Proverbs 5:13

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers.

Consequences of disobedience

Can any state be more distressing than that of an individual who has enjoyed the best opportunities of securing his own happiness and promoting that of others, totally failing in both these, and becoming the subject of bitter self-reproach?

I. There is the admission of having had the great advantage of teachers. There are scarcely any but have had some very considerable advantages and means of religious instruction. They involve you all in a serious responsibility to God and your own conscience.

1. The best, purest, most commanding instruction in the Bible.

2. The living voice of teachers, either parents or ministers, or kind friends in schools.

3. The Spirit of God unfolding the truth to your understanding and conscience; striving with your heart, and inwardly calling you to seek those things which belong to your peace.

II. There is an implied connection between instruction and obedience. The text admits the obligation resulting from such advantages. “I ought to have obeyed, but I have not.”

1. You are bound to obey the good instruction you have received, because it is clearly the will of God, the Being who is above all, and who holds you amenable at His tribunal.

2. By the tender and unspeakable love of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who came forth from His Father, and became the Redeemer of men by the sacrifice of Himself.

3. By a regard to your own highest interests. Obeying the Divine precepts is the only way to secure your own peace of mind, your joy through life, your hope in death, and your immortal felicity after death.

4. By a regard to the interests of others to whom you may be related in this life. You have social relations, duties, and obligations which you ought to regard, and cannot neglect without great criminality. You ought to become yourselves, and endeavour to make them, such as God would have us all to be.

5. By the obligation which arises from your final accountableness at the bar of judgment.

III. There is a confession that instruction had not been obeyed. This text does not express the case of those who have only partially, or in some respects, failed of obedience, but have in the main been mindful of the instruction they have received. It is applied to those who have failed altogether, and in the general habits of their mind and life have disregarded the great and holy principles inculcated upon them in early life. Some of the causes of this failure are--

1. There is in our own hearts a disinclination to serve God, and an aversion to the Divine precepts.

2. There are innumerable and incessant temptations to forsake the guide of our youth.

3. There will be a direct and powerful influence of the worst kind exerted over those who give themselves to evil companions.

IV. There is an expression of penitential regret for disobedience. The text seems to be the language of remorse.

1. A perception that our misery has resulted from wilful disobedience, not from ignorance.

2. The feeling that this disobedience has been maintained against light and knowledge.

3. The consciousness that you once possessed all the means necessary to promote your happiness and secure your salvation. (The Evangelist.)