Laughter because of laziness

LAUGHTER BECAUSE OF LAZINESS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Proverbs 22:13 13Thesluggard says, "There's a lion
outside!I'll be killedin the public square!
New Living Translation
The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there! If I
go outside, I might be killed!”
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Hindrances To The Attainment Of A GoodName
Proverbs 22:13-16
E. Johnson
I. SLOTH. (Ver. 13.)It is full of ridiculous excuses here satirized. While a
noble energy refuses to own the word "impossible," it is ever on the lips of the
indolent. As in the Arabic fable of the ostrich, or "camelbird," they said to it,
"Carry!" It answered, "Icannot, for I am a bird." They said, "Fly!" It
answered, "Icannot, for I am a camel." Always, "I cannot!" He who in false
regard to his own soul refuses to go out into the world and do God's work, will
end by corrupting and losing his soulitself (John 12:25).

II. PROFLIGACY. (Ver. 14.) Lust digs its own grave. Health goes, reputation
follows, and presently the life, self-consumedby the deadly fire, sinks into ruin
and ashes. If men saw how plainly the curse of God is written on vice, it would
surely become as odious to them as to him.
III. UNGOVERNED FOLLY. (Ver. 15.)Nothing mere pitiable than an old
fool, whose folly seems to stand in clearrelief againstthe background of years.
Hence, again, the urgent need of firm discipline for the young. And what
occasionfor thankfulness to him who, in his wise chastisements, willnot "let
us alone," but prunes and tills the soul by affliction, and plucks up our follies
by the root!
IV. OPPRESSIVENESS. (Ver. 16.)To become rich at the expense of other's
loss is no real gain. The attempt cuts at the root of sound trade and true
sociality. Hastily gotten will hardly be honestly gotten. The Spaniards say,
"He who will be rich in a year, at the half-year they hang him." Mammon,
which more than anything else men are tempted to think God does not
concernhimself about, is given and takenawayby him according to his
righteousness -given sometimes to his enemies and for their greater
punishment, that under its fatal influence they may grow worse and worse
(Trench). - J.

Biblical Illustrator
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without.
Proverbs 22:13
One lion; two lions; no lion at all
This slothful man seems to cherish that one dread of his about the lions as if it
were his favourite aversionand he felt it to be too much trouble to invent
another excuse. Perhaps he hugs it to his soul all the more because it is home-
born fear, conjured up by his own imagination. At any rate, it serves him as a
passable excuse forlaziness, and that is what he wants. When a man is slothful
as a servant he is unjust to his employers; and when he is in business on his
own account, idleness is usually a wrong to his wife and family. When a man is
thoroughly eatenup with the dry-rot of laziness he generally finds some kind
of excuse, though his crime is really inexcusable. We have many spiritual
sluggards, and it is to them that I speak. Theyare not sceptics,orconfirmed
infidels, or opposers ofthe gospel:perhaps their sluggishnature saves them
from anything like energetic oppositionto goodness.
1. The sluggard's tongue is not slothful. The man who is lazy all over is
generallybusy with his tongue. There are no people that have so much to say
as those that have little to do.
2. His imagination also is not idle. There were no lions in the streets. Laziness
is a greatlion-maker. He who does little dreams much. His imagination could
create a whole menagerie of wild beasts.
3. He takes greatpains to escape from pains. This slothful man had to use his
inventive ability to get himself excusedfrom doing his duty. It is an old
proverb that lazy people generally take the most trouble, and so they do and
when men are unwilling to come to Christ, it is very wonderful what trouble
they will take to keepawayfrom Him.

I. A LION. The man means that there is a great difficulty — a terrible
difficulty, quite too much of a difficulty for him to overcome. He has not the
strength to attack this dreadful enemy; the terrible difficulty which he
foreseesis more than he canface. The real lion after all is sluggishnessitself,
aversionto the things of God.
II. TWO LIONS. In the secondtext there are two lions instead of one (chap.
Proverbs 26:13). He has waitedbecause ofthat one lion, and now he fancies
that there are two. He has made a bad bargain of his delay. It was
inconvenient then because there was a lion. Is it more convenient now?
Procrastinationneverprofits; difficulties are doubled, dangers thicken.
III. NO LION AT ALL. If there be a man who would have Christ, there is no
lion in the wayto prevent his having Christ. "There are a thousand
difficulties," says one. If thou desirestChrist truly, there is no effectual
difficulty that can really block thee from coming to Him. There are no lions
exceptin your own imagination.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The characteristicsoflaziness
D. Thomas, D.D.
To Solomon laziness was one of the greatestevils in the characterof man.
How frequently does he depict it with graphic force! How often does he
denounce it with firm energy! "Idleness," says Colton, "is the grand pacific
oceanof life, and in that stagnantabyss, the most salutary things produce no
good, the most obnoxious no evil. Vice, indeed, abstractedlyconsidered, may
be, and often is, engenderedin idleness;but the moment it becomes
sufficiently vice, it must quit its cradle, and ceaseto be idle." Two of the evils
connectedwith indolence are suggestedin the text.
I. IT CREATES FALSE EXCUSES. "There is a lion without." "The lion in
the streets" is a fiction of his own lazy brain. The slothful man is ever acting
thus —

1. In the secularsphere. Is he a farmer? He neglects the cultivation of his
fields, because the weatheris too cold or too hot, too cloudy, too dry or too
wet. Is he a tradesman? He finds imaginary excuses in the condition of the
market. Commodities are too high or too low. Is he an artizan? He finds
difficulties in the place, the tools, or the materials. The industrious farmer
finds no difficulties in the weather.
2. In the spiritual sphere. When the unregenerate man is urged to the
renunciation of his own principles and habits, and the adoption of new spirit
and methods, slothfulness urges him to make imaginary excuses. Sometimes
he pleads the decrees ofGod, sometimes the greatness ofhis sins, sometimes
the inconvenience of the season— too soonor too late.
II. IT CREATES UNMANLY EXCUSES, The very excuse he pleads, though
imaginary, if true would be a strong reasonfor immediate action. "A lion in
the streets!"Why, if he had a spark of manhood in him, a bit of the stuff that
makes heroes, he should rouse every power. There is no heroism in the heart
of indolence. To true souls difficulties are a challenge, not a check to action.
(D. Thomas, D.D.)
Excuses
W. Clarkson
Proverbs 22:13
The slothful man said, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.…
Few things are oftener on human lips than excuses. Menare continually
excusing themselves from doing what they know in their hearts they ought to
do. There is no sphere from which they are excluded, and there is hardly any
evil to which they do not lead.

I. THE SPHERES IS WHICH THEY ARE FOUND. The child excuses
himself from the obedience which he should be rendering to his parents; the
scholar, from the application he should be giving to his studies; the
apprentice, from the attention he should be devoting to his business; the
agriculturist, from the labour he should be putting forth in the fields; the
captain, from setting sail on the troubled waters;the unsuccessfultradesman
or merchant, from investigating his books and seeing how he really stands; the
failing manufacturer, from closing his mill; the statesmanfrom bringing
forward his perilous measure;the minister, from seeking his delicate and
difficult interview; the soul not yet reconciledto God, from a searching
inquiry into its own spiritual condition and present obligation.
II. THEIR MORAL CHARACTER.
1. There is a decided ingredient of falsehoodabout them. Those who fashion
them know in their hearts that there is something, if not much, that is
imaginary about them. The lion is not without; the slothful man wilt not be
slain in the streets. The evil which is anticipated in all casesofexcuse is
exaggerated, if it is not invented. We do not, at such times, tell ourselves the
whole, truth; we "deceive our own selves."
2. There is something of meanness or unmanliness about them; we "let 'I dare
not' wait upon 'I would.'" We allow a cravenfeeling of apprehension to enter
in, to take possession, to prevail over our better self.
3. There is an elementof disobedience and unfaithfulness. We shrink from
doing the thing which is our duty to do; we relegate to the rear that which we
should keepin the front; we prefer that which is agreeable to that which is
obligatory; we obey the lowervoice;we leave unfulfilled the will of God.

III. THE FATE OF THOSE WHO INDULGE THEM.
1. To have a very pitiable retrospect;to have to look back, self-condemned, on
work left undone, on a life not well lived.
2. To lose all that might have been gainedby energy and decision, and which
has been lostby sloth and weakness. And who shall saywhat this amounts to
in the years of a long life?
3. To miss the "Welldone" of the Master, if not, indeed, to receive his final
and sorrowfulcondemnation. - C.
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without - But why does he say so?
Becausehe is a slothful man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary
difficulties and dangers will be no more. He will not go abroad to work in the
fields, because he thinks there is a lion in the way, he will not go out into the
town for employment, as he fears to be assassinatedin the streets!From both
these circumstances he seeks totalcessationfrom activity.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible

The point of the satire is the ingenuity with which the slothful man devises the
most improbable alarms. He hears that “there is a lion without,” i. e., in the
broad open country; he is afraid of being slain in the very streets of the city.
The Biblical Illustrator
Proverbs 22:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without.
One lion; two lions; no lion at all
This slothful man seems to cherish that one dread of his about the lions as if it
were his favourite aversionand he felt it to be too much trouble to invent
another excuse. Perhaps he hugs it to his soul all the more because it is home-
born fear, conjured up by his own imagination. At any rate, it serves him as a
passable excuse forlaziness, and that is what he wants. When a man is slothful
as a servant he is unjust to his employers; and when he is in business on his
own account, idleness is usually a wrong to his wife and family. When a man is
thoroughly eatenup with the dry-rot of laziness he generally finds some kind
of excuse, though his crime is really inexcusable. We have many spiritual
sluggards, and it is to them that I speak. Theyare not sceptics,orconfirmed
infidels, or opposers ofthe gospel:perhaps their sluggishnature saves them
from anything like energetic oppositionto goodness.
1. The sluggard’s tongue is not slothful. The man who is lazy all over is
generallybusy with his tongue. There are no people that have so much to say
as those that have little to do.
2. His imagination also is not idle. There were no lions in the streets. Laziness
is a greatlion-maker. He who does little dreams much. His imagination could
create a whole menagerie of wild beasts.
3. He takes greatpains to escape from pains. This slothful man had to use his
inventive ability to get himself excusedfrom doing his duty. It is an old
proverb that lazy people generally take the most trouble, and so they do and

when men are unwilling to come to Christ, it is very wonderful what trouble
they will take to keepawayfrom Him.
I. A lion. The man means that there is a greatdifficulty--a terrible difficulty,
quite too much of a difficulty for him to overcome. He has not the strength to
attack this dreadful enemy; the terrible difficulty which he foresees is more
than he can face. The real lion after all is sluggishness itself, aversionto the
things of God.
II. Two lions. In the secondtext there are two lions instead of one (chap.
26:13). He has waited because ofthat one lion, and now he fancies that there
are two. He has made a bad bargain of his delay. It was inconvenient then
because there was a lion. Is it more convenientnow? Procrastinationnever
profits; difficulties are doubled, dangers thicken.
III. No lion at all. If there be a man who would have Christ, there is no lion in
the wayto prevent his having Christ. “There are a thousand difficulties,” says
one. If thou desirestChrist truly, there is no effectualdifficulty that canreally
block thee from coming to Him. There are no lions except in your own
imagination. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The characteristics oflaziness
To Solomon laziness was one of the greatestevils in the characterof man.
How frequently does he depict it with graphic force! How often does he
denounce it with firm energy! “Idleness,” says Colton, “is the grand pacific
oceanof life, and in that stagnantabyss, the most salutary things produce no
good, the most obnoxious no evil. Vice, indeed, abstractedlyconsidered, may
be, and often is, engenderedin idleness;but the moment it becomes
sufficiently vice, it must quit its cradle, and cease to be idle.” Two of the evils
connectedwith indolence are suggestedin the text.

