In his sermon, 'National Prosperity Requires Discipline,' Peter Allison discusses the critical role of discipline in both family and national contexts, using Proverbs 29 as a foundation. He emphasizes that both the rod and reproof are essential tools of biblical discipline, necessary for imparting wisdom. By addressing the repetition of Proverbs, he highlights that these lessons are applicable to individuals, families, and societies alike. Allison argues that discipline within families directly impacts the moral fabric of a nation, leading to either prosperity or a multiplication of wickedness. He critiques modern reluctance to accept biblical discipline, stating that the absence of it leads to societal chaos, unrestrained behavior, and injustice. The sermon further explains that the Word of God is the ultimate source of wisdom and righteousness, and it must be at the core of both correction and national governance. He concludes by underscoring the importance of scriptural teachings in maintaining societal order, warning against the consequences of ignoring divine revelation.

Please turn to Proverbs 29. I'd like to read beginning at verse 15. The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. When the wicked or multiplied transgression increases, but the righteous will see their fall. Correct your Son and He will give you rest.

Yes, He will give delight to your soul. Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. But happy is He who keeps the law. A servant will not be corrected by mere words, for though he understands, he will not respond. Do you see a man hasty in his words?

There is more hope for a fool than for him. He who pampers his servant from childhood will have him as a son in the end. An angry man stirs up strife and a furious man abounds in transgression. May our soul keep these, his testimonies, and love them exceedingly. Heavenly Father, Your word, you have said, endures forever.

Your word is truth. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips this morning, that you would preserve me from error, and that you would open the ears of our understanding and of our heart. We might behold a new, this your word, and that you would, Lord, speak to us this morning through it and that you would equip us to keep and to do as as your word instructs us in Jesus name amen. In Jesus' name, Amen. We've been looking now at this last section of the book of Proverbs.

You remember this is the second section of Proverbs where Solomon's Proverbs have been collected and arranged by Hezekiah. There are a lot of similarities between these Proverbs and Proverbs that we've heard before. In some ways they sound identical and sometimes the verses are identical and there there may be a number of reasons for that one of which might be that we just need to hear more than once. Some people that specialize in these sorts of things have said we need to hear something seven times before we get it. And it becomes a part of our understanding.

And so that may certainly be one reason why these Proverbs are repeated, but we've also seen another aspect and reason why these are repeated, and that is there is a different application of them. So in the earlier part of the book it was focusing on individuals, families, sons, speaking to sons. But we see in this section of Proverbs much more frequent talk about kings, about rulers, about cultures, society. And so one way to understand this repetition is to see that In this second section, particularly in these last couple chapters, Solomon is particularly addressing societies, addressing kings, and pointing out Some of the same things are true of societies as are true of our families things with respect to discipline the necessity of Good discipline we know that it's And so in this section that we've read, we see this jumping back and forth between training children, Rod and Rebuke, and cultures, peoples, talking and cultures, peoples, talking about people, and the ascendancy of transgression, of wickedness, of lawlessness in a culture, and so on. And so I think the I've titled this section National Prosperity Requires Discipline.

National Prosperity requires discipline. I believe that the focus here is to show us and to teach us that these same principles that are so necessary for life and godliness in us as individuals are also necessary in the life of a country, in a culture. So the first verse there, verse 15, gives us the necessary tools of biblical discipline. The necessary tools of biblical discipline. Two of them.

There are two necessary tools. The rod and reproof. They're both necessary. One without the other is like trying to clap with one hand. You ever try and clap with one hand?

You just can't do it, can you? It's useless. It doesn't work. And so it's the rod and reproof or rebuke that give wisdom. Both are required.

There are a lot of studies out there by all sorts of people proving that the rod doesn't work. Yet the rod only produces angry children who grow up and produce another generation of angry children. Well, The problem with these studies is that they forget the other hand. Yes, if the rod by itself doesn't work. It's like one hand trying to clap.

Nothing happens. There's no applause. There's no applause. It's the rod and reproof that bring wisdom. The rod and reproof.

The rod and reproof. It's like the people that point to angry children or abusive angry parents producing angry children. By the way, that's why children are angry. It's not the rod that makes them angry. It's the angry parent using the rod.

It's like guns, right? People want to say, want to get rid of guns because, well, they kill people. Well, no, right? You're familiar with all the rhetoric that flies around. No, it's not guns that kill people.

