Proverbs 5:12

It will soon be too late! Why continue to rebelliously disregard instruction and reproof? The day is fast approaching when you will hate your rebellion. You will regret the many times you rejected the teaching of parents, pastors, and other counselors. You will moan the words of this proverb in agony, as you find your sin very painful (Ps 36:1-4).

Here is Solomon’s lengthy warning against the strange woman – the whore of casual sex and adultery (Pr 5:3-6). A long sentence covers Proverbs 5:8-13, in which he appealed to his children to avoid her at all costs. He warned them that choosing her now will bring a day in the future when they will deeply grieve for neglecting and rejecting his advice.

When a sinner is cut down and faces destruction and death, he mourns the foolish choices he made in his life (Pr 5:11; 7:23; Deut 32:29; Jer 5:31). There are no unbelievers in hell. Few on their deathbeds! The sinner’s complaint will include remorse for ignoring and despising the faithful and kind warnings of those who tried to save him (Pr 5:12-13).

Young man, your lust for a beautiful woman is a powerful drug (Pr 6:25; 7:26), but its addicting powers and damning results exceed any chemical narcotic (Pr 5:22; 7:27). She will destroy your soul (Pr 6:32). Stay away from her at all costs. Avoid the places where she goes. Avoid anything that makes you think of her. Fill your life with good and wholesome substitutes. Beg God for a wife and overwhelming passion for that wife.

You have been warned. If you slight this warning or continue in a course of sexual lust and sin, you will soon regret your great folly. If you disregard the kind instruction and reproof that could save your life, it will add to your misery when your sin finds you out. Deliver yourself today. Heed the advice. Commit your soul. Run far away from her.

How painfully did Samson recall his parents’ warning (Judges 14:1-3)? As he blindly stumbled in a perpetual circle grinding for the Philistines, how many times did he hear, “Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” But the fool had let lust destroy learning, and now it was too late. The best he could hope for was suicide.

A rich man woke up in hell. He had daydreamed while the Scriptures were read in the synagogue. He had silenced the cries of his conscience. He had despised the reproofs of parents, scribes, and teachers. Now Abraham spoke, “Son, remember!” It was too late. Oh, the blessed opportunity of instruction and reproof! It was now gone. Hell was so hot. And so long! Why had he not listened? Why? His teachers had warned about this place.

Reader, how is it with you? Have you hated instruction? Despised reproof? Have you thought you know better? Have you dozed during preaching? Despised the preacher? Drowned out his sober warnings and instruction with noise and activity? You sin against kindness from God and men, and you will soon regret your miserable choice. Humble yourself today. Repent of your forwardness. Confess your sin. Choose to obey instead.

The blessed God will not put up with your rebellion forever. He will destroy you suddenly, and there will be no remedy for it (Pr 29:1). You are like a brute beast going to the slaughter (Pr 7:22-23; 10:17; 12:1). God will not convict you forever. Those kind pangs of conscience will go away, and you will be left hardened to rot in your sin.

Jesus Christ walks among His churches (Rev 1:9 – 2:1). He calls the sensible to recall how they have fallen, to repent, and to do the first works (Rev 2:5). If they refuse, He will come quickly and remove a church’s candlestick, or He will kill sinning church members (Rev 2:1-5,20-23), like He did Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). Remember what happened to Corinthian believers (I Cor 11:28-32). Repent! Love instruction and reproof!