I. It creates false excuses.“There is a lion without.” “The lion in the streets” is
a fiction of his own lazy brain. The slothful man is everacting thus--
1. In the secularsphere. Is he a farmer? He neglects the cultivation of his
fields, because the weatheris too cold or too hot, too cloudy, too dry or too
wet. Is he a tradesman? He finds imaginary excuses in the condition of the
market. Commodities are too high or too low. Is he an artizan? He finds
difficulties in the place, the tools, or the materials. The industrious farmer
finds no difficulties in the weather.
2. In the spiritual sphere. When the unregenerate man is urged to the
renunciation of his own principles and habits, and the adoption of new spirit
and methods, slothfulness urges him to make imaginary excuses. Sometimes
he pleads the decrees ofGod, sometimes the greatness ofhis sins, sometimes
the inconvenience of the season--toosoonortoo late.
II. It creates unmanly excuses, The very excuse he pleads, though imaginary,
if true would be a strong reasonfor immediate action. “A lion in the streets!
“Why, if he had a spark of manhood in him, a bit of the stuff that makes
heroes, he should rouse every power. There is no heroism in the heart of
indolence. To true souls difficulties are a challenge, nota check to action. (D.
Thomas, D.D.)
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
"The sluggardsaith, There is a lion in the way; I shall be slain in the streets."
"The lazy will claim that there is a lion in the wayto keepfrom going to work.
They will use any excuse, no matter how unlikely or unbelievable, to keep
from carrying their share of the load."[17]
Illustration: This writer and his wife once aided an able-bodied bum by
getting him a job; much to our surprise he turned it down, saying, "Reverend,
you just don't understand what a kind-hearted man I am. If I took that job, I

would meet somebody tomorrow who needs it worse than I do, and I would
give it to him!"
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
The slothful man saith, there is a lion without,.... Or, "in the street". This he
says within himself; or to those who call out to him, and put him on doing the
business of his proper calling, whether in the field or elsewhere,which,
through his slothfulness, he has a disinclination to; and therefore frames
excuses, andsuggests this and that difficulty or danger in the way, expressed
by a "lion without"; and which shows the folly and weakness ofhis excuses,
since lions do not usually walk in cities, towns, and villages, and in the streets
of them, but in woods and mountains;
I shall be slain in the streets;by the lion there; or I shall never be able to get
over the difficulties, and through the dangers, which attending to business will
expose me to. Some apply this to the difficulties that slothful persons imagine
in the learning of languages, arts, and sciences;as Jarchiapplies it to the
learning of the law.
Keil & DelitzschCommentary on the Old Testament
13 The sluggardsaith, “A lion is without,
I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.”
Otherwise rendered, Proverbs 26:13. There, as here, the perf. ‫רמא‬ has the
meaning of an abstractpresent, Gesen. §126.3. The activity of the industrious
has its nearestsphere at home; but here a work is supposedwhich requires
him to go forth (Psalms 104:3) into the field (Proverbs 24:27). Therefore ‫ץּוח‬
stands first, a word of wide signification, which here denotes the open country
outside the city, where the sluggardfears to meet a lion, as in the streets, i.e. ,
the rows of houses forming them, to meet a (‫ץ‬ ‫מר‬ ) ‫ץ‬ ‫,ר‬ i.e. , a murder from
motives of robbery of revenge. This strong word, properly to destroy, crush,
Arab. raḍkh , is intentionally chosen:there is designedto be setforth the
ridiculous hyperbolical pretence which the sluggardseeks forhis slothfulness

(Fleischer). Luther right well: “I might be murdered on the streets.” Butthere
is intentionally the absence of ‫אּוּוא‬ [perhaps] and of ‫ןּפ‬ [lest]. Meîri here quotes
a passageofthe moralists:‫אתפוממ‬ ‫עה‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫האובנה‬ (prophesying) belongs to the
evidences of the sluggard; and Euchel, the proverb ‫עה‬ ‫םאּו‬ ‫םאאבנתמ‬ (the
sluggard's prophecy), i.e. , the sluggard acts like a prophet, that he may
palliate his slothfulness.
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible
Note, 1. Those that have no love for their business will never want excuses to
shake it off. Multitudes are ruined, both for soul and body, by their
slothfulness, and yet still they have something or other to say for themselves,
so ingenious are men in putting a cheatupon their own souls. And who, I
pray, will be the gainer at last, when the pretences will be all rejectedas vain
and frivolous? 2. Many frighten themselves from real duties by imaginary
difficulties: The slothful man has work to do without in the fields, but he
fancies there is a lion there; nay, he pretends he dares not go along the streets
for fearsomebody or other should meet him and kill him. He does not himself
think so; he only says so to those that call him up. He talks of a lion without,
but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion, which is in
bed with him, and from his ownslothfulness, which kills him.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible
The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger
from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which
kills him.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
Proverbs 22:13 The slothful [man] saith, [There is] a lion without, I shall be
slain in the streets.

Ver. 13. The slothful man saith, There is a lion, &c.]‘The lion is not so fierce
as is painted,’ saith the Spanish proverb; much less this sluggard’s lion, a
mere fiction of his own brain to coverand colourover his idleness. He
pretends two lions for failing; first, Leo est foris, There is a lion abroad, or in
the field, where his work lies, [Psalms 104:23]and another in the streets; - a
likely matter; lions haunt not in streets, but in woods and wildernesses. Here
is no talk of Satan, "that roaring lion," that lies couchantin the sluggard’s
bed with him, and prompts him to these senseless excuses.Noryet of the "lion
of the tribe of Judah," who will one day send out summons for sleepers, and
tearing the very caul of their hearts in sunder, send them packing to their
place in hell. [Matthew 10:28] But to hell never came any yet that had not
some pretence for their coming thither. The flesh never wants excuses.
Corrupt nature needs not be taught to tell her own tale. Sin and shifting came
into the world together;and as there is no woolso coarse but will take some
colour: so no sin so gross but admits of a defence. Sin and Satanare alike in
this, they cannot abide to appear in their own likeness. Some dealwith their
souls as others deal with their bodies;when their beauty is decayed, they
desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses,and from others by painting;
so their sins from themselves by false glosses, andfrom others by idle excuses.
The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann
v. 13. The slothful man saith, eagerlymaking use of every shadow of an excuse
to abstain from work, senselessthough it may be, There is a lion without, I
shall be slain in the streets, so he prefers not to take any chances, but
continues to indulge his laziness.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible

Saith, allegethas his excuse to them who upbraid him with idleness, or
persuade him to diligence,
There is a lion without; there are extreme dangers and invincible difficulties
in my way.
I shall be slain, by that lion, or some other way.
In the streets;which is added to show the ridiculousness of his excuse;for
lions abide in the woods or fields, not in the streets of towns or cities.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
13. There is a lion without — The plain meaning of this is, that an indolent
man will make all manner of excuses for not doing his duty; will raise
difficulties out of his own fancy when there are none, and render himself
ridiculous by his absurd apprehensions.
JosephBenson's Commentaryof the Old and New Testaments
Proverbs 22:13. The slothful man saith — Alleges as his excuse to them who
upbraid him with idleness, or persuade him to diligence;There is a lion
without — There are extreme dangers and invincible difficulties in my way; I
shall be slain — By that lion, or some other way; in the streets — This is
added to show the ridiculousness of his excuse;for lions abide in the woods, or
fields, not in the streets of towns or cities.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
The slothful (man) saith, (Their is) a lion without - inventing imaginary
dangers to excuse his indolence in staying at home, instead of going forth into
active business.
In the streets - indicating the silliness of his excuse. Lions do not roam at large
"in the streets," but in wild forests.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(13) The slothful man saith, There is a lion without . . .—No excuses are too
absurd for him, he fears to meet a lion in the open country, or, he might be
murdered in the streets.
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
The slothful
That is, the slothful man uses any pretext, howeverimprobable, to indulge his
love of ease and indolence.
15:19;26:13-16;Numbers 13:32,33
Preacher's Complete HomileticalCommentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro
AN ACTIVE IMAGINATION
I. Inactivity of will may cause a too greatactivity of the imagination. Man is
made for action, and if he refuses to employ his powers in doing some useful
and real work, it is probable that he will put forth some morbid effort in
another direction. If his limbs are not at work, his mind will probably be
active, and if he does not occupyit with objects which are worthy, it will be
filled with thoughts that are sinful, and imaginations that are false. It will be
especiallyapt to invent excuses forsloth, by magnifying the difficulties which
stand in the way of effort. Every obstacle will be magnified into an
insurmountable hindrance, and little risks will be lookedat through a medium