It's people using them that kill people. And so this anger, and there is anger, and there is misuse of angry parents using the rod inappropriately to do what's wrong and evil. But it's not the rod itself that's the evil, It's the sinful parent using that rod in a sinful way that's the sin. And so the solution, just like with violence from guns, is not to get rid of the guns, it's to deal with the source of the sin, of the violence, which is a sinful person using a gun, or in this case, a sinful person using the rod. This is one of those texts that is very unpopular today, even among many Christian circles.

And people respond in various ways. Some people seek to try to say that maybe this is outdated. Some people try to say the Bible isn't saying what you think it's saying. And some people are willing to just say, well, the Bible is just wrong about this. But whatever method people are taking, it is denying or even being ashamed of what the Word of God says.

The Word of God says that the rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Okay, so the rod, there are two things that are necessary, the rod and reproof. So the purpose, what's the purpose of each? The purpose of a rod is to prepare the soil of the heart to receive instruction. It's to prepare the soil of the heart to receive instruction.

It's like plowing a field. If you try to plant seed in a field that is hard and and compacted, the seed just sits on the ground and it gets eaten by birds carried away by worms or and never produces any fruit. You have to the soil has to be prepared for the seed to be planted and the rod is is an instrument of preparing a rod is what is what prepares a stubborn child. It brings humility. And it prepares them to listen to what you have to say.

So you can see that if the rod is simply plowing a field, if you plow a field and plow a field and plow a field and never plant, you don't get any fruit either. Some people who simply depend on a rod wonder why it didn't work. Well where was the word of God? Where was the seed being planted? So the purpose of the rod is to prepare a hardened heart.

Now we know that only the Holy Spirit can soften a heart. And so we can't think that we can do this in the flesh. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It it it's not the physical rod and the physical words. It these are the means that god has ordained through which his holy spirit works And so we certainly need to remember to pray that the Lord would bless these means that he is ordained and not seek to use these means in the power of our flesh.

So the second necessary element is this reproof. A reproof. The rod and rebuke or reproof bring wisdom. That means we must bring the word of God. We must bring the word of God.

Our reproof must bring the word of God. Because the Word of God is what is profitable for reproof. Remember Paul told Timothy that from the scriptures he had, from his childhood he had known the scriptures. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. All scripture is breathed out by God and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

The man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So our proof that must accompany this rod must first of all be, bring to them the word of God. It must be the words of God. The word of God is the only thing that can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Paul's Hebrew says that the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It's the Word of God that the Holy Spirit will use to bring wisdom. It's the Word of God that can reach down into the very thoughts and intents of those that we are seeking to train to bring those wrong thoughts and wrong intents into the light. And so if we are going to bring wisdom, we must, our reproofs must have the Word of God. It is the Word of God that is able to make our children wise unto salvation. It's not our words.

It's not all of our fine rhetoric that can maybe answer our children in the moment and make them look foolish and us look smart. That's not what makes them wise unto salvation. It is the Word of God. And you know, sometimes it's easy to give smart answers to children and sometimes, sometimes that may, there may be a place for that. But it is reproof that is according to the word of God.

That is what is able to make them wise into salvation because it is the scriptures that bring that wisdom. So first of all then this reproof must bring the word of God. It must bring the word of God to those whom we are seeking to correct. We need to identify also then the applicable word of God that applies to the conduct being reproved. In other words, we need to bring the wisdom of God's Word and not our own wisdom.

If we can't show from the scriptures what we are saying, then we need to be, then we need to think twice about what we are saying. We should be able to demonstrate to our children that what we are saying to them is what the word of God says to them. And thirdly, a biblical reproof will use the scriptural name for the sin that is being addressed and not euphemisms that tend to downplay or to minimize the sinfulness of sin. Use the biblical words for the conduct that is being addressed. When we don't do that, then it's very easy to miss what the Bible says about the particular sin that's being addressed.

But when we use the biblical word, when we describe it the way the Bible describes it, then all of the scriptures that begin to speak to that sin Can come to our mind and can be utilized So it's a it's a rod and the rebuke that give wisdom. And there is a great personal blessing in faithful family discipline. Verse 17, correct your son and he will give you rest. Yes, he will give delight to your souls. Rest and delight.

It also, the Rod and Rebuke, also give wisdom. Give wisdom. So as a parent, as you engage in this process of raising your children, Some people think of it as a long time. And it can seem like the work never ends when the children are young. And you have a number of children.

There's always something to cook. There's always something to clean, something to wash. There is always a squabble that needs mediated. There is always something that is needing our attention. Where is the rest in that?

