Accept His Instruction

Zephaniah 3:2 - "She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the Lord, She did not draw near to her God."

The second indictment the Lord has against His people in this verse is "She accepted no instruction." When we read the word "instruction" in this verse we shouldn't picture a classroom setting with a teacher giving a lesson and a bunch of pupils listening. Instead the picture is of a child being brought up by their parents. Different situations call for different actions on the part of the parent. Sometimes there is need for a simple instruction that comes alongside and helps the child. Other times there is need for discipline. Sometimes correction is needed and sometimes training, but it's all done out of love for the child.
This word is translated in a variety of ways but the most common are, instruction, correction and discipline. This may seem kind of strange, because we don't really think of instruction and discipline as the same thing, but if you think about it, all proper discipline is for the purpose of instruction. A child isn't disciplined because the parent is angry and needs a way to take out their frustration. No, a child is disciplined in order that they might learn right from wrong. They need to be instructed in what is good and learn that there are consequences for doing wrong. This word is used about 50 times in the Old Testament and over half of these are found in the book of Proverbs. And this shouldn't be surprising, because one of the reasons that the book was written according to Proverbs 1:2 is in order that we might "Know wisdom and Instruction." Much of the book of Proverbs is written as a father teaching his son. We read over and over "my son..." followed by some fatherly instruction. And the writer gives instruction and parental advice on a variety of issues, including the training and discipline of children.
Proverbs 13:24 says - "He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently." This is the same word used in Zephaniah 3:2. Parental discipline is an act of love. And Proverbs is clear that there are two responses to discipline. A wise son accepts it, Proverbs 13:1 - "A wise son accepts his father’s discipline." Proverbs 19:20 - "Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days." But a fool rejects it. Proverbs 1:7 - "Fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 15:5 - "A fool rejects his father’s discipline, but he who regards reproof is sensible." Proverbs 15:32 - "He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding." Wisdom accepts instruction and discipline but folly rejects it. And one of the reasons that it's foolishness to reject discipline is because discipline leads to life. Proverbs 6:23 says -"For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life." And Proverbs 10:17 says - "He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray."

This sounds backwards, doesn't it? At least our culture seems to think so. Spanking is seen by our culture as cruel and heartless, but remember, it's the one who hates his son that withholds the rod. And Proverbs 23:13 says - "Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die." Discipline leads to knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 says - "Cease listening, my son, to discipline, and you will stray from the words of knowledge." A child needs to learn that there is pain associated with sin. And parents have the responsibility to instruct and discipline their children in what is right. In Proverbs chapter 5 we have a picture of a young man who failed to listen to wise instruction and he is reaping the consequences. In verse 12 he laments - "How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof!" He regrets the fact that he didn't accept instruction and he is finding out that the foolish path he has taken is leading to death.

Well, these things apply, not only to the relationship between parents and children, but it carries over to Gods relationship with His people, and this is what Zephaniah is speaking about. In various passages the Lord spoke of His relationship with His people as the relationship between a father and his children. In Second Samuel chapter 7 the Lord is speaking to David about Solomon and He says in verse 14 - "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men." And Solomon would go on to write in Proverbs 3:11-12 - "My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights." God disciplines His kids, and we're warned not to reject or loathe His discipline. Gods discipline is an act of His love.In the last few chapters of Hosea the Lord talks about His fatherly love for Israel and talks about how He brought them up as a child. He says in chapter 11 verse 1 - "When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." He continues this picture, saying in verses 3 and 4 - "It is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; and I bent down and fed them." This is such a tender picture of Gods fatherly love and care for His people, teaching them how to walk and carrying them in His arms. But He goes on to talk about how Israel kept turning away from Him and following after idols, so He has to discipline them. He talks about how he is going to bring Assyria against them as His rod to discipline them, but even this is done in love. He says - "My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath." He disciplines His children out of love and for their own good in order that they might turn back to Him. He's not going to destroy them out of anger, but He is going to discipline them out of love. But the testimony throughout the Old Testament is that Israel didn't accept Gods instruction. Gods testifies of Israel in Psalm 50:17 - "For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you." Over and over in the book Jeremiah the Lord states that sad truth that His people did not receive His instruction or accept His discipline. He says in Jeremiah 2:30 - "In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening." And Jeremiah says in chapter 5 verse 3 - "O Lord, do not Thine eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they did not weaken; Thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent." In chapter 17 the Lord is talking about how He had commanded certain things in the law through Moses to Gods people in the wilderness, and He says in verse 23 - "Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction." And in God says in Zephaniah 3:7 - "I said, ‘Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction.’ So her dwelling will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their deeds." He gave them a abundant opportunities to heed His instruction and when they didn't His discipline had to become more severe. He wouldn't destroy them because of His promises to and His love for them. But whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights.