which will make them look like dangers to be avoided at any sacrifice of duty.
The wish is often father to the thought, and the slothful man welcomes and
nurses the deception which is born of his own indolence. And the sluggard is
an easyprey also to the suggestions ofthe tempter, who will not be slow to do
what he can to inflame the imagination and distort the judgment.
II. The sluggardrightly apprehends danger, but mistakes the source whence it
will come. There is a devouring enemy which will slay him if he do not take
care, but it is not without him, but within him. He has a foe who endangers his
life, but that foe is his own sloth; or, as we saw on chap. Pro , his own
unsatisfied desire. While his eyes are turned on the highway, and he is seeking
to avoid the lion which he fancies is there, he is nursing in his bosom the
indolence which will be his ruin. He has more to fearfrom himself than from
the most terrible manslayer that ever crossedthe path of any human being.
But it is with him as with slaves to other forms of sin—he is ready to lay the
blame of his disobedience to God's commands anywhere, rather than upon his
own unwillingness to comply with them.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
"Saith," really a preterite. These proverbs have usually the future. The future
is a present continuing forward. Here we have a present tracing itself
backward. The impenitent have always beensaying the same thing. Age has
not changed. Menhave stuck to it for near a century.… "There is a lion" at
the mercy-seat. So that the minister quits answering the sluggard's cavils, and
tells eachman plainly—"These cries are symptomatic." There is no lion in the
case. And a heart that will shape these phantoms would shape others, if these
were laid. The difficulty is sloth. In truth, there is a "lion," but it is a bad
heart, crouching againstitself, and lurking to destroy the poor unwary
sinner.—Miller.
This is a very odd excuse for his laziness. Lions are seldom found in the fields
in the day time, and it is a very extraordinary thing if they be found in the
streets. Does the sluggardhimself believe there is any truth in it? If he does,
why does he sleepin his house, since it is possible that it may be set on fire by
some accidentin the night? Why does he ever take a meal, for some have been

chokedby the bread which they put into their mouths? When we are
employed in the duties of our calling, we need not vex ourselves with the
apprehension of lions. "I will give mine angels charge overthee," says God,
"and they shall keepthee in all thy ways." Thou shalt tread upon the lion and
adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet. But
let the sluggardremember that there is a lion in that bed where he dozes away
his time, and in that chamber where he sits folding his arms together. The
devil goes aboutlike a roaring lion seeking whomhe may devour, and he
rejoices greatlywhen he lights upon a sluggard, for he looks upon him to be a
sure prey. We are safe from the lions in the way of duty, and never safe when
we avoid it. Lions, when they met David feeding his sheep, were torn in pieces
by him like kids. A lion unexpectedly came upon that young man of the sons
of prophets, who declined his duty when he was commanded to smite his
neighbour, and rent him in pieces.—Lawson.
Here is no talk of Satan, "that roaring lion" that lies couchant in the
sluggard's bed with him, and prompts him to these senselessexcuses. Noryet
of the "Lion of the tribe of Judah," who will one day send out summonses for
sleepers, andtearing the very caulof their hearts asunder send them packing
to their place in hell. But to hell never came any as yet that had not some
pretence for their coming hither. The flesh never wants excuses, andneeds not
to be taught to tell her owntale. Sin and shifting came into the world together;
and as there is no woolso coarse but will take some colour, so no sin so gross
but admits of a defence. Sin and Satan are alike in this, they cannot abide to
appear in their own likeness.—Trapp.
The tongue is seldomslothful, even in the slothful man himself. That will
bestir itself to find excuses, and to plead pretences for the defence of sloth.
That will be diligent to allege reasons thatthe sluggardmay be negligent.… If
the lion had been within, if the courage and nobleness ofthe lion had been in
the sluggard's heart, he would never have talked of a lion without. No, it was
the coldsnail that was within; and unless the slothful man's house may be
removed with him, he will not stir to go out of it. Thus he that feareth to be
slain, without cause, delightethto be slain by his ownlaziness.—Jermin.
END OF STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES

Lazy people always have excuses!They see difficulty in any job. They
arrogantly rejectgoodexplanations of successfulmen that a task canbe done
(Pr 26:16). They are lazy, and they use their conceited minds to convince
themselves and others to avoid the work.
Challenges are opportunities! They mean the lazy will not be competing, so
there is more for you. They mean the wages orprofit will be more. They mean
the honor for finishing will be higher. They mean the skill and experience
acquired will be greater. Considerit!
Difficulties are challenges to the diligent, but excuses to the slothful. Adversity
means a little more effort to the diligent, but it quickly defeats the slothful.
Any difficulty is enough for him to cancelhis plans and quit, for the lion in the
streets might slay him!
He wants the goodthings of life, but his hands refuse to labor (Pr 19:24;
21:25), so he makes up ridiculous excuses to justify himself. He prefers his bed
or toys (Pr 6:9-10). He dreads the thought of exertion, persistence,orpain.
Though he and all wise men know that lions prefer the hills and woods, he
makes up preposterous pretenses to avoid work.
These are the words of a lazy person. He knows the city streets are not this
bad, but he uses his wild excuse to justify himself to others. The excuses lazy
people use are Legion. As long as sluggards exist, lions and other dangerous
beasts will roam cities and threaten lives! Such excuses are so common, the
LORD left a twin for this proverb (Pr 26:13)!

Sevensuccessfulmen might prove there is no lion, but a man that hates work
will still argue that there is danger (Pr 26:16). He has convinced himself of
difficulty in order to keepfrom making an effort; the sound reasoning of
diligent men is easilybrushed aside! Lazy men canexplain awaytheir
responsibilities with a thousand ridiculous excuses.
His lazy lie may be self-fulfilling, for the slothful have a rough time with easy
projects (Pr 15:19). The more a slothful man considers the difficulty of a job,
the more difficult it will be. His half-hearted efforts make anthills seemlike
mountains! He claims fear of the lion, but forgets that men are the masters of
lions and may hunt them for mere sport.
It has been said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. These words
did not originate with a lazy man, for tough going is his reasonto quit and
look for easierwork. Diligent men believe and practice them, and they find
greatreward in their own souls and from one another for their zealous and
persistentefforts in business (Pr 14:14;22:29).
Procrastinationand hypochondria are sins. They are excuses ofcowardly and
lazy men (Rom 12:11). Ask a lazy man why he is not happy, and he will fill
your ears with his aches and pains. You would think Job exists in every
generation!Ask a lazy man why he did not finish the job today, and he will fill
your ears with how tomorrow is better and a sure thing. The problem is, he
will saysimilar things tomorrow about the next day!
Distractionis a sin. If you have a job or business, diligence is God’s order
(Rom 12:11). Faithfulness is a virtue (Pr 13:17;25:13; 28:20). It is your God-
given duty to apply effort as wisely as possible to make the most possible. In
America, is your annual salaryor net profit twice your age? It is an indicator.
If you are behind, why? What has you distracted?

Derelictionis a sin. If you have a diligent and faithful spouse, that does not
relieve you at all of your duties before God, unless it is by full mutual
agreementafter consulting with God’s word and wise counselors.Getup and
get out – there is no lion! But the Lion of the tribe of Judah will stalk slothful
men, for only diligent producers are in His kingdom.
What is the cure for fear and sloth? Get out in the street!Charge your duties
with zeal! It will amaze you how empty the streets are of opposition, when you
face them head on. The morning is only dark and cold while you cuddle in a
warm bed with the light off. Getout of bed and turn the light on, and you will
be surprised that things are better already!
Ten fearful and slothful spies forgot God’s greatworks in saving them from
Egypt and told Israelthat Canaanwould be too difficult for them to take
(Num 13:26-33). Insteadof the lion in the streets, they used the giants and
grasshoppers excuse. “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which
come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,and so we
were in their sight” (Num 13:33). Poorboys! They died like dogs in the
wilderness for their lack of faith and diligence to take the promise land!
Jesus gave varied funds to three men (Matt 25:14-30). Two investedtheirs and
earned a nice return and the high praise of their Lord. The other was a
slothful loser, who buried his talent in the ground, out of intimidation and
slothfulness. His excuse was that his Lord was too severe in His expectations.
Poorboy! His talent was takenawayand given to the man with ten. The rich
get richer, and the poor getpoorer in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has called you to carry your cross daily (Luke 9:23). How will
you respond? Will you dread the effort and shrink from your professioninto

carnalbacksliding (Phil 3:18-19;Heb 10:38-39)? Or will you count up the cost
and labor to pay it in full for the glory of your beloved paymaster (Luke
14:25-33)? Will you take it up today, reader?
If you see a lion in the way of either natural or spiritual projects, remember
His precious promise, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young
lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (Ps 91:13). Let it never be
said of you, “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows,
turned back in the day of battle” (Ps 78:9).
When it comes to spiritual duties and pleasing God in heaven, there is indeed
a lion in the streets that seeksto devour you – the devil himself (I Pet 5:8). But
if you will resisthim, he will flee from you (Jas 4:7). If you will getout of bed
and take the whole armor of God that He has provided, you can stand against
his wiles (Eph 6:10-18;5:14-16;4:27).
The promises of God are obtained by the zealous, not the slothful (Heb 6:9-
12). Jesus obtained His crown by facing and enduring the lion in several
encounters (Ps 22:11-21;Matt 4:1-11;Heb 12:1-3). Rejoice,reader, that Jesus
did not hide from the lion without, or you would die in your sins. ConsiderHis
holy example and follow it in all your duties!
http://www.letgodbetrue.com/proverbs/commentaries/22_13.php
JOHN MACARTHUR
Here are twenty practicalprinciples from Proverbs to motivate you to work
hard and avoid laziness. After you read through these principles, take the

time to go back through and look up the origin of eachprinciple in the book of
Proverbs.
1. Remember, working hard is first a mindset (and so is laziness). [Proverbs
10:5; 15:19; 22:13;26:13, 16]
2. Working hard and staying on task is a matter of self-control. [Proverbs
16:32b; 25:28]
3. Getup early. Try to stand up right when the alarm clock goes off.
[Proverbs 20:13; 24:30-34;26:14; 31:15]
4. Do hard jobs first and easierjobs second;then you can have fun. [Proverbs
22:29;21:20; 24:27]
5. Love what you do as a vocation, regardless ofwhat it is. Ask God to grant
His blessing and favor in your work (cf. the accountof Josephin Genesis 39).
[Proverbs 12:11, 14b; 28:19]
6. Don’t try to make money by deceitor fraud. If you do, God will punish
you, sooneror later. [Proverbs 3:9-10; 10:2; 11:18; 15:27;16:8; 20:14; 28:8,
20]
7. Be honest with your employer about how much you work. If you’re lazily
collecting a paycheck, that’s stealing. [Proverbs 14:23;20:17; 22:16;30:8-9]
8. Don’t work so much, however, that you need to re-introduce yourself to
your family. Strive for a healthy balance betweenyour work and your family
life. [Proverbs 13:11, 25;15:16-17;23:4-5;24:3-4]
9. If you travel too much (according to your wife’s/family’s honest, loving
assessment), seekto curb your travel, if possible. Perhaps anotherposition
would provide greaterharmony in your home. [Proverbs 11:29;15:22, 32;
18:15, 22;19:20; 21:16]
10. If your wife is regularly wondering how the bills are going to be paid, and
you’re not taking initiative to lead, confess yourfailure in leadership and take
control of your family finances. [Proverbs 16:26;19:14; 21:5; 26:15]