Well, the Bible says that that comes through faithful correction. The rod and the rebuke. They give wisdom, but they are the means to resting. When that is done, then rest will come to you. As you complete that process and as they grow up and fear the Lord, you will have rest and they will be a delight to you.

Whereas the child that is left to himself brings brings shame to their mother. Brings shame to their mother. You notice the consequence of failing this to bring discipline, failing to have exercise faithful family discipline is that children bring shame to their mother. It's a child that is left to himself. In other words, it's not about all the bad, keeping them from all the bad influences.

It doesn't say if you keep your child from every bad influence, then they'll bring rest to you. Then they won't bring shame. It's not what it says. Now that may be useful and necessary, but that's not what this says. It says that a child left to himself brings shame.

A child who is ignored. A child who is not reproved, who is not corrected with the rod. You see, the reason is our children are born in sin, and they don't need any outside influences to grow up to be wicked. All they need is to be left to themselves and not taught and not disciplined and not ever reproved. That was God's rebuke to Eli.

He didn't restrain his sons. He may have spoken to them, but he didn't restrain them. He never brought correction. They were just left to themselves and they grew up to be exceedingly wicked, so wicked that God destroyed that entire family, that line from ever being priests. Now here's the other aspect of this.

And this is why I think this next verse is sandwiched in between these two verses that appear to be talking about training children. And that is that one of the consequences of faithful family discipline is that you have a nation of wicked people. And you see this, all of a sudden you begin to see why where this phrase came from that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world because that faithful family discipline has an impact a direct impact on what happens in a nation. And when there is not a rod and rebuke and correction of children, then the result is the wicked are multiplied and transgression increases. The failure of parents to bring the Word of God in reproof and instruction and training in righteousness and the rod, That failure results in a nation of wicked people.

People who have no self-government. And you can never put enough policemen on enough corners to restrain people that have not been trained. You can never pass enough laws to restrain people who as children were not restrained and corrected. There was a juvenile, a detective on the Cuyahoga police force that's Cleveland, Ohio area. And he wrote a book called No Fear, because What he realized is that all the problems that he was responding to as a policeman, violence of all sorts, crimes and so on, they were being caused by people who had been raised without the rod and without reproof.

And as a result, they had no fear. They had no fear of the consequences of their actions. They had no fear of the law. They had no fear of God. They had no fear of their parents.

They were unrestrained. And so this says then, the direct consequence To you parents is a nation of wicked people. It results in unjust judges, prosecutors that are unjust. If you've watched this trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, The prosecutor is absolutely evil. He's wicked and completely unjust.

Why? I would be almost certain that he was somebody who grew up without the rod and without reproof. And he goes into a courtroom and he has no respect for the law of the land. No respect for the Constitution. No respect even for the judge who seems to be a better judge.

And here's a person who yes he is yes he isn't is a sinner like all of us but he's been diligent he's been a police cadet he's learned first aid skills He's learned how to handle a weapon. He's learned how to help. And here, when the police have stood down in a city and are refusing to protect the property of the people they've sworn to protect. This young man takes his weapon and goes up and is helping people. He's rendering first aid.

He's protecting property. He's taking graffiti off walls. He's using the skills that he's been diligent to get, and he's attacked, and he's in fear of his life, and he shoots in self-defense, and he's indicted for murder. You know, What was grievous, we expect that from wicked district attorneys. We expect the wicked media who speak lies to cover up and to twist and distort everything that's said.

And they can do it without saying anything that's incorrect. Most of the time. In this case, they've even stepped over that line. Most of the time, what they say is entirely correct, but it's completely false and gives you the wrong story. But in this case, they're actually lying about it and completely covering up the evidence.

But what's most grievous, we expect that from the wicked, but what's most grievous in this whole process is the people who are for this young man but who say well he was terrible judgment for him to have gone there why because this could have happened why because with somebody that young shouldn't handle a gun that's what's most tragic to me This is a young man who was doing exactly the right thing. Who these parents have raised, a righteous young man. Who exercised great judgment. When the police aren't doing their duty, he stepped up. He wasn't just defending his own home, he was willing to go and defend other people's home.

This young man ought to be a hero of the highest sort. Everything what he was doing there was right. His intentions were right. But when there is not a rod and rebuke, when we don't train our children in wisdom, the wicked are multiplied and transgressions increase, even into the courts, so now there's no justice. See, fathers and mothers, you really do have a very significant effect upon our culture.

