In Peter Allison's sermon 'The Necessity of Discipline Pt 2,' he explores Proverbs 19 to emphasize the importance of discipline in life. The sermon highlights the need for discipline in various aspects such as generosity, education, and parenting. Allison discusses the structure of chiasms in Proverbs 19, which convey messages of the benefits of accepting instruction and the consequences of neglecting it. He underscores that true generosity involves helping the poor without expecting returns, a principle often abandoned in modern reliance on government welfare. The sermon also covers the necessity of parental discipline, emphasizing positive instruction and corrective actions, including spanking, as vital for imparting wisdom and godliness to children. Through the story of a Dutch farmer named Henry, Allison illustrates living a life of disciplined generosity, opposing reliance on government aid, and adhering to biblical principles. The sermon concludes by encouraging continuous prayer for children's spiritual growth and highlighting hope as a foundation in God's promises.

Proverbs chapter 19, I'd like to read verse 15. Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. But he who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of his ways will die. He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given. Chase in your son while there is hope and do not set your heart on his destruction.

A man of great wrath will suffer punishment, for if you rescue him you will do it again. Listen to counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the Lord's counsel that will stand. What is desired in a man is kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life and he who has it will abide in satisfaction.

He shall not be visited with evil. A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Heavenly Father, your word is true, Even though it contradicts the testimony of every man, it is true. It is truth as well.

Lord, we ask now that you would write that truth upon our hearts, that you would seal it to us with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen. Today is part two, a continuation of our look at this first chiasm in Proverbs 19. You should have a handout, hopefully with your bulletin, if not, there should be one around in the back on the stand. But you see this chiasm as we saw last week, there are actually two of them set right next to each other, back to back.

And chiasm, as we learned last week, is where two passages mirror each other such that the first and the last verse of the passage speak to the same thing, the second to the last and the second one and the second from the last speak to the same concept and so on all the way to the middle verse which is the which is the point that is being emphasized in this passage And we saw that these two chiasms both say the same thing. They both have the same truth that they are expressing, one positively and one negatively. In the first one, in verses 15 to 24, We saw in verse 20 the positive instruction, listen to advice and accept instruction. And that word instruction was this word we've seen before in proverbs that means chastening, discipline, and so on. Listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom.

And then the second chiasm which we'll look at Lord willing in the future is verse 27 stated negatively. Cease to hear instruction, cease to receive chastening, cease to accept correction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge." And so we looked at laziness, we looked at keeping of the commandments, and we looked at this need for generosity. Generosity flows from a disciplined life. A disciplined life. In our day, generosity and the care of the poor, and that's the focus of the generosity, because it's not really very generous when you give to the rich knowing that they will easily give back what you gave them.

True generosity is lending to the poor who can't give anything back to you. As we saw last week, that is generosity that is lending to the Lord. The Lord himself has promised to be a surety and to repay. We live in a day when the generosity and the care of the poor has been left largely to the civil magistrate, And that's been to our great detriment. Just like when education was left to the experts of the government, it has resulted in an Astounding level of ignorance in our culture today.

I just was listening to a friend relate how they were when they were in the store buying a wrench and Some 20 ish person came in on the phone and they were asking, how do you get across the street? They'd been punching the button to cross the street for 15 minutes and it hadn't come on and so they were in the store asking the clerk, you know, how do you get across the street? I know it's hard to believe. It was for me, but this is the truth. So this friend brought his wrench, went out to his car.

He noticed this girl was still there, 20ish girl. And so he went up to her and said, you need some help getting across the street? Oh, yes, yes, you did. And so he waited for a few seconds until there was a break in the first lane of traffic and walked to the middle of the road and then waited there for a few more seconds until there was a break in the second half of the road and walked her across and she was genuinely grateful. He had shown her how to get across this street.

She'd been trying for 15 minutes. Obviously, that is a picture of our culture in general, and the astounding ignorance of it. Well, we're the same way when it comes to generosity toward the poor. Just like we have let the government do it and as a result we have become like that lady. Completely inept at generosity to the poor.

