119 Sermon Illustrations on Aesop S Fables

A PEASANT had in his garden an Apple-Tree which bore no fruit but

only served as a harbor for the sparrows and grasshoppers. He

resolved to cut it down, and taking his axe in his hand, made a bold

stroke at its roots. The grasshoppers and sparrows entreated him not

to cut down the tree that sheltered them, but to spare it, and they

would sing to him and lighten his labors. He paid no attention to

their request, but gave the tree a second and a third blow with his

axe. When he reached the hollow of the tree, he found a hive full of

honey. Having tasted the honeycomb, he threw down his axe, and

looking on the tree as sacred, took great care of it.

Self-interest alone moves some men, but love should be the interest of

every Christian.

A DOG used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to

bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck

so that the Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went.

Thinking it a mark of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and

went tinkling it all over the marketplace. One day an old hound said

to him: Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell

that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but on the

contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you

as an ill mannered dog."

There are many who boast and parade around in their sins when in

reality they are nothing but detestable in the sight of God.

A MAN came into a forest and asked the Trees to provide him a handle

for his axe. The Trees consented to his request and gave him a young

ash-tree. No sooner had the man fitted a new handle to his axe from

it, than he began to use it and quickly felled with his strokes the

noblest giants of the forest. An old oak, lamenting when too late the

destruction of his companions, said to a neighboring cedar, "The first

step has lost us all. If we had not given up the rights of the ash,

we might yet have retained our own privileges and have stood for

ages."

If we give Satan and sin even one inch of our lives, they will come

and take it all and ultimately destroy us.

A HEN finding the eggs of a viper and carefully keeping them warm,

nourished them into life. A Swallow, observing what she had done,

said, "You silly creature! why have you hatched these vipers which,

when they shall have grown, will inflict injury on all, beginning with

yourself?'

If we tried to conceal or harbor our sins, the day will ultimately

come when sin will destroy us.

SOME THIEVES broke into a house and found nothing but a Cock, whom

they stole, and got off as fast as they could. Upon arriving at home

they prepared to kill the Cock, who thus pleaded for his life: "Pray

spare me; I am very serviceable to men. I wake them up in the night

to their work." "That is the very reason why we must the more kill

you," they replied; "for when you wake your neighbors, you entirely

put an end to our business."

The safeguards of virtue are hateful to those with evil intentions.

A VERY LARGE OAK was uprooted by the wind and thrown across a

stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: "I wonder

how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these

strong winds." They replied, "You fight and contend with the wind,

and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend

before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and

escape."

Sometimes we have to be blown by the small storms in life so that we

won't be crushed and destroyed by the big storms in life!

A HOUND started a Hare from his lair, but after a long run, gave up

the chase. A goat-herd seeing him stop, mocked him, saying "The

little one is the best runner of the two." The Hound replied, "You do

not see the difference between us: I was only running for a dinner,

but he for his life."

Although Christians may suffer and struggle in life, their struggles

are definitely different than the struggles and sufferings that people

who do not know or love God experience. Better to experience struggles

with God than without Him!

ONE WINTER a Farmer found a Snake stiff and frozen with cold. He had

compassion on it, and taking it up, placed it in his bosom. The Snake

was quickly revived by the warmth, and resuming its natural instincts,

bit its benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound. "Oh," cried the

Farmer with his last breath, "I am rightly served for pitying a

scoundrel."

If Christians give in to any slight temptation or evil thought, it

will eventually come back and bite them!

A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: "What ails you, that being so huge and

strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for

them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed

on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?' The Ox replied:

"I do not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared for by

men, and they often pat my head and shoulders." "Woe's me!" said the

flea; "this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me,

brings with it my inevitable destruction."

Whenever God permits a trial or tribulation, for some it may seem like

their destruction, while for others, it may seem like a blessing.

Thus, how we endure a trial is based upon our perspective.

A Jackass having heard some grasshoppers chirping, was highly

enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody,

demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful

voices. They replied, "The dew." The Jackass resolved that he would

live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.

If Christians attempt to live off the dew of the world, they will

surely experience their spiritual deaths!