Proverbs 6:6-11 — While you sleep, something is coming up the road. The Bible

calls it "an armed man" — and it's closer than you think.

⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • June 14, 2026.

This family integrated church sermon walks through Proverbs 6:6-11, the wisest man

in Scripture confronting the laziest kind of person — the sluggard — and sending

him to learn from an ant. If you've ever struggled with spiritual laziness,

procrastination, or complacency in your walk with God, this verse-by-verse message

speaks directly to you.

This sermon addresses something every parent recognizes: the epidemic of laziness

in children, teens, and adults alike — and the spiritual laziness behind it. The

ant has no guide, no overseer, no ruler, yet it works without being watched. The

sluggard has Almighty God watching over him, and he sleeps anyway. The question

this message asks is simple and convicting: what do you do when nobody's looking

but God?

This verse-by-verse exposition of Proverbs 6:6-11 connects to Ecclesiastes (he that

sleepeth in harvest causes shame) and 2 Corinthians 6:2 (behold, now is the

accepted time, now is the day of salvation). The sermon traces "a little sleep, a

little slumber, a little folding of the hands" all the way to its end: poverty as

an armed robber on the road to a man traveling without shelter — and applies this

spiritually to the soul that keeps "hitting snooze" on the gospel while judgment

and death approach.

This sermon walks through Proverbs 6:6-11, explaining:

- "Go to the ant, thou sluggard" — the wisest man sends the laziest man to the smallest teacher

- The sluggard's problem isn't information — it's will; he's not willing

- The ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler, yet works diligently — what do you do when only God is watching?

- The ant prepares in summer for a winter it cannot yet see — building faith into habit

- "How long wilt thou sleep, oh sluggard?" — the grief of a father over a lazy son

- Spiritual laziness: spiritually fat, spiritually asleep, spiritually complacent

- "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands" — how ruin happens gradually

- Folded hands as a posture of withdrawal and surrender from work

- Proverbs 6:11 — poverty comes like a traveler, and want like an armed man

- The armed man is death, and behind death stands judgment

- 2 Corinthians 6:2 — "behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation"

- The gospel invitation: don't fold your hands to the offer of salvation

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