And this is true, not only in the Old Testament but for us as well. God is our loving heavenly Father, and as such He disciplines His children. God is the only perfect Father and so His discipline is perfect. Hebrews chapter 12 is the classic New Testament passage on the Lords discipline, and there we read in verses 4 through 11 - "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Again we see that His discipline is an act of His love. We also see here that God disciplines all His children. This is actually an evidence of our salvation. One of the ways we know that He is truly our Father is because He disciplines us. You don't discipline the neighbors kids, you may want to at times, but discipline is unique between parents and their children. If we don't find ourselves on the receiving end of Gods discipline then we have good reason to question whether or not we are truly His children.

Our parents discipline caused us to respect them. How much more will the Lords discipline compel us to submit ourselves to Him and walk in obedience to Him. Because, as Proverbs said, this is the way of life.

Our parents disciplined us only for a short time, but Gods discipline doesn't stop when we grow up. And like I said, His discipline is perfect. He knows us inside out. He knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts in every situation. And He disciplines us in order that we might share His holiness. Christ is holy, innocent, undefiled and separate from sinners, and He wants to make us like Himself.

All of this is true, but it doesn't make Gods discipline fun or easy. When we're under Gods discipline it's heavy and painful at times, but we need to have our eyes fixed on the end result. Faith is always casting us in hope on the future, and it is the same in this area of discipline. God is transforming us into His likeness and we need to fix our eyes on that end result. Proverbs 22:6 says - "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." Parents are instructed to train their children and encourage them in the right way, but they're not going to see the results of their instruction immediately. Many children rebel against their parents discipline. And it may be several years before the parents begin to see the fruit of all their labor. And it's no different in regard to Gods discipline. It's not fun or easy and the results aren't immediate. But we have need of endurance, knowing that, as Hebrews 12 says, "to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the fruit peaceful fruit of righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16 says - "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." We need to heed what He says. Though it stings sometimes and can make us uncomfortable, it's far better to accept the instruction and discipline of His Word than to be chastened by His rod. Accept His instruction.

Proverbs 3:11-12 - "My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights."

Heed His Voice

Zephaniah 3:2 - "She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the Lord, She did not draw near to her God."

In Zephaniah chapter three the Lord gives a fourfold indictment of His people living in Jerusalem. And all four of the things that He has against them are sins of omission not sins of commission. That is, they weren't necessarily doing something bad that they shouldn't have been doing, rather they were failing to do something that they should have been doing. A good definition of a sin of omission is found in James 4:17 where we read - "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." If we're trying to avoid sinning it's not enough to simply avoid doing what's wrong, we also have to do what is right.

So in Zephaniah 3:2 the Lord tells His people four things that they should have been doing but were not, and the first is "She heeded no voice." The word 'heed' doesn't simply mean to hear, but also to obey. You can hear someones instruction without heeding their instruction.
The Bible is clear that God has spoken, and He has spoken in many different ways. We know that one way God has spoken is through His creation. The order and design in the universe testify to the fact that there is a God. Psalm 19 says - "The heavens are telling of the glories of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." So Gods voice goes out through His creation.

On a few occasions in the Word of God we find God Himself thundering His voice from heaven. We find this in the book of Exodus as the Lord speaks from the top of Mount Sinai. As Moses recounts this in Deuteronomy 4:36 he says - "Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire." There were also three times during the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus that the Father spoke from heaven.

In the Old Testament the Lord often used angels to bring His messages to certain people. We see angels coming to Lot to tell him to flee from Sodom. The angel of the Lord comes to Joshua with the plan to defeat Jericho, and He comes to Gideon with the plan to defeat the Midianite army. We see angels speaking to Daniel about things to come. And when we come into the New Testament we find angels announcing the Lords birth ans proclaiming His resurrection.
Another way in which the Lord speaks, and this is probably the most common, is through His servants, the prophets and apostles. In this case He not only spoke audibly through them, but He also used them, in many cases, to write down His inspired word. The prophets were simply a mouthpiece for God.