11. Treatyour work (house cleaning, schoolwork, orwhatever it is) as though
you will reap a harvest from your labors. [Proverbs 20:4; 27:18, 23-27]
12. Don’t work only in order to receive. Rather, find satisfactionin simply
doing goodwork for God and men. [Proverbs 3:27-28;12:26;21:25-26;24:21-
22; 25:21-22]
13. Lazy people often assume that others owe them a handout (whether
they’ve workedhard or not). Don’t fall into an entitlement mentality.
[Proverbs 13:4]
14. When you are askedto serve in some way, don’t attempt to take the path
of leastresistance (becauseoflaziness). [Proverbs 10:26; 19:15]
15. Considerhow much more would be accomplishedfor the kingdom of
Christ if you workedas hard in ministry as you do for a paycheck. [Proverbs
18:9]
16. Considerhow your employer would evaluate you if his assessmentwas
basedon your work ethic in ministry. (Would you be fired?) [Proverbs 21:2]
17. If you are a lazy person, or if you tend towardlaziness in certainareas of
your life, confess your sin to God. Whether at home, at work, or in ministry,
admit to God that you haven’t been working as hard as you should (He knows
already)HeH, and ask Him to cleanse youfrom sin. [Proverbs 28:13]
18. Abandoning laziness and growing in diligence means you must be
controlled by the Holy Spirit. Here are some practicalsteps you can take:
[Proverbs 12:24, 27; 31:27]
a. Ask the Spirit to make you a hard workerfor God.
b. Read, re-read, and even memorize the proverbs that pertain to both
laziness and work.
c. Trust God to overcome any bad habits you’ve developed regarding work
and diligence.
d. When you are tempted to be lazy, seek the Spirit’s help in prayer and
remind yourself what the Word of God teaches.

19. Show how the Proverbs on diligence and laziness are important by reading
them to your family and then applying the biblical principles. Discuss with
your family how you can hold one another accountable to be diligent workers
for Godand men. [Proverbs 1:8; 2:1-2; 3:1-2; 4:1-2, 10-11, 20;5:1-2; 6:20;
7:1-3; 8:32-36;22:17-21;23:15-25]
20. Ask God to give you opportunities to become a hard worker, and then look
for Him to answerin every realm of your life (home, work, school, ministry,
etc.). [Proverbs 6:6-11;24:30-34]
GOTQUESTIONS.ORG
uestion: "What is a sluggard? What does Proverbs teachabout sluggards?"
Answer: A sluggardis someone who is habitually lazy or inactive. Such a
person does not take personalresponsibility for his own life. The word
sluggardis used 14 times in the book of Proverbs. In eachcase, the Bible
condemns laziness and warns of the consequencesofbeing a sluggard.
Proverbs 6:9 asks two rhetoricalquestions, highlighting one of the main traits
of a sluggard: “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? / When will you get
up from your sleep?” Verse 6 tells the sluggardto learn a lessonfrom an
industrious insect: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; / consider its ways and be
wise!”
Proverbs 10:26 says, “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, / so are
sluggards to those who send them.” A sluggardis painful as an employee;no
boss wants an inefficient sluggardin his employ.

Proverbs 13:4 states, “A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, / but the desires of
the diligent are fully satisfied.” In this antithetical proverb, the sluggardis
contrastedwith the diligent. The lazy person has unfulfilled desires precisely
because he fails to take action.
Proverbs 19:24 uses humor to make its point about laziness:“A sluggard
buries his hand in the dish; / he will not even bring it back to his mouth!”
Being too sluggishto lift a fork to the mouth—that’s true laziness!
Proverbs 20:4 says, “Sluggards do not plow in season;/ so at harvest time they
look but find nothing.” Because the sluggarddoes not work hard or plan
ahead, he does not have what he needs to live. Sluggards seemnot to
understand the law of sowing and reaping, since they expect the benefits of
labor without actually having labored.
Proverbs 21:25 repeats the theme of laziness leading to lack:“The craving of a
sluggardwill be the death of him, / because his hands refuse to work.”
Proverbs 22:13 paints a humorous picture of a sluggard’s excuse-making:
“The sluggardsays, ‘There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public
square!’” This extreme excuse would be like a person today saying, “There
could be a wild bear loose onthe highway, so I had better not go to work.” For
most people, the possibility of a rampaging bearis so remote as to be
laughable—andit’s certainly no reasonto skip work.
Proverbs 26:14 uses emblematic parallelism to again mock the sluggard’s love
of sleep: “As the door turns on its hinges, / So does the sluggardon his bed.”
The next two verses complete the picture of the slothful person: “The sluggard

buries his hand in the dish; / He is wearyof bringing it to his mouth again. /
The sluggardis wiserin his own eyes / Than sevenmen who can give a
discreetanswer.” Ofnote is the sluggard’s high opinion of himself: he thinks
he is smart not to work;it doesn’t matter how many reasonable arguments
are brought againsthim, he persists in his conceitthat he is a wise man.
A sluggardis a person who has the ability to work but refuses to. He lacks the
drive, personalresponsibility, and common sense to provide for his needs. He
likes sleepand dislikes work. Sluggards are calledto action, to work hard to
honor God with their lives. “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2
Thessalonians 3:10).
Proverbs - Be a Wise Guy for God Hard Work vs. Laziness Week 6
Copyright © 2009 www.biblestoriesforadults.com. Use ofthis material is
provided free of charge for use in personalor group Bible Study, no
permission needed. The author reserves allrights for use in published
material or in uses where fees are involved (contact
kurt@biblestoriesforadults.com).
The sluggardcraves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully
satisfied. Proverbs 13:4
Welcome

Opening Prayer Class Topics Week 1 Purposes ofProverbs Week 2 The
Simple, the Mockerand the Fool Week 3 God and Man Week 4 All in the
Family Week 5 Win Friends and Influence People Week 6 Hard Work
Versus Laziness
Win Friends and Influence People - Review
Some people try to make friends with money, gifts, bribes and flattery Such
friends are unreliable and leave when riches dry up True friend from God
sticks closerthan a brother
Friends to avoid are talkers, tempers, stingy, fools, drunkards, gluttons Poor
friends: pride, temper, gossip, violent, selfish, unfaithful, unsympathetic,
deceitful, quarrelsome
Goodfriends are trustworthy, encouraging, forgiving, loving, cheerful,
patient, peaceful, gracious, counseling, helpful in trouble Friendship
requires maintenance; Good friends correcteachother
A goodreputation is valuable and comes from love and faithfulness Enemies
can become friends when we are right with God
The Sluggard

What is the cause and the effectof the life of the sluggard? Proverbs 24:30-
34 = Lacks judgment to know that too much rest (laziness)leads to poverty
What is a big part of the sluggard's problem? Proverbs 6:9 = Sleeps a lot,
Won’t getout of bed when it’s time Proverbs 19:15 = Deepsleep Proverbs
26:14 = Too much time in bed What are some other problems of the
sluggard? Proverbs 22:13 = Creates excusesto avoid work Proverbs 26:15
= Doesn’tfollow through and complete what he starts Proverbs 26:12, 16 =
Wise in his own eyes
Why is the sluggard's way of life so frustrating? Proverbs 20:4 = Too lazy
to work when neededto prepare for the future Proverbs 21:25-26 = Wants
more but is too lazy to work to do anything about it Proverbs 15:19 = Too
lazy to remove the obstacles andtroubles in his life How damaging is the
sluggard’s way of life? Proverbs 18:9 = As bad as one who is violent and
destructive How does the sluggardaffecthis employer? Proverbs 10:26 =
Frustrating and irritating when trying to get productive work out of him
Proverbs - Be a Wise Guy for God Hard Work vs. Laziness Page 2
You can find this Study on the Book of Proverbs on the web at
www.biblestoriesforadults.com/Proverbs
The Sluggardand Others
What simple and common example should the sluggardlook to? Proverbs
6:6-9 = the ant is naturally industrious, disciplined & productive without
prodding Other than laziness, what else leads to poverty? Proverbs 20:17
(21:16) = Fraud - Deceit Proverbs 21:17 = Too much pleasure and

partying Proverbs 21:20 = Over-indulgent, Lives beyond means Proverbs
23:21 = Drunkards and gluttons Proverbs 28:20, 22 = Too eagerto get
rich Proverbs 13:11 (20:21) = Quick riches
The Diligent Worker
Compare the sluggardwith the diligent worker Proverbs 10:4 = Lazy
hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth Proverbs 10:5 = A
wise son helps when work is needed, a disgracefulsondoesn’t Proverbs 12:24
= Hard workers become leaders while lazy workers become slaves Proverbs
12:27 = Lazy man rushes to use up what he has, diligent man consumes
carefully Proverbs 13:4 = The sluggardcraves and gets nothing, but the
desires of the diligent are satisfied Proverbs 14:23 = Hard work brings a
profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty Proverbs 20:13 = Too much sleep
makes one poor, staying awakemakes one prosperous Proverbs 21:5 = The
plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty
Proverbs 22:29 = Skilled workers are desiredby top leaders, poor workers
get poor leaders Proverbs 28:19 = He who works gets abundance, he who
chases fantasiesgets abundant poverty
What is one motivator for the diligent worker? Proverbs 16:26 = Needs of
life drive people to work hard What does Solomonsayabout overworking?
Proverbs 23:4-5 = Do not wear yourself out to get rich, riches don’t lastlong
Keeping Priorities Straight