And just like you know in the 80s and 90s God called his people to leave the government schools and to begin Christian schools and to begin home schools. So we in this day need to be like our parents and replace government welfare, government generosity to the poor with more biblical model of welfare that is led by individuals and by churches. And so we're going to have to pick up double duty, just like our parents did with Christian education and homeschooling. And parents today continue to pay twice. We pay the government for an education that we don't want and don't use.

And then we pay a second time for the education of our children that we do want. We're going to have to do the same thing with government generosity. We're going to have to pay twice. We're going to have to pay the state for a generosity that we don't want that's detrimental to us, that kills us, and then pay again for a biblical model of generosity and welfare. Of course, one of the problems is debt.

We can't help other people get free if we're in bondage ourselves. That's why in the airlines they always say put the mask on yourself first, and then once it's on you, you can help your child. Don't, because if you can't breathe, you can't help anyone else breathe. If we can't take care of our own needs, if we're in bondage to people, we can't help other people become free. I had a friend of mine, a banker friend, relate a story to me, I'd like to relate to you.

Story of a Dutch farmer who died in 1983. Just an ordinary man, just an ordinary farmer. His name, we'll call him Henry, his name was Henry. And what follows here, this story is a couple of antidotes from Henry's life as they were relayed to me by Henry's banker. And so my banker friend was in his office one day, or Henry was at the bank, visiting my banker friend one day, and while he's waiting on his banker to handle some paperwork for him, he's thumbing through his mail.

My banker friend heard him mumbling and grumbling about a letter he received. He asked him, is anything wrong, Henry? He said, oh, that Social Security computer system, somehow they started sending me monthly checks a couple of years ago. My friend said, well, what's wrong with that? And here was his answer.

I have spent my life reading the Word of God, and I find three ways in the Bible that God will materially bless us here on earth. First, He will add increase to the righteous use of our hands and minds applied to the calling that He has put before us. Secondly, there is also a place for lawful biblical inheritance of earthly wealth to be passed down to one's heirs. And third, finally, if I would find myself and my family impoverished, pride would not hold me back from going to the church deacons to request the charity needed to provide for my family while explaining my circumstances to them. That is the church's obligation.

All of these, Henry said, would be tied to our faithfulness to Christ and our obedience to His Law. Yes, indeed, you notice in our chiasm the connection to verse 16, where he keeps his commandments, keeps his life, who is careless of his ways, will die. Our generosity and care of the poor has to be tied to the law of God and our obedience to it. And Henry continued telling my banker friend, I don't see in the Bible where receiving money from any other source would be obedient to God, especially if it is brought to me as free money from the government. He said, in the 1930s, I wrote my congressman and said, you cannot take care of the retirement of the elderly with Social Security.

You will bankrupt the system, leaving future generations impoverished, and you will provide incentive for the current generation to abandon their proper duty to provide for themselves and indeed that is exactly what we have seen happen. We have abandoned our duty to provide for ourselves, to save. Henry concluded his remarks to my friend saying, this isn't free money. The Social Security checks are funded by stealing from neighbors and stealing from future generations, and the Bible forbids me from receiving stolen property. So my friend said, well what are you going to do about this?

These checks you're getting. He said, every few months I gather up these checks and I mail them back to the social security office in Des Moines and tell them to keep their stolen property. He was serious. This was typical of Henry's life. He raised 11 children with his wife on their family farm.

He was known to visit orphans and widows. His family provided for shut-ins. They would go to nursing homes on the Lord's Day and read and fellowship with those people and visit with them. He was continually encouraging the people that he met, the men that he worked with in his business, to love their wives, to be faithful to them, to provide for them. He warned them of wandering eyes and other sins, admonished them to be faithful in the scriptures and to pray with their wives every day.