Even though God has spoken in all these ways, we come to Zephaniah 3 and we read of Jerusalem, "She heeded no voice." It's an amazing thought that God who is higher than the highest heaven, the Creator, the holy and awesome, all-powerful God would stoop to our level to speak to us. And we can't take this lightly. Because He not only speaks but He will hold us accountable for what we've heard. There are always grave implications in the Scriptures for someone who hears Gods voice but doesn't heed His voice.

After the Lord brought His people out of Egypt He said to them in Exodus 15:26 - "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer." There is a blessing associated with obeying the voice of the Lord and there is a curse associated with neglecting it. In fact Deuteronomy chapter 28 contains a list of blessings that will come to the people if they heed Gods voice and a list of curses that the Lord said He would bring on the people if they did not heed His voice. The interesting thing is that He takes 14 verses to enumerate the blessings but He takes 54 verses to enumerate the curses. To not heed His voice is something that God takes very seriously.

When the kingship was being established in Israel Samuel said to the people in 1 Samuel 12:14-15 - "If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers." Again, the contrast is very clear. If you heed His voice God will be with you, if you do not heed His voice then God will be against you.
And in 1 Samuel 15, shortly after Saul was anointed king, we read in verse 1 - "Samuel also said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord."" He basically says, 'Saul, you've been anointed king and there is only one thing that God requires of you: Heed His voice.' But we don't even leave this chapter before we find Saul doing what is right in his own eyes rather than listening to God. The Lord said to Saul "Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." The Lords command was not difficult to understand, it was very straightforward, but Saul didn't heed the word of the Lord. Oh, he did some of what the Lord said. He killed most of the people, though he spared the king. And he killed some of the animals, though he spared the best of the sheep and oxen, he said, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord. But with the Lord that doesn't cut it. Partial obedience is disobedience. The Lord says through Samuel in verse 22 - "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." God isn't impressed by your sacrifices and offerings, He wants your obedience.
Again and again He emphasizes the same point, heed His voice! It's so simple, and yet it seems as though we're willing to do almost anything except that. When the people heard Gods voice in the wilderness they hardened their hearts against Him. When they came into the promised land the Lord allowed foreign nations to come in and oppress His people. Why? Because they were not heeding His voice. And when the nation of Israel is taken into captivity by the Assyrians the reason given in 2 Kings 18:12 is - "because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they would neither listen nor do it."

All throughout the Old Testament God had a spokesperson, whether it was Moses during the Exodus, Joshua during the conquest of Canaan, Samuel at the establishment of a monarchy or any one of a host others who spoke for the Lord in the days of the judges, the kings, the exile, and beyond. Each one was a mouthpiece for God and each one carried the same message; "heed the voice of the Lord." The Lord gave His messages through the mouths of the prophets, so to neglect their voices was to neglect His voice. When we read that Jerusalem "Heeded no voice" it doesn't mean that she wouldn't heed the voice of anybody, but that she wouldn't heed the voice of God. Again, God spoke through the prophets, so when the people wouldn't pay heed to the voices of the prophets they were actually turning a deaf ear to God Himself. The Lord summarizes in Jeremiah 7:22-28 - "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers. You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.'" She heeded no voice.

Fast forward in time a couple thousand years and now we need to ask ourselves this question, do we heed His voice? Do I heed His voice? In Zephaniah the Lord held His people accountable to obey what they had heard, and He was bringing judgment upon them because they refused to heed His voice. Well, if they were held accountable how much more are we? We have the Word of God readily available to us in a way that they never did. We have the Word of God compiled into a hand-held library in our own language, and many of us have several copies of it. They heard the Word of God through the prophets, but we read in Hebrews chapter 1 - "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." God spoke to them through the prophets, but He Himself came and revealed Himself in flesh. "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."

When the Lord Jesus was here on earth He had several confrontations with the religious leaders, and He frequently pointed out their inconsistency with regard to the Word of God. When He spoke to Nicodemus about being born again in John chapter 3 He asked Him the question "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?" In Matthew chapter 12 the Pharisees were bringing some accusations against Christ in regard to the Sabbath, and Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did...?" And when they became enraged in Matthew 21 because the children were crying out "Hosanna to the Son of David!" He said to them "Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?" They were expected to know what God had said and while they had doubtless read the Scriptures they didn't understand them. The Lord Jesus said to the crowds concerning the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 - "All that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." They were acquainted with the Scriptures. They knew what it said and they told the people to do what it said, but they themselves were not living in obedience to what the Lord said. It's not enough just to know it, you have to do what it says. We're told in James 1:22 - "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." If anyone hears Gods voice and doesn't obey they're only deceiving themselves.