Very significant. What you do in obscurity, in your homes, that nobody sees, but you and some little ones is very important. It's very important for the health and the prosperity of our nation. Now verse 18 give to us the consequences of abandoning the national consequences of abandoning the scripture. What happens when a nation abandons the scripture?

This is one of those popular verses that's often quoted, and I think even preached out of context. It's often quoted as, where there is no vision, the people perish. That's how the King James translates it. And so the point becomes if there's no goal moving people forward, uniting them, then people and institutions will tend to wander aimlessly into oblivion. And that makes for a great motivational talk, and there's an element of truth in that, but that's not what this verse is talking about.

This verse is speaking about where the Scriptures don't exist, where they've been ignored, abandoned, forgotten, ridiculed. Where the scriptures, where there's no prophetic vision, that's where the word vision comes into this. Visions are prophecy, revelation, the Word of God. Where there is no vision in that sense, where there's no revelation, the people cast off restraint. Isn't that what we're seeing?

A nation where prosecutors cast off all restraint. They aren't even restrained by the threats of a judge berating them on national television. They've cast off all restraint. They've cast off all restraint. That word is the same word that's used to describe what Israel was Like when Moses went up on Mount Sinai.

Remember when Moses came down and he saw the people were unrestrained. They were naked. To their shame. That's what happens because they had abandoned the word of God. And that's a very apt description of our nation right now.

It's a nation that has cast off all restraint. You watch the parades that happen. They're so immoral, you wouldn't even want to take your children anywhere near them. These people have cast off all restraint, including their clothes. But they've cast off all, they're not restrained by the Word of God.

They're not restrained in any way. And that's what happens to a people that ignore and cast off the Word of God. You see, the law of God is a restraint on sin. The wicked think about it as chains of bondage. And that is really, this sentiment is really well described in Psalm 12.

This view of being unrestrained, trying to cast off the restraint of the Word of God. But there is hope given in this verse that I don't want to miss. When the wicked or multiplied transgression increases, but here's the hope, the righteous will see their fall. See there is hope for a nation even like ours. The wicked may increase but The righteous will see their fall.

See, there is hope for a nation even like ours. The wicked may increase, but the righteous will see their fall. Their foot, as it says in the book of Moses, will slip in due time. Speaking of nations like this, God says, vengeance is mine and recompense, for their foot shall slip in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them." That's hope. That the righteous will see their fall of these wicked people who have cast off all restraint.

Now the next verses, verse 19 speaks of the necessity of discipline at a society level. It's really very much the equivalent of verse 15. It says, a servant will not be corrected by mere words, for though he understands, he will not respond. It's speaking to the necessity of discipline outside the immediate family. A servant can't be corrected by mere words.

There must be sanctions, right? Laws without sanctions are ignored. That's just a fact of sinful human nature. Just like the reproof without the rod is often ignored. Laws, directions, without sanctions are ignored.

Imagine an army where there were no sanctions for disobedience. What kind of discipline would that army have? See, an army is a situation where a very high level of discipline, a high level of obedience is required, immediate, prompt, and complete. And so there needs to be a high level of discipline and that discipline is only possible where there are sanctions you can't just get up in and and shout and scream and yell. It only, it doesn't work by itself.

There has to be something behind the words. What are the consequences of a lack of self-discipline? Well, there are two conditions when we are particularly prone to error and to sin. And those two conditions are haste and anger. Haste and anger.

These two conditions aren't wrong in themselves, but they put us in danger of going astray. Both of these can be godly emotions. God says, it's angry with the wicked every day. The scriptures are filled with the declaration of God's wrath against all those who do evil, and they exhort us to make peace with the Son lest we be destroyed in His wrath. The Psalms are also filled with cries to God to make haste and to rescue us.

So anger is proper at the right time and haste is proper. When it is a haste to keep the law of God, as Psalm 119 says, I haste, I make haste, and did not delay to keep your commandments. And so haste and anger are not in themselves wrong. They can be very godly attributes, godly characteristics, But they are two times when we are especially prone to fall into sin. However, even though these two aren't wrong in themselves, when you put them together they are wrong.

They are sinful when they go together. Hasty anger is wrong. We are told to not be quick to become angry. And so anytime anger is sudden, it is immediate, or it's explosive, we see something and we fly into a rage, that's wrong. That's a lack of self-discipline.

And whatever we are about to do or say in that condition, we can assume to be a wrong or sinful response. You see, righteous anger is not hasty anger. Psalm 4 commands us, Psalm 4 verse 4, be angry and do not sin, meditate within your heart, upon your bed, and be still. So righteous anger is not hasty, and righteous anger is also quickly relieved. It's not ongoing anger.