What comparisons are given to help us with our priorities? Proverbs 15:16
= Bettera little with the fear of the Lord than greatwealthwith turmoil
Proverbs 15:17 = Better a meagermealwith love than a smorgasbordwith
hatred Proverbs 16:8 = Bettera little with righteousness than much gain
with injustice Proverbs 17:1 = Bettera dry crust with peace and quiet than
a house full of feasting, with strife Proverbs 28:6 = Betterpoor and
blameless than rich and perverse Proverbs 12:9 = Betterto be unknown
with needs met than famous with nothing
What is the dangerin pretending to be something you are not? Proverbs
13:7 (14:8) = Doing so is foolishness and does not leadto success How might
poverty be a blessing in disguise? Proverbs 13:8 = Riches candestroy one’s
life or lead to threats and danger from others Why shouldn't the pursuit of
wealth be our top priority? Proverbs 11:4 = Wealthis worthless in the day
of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death Proverbs 11:28 = Whoever
trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive What prayer should
we keepin mind as we setour priorities? Proverbs 30:7-9 = Give me neither
poverty nor riches or I may disown or dishonor You
Prosperity
Where does prosperity come from? Proverbs 10:22 = The blessing of the
Lord brings wealthwithout troubles of ill-gotten gain (10:2) How is wisdom
related to prosperity? Proverbs 8:12, 18-21 = Wisdom lives with prudence,

riches, honor, wealth, prosperity What does Solomonsay about saving
money? Proverbs 13:11 = He who gathers money little by little makes it
grow What does Solomonsay about borrowing money? Proverbs 22:7 =
The borroweris servant to the lender Proverbs 22:26-27 = Don’t borrow or
you could lose everything if you can’t pay Proverbs 6:1-5 = If you’ve
acceptedsomeone else’s debt, try to free yourself from it
The Poor
How are we to deal with the poor and needy? Proverbs 14:31 = Oppressors
of the poor hate God, whoeveris kind to the needy honors God Proverbs
29:7 = The righteous care about justice for the poor, the wickedhave no such
concern Proverbs 31:8-9 = Speak up for those who cannot … defend the
rights of the poor and needy How will God treat us if we give to the poor?
Proverbs 11:24-25 = A generous man will prosper Proverbs 19:17 = Giving
to the poor is like lending to the Lord and He rewards the giver Proverbs
22:9 = A generous man will himself be blessed How will God treat us if we
ignore the poor? Proverbs 21:13 = If we ignore the cry of the poor, God will
ignore our cry Proverbs 28:27 = He who closeshis eyes to them receives
many curses How are the rich and poor similar? Proverbs 22:2 = The Lord
is Makerof them all
Modern Parable Match-up
a. Easycome, easygo. 1. Proverbs 10:15 b. Ask a silly question, get a silly
answer. 2. Proverbs 20:13 c. Haste makes waste.3. Proverbs 19:2 d. Two
heads are better than one. 4. Proverbs 13:11 e. Sticks and stones may break

my bones, 5. Proverbs 26:4-5 but words can never hurt me. f. Early to
bed and early to rise 6. Proverbs 27:17 makes a man healthy, wealthy and
wise. g. Moneytalks. 7. Proverbs 27:10 h. A friend in need is a friend
indeed. 8. Proverbs 26:2 = a4, b5, c3, d6, e8, f2, g1, h7
Proverbial Quiz (page 4) = Go over answers
Closing Prayer
Proverbial Quiz
1. Matchthe two Bible Proverb halves in eachgrouping:
1. As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, a. considerits ways and be
wise! (6:6) 2. Lazy hands make a man poor, but b. so is a sluggard to those
who send him. (10:26) 3. Go to the ant, you sluggard; c. diligent hands bring

wealth. (10:4) 4. Hard work brings a profit, but d. mere talk leads only to
poverty. (14:23) = 1b, 2c, 3a, 4d
5. Forlack of guidance a nation falls, but e. fix your gaze directly before you.
(4:25) 6. Plans fail for lack of counsel, but f. many advisers make victory sure.
(11:14) 7. Let your eyes look straightahead, g. with many advisers they
succeed. (15:22)= 5f, 6g, 7e
8. Do not wear yourself out to get rich; h. the righteous will thrive like a green
leaf. (11:28) 9. Whoevertrusts in his riches will fall, but i. another pretends
to be poor, yet has great wealth. (13:7) 10. One man pretends to be rich, yet
has nothing; j. he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. (13:11)11.
Dishonestmoney dwindles away, but k. have the wisdom to show restraint.
(23:4) = 8k, 9h, 10i, 11j
2. Fill in the blanks of these English proverbs:
A rolling stone gathers no moss A stitch in time saves nine A watchedpot
never boils A woman's work is never done Actions speak louder than words
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy Beggarscan'tbe choosers Don't
change horses in midstream Don't count your chickens before they are
hatched Don't put the cart before the horse

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
Enough is enough Every man has his price Failing to plan is planning to fail
First things first Hard work never did anyone any harm Haste makes waste If
a job is worth doing it is worth doing well If at first you don't succeedtry, try
and try again If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen
Money doesn'tgrow on trees Money makes the world go round Necessityis
the mother of invention Neverput off until tomorrow what you cando today
Nothing is certain but death and taxes
Powercorrupts; absolute powercorrupts absolutelyPractice makes perfect
Put your best footforward Rome wasn'tbuilt in a day Speak softly and carry
a big stick
Strike while the iron is hot The early bird catches the worm The ends justify
the means The squeakywheelgets the greaseThere's more than one way to
skin a cat
There's no smoke without fire There's no such thing as a free lunch There's
no such thing as bad publicity To the victor go the spoils Too many cooksspoil
the broth Where there's a will there's a way
http://www.biblestoriesforadults.com/Proverbs/Proverbs-6N.pdf
One Lions: Two Lions: No Lion at All
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon Jun 8, 1882
Scripture: Proverbs 22:13

From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 28
One Lions: Two Lions: No Lion at All
“The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the
streets.”— Proverbs xxii. 13.
“The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.”—
Proverbs xxvi. 13.
THIS slothful man seems to cherishthat one dread of his about the lions as if
it were his favourite aversion, and he felt it to be too much trouble to invent
another excuse. Perhaps he hugs it to his soul all the more because it is a
home-born fear, conjured up by his own imagination; and as mothers are said
to love their weakestchildren best, so is he fondest of this most imbecile of
excuses:at any rate, it serves him for a passable excuse forlaziness, and that
is what he wants. If you can get the king of beasts to apologize for your
idleness there is a sort of royalty about your pretences:he hopes his sloth will
appear the less disgracefulif he can paint a lion rampant upon its shield.
I am not about to speak of slothful men in general, albeitthat when a man
does not diligently attend to his business he is committing greatwrong to
himself and to others. When a man is slothful as a servanthe is unjust to his
employers, and when he is in business on his own accountidleness is usually a
wrong to his wife and family. I know one who is the cause ofpoverty and want
to those whom he ought to provide for; and all because honestlabour and
himself have long since fallen out. He would not move an inch if he could help
it, nor even open his eyes if he could manage to live and sleepall his life away.
When a man is thoroughly eaten up with the dry rot of laziness he generally
finds some kind of excuse, though his crime is really inexcusable. “There is a
lion in the way,” and therefore the man judges it to be quite right that lie
should keephis bed, or that he should sit leisurely indoors and should not give

himself too much trouble or run any risks:but all this is a mere make-up to
screenhis loathsome vice. No Christian ought to be slothful in his ordinary
work:the apostle describes the goodman as “not slothful in business”— of
whateverkind that business may be. If you have a right to undertake it, if you
have a right to continue in it, you have no right to be a sluggard in it. There
should be as wide a division as between the poles betweenthe thought of a
Christian and the idea of a sluggard. “Whatsoeverye do, do it heartily.” An
idler is a disgrace to himself, and if he professes religionhe is a dishonour to
it. Paul would starve him, for he says, “If any would not work, neither should
he eat,” and that is as near starvationas well canbe. Popery may create and
fosterlazzaroni, but the true faith bids every man eat his own bread. I leave
worldly sluggards to the moralist: doth not nature itself teachus to labour
diligently? Man was not made for an idle life; labour is evidently his proper
condition. Even when man was perfect he was placedin the garden, not to
admire its flowers, but to keepit and to dress it. If he needed to work when he
was perfect, much more docs he require the discipline of labour now that he is
fallen. Lions or no lions,, men must work, or find disease and death in sloth.
But we have many spiritual sluggards, and it is to them that I speak. They
are not sceptics, they are not confirmed infidels, they are not opposers ofthe
gospel;perhaps their sluggishnature saves them from anything like energetic
opposition to goodness.Theyclaim that they are not averse to the gospel:on
the contrary, they are rather friendly to it, and one of these days they intend
to be obedient to its greatcommands, and to yield themselves as servants to
Christ; but not just yet, the goodtime has not fully arrived. They have a very
comfortable bed of sloth upon which they lie, and they do not want to rise in a
hurry and exert themselves too much. They want to take this matter very
leisurely and turn to Christ when it is quite convenient,— when it will not
require so much self-denial as at the present moment. “Yet a little sleep, a
little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,” is their continual cry; and
although God’s watchmendisturb them terribly, and cry aloud that they may
wake them, yet they sleepso heavily that they just turn over when they are
most disturbed and drop into their slumbers again. I want to cry aloud under
the window of such sleepers to-night with the hope that peradventure some of
them may be wakened. What meanestthou, O sleeper? Wilt thou sleepthy

soul away? Wilt thou lose heaven rather than bestir thyself? Wilt thou never
lift up thine eyes till hell’s torments are hopelesslyabout thee and within thee?
Our texts speak concerning the sluggard, and you first notice about him
that his tongue is not slothful:— “The slothful man saith.” The man who is
lazy all over is generally very busy with his tongue. “The slothful man saith,
There is a lion without.” In both texts the slothful man is representedas
having something to say, and I think that there are no people that have so
much to sayas those that have little to do. Where nothing is done much is
talkedabout. Their goodnessbegins and ends in mere lip service. They talk
about repentance, but they do not repent. They are willing to hear about faith,
and even to speak about it, but they do not believe. They extol zeal and
fervour, but they like to see these active graces ratherthan to feel them. They
will talk till midnight, but all ends in smoke. When you sit down to speak with
them about the reasonthat they have not given their hearts to Christ, they are
not at all short of reasons andapologies andexcuses. Indeed, a man must be
desperatelyhard pushed when he cannot make an excuse. If our first parents
made garments of fig-leaves, there is no fear that their descendants will fail to
make coverings of some kind or other; and so the slothful man with his ready
tongue declares thatthere is a lion in the way, and he shall be slain in the
streets. He is not idle with his mouth. He has a short hand, but a long tongue.
His imagination also is not idle. There were no lions in the streets. One does
not expectto find lions there. They may be in the desert; they may be in the
jungle; they may be in the forest;but who expects to find lions in the streets of
Jerusalemor the lanes of London? Laziness is a great lion-maker. He who
does little dreams much. His imagination could create not only a lion but a
whole menagerie of wild beasts;and if some mighty hunter could hunt down
all the lions that his imagination has let loose, he would soondistribute herds
more of the terrible animals, with wolves and bears and tigers to match. An
idler will never be short of difficulties as long as he has no heart for work. As
they say that any stick will do to beat a dog with, so any excuse will do to ruin
your soul with; for this man’s objection, after all, was not to lions in the way:
he objectedto the way itself, and he was glad to place a lion there, so that he
might be excusedfrom going into the street. He did not want to get to his
work, and therefore there was a lion in the way to obstruct him. The lion was