In Matthew chapter 22 the Lord Jesus was being questioned by the Sadducees concerning the resurrection, and He responds to them by saying, "Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?" And then He goes on to quote from the book of Exodus. Now, wait a minute. These things weren't spoken to these people, were they? Didn't God speak these words to Moses centuries before? And yet Jesus says "Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?" The truth that God speaks to us through His Word may seem anticlimactic. We sometimes think that if God thundered His voice from heaven and spoke to us, that would be something really great. But consider what God said in Matthew 17 when He did speak from heaven - "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" We don't need a voice form heaven, we can hear God through Christ. Well, we might think, if only Christ would appear to me and speak with me, that would be something really great. But think about this, after the Lord Jesus died and rose again He appeared to two of His disciples who were traveling from Jerusalem to a city called Emmaus. When He came to them they didn't know it was Him. And instead of saying to them "Look guys, it's Me!" What did He do? Luke 24:27 - "Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." He opened the Word of God to them. He began to bolster their confidence in God's written Word. There is an undue emphasis today on spiritual experience, and to open up a book in order to hear from God seems anticlimactic. People want some special, out of body experience. They want angels to appear to them. They want an experience that is going to excite their emotions. And people don't really change all that much. This is just what the people were doing in the days that Isaiah prophesied. In Isaiah chapter 8 we read that the people were telling one another to consult mediums and spiritists, those who whisper and mutter, to summon the dead and consult them on behalf of the living, but God responds, "Should not a people consult their God?" How are we going to consult our God? "To the Law and the Testimony!" That doesn't seem grand or exciting. We can go and consult those who whisper and mutter, have some thrilling experience that will send shivers down our spine, or we can open up a Book and read what God has said. Consult the Law and the Testimony. It's counter-intuitive. But God has chosen to speak in this way, and His Word is readily available to us if only we'll take time to read it. You want to hear from God? Read your Bible.
God's Word is directly tied to the eternal God who breathed it out. All Scripture is God breathed. The Bible is not merely a history book, it's not simply a book of religious literature or a list of good morals to live by. To say that is to lower the God's Word well below what it actually is. The Word of God is always connected to the person of God. The spoken word is always inseparably tied to the God who breathed it out. The Bible carries so much weight because it has the weight of Gods eternal character behind it. It is breathed out by God and therefore it carries with it the DNA of deity. The Word of God has so much authority because of the One who breathed it out. So the things that He has spoken He has spoken to us. When you read the Word of God you're not simply reading a bunch of stuff that God said to someone else, He is in fact speaking to you. When we hear God's Word we're not hearing it, we're actually hearing Him. So we can say in a very real sense "My Father is speaking to me."

And because He breathed out the entire thing we don't get to pick and choose what we like and what we don't. It's all equally inspired. The way we apply different portions varies, but that doesn't change the fact that the entirety of the Word of God was breathed out by God.
James says in James 2:11 - "For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." Here James is talking about how all Scripture is tied together, and if we break one command we are guilty of breaking the entire law. Here's the point, we can't pick and choose what suits us when it comes to the Word of God. Either it has complete authority in our lives or it has none. I can't say that I'm gonna obey these parts of Scripture, but just disregard those sections because I don't really like them. No, you can't do that. We must submit ourselves entirely to the Word of God. Why? Because of who He is. This is the God who said “Light shall shine out of darkness.” This is the God who spoke the universe into existence. The One who made it all, and He sets the standard. The fact of who He is is enough reason to obey. He sets the standard and that is why it must be kept. Heed His voice.

In Hebrews chapters 3-4 the author is writing about how the children of Israel failed to enter the promised land due to unbelief. It boils down to this, if they had believed God they would have obeyed him. They didn't have a hearing problem, they had a belief problem. They heard what God said but they didn't heed His voice. Why? Because of unbelief. And the writer says in chapter 4 verse 2 - "For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." And we're warned in chapter 3 and verse 12 - "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God." The Lord Jesus said in John 14:15 - "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Our obedience isn't compelled by duty or obligation, it's compelled by love. We believe God and we love Him so we obey Him. And Christ modeled this perfectly. His life was lived in complete obedience to the Father because He loves Him. It wasn't a burden to live in obedience, for the testimony of Christ in Hebrews 10 is this - "I delight to do Thy will, O God." Our love for God will manifest itself in obedience, 1 John 5:3 - "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." May the Lord never say of us, "They heeded no voice."

Hebrews 4:7 - "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."