32 years after Henry died, my banker friend met a local plumber who commented about how Henry had asked him About his marriage and how he was loving his wife 32 years after this man died That memory is that sharp in this plumbers mind? One day Henry's neighbor was a drunk His wife and children found themselves in a bitter Iowa winter night with the heat off and the pipes frozen and water pouring out on the floor and very little food in the house. Henry heard about it, learned about it the next morning. And before he did anything else, he called the propane dealer, had him come out and fill the propane tank and put it on Henry's bill he called the plumber and asked him to come over and fix the house and put it on Henry's bill He sent his wife to town to buy some clothes for this family And whatever else may be needed And then he took some of his children and went over to this home. When he got over there, he started cleaning up the mess and the water.

And when everything was cleaned up, he pulled the drunk out of bed and gave him some coffee and told him that he'd be over the next morning at 4 a.m. To get him. He did. He took him to his barn and began to teach him how to read the Word of God and how to work. By 5 o'clock he had him milking.

By six they were on to feeding the other animals. This drunk became a productive worker. He sobered up And when he died years later, he died with the name of Jesus on his lips. Henry stood up for what was right, stood up to justice. There are many other stories of what he did, but I wanted to tell you that one because it relates to this text and this showing of generosity to the poor and what it really looks like.

A willingness to be associated with those who are destitute, who are not what we might say are our type. A willingness to identify with them, a willingness to help them. That's an example of what this text is speaking about. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given. Generosity flows from a disciplined life, a life that is governed by the Word of God.

But the next level of our chiasm, verses 18 and 19 and verses 21, Teach about another segment of our community that need discipline. Chasing or discipline your son while there is hope. And do not set your heart on putting him to death. Chasing your son while there is hope. Children need chastening because they are sinners.

Children begin life proud. They begin, their reason is fallen, it's sinful. They need to learn to put away their futile way of thinking. Their speech is corrupted, it needs to be corrected. Their creativity that God made Adam with has been turned into destruction.

Anybody that has had little children knows exactly what that means. They are very creative at destruction and making messes. Their rule is turned into tyranny, but they are image bearers of God. They are made in His image. They weren't born with a blank mind that just needs to be instructed.

They are born as sinners in rebellion against God and they need chastened. That's a broad word, that word there, chasten, discipline your son. It means to correct or chasten, it means to reprove, but it also means to instruct and to admonish. And so there are two aspects then that this chastening of our son must, our children, sons and daughters, involves. Involves one what I'll call a positive instruction.

That's teaching, talking. But the instruction has more than just the element of informing and giving knowledge. It's not just a knowledge transfer. There is, it's not just informing them of facts and letting them choose their own way, this idea, this word instruction has the element of commanding. Commanding.

This pointing out, teaching the way, this is the way, and then commanding them to walk in it. Urging them to walk in it. Requiring them to walk in it. And that was what Eli was faulted for. He told his sons what they were doing, but he didn't command them.

He didn't enforce that command. And so that's the other aspect, the second aspect of this word, chasten, or discipline, or instruct, and that is the negative instruction or the correction. The Bible is speaking about spanking here. It speaks very directly about spanking. It says, do not withhold Discipline from a child in Proverbs 23.

If you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. It's talking about spanking. It's not just talking about talking or shouting or commanding, but it's talking about the rod. Do not discipline your son.

Chasten, correct your son. You're not going to hurt him. You're not going to hurt him. You're not going to hurt him. But you will.

You may save his soul. It's very significant that spanking is so viciously attacked today. It's very significant. It's not unintended. It's very deliberate.

What would it look like if the police Only pulled people over and said now don't you go so fast and now don't you take that your neighbor's property? What would happen would be a nation of scothlaws because there was no correction that The civil magistrate is feared because he wields a sword. And there is enforcement of the laws that are there. And This use of the rod is critical to the task that parents have of raising their children in the nurture and ammunition of the Lord. The reason CPS is So strong against spanking is because if they can pull that linchpin out, then things fall apart.

And they seriously impair the ability of parents to train their children and raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Do not withhold correction from a child. See, if you can take away this ability of parents to use the rod, it would be like taking away all the teeth out of the law. And the CPS knows that. If they can get parents to put the rod away and be afraid to use it, then they have taken a huge swipe, a huge bite out of the church They've defeated it Now Our see our problem as people is that we are sinners.