his friend. He had invented him on purpose to be the ally of his idleness. Yes,
men will have their tongues busy and their imaginations busy, even though
their hearts be idle and their hands are coveredover with idle dirt.
This man, using both his imagination and his tongue, gives me the
opportunity of saying that he took greatpains to escapefrom pains. He had to
use his inventive ability to get himself excusedfrom doing his duty. It is an old
proverb, that lazy people generallytake the most trouble, and so they do; and
when men are unwilling to come to Christ it is very wonderful what trouble
they will take to keepawayfrom him. Hear how they argue. Mark their
ingenuity in avoiding the narrow way. Oh, if they were to argue half as well
upon the question why they should be savedas they do upon the question why
they should not be saved, their logic would be put to a much more useful
purpose. When we have talkedwith them we have seenthem invent all kinds
of difficulties and doubts, disputes and dilemmas. They are ever ready with
hard doctrines, and texts that are hard to be understood. They seemas if they
rakedheaven and earth and hell to find reasons whythey should be lost, and
yet the only reasonthat they have for this is, that they do not want to give up
their sins; they do not want to give up their self-righteousness;they do not
want to come to Jesus and be washedin his blood, and owe everything to the
charity of God through the Redeemer. They cannotbe troubled with
repenting and so they leave that doleful business, as they call it. They do not
like to work out their own salvationwith fear and trembling, and so they
invent the lions. They do not care for faith, they do not delight in Christ; and
so they invent difficulties, and take a world of trouble to avoid trouble; storing
up for themselves hereaftera heap of misery in order to escapefrom the
blessednessofbeing found in Christ both now and at the last greatday.
Now, in dealing with sluggishness andits vain excuse, my divisions to-night
will be such that every child can take them home and recollectthem. The first
head will be a lion; the secondwill be two lions; and the third will be no lions
at all. Those three headings will surely abide in everybody’s memory, and
they are fairly derived from the two texts.
I. The first is “A LION. “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I
shall be slain in the streets.” Thatis to say, it is time for him to get to the

vineyard to work, but he does not getup, and he pretends that he is best in
bed, for there is a lion outside the door. Would you have him risk his precious
life, so valuable to himself, at any rate, if to nobody else? He turns over upon
his bed to sleep again;for this is far more comfortable than to be meeting a
lion, and falling a prey to his teeth.
He means, I think, that there is a greatdifficulty— a terrible difficulty,
quite too much of a difficulty for him to overcome. He has heard of lion-
tamers and lion-killers, but he is not one. He has not the strength and the
vigour to attack this dreadful enemy; he will even confess thathe has not
sufficient courage for such an encounter. The terrible difficulty which he
foreseesis more than he canface:it is a lion, and he is neither Samson, nor
David, nor Daniel, and therefore he had rather leave the monster alone. Are
there not many here who saymuch the same? “Oh,” they sayto the preacher,
“you do not know our position, or the peculiar circumstances andspecial
trials under which we labour. We would gladly be saved, but we cannotlive as
Christian men: our trade is a difficulty, our poverty is a difficulty, our want of
educationis a difficulty, and the whole put togethermake up an impossibility;
there is a lion in the way.”
Yes, I know, that is what your relative said many years ago, and as long as
there is any of your family left there always will be lions about: and you, being
a true descendantof the slothful one— to speak honestlyto you— can hear
the lion roar under your window just as your greatgrandfather’s grandfather
did in Solomon’s time. I am persuadedthat your sons and daughters, if they
have the same mind as you have— that is, a mind unwilling to come to
Christ— will hear the voice of the lions too; wonderful difficulties will be in
their way, as they are in yours. The ancient order of the Donomores and the
fruitful family of the Easys will keeptheir beds and their posts till the last
trump shall sound. Though the promise is, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet,” they
have no heart for the conflictand therefore never win a victory.
Yes, but in this sluggard’s case it was a very fierce lion. The Hebrew of the
secondtext implies that it was a mighty lion that was in the street. His
imagination pictured a very extraordinary monster, much largerthan usual.

And so, my dear friends, you have some difficulty much greaterthan anybody
else ever had; at least, you talk as if this were the case. True, the martyrs
swamthrough seas ofblood to win the crown; and thousands were burnt to
ashes atthe stake that they might be found faithful to Christ: but it would
seemfrom your talk that those lions were nothing comparedwith your lion,
which is of huge dimensions and extraordinary ferocity. What can this lion
be? Perhaps if I were to examine a little closelyit might come out that you are
a greatcoward, and the lion a wretchedcur not worth noticing. Your lion is a
mere mouse: where is your manliness to tremble at so insignificant a trial?
Perhaps you have an acquaintance who would be parted from you if you
became a Christian. Is this your lion? It is a very young one. Or else you are
following a bad trade, and a bad business, and you know that you would have
to give them up. Is this all? Your shop would have to be shut on Sunday,— is
this the secretof the matter? You know that the tricks that you now practise,
and that you find so profitable, you cannot practise if you become a Christian.
Perhaps that is your lion. I should not wonder, though you try to make others
believe that it is so terrible, that you really cannot tell what it is; and yet you
fondly dream that it quite excuses you for being what you are— an idle lie-
abed, sleeping when the light of the gospelis shining full in your face, and
declining to decide for Godand for Christ, though you know what the Lord
requires of you. I wish that Elijah were here to-night that he might cry, as he
did on Carmel, “If God be God, serve him. If Baalbe God, serve him. How
long halt ye betweentwo opinions?”
“Wake, ye sleepers, wake!What mean you?
Sin besets you round about,
Up and searchthe foes within you;
Slay or chase the traitor out.”
Still you halt, because this lion is such a terrible lion that there never was the
like of it. In all the woods, in all the forests, never was such a roaring beast as
this. So you say, if you are wide awake enoughto sayas much as that. I tell
you that you are trying to make yourself believe a lie, for your difficulties are
no greaterthan many of us have surmounted by God’s grace. Your difficulties

are not half as greatas were those of Paul, and of those who lived in his day,
who had to carry their lives in their hands, and seemedevery day given over
to death for Jesus Christ’s sake, and yet bravely followedtheir Lord’s will
notwithstanding all.
Observe, again, that this sluggardsaid that there was a lion without, and he
should be slain in the streets. It is rather a novel thing for people to be killed
by lions in the streets. It has not occurredwithin my recollection, and I do not
think that it is ever likely to occur;but still this man professedthat he
expectedto be slain in the streets. In an age of liberty like this he is afraid to
be a Christian because ofpersecution, for persecutionwould be the death of
him. Oh, dear! In a time like this, when to be honest, to be upright, is, for
certain, the best thing for this world as well as for the world to come, yet men
still tell us that they would lose by being Christians; it would ruin their
business, they could never make a living; they would be slain in the streets. If
you had lived in Madagascaryears ago, whento be a Christian involved your
being hurled down a precipice or being speared, I could see something in the
excuse;but in a land like this the persecutions whichare endured may be
bitter, and the losses whichare incurred may be heavy, but they are hardly
worth mentioning as compared with the sufferings of the first ages, Ireckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
sufferings of the past times, and much less with the glory that shall be
revealedin us. It will not do for you to talk so. It is idle talk; you do not
believe it yourself though you whine like a coward. “I shall be slain in the
streets.” If you were half a man you would never fearthe streets, orthink it at
all probable that a wild beast would pounce upon you there. And then look at
the base conclusion,— “There is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets,”
as if the lion would be sure to look for him if it did not meddle with anybody
else, as if he was the only man in the street, and not one among hundreds
equally in danger, if such danger there really were. The lion, for certain,
would kill him, he was quite sure of it; “I shall be slain in the streets.” This is
how sluggards talk, as if all the troubles and trials that ever fell upon men that
are decidedfor Christ would fall upon them; and whereas many of God’s
Daniels have lived in dens of lions and have been none the worse for it, they
cannot look to Daniel’s God, and they do not expect Daniel’s rescue. Theyare

sure that they shall be torn in pieces, though there be but one lion and that
lion in the streets, where there would be protection near and shelter at hand.
If I did meet a lion at all I should best like to meet his roaring majesty in the
streets, becausethere would probably be plenty of people at hand to help me.
This considerationputs the case in a most ridiculous light. “Slain in the
streets,” whenthere will be others there more courageous than himself who
will rush to the rescue. Now, look ye, you that talk about the difficulties of
being Christians. Are there no other Christians besides you? Will you be the
only believers? When you are converted to God will you be all alone? Will
there be none to help you? Is there no Christian brotherhood left among us?
Are there no advanced saints who will help you as a young man to struggle
againstyour doubts, and againstthe temptations that are in the way? Why,
you know that you will not be alone in the streets of the JerusalemofGod.
Once get into the city of God, which is his church, and you will be safe, for “no
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beastshall go up thereon, but the
redeemedof the Lord shall walk there”; and thus you shall be in the blessed
company. You shall be in the place of safety when once you getinto the streets
of the city of our God. Still, it is after such manner that idle people talk. They
imagine perils. Then are they in fear where no fear is, frightened at their own
shadows, troubled with imaginary ills.
The real lion after all is sluggishness itself, aversionto the things of God.
Oh, how many we have in the Tabernacle whomI have lookedto see coming
forward to profess their faith in Christ, but they have not come, and, for ail
that I cansee, they are just where they were ten, twelve, twenty years ago. The
real difficulty lies in this— that their heart is not right towards God. They
have not yet humbly acknowledgedtheir need of Jesus:it is too much trouble
to confess their sins. They have not yet acceptedthe Lord Jesus as God
presents him, as the propitiation for sin. Oh, if they were in earnestabout
these things,— if their hearts were really anxious to find Christ, they would
not see this lion in the way. I am quite sure that the monster would soon
disappear.
Dearfriends, one very common species oflion is the plea of many that they
cannot understand the way of salvation. Is that true? Then remember the text
of last Sunday morning— “If our gospelbe hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

