought,
or how he admitted that he once thought, before the Lord is pleased
to call him out of darkness. He said in Philippians 3.6, he
said, this was all of my righteousness before God, touching the righteousness
which is in the law. He said, I was blameless. I had no infractions whatsoever. I was blameless. Now you know
that's a high order. You were blameless, blameless. Born the right day, circumcised
the right day, right parents, right tribe. Blameless. But let me tell you
what wisdom is. Wisdom is being taught. Here's
the rod. Here's the correction right here. Here's the standard. Here's the
rod. The law of God. But here's the
reproof, the instruction. You can't keep it. Now that's
wisdom. Because man by nature thinks
that he can. Here's understanding. Here's
correction rendered to one that's taught. Now listen to this. This
is understanding. And if you understand this verse
of scripture right here, now here's some wisdom that's been
given you. Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. Now I said if you understand
that, that's wisdom. Because naturally speaking, man
by nature thinks he can do that. Well, then what's it gonna take?
Okay, here's what it's gonna take. For me to be righteous
before God, God, as a man, is going to have to come into this
world, God, and he's gonna have to, as a man, bear for me every
infraction against his law that I've committed, and I don't know
how much I've committed against, I've broken every one of them.
I've never obeyed one of them. I can tell you that. He's gonna
have to take all of my infractions. And he's gonna have to bear all
those infractions in his own body. And he, God as a man, is
gonna have to present himself before God bearing all of my
infraction. What that law demanded. It's
taught me that I can't keep it. He's gonna have to bear all of
it before God Almighty and God's law, and he's going to have to
bear and accept the penalty because God will in no wise clear the
guilty. He's not gonna sweep it under
the rug. He's gonna have to pay the debt.
That debt's gonna have, Somebody is going to get the whipping. Somebody's gonna get the whipping.
The law demands it. And I can't obey it and live. If I bear that whipping, God
is gonna put me in hell. If I have to bear it myself,
I cannot bear it myself. I can't obey it. and I cannot bear the whipping
and live. He's going to have to bear it
for me. He's going to have to pay that debt for me. But also God in man, as man,
he's going to have to walk before that law. He's going to have
to suffer the penalty of its justice, but he's going to have
to walk before that law and as a man, A man is going to have
to obey God perfectly. He's going to have to earn as
a man righteousness that God accepts as a man. The man Christ
Jesus alone can do that. He's going to have to earn righteousness,
pay my debt, earn righteousness, and then in time, His Holy Spirit
is going to have to cross my path and teach me this, right
here. He's going to have to teach me
God's standard of righteousness. Man by nature doesn't even know
what the standard is. He just thinks, I can just say
a few words. What were those words again? Well, Jesus, thank you. Come
into my heart, come into my heart and save me. You're saved. That's what man says. I've heard
him on TV too many times. This is all you gotta do, just
say these words. Where's justice? Where's righteousness
fulfilled? Where is that? God's law is a
rod. I can't say, but he must. He
must cross my path. He must remove this rebellious
heart of stone and give me a new heart. He must make a new man.
He's gonna have to create a new man, created in righteousness
and holiness, and gonna teach me, he's gonna give me faith
to believe him. The rod and reproof give wisdom.
The wisdom to know that salvation is all of grace without any work
on my part. But this last part right here.
But the child, but a child left to himself bringeth
his mother to shame. Now that last part of that is
a revelation of God's spirit that was beautifully set forth
at first in the garden. I want you to turn back to Genesis
3.20 Genesis 3.20 God had created Adam, put him in a perfect environment,
put him in a garden, took a rib out of his side and
made a woman. And scripture says in verse 20,
Genesis 320, Adam called his wife named Eve because she was
the mother of all living. Now, this thing, the wonder of
this precious thing, of a mother, Adam was moved to name his wife
Eve because she was the mother. Same word as in Proverbs. I looked
it up. Same word. Of all living. God Almighty was pleased to send
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. Scripture says he was made of
a woman, made under the law. A mother would be the vessel
through which all mankind enters this life, a mother. The Messiah
himself came into this world through the vessel of a woman,
a mother. The angel, turn to Luke 128. The angel Gabriel, Luke 128,
declared something to a woman that was blessed of God, Luke
128. He said, the angel came in unto
her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. Margin says, graciously accepted,
the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. The scripture declares that a
woman was the vessel, a mother was the vessel through which.
And our passage in Proverbs says something about a mother that has a child left to himself.
It bringeth his mother to shame. Now here's the heart of what's
said. This world was blessed to have
the Messiah enter into it, into this world through a mother.
But the scripture reveals the shame that's found because of
a child left to himself. One who enters this world in
the same way that the Messiah was born. We all came in the
way the Messiah was born. He came in through natural childbirth. That's how he came in. That was
the blessing of God. What a blessing to realize. God
would send his Son, his Messiah, his Lamb, born of a woman. But
a child that's born, into this world, naturally speaking, that's
left to himself is a disappointment. It's a disappointment
to the way in which God chose to send his own son into this
world. That's what it's saying. It's
a disappointment to the means. God chose the means of a mother.
But a child left to himself, left to his rebellion and his
wrathfulness against God, he brings disgrace to the very means
chosen of God to bless this world with the Messiah. I pray that
God be merciful and have mercy upon us. What a blessing that
Almighty God to bless by giving us his precious son. Show us
how he did it. Teach us. Correct us. And show us the blessing of having
Christ in this world. But oh, what a disappointment. I thank God that he would show
mercy to some of us. That we would, by the grace of
God, give honor, show honor, unto the means by which the Lord
was sent. May the Lord bless us all for
Christ's sake. Amen. All right. Let's take a moment's
break.