Our problem isn't merely that we have a lack of knowledge, but we have a willful rebellion against that knowledge. The rod is necessary. The rod is necessary for our children as well as for us. We really, you know, both are necessary. This positive instruction, this training, this encouragement, this teaching and showing and demonstrating is vitally important, but also is the correction.

We can't rightly carry one out if we don't have the other. Because children's minds are not willing to receive our instruction. And the rod may be needed to prepare the soil of the mind to receive the instruction of the Word of God. But simply using the rod without instruction is like, I've used the analogy, it's like plowing a field and never planting it. You'll never get any fruit.

You'll just have weeds, continually fighting weeds. So both of these aspects are very necessary. Chasing your son while there is hope and do not set your heart on putting him to death. Do not set your heart on putting him to death. You see, what it's saying is that a failure to chasten is setting your heart on their destruction.

It's to not love your child. But this correction, this instruction must be done out of love. Love must be the basis of our chastening. That must be done out of a concern for the well-being of our children. If it's not, it's of little value.

If it's simply for our own convenience, if we only engage in instruction and correction because we've been inconvenienced, because something we like has been broken or impinged on, or because our will has been crossed and we don't like our will to be crossed, we've be the basis of this chastening. Do not set your heart on putting Him to death, but rather love your child. He who spares his rod, Proverbs says, hates his son, but he that loves him, chastens him, chastens him diligently. So we really have to ask ourselves why. Why are we engaging in this process of chastening?

What is our motive here? Is it because we got angry? Is it because we are upset? Is it because we've been embarrassed by what our children have done in front of other people? Or is it because we love them?

Is it because we want them to know the same Savior that we know? We want them To have the same love for God that we have. See, if we ourselves don't have that love, don't have that view, then We can never pass it on to our children. We can never lead our children in that. Chasten your son while there is hope.

Biblical hope is grounded in the Word of God. I will hope in your word, David said. See, faith believes God's promises. Faith believes that what God says is true, and It rests in it. But hope looks for those promises.

Hope waits for those promises, knowing that they will come to pass. It is an act of waiting. They are similar but they are different. Our hope is in the promises of God. Discipline your son and he will give you rest.

He will give delight to your heart. That is the promise of God. Now we need to pray also for our children, because it is not by might or by power, but by my spirit. And we are to be those who pray without ceasing. And This is one of the things we need to especially be in prayer about.

Without ceasing. It doesn't matter how old your children are. This is something that as parents we ought to pray for. Pray for his children every day. Pray for them without ceasing.

Because prayer is the means through which God acts. Prayer is the means through which God acts. He has ordained all things that come to pass, including the means by which those things come to pass. And so prayer changes things. Doesn't change things because it changed what God has ordained?

Prayer changes things because God has ordained prayer to be the means to which he acts. Pray without ceasing for the Holy Spirit to fall upon your children. Our children need the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what they need. And that doesn't come by us, by our might, by our skill and our wisdom.

It comes as the Lord brings His Spirit and uses all the means of the rod of correction and His Word in our instruction. So if your children are young, don't think that you have many years in which to pray for them, but begin now, even before they are born, to pray for the Holy Spirit to draw them to Himself. And if your children are old, and getting older, and advanced in years even, don't stop praying for them. Because where there is life, there is hope. Chasing your children while there is hope as long as they are living it is a day of grace as long as they are alive.

There is hope. God can still bring to pass what he has promised. Let us pray. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great and precious promises of your Word. We thank you for the hope that is in Jesus Christ.

We ask, Lord, that you would strengthen our faith in those promises, and that you would give to us a certain hope, not a mere conjecture, but a certain hope that is founded upon the infallible promises of your Word. Promises of your word. Lord, we ask for strength, for our faith grows dim and we grow so easily weary in doing well. But you have promised that we shall reap in due season if we do not lose heart. So Father, we ask that you would help our unbelief and enable us by faith, by faith, to obey your commandments, to walk in your precepts, and by the power of your Holy Spirit to lead a disciplined and ordered life as you lay out for us in your word.

This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.