in whom the god of this world hath blinded their minds.” It is an awful thing,
then, to say, “I cannot understand it,” for it proves that you are under the
powerof the devil. Another man says, “I cannotbelieve it.” That is an equally
dreadful thing to say. What is it? No. Who is it that you cannotbelieve? Can
you not believe God? Is he a liar? Remember how John puts it, and he is the
most loving of all spirits,— “He that believeth not hath made God a liar,
because he hath not believed on his Son.” It is a dreadful thing to say— “I
cannot believe,” whenGod, who cannot lie, is the object of the remark. If you
make such an observationto your fellow man you disgrace him; but if you say
it to God, oh, how you dishonour him! That excuse will not do. If Jesus speaks
the truth, why do you not believe him? The gospelis plain to the
understanding of those who wish to know the truth, and it carries such
evidence with it that it ought to be at once receivedwithout a cavil. Can you
deny this? Then where is your lion?
But says one, “If I did come to Christ, I am persuaded that after a little
while I should hill back.” Be not so sure of that. If you give your heart to
Christ, has he not promised to keepyou? Is it not written, “I give unto my
sheepeternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand”? Do you think that you are to keepyourself from falling? If
so, read this doxology, and try to sing it — “Now unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence with
exceeding joy,— unto him be glory both now and ever.”
“Oh,” says another, “but I know that a greatmany Christians are
hypocrites.” This is your lion, is it? Well, if there are so many hypocrites it is
time that there should be one honestman; and why should not you be that
one? Besides, whathave you to do to call God’s people hypocrites? You know
that they are not. “Oh, but,” you say, “they are full of faults: all of them are
false.” You do not dare saythat, do you? If they all were false, nobody would
want to be thought a Christian. How is it that a bad sovereignwill pass? Why,
because there are so many goodones, and because goodsovereigns are worth
having; and the reasonwhy a hypocrite passes through societyis because
there are so many genuine Christians to make him go down, and it is so gooda
thing to be a Christian. Instead of judging others, it is time that you satand
judged yourself, and that lion would soonbe dead.

“Yes, but I have tried,” says one. Oh that is your lion, is it? But how did
you try? You tried in your own strength, I ween; and we do not invite you to
do that any more, for your strength is perfect weakness. Hadyou committed
yourself to the keeping of Christ you would have another tale to tell and
another song to sing, for he is faithful, and he keeps those that are in his hand.
If that is your lion, Godgrant that you may never hear it roaragain. You are
not askedto save yourself, or keepyourself, but to submit yourself to the
grace ofGod, and surely that is able to keepyou unto the end.
I have this to say to you before I pass to my secondhead. If there is a lion
without, is there no lion within? That is to say, if you come to Christ and
perish, you will most surely perish if you do not come to him. If you live as you
are, what must become of you? If you die as you are, what must be your lot?
Without a Saviour to washyou from sin, and a Mediator to plead for you
before God, what must be your eternalportion? Why, it would be better to go
out among a thousand lions than to stay within and to perish in your sins. The
lion within doors in your case willcertainly destroyyou; therefore up and
away. Escape as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: that fowleris Satan and
his nets are the deceitfulness of sin.
And what if there be a lion without? Can you not fight it? If you ask the
Lord to go with you, can you not contend with the lion and destroy him, even
as David did? Saints of old have overcome through the blood of the Lamb.
None of those who are in heaven came there riding upon beds of ease, but—
“Theywrestled hard, as we do now,
With sins, and doubts, and fears.”
Do you expect to be carried into heaven on a golden palanquin? You will be
mightily mistaken. Did Jesus die on a cross, andare you to be crowned with
roses?
“Must I be carried to the skies
On flowerybeds of ease;
While others fought to win the prize,

And sail’d through bloody seas?”
No, my friend, there is no dainty road to glory. If you are afraid of difficulty
and self-denialyou judge yourself unworthy of the kingdom. Remember,
among the condemned, the fearful and unbelieving lead the van! Up, and slay
the lion, if lion there be, and it shall be your joy to find honey in his carcase
before long.
If you do not feel that you can contend with the enemy— and certainly you
cannot, without divine help— can you not cry for help? Our God hears and
answers prayer; why not cry to the strong One for deliverance? Your lion is in
the way. Shout, then, for a friend to come and help you; and within call there
stands One who is a wonderful lion-killer. There is the Son of David. Did he
not destroythe works of the devil when he was here? Still he shows himself
strong for the defence of all them that put their trust in him. Call to him, “My
Jesus, deliver me from the lion,” and he will be with you, and take the lion by
the beard and slay him. Therefore, sluggard, your excuses will not do. They
are brokenvessels that hold no water. God help you to be weary of them.
II. We leave our friend, the sluggard, for a little while in the twenty-second
chapter of Proverbs, and we turn on three or four pages, till we come to the
twenty-sixth chapter, at the thirteenth verse, and there we find the gentleman
again. The slothful man is still talking, and he says, “There is a lion in the
way; a lion is in the streets.” Is there any difference betweenthis verse and the
first one that I took for my text? Yes, I think there is this difference— that
there are TWO LIONS here instead of one.
He has waited because ofthat one lion, and now he fancies that there are
two lions. He has made a bad bargain of his delay. He saidthat he would have
a more convenient season, but where is it? It was inconvenient then because
there was a lion. Is it more convenient now? Notat all, for now there are two
lions. “There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the street.” Thatis always the
result of waiting: procrastinationnever profits; difficulties are doubled,
dangers thicken. The countryman who had to cross the river foolishly
determined to wait until the waterhad all gone past, for, at the rate it was
going, he was quite sure that it must run dry; but when he had waitedlong, to

his surprise he found that a flood had come down from the upland country,
and the river was much deeper than it had been before: the river was not
dried, but swollen. Those who think, when they are young, that it will be so
much more easyto seek andto find the Saviour when they reachmanhood are
greatly deceived. Those who think that they will wait till their family has
grown up, or till they retire from business, for then they will be able to attend
to it so much more easily, may live to discoverthat hardness of heart has come
upon them as the result of delay. Life is like an evening; the longer you wait
the darkerit becomes. Delaybristles with danger, and the best fruit it can
possibly bear is regret. When those who lingered are at length brought to
Jesus, how much they wish that the precious years that have been wasted
could come back to them. How heartily do they love that promise, “I will
restore unto you the years which the locusthath eaten”!I said last Sunday
evening what I am sure is true— that our dear Saviourknew the best time for
the soulto come to him. And what does the Spirit say is the besttime? He
says, “To-dayif ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “Come now,
and let us reasontogether, saith the Lord.” It is now that he gives the
invitation, because now is the besttime that is likely to come to us. You see in
the secondtext there were two lions, and, according to the Hebrew, they were
quite as bad as the other lion, for one of them was a young lion. “There is a
young lion in the way.” And the secondHebrew word implies a greatlion. “A
strong lion is in the streets” So now there were two active enemies— two
unconquerable difficulties— instead of one; and, as an old Puritan observes,
the first time when the sluggardlookeddown the street, and saw a lion
lurking on the left, he could have gone the other way; but now when he looked
out there was a lion to the right as well as to the left, and he could not go
either way without facing a foe. With a lion at the front door and a lion at the
back, there seemedto be no wayof escape forhim, and this was the wretched
result of waiting. And do not some of you who, years ago, hesitatedoverthe
difficulties of being a Christian find more difficulties now instead of less?
When you were one-and-twenty you were deeply impressed, and conscience
was aroused;only you said, “No, not just now. It will be easiersoon.”Certain
cords of sin held you. But now you are forty. Well, what about it? Are those
cords weaker? Ibelieve that now they are like cart-ropes to bind you, and,
whereas sin once chastisedyou with whips, it is now chastising you with

scorpions. You are getting farther away from the melting powerof the gospel,
hardening to your own destruction. You can hear a sermon now, and hear it
without prickings of conscience.The tears used to flow in years gone by, and
you have gone out of this place feeling as if you never dared come into it again,
for the preacherhad cut and torn you to pieces. He tries to preach just the
same, and he hopes that he does, but his words have not the same effectupon
you now as in other days. You are gospel-hardened, and that is the worstkind
of hardening. You have heard the gospelso long that there is no novelty in it;
and you know the excuses so wellthat you have gotto be one of the devil’s old
soldiers, a veteraninured to war. You know how to getover the gospel
somehow;like an old fox, you know all the traps, and cannot be caught in
them. You are sticking to the old trick about the lions; but now there are two
lions, so you say. Thus you have a double-barrelled excuse. How canI be so
unreasonable as to expect you to come out often to a week-nightservice? You
have three or four shops. How can you come out of a Sunday evening, some of
you? You have half-a-dozen children. How is it possible that you should give
much time to prayer? You are here, and there, and everywhere in your
worldly calling! “Oh!” say you, “do not talk to us. Years ago it might have
been possible for us to be Christians, but now, how can it be?” Therefore, I
say to you young people, hasten to be blest. I beseechyou do not delay. An old
man took a little child up into his arms, and put his fingers into the abundant
curls of his sunny hair, and he said, “Oh! dear child, while your mother sings
to you, and tells you about Jesus, think of him, and trust him.” “Grandpa,”
said the little boy, “don’t you trust him?” “No, dear,” he said, “I might have
done so years ago, but my old heart has gotso hard now, nothing ever touches
me now.” And the old man dropped a tearas he said it. “I wish,” said he,
“that I had a curly head like yours, and was beginning life like you.” Oh! old
man, are you here to-night? Let me tell you a secret. Youmay become a boy
again. I am sure you may, for you may be born again; and he that is born
againis but an infant, and starts on a new life with freshly given strength. He
shall have softerfeelings than nature lends to manhood. He shall have the
feelings which grace alone canproduce. In a spiritual sense his flesh shall
come againunto him like that of a little child, though he cannotgrow young
againas to his bodily frame. The Holy Spirit can make him a new creature in

Christ Jesus. Butdo not delay! Do not delay, you that are yet young. I am sure
that Watts is right when he says—
“’Tis easierwork when we begin
To serve the Lord betimes.”
It is assuredly so. Although grace canbring in a person of any age, yet God
delights to be found of them that seek him early. It matters not who he may
be: if any man comes to Jesus he shall be received;but yet there is a
susceptibility which pertains to the young which has often gone from those
who year after year have heard the gospel, and yet have not yielded to its
demands.
Oh! I should like you who have two lions to frighten you to cry out to the
Lord to-night to help you to go out and slay them both. “I am very old,” say
you. Well, that is one of the lions; but the grace ofGod can make a sinner who
is a hundred years old into a babe in Christ. “Oh! but I have formed such bad
habits.” Yes, those are horrible lions; but those habits can be broken by divine
power. “All! but my heart is so hard.” Lay it asoak in the fountain filled with
blood, and that will soften it. The Spirit of God—
“Cantake the flint away
That would not be refined,
And, from the riches of his grace,
Bestow a softermind.”
He can take awaythe heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of
flesh. Let us have done with the lions, whether there be two or two hundred,
for the Lord will help us. Oil! for a grand lion-hunt to-night. Drive awaythe
one, and drive awaythe two. But that can never be, while sluggards still are
sluggards. The Lord quicken them, and wake them up to realearnestness.
III. That brings me to my last point, which is NO LION AT ALL. If there
be here a man who would have Christ, there is no lion in the way to prevent
his having Christ.

