Christian’s Response to Biblical Instruction
Jeremiah 17:21-25
Introduction
The problems we have in our society today are not something that has not ever happened before in the history of the world. Many people are despisers of instruction to their doom.
Instruction can be in form of chastisement, warning, reproof, correction, discipline, doctrine, instruction, rebuke.
Reproof is used sometimes interchangeably with instruction, and it is Biblical to say that instruction is a reproof.
God has much to say about instruction, and how important they are to our health, and well-being as believers in Christ.
In the passage we just read, God gave the children of Israel a specific instruction about the sabbath day, they were not to bear any burden on the sabbath.
The instruction came with authority, and the authority is the Lord and not man. God cared about these people, and he wants the best for them, but instead of listening to the simple admonition from the Lord, they made their neck stiff and rejected it.
One of the books in the Bible was written to give instruction, and that is the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:2-3
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Keywords there: TO know Instruction, and Receive Instruction.
Are you receiving instruction from the Lord? And in the Word of God, we will find the instruction that will give us in the right path so that we can be wise unto that which is good, and foolish unto that which is evil.
1. Instruction is Life-Saver.
Proverbs 4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
Life-Saver is a thing that you put on to protect you from destruction against impending doom, but when you ignore instruction, you are opening up yourself for destruction.
Every instruction given to you in the Word of God is to your advantage, but then fools will make a mockery of the instruction, and reject the simplicity of it.
Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Proverbs gives us how important instruction is important to our daily sustenance in this world. An example is given throughout the Scripture about people who hated instruction and then pay huge prices for it.
Proverbs 5:5-13
2. Instruction are contained in the Word of God
There are many ways people receive instruction, but by merely looking at the lives of others, things around you, and testimony about others, you can receive instruction.
Proverbs 24:32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
But more specifically, God has given us the Bible to be our instructional book to guide us on our journey here on earth. He gave us 66 books that can help us to navigate this world of sin successfully.
2 Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
In the Old Testament, people depended on the Lord through his prophets to give them instructions. But now we have a more sure word of prophecy from the Lord to us. The causes grief in the hearts of Prophet Jeremiah concerning the people of his days, he gave them instruction from the Lord, but turn down the instruction.
Jeremiah 32:33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
3. Instruction Gives Knowledge
Proverbs 12:1 Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
How much knowledge you want is dependent upon your response to instruction.
Instruction gives knowledge to a soul, but when you ignore instruction, Bible says such a person is a stupid and foolish person, and figurately, an animal.
What Should I Do with Instruction? What should be my response to instruction as a believer?
1. Received Instruction
To receive instruction has to do with you accepting, taking, and using the instruction that has been given to you because of the love the person given instruction has for you. God continued to instruct the children of Israel despite their constant rebellion and stiff-necked attitudes toward him.
Jeremiah 35:13 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.
There is always a shame, and reproach to such a man who receives to the instruction given to him. We need to stop listening to instruction that causes us to err from the right path. The more we listen to the right instruction, the more our path and our desire to do right will be stronger, and firm.
Proverbs 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
Proverbs 8:33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
The value of instruction can never be traded with anything in life. We are told to receive instruction and not silver, but people will choose silver and gold over instruction. They will forsake a place where they are receiving a loving reproof over errors.
There are instructions that are not edified, the internet is filled with them, but there are instructions that are not only edifying but glorifying to the Lord. oh how much we need believers who will receive instruction, and be wise.
Proverbs 19:27 Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
2. Apply Thine Heart Unto Instruction
Pro 23:12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
And this is where transformation takes place, it is when you apply it into thine heart then you become a better person. Just because you sit in church, receiving instruction does not mean you will apply it in thy heart.
Some are puffed up, arrogant, and foolish because they know within their heart that they will not heed the instruction. They do not understand that they are causing themselves much damage.
Proverbs 15:32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Proverbs 13:18 Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.
Conclusion.
A Christian response to Biblical instruction or reproof is not to refuse it, but to receive it, and apply it in their hearts. When you refused instruction, you are choosing death, rather than life because instruction is a lifesaver.
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