Paul said to the Ephesians, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. When anger continues on and we go to bed and sleep on it, and it becomes a slow burning anger within us, we're releasing that anger within us, we not only destroy ourselves, but Paul says we give a foothold to the devil, to Satan, to come into our life and disrupt it. Okay, so allowing that anger to burn overnight is a spiritual disaster. It leads to all manner of sins, as well as physically destroying us. Anger that we release inward on us is just as destructive to us as anger is when it's explosive and released on people and things around us right anger explosive anger you know people put holes in walls I know I ran a school and I had to patch up a couple holes from people in anger putting a hole in the wall.

But that anger when it's turned inward is just as destructive to us. We should not be characterized by anger either. Proverbs tell us to make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man don't go. And Paul said the same, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from us. Okay, so anger, hasty anger, unrighteous anger, is a characteristic of someone who lacks self-discipline, who is not willing to rule over their anger.

Now, they can. They can. We can control it, but we won't, and apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the other characteristic here of a lack of self-discipline, a lack of training is hasty speech. Words that are spoken hastily.

Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Words that are hastily spoken. This is someone who says whatever is needed, who makes it up on the spot to make you happy, to satisfy you if you are asking about something, if you're pointing out what's an inconsistency. They will make up whatever they need to say to make you happy, to answer the question.

But those are hasty words. They're glib words. They're words that are often abandoned. They're promises that are unfulfilled. I'm sure most of you have been like me at times when you make a hasty promise to your children just to get them to quit bugging you.

They're bothering you. They're importunately asking for something and so you make a promise so they stop. That was a hasty promise, and it never gets fulfilled. Hasty people that speak hastily are like slippery people. You can never pin down what is actually being said.

You can never pin down what's being promised. They're like a running back who is fainting and twisting to escape the tackler. Those are hasty words. That's describing somebody who is hasty with their words. And so we end up with a society of idle talkers.

In other words, politicians will say anything when they want to get elected. It's become a byword in our culture about campaign promises. They're just, right, everybody knows they're empty, They're meaningless. Those are hasty words. They're said for the occasion.

If this is what this crowd wants to hear, then you say that. If another crowd wants something else, you say the opposite to them. That's idle talk, hasty words. Psalm 12 describes this, Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases. For the Faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

They speak idly, everyone with his neighbor. With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. This is describing much of the national discourse. Why is Congress so despised in polls and has been for years? Because it's idle talk.

It's people that are flattering lips and a double heart. They're saying whatever they need to say to be... So their constituents will be happy with them. So they speak idly. It's a double heart.

May the Lord, the psalmist's praise, this is his answer to that. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?' Jesus answers that with, I say to you that for every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, Matthew 12. Every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment in Matthew 12. Every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it. Well, Brothers and sisters, the Word of God is the answer to all of these woes.

Christ's Word, the Bible says, is true. It's refined seven times. The words of the Lord are pure words. They're not hasty words. Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

God's words, the words of the Lord, are purified in a furnace, refined seven times. That's the opposite of hasty, right? A refining process is a slow process of removing any dross. And the words of this Christ's words are pure words. There is no idle, vain speculation in them.

They are pure. Their promises are pure. We, not like the campaign promises of politicians, Christ's words, the Word of God is pure, it's certain, it's true, and they endure forever. And this is, brothers and sisters, what we can stake our lives upon. We can stake all that we have upon the truth of the Word of God.

This is what we need to have in our heart. This is the answer to the folly and the out of words of our culture. This is the answer that we need as well to bring that godly reproof is to have the Word of God Within us to read it to study it To memorize it to meditate upon it and to hear it To read it to study it to memorize it, to meditate upon it, and to hear it. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you preserve your word.

The grass withers and the flower falls away. Those who speak lies vanish, but you endure and your word endures to all eternity. We thank you that your word is true. It wasn't hastily spoken. We thank you Lord that it is living and powerful.

That it is active. That it is able to divide a sun, your soul and spirit even to joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart. Oh Lord, may you search us. May your words search us. May you give to us a love, a growing love of your word.

We might be able to say with the psalmist, oh how I love your word, it is my meditation all the day. That we may be able to say as well that it is more precious to us than gold and money. Lord, may your word be hidden in our heart. That we may be able to bring a reproof, to bring instruction to ourselves and to others in the offices and calling you have given to us. Lord, we ask that you would sanctify us now with your word.

Your word is truth. In Jesus' name, amen.