“There are a thousand difficulties,” says one. If thou desirestChrist truly,
there is no effectualdifficulty that can really block thee out from coming to
him. You notice that Solomondoes not say that there were any lions in the
way: he only tells us that the sluggardsaid so. Well, you need not believe a
lazy man. The sluggardsaid it twice; but it did not make it true. Everybody
knew what a poor fool he was, and that it was only in his own imagination that
there were any lions at all. Do not believe your sluggishself, then, and do not
believe the sluggishspeeches ofothers. There are no lions except in your own
imagination. John Bunyan pictures lions at the gate of the interpreter’s house,
and, according to some commentators, he meant the deacons and elders of the
church that are outside to watchthose who desire to join the church. I am one
of those horrible lions; but the happy thought is that the lions are chained.
Whenever you wish to join the church, if you will only have courage to come
and face us who are the dreadful lions in front of the palace gate, you will find
that we are chained; and, what is more, if we were not chained, we would not
harm you. We do try to roar at those who are not our Master’s children, and
we would drive awayall who come as thieves and robbers, for it is our duty to
do so; but if you have a true heart, and wish to castin your lot with the Lord’s
people, you shall not find that we are any terror to you. We shall be glad to
say, “Come in, thou blessedof the Lord. Wherefore standestthou without?” A
believer’s duty is to join a Christian church, therefore fearnot the face of
man.
I believe that some will never come to Christ until another and a real lion
shall get at them, and then they will run to Jesus for shelter, lions or no lions. I
mean if the lion of their sin should ever wake up and roar upon them terribly,
then they will not say that there are lions in the way. I used to be terribly
afraid to come to Christ until I came to be more afraid of my sin than of all
things else in the world. And Mr. Bunyan, in one of his books, says that he
pictured Christ in his own mind as standing with a drawn sword to keephim
away, “but at last,” says he, “I gotso desperatelyworried by my convictions of
sin that if the Lord Jesus had really stood with a pike in his hand, I would
have thrown myself upon the point of it, for I felt that I must come at him or
perish.” Let some such desperate resolve impel you to his feet. Say—
“I can but perish if I go;

I am resolvedto try;
For if I stay away, I know
I must for everdie.”
Oh, throw yourself on the very point of the pike, for it is but in seeming that
there is either pike or point. Hastento Jesus, eventhough he seemto frown,
for there is more love in a frowning Saviour than in all the world beside. He
cannot mean it. No sinner comes to him but Christ is more glad to receive him
than the sinner is to be received. Nothing charms Jesus like seeing a poor
troubled one come to him. He will in no wise castout one who does so. If you
were walking in the fields, and a poor bird should fly into your bosom for
shelter from a hawk, would you take it out of your bosomand throw it away,
and give it up to its enemies? I know that you would not. You would put your
hands about it, and say, “Poorfluttering thing, you are safe enoughnow.
Nobody shall harm you. You have trusted a man that has humanity, and he
will take care of you.” And if you fly into the bosom of Jesus Christ, he will
not give you over to your foe, but he will receive you, and you shall be his for
ever. I have heard of a king upon the crownof whose pavilion, when it was
pitched, a pair of birds came and built their nests;and he was gentle of heart
and truly royal, for he saidto his chamberlain, “The tent shall never be taken
down till the birds have hatched their young. They have found shelter in a
king’s pavilion, and they shall not have to rue it.” And oh, if you will go like
the swallowsand the sparrows, and build your nests under the eaves of Christ,
who is the temple of God, you shall never have your nest pulled down. Ay, and
if you canlay your young there, they shall be safe too. There is no place half so
secure for our children as Christ’s bosom. All who are in Christ shall be kept
in safety, and shall be cherished, and blessed. Oh, come along with you. Come,
you that are afraid of lions. There are no lions. The way is clearand open, for
Jesus says, “Iam the way,” and “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out.” Why do you still saythat you will come by-and-by? Do not trifle so. I
had almostrather that you cried, “I will not come at all”; such perversity
might end better than feigned promises and base delays. I pray God to give
you a better mind than that, and may you say, “Yes, this very night, please
God, I will be saved. The sun has gone down, but there is a little twilight left,

and I will yield ere darkness quite sets in, I will now trust my Saviour, and
hasten to him, and seek him on my knees in prayer.” May the Spirit of God
sweetlylead you to do this; and oh, our heart will be so glad of it. The Lord
grant it, for his dear name’s sake. Amen. https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-
library/sermons/one-lions-two-lions-no-lion-at-all#flipbook/
7 characteristicsofa lazy person
June 18, 2017 | by Bob Russell
46
In my blogs last month, I discussedthe value of hard work. Today I look at
the opposite side of the coin: laziness.

Years ago, I heard Charles Swindoll preach a sermon on “The Characteristics
of a Lazy Man” from the book of Proverbs. I took notes and have occasionally
used and expanded on those principles.
I’ve reworkedthem to the point I can’t remember which ones originated with
him…probably most. The following characteristicshelp distinguish between
appropriate ambition and downright laziness.
Warning to young adults
These characteristics are a warning to young adults; many have been over-
protectedand are unfamiliar with hard work. Young women, if the guy
you’re dating has half these foibles, don’t marry him. He’ll keepyou on the
edge of bankruptcy.
1. He can’t get startedin the morning. “Laziness brings on deep sleep. . .”
(Proverbs 19:15). The sluggard loves the snooze button on the alarm. He just
can’t drag himself out in the morning. In college, he often misses the first-
hour class. Onthe job, he’s always late for early appointments.
2. He seldom finishes anything. “The lazy man does not roasthis game, but
the diligent man prizes his possessions”(Proverbs 12:27).
The lazy man likes to hunt; that’s the fun part. But cleaning his game,
building a fire, and roasting the meat is tedious. He starts a lot of worthy
projects but seldomfinishes.
3. He’s full of excuses.“The sluggardsays, ‘There is a lion outside! I’ll be
killed on the public square!’” (Proverbs 22:13).
Likewise, the lazy individual will moan things like, “It’s a jungle out there!” . .
. “I had to quit; my nerves were shot.” . . . “It’s Friday; no one works on
Friday afternoon.”
4. He seems to geta lot of bad breaks. “The wayof the sluggardis blocked
with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway” (Proverbs 15:19).
The lazy man has a victim’s mentality. Nothing seems to go right. “Wouldn’t
you know it, the morning of the interview my car wouldn’t start, and I was

late for the appointment.” “I got caught drinking just one beer on break.
Everyone does it. I just gotcaught.”
Everyone experiences a few bad breaks in life, but the lazy person brings it on
himself. And he never makes the connectionbetweenbehavior and
consequences.
5. He talks a goodgame. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads
only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23).
The sluggardis a big talker. He sounds impressive, but it’s a congame. When
it comes to the daily grind of showing up on time and sweating it out, he
disappears.
6. He’s full of unrealistic dreams. “He who works his land will have abundant
food, but the one who chases fantasieswill have his fill of poverty” (Proverbs
28:19).
It’s greatto have big ideas. Solomonwrote, “Where there is no vision, the
people perish” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). If it weren’t for dreams, we wouldn’t
have the Internet or the iPhone. But the lazy man dreams of easymoney
without any effort.
He’s going to win the lottery, hit the “pick six” at the race track, getrich
speculating on futures, or be a movie star. These dreams are unrealistic
because they are not precededby hard work.
7. He gets on people’s serves. “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so is a sluggard to those who send him” (Proverbs 10:26).
Vinegar leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Smoke burns and irritates the eyes.
If you have a goof-offon your team, everyone knows it, and it irritates those
who work hard. They roll their eyes and tolerate it, but the loaferdestroys
morale. “One who is slack in his work is a brother to one who destroys”
(Proverbs 18:9).
Work eagerly

Of course, all sevenprinciples apply to women too. Solomonended the book of
Proverbs praising the virtuous woman who “gets up while it’s still dark” and
“works with eagerhands” (Proverbs 31).
If you struggle with laziness, heedthe admonition of Proverbs 6:6-8: “Go to
the ant, you sluggard;considerits ways and be wise!It has no commander or
overseerorruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at
harvest.”
Bob Russell
At just twenty-two years of age, Bob became the pastorof SoutheastChristian
Church. That small congregationof120 members became one of the largest
churches in America, with 18,000 people attending the four worship services
every weekendin 2006 whenBob retired. Now through Bob Russell
Ministries, Bob continues to preachat churches & conferencesthroughout the
United States, provide guidance for church leadership, mentor other ministers
and author Bible study videos for use in small groups.
DEFINITION OF LAZINESS:
Its a talent of taking rest before you get tired because prevention is better
than cure
Laziness is the worstenemy but
Gandhi Ji : Love Your Enemy
First Rule of Laziness: If an object falls under the bed,

it is lost forever.
There are masses oflaziness jokes becauseit can be funny, as it is in this text,
but it is not funny at all for those who live with a lazy person.

Laughter because of laziness

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