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[0:00] As the Lord should be pleased to help me, I shall call your attention to a subject you will find in the book of Proverbs, chapter 14, and the 23rd verse.

[0:27] In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

[0:40] Chapter 14, the book of Proverbs, and the 23rd verse.

[0:57] As you read the book of Proverbs, you may sometimes, as it were, skim only over the surface of what you read.

[1:12] I'm not making any reflections on you in reading the word of God, but the headings to the pages say moral virtues and their contrary vices.

[1:28] But there is also a deep that coucheth beneath. And in many of the Proverbs, Solomon was inspired of God to record.

[1:44] There is much that is instructive and helpful, necessary, for people taught of God. To contemplate, and not only contemplate, but to reduce it to practice.

[1:59] And now in this word, from which I hope grace will be given, to say something helpful, there is indeed a deep that coucheth beneath.

[2:15] Our text speaks about labor. A word that you hear much about. In all labor, there is profit.

[2:31] And now Solomon, being who he was, Israel's king, and the wisest king that ever lived, as the word of God tells us.

[2:43] Some of these Proverbs, he was constrained to record because of what he had observed in his journey through life.

[2:57] And he tells us in another chapter, I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man, void of understanding.

[3:12] And lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles, marging wild vetches, had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

[3:28] Then I saw, and considered it well. I looked upon it, and received instruction. And some of the instruction that Solomon received is in our text.

[3:46] In all labor, there is profit. And now I want, as the Lord shall help me, to say something about what this labor really is.

[4:05] The world at the present time, and the land in which you and I live in, is filled with what are termed labor troubles.

[4:19] And the strange thing is, there never was such an age in the world's history, when there were so many labor-saving devices to be obtained.

[4:32] And yet, there are more and more labor troubles in the nation.

[4:44] Almost every day, a new one seems to arise, whereby those employed are falling out with those who employ them.

[4:57] And the matter of issue is labor. And as a rule, to do as little as possible, for as much wages as you can obtain from doing that much.

[5:13] And now that spells national trouble. And Satan has a hand in it, so that those who labor, and those who employ them, react one against the other.

[5:33] And it is a matter that only godly fear can put right. If the employees and the employers were to meet as they should do, and find out what set the scriptures, they would soon find a basis on which they could go on with their labor, and the employer, and the employees would be well satisfied.

[6:09] But, they will not inquire what set the scriptures, but they must argue about the matter. And man being what he is by nature, yet more and more confusion and chaos is found in our national light.

[6:30] And now, when you think of labor, the necessity of labor arose because of the Adam fall.

[6:43] And it will not do to try to mitigate the consequences of the Adam fall. For when it took place, it was a calamity unspeakable.

[7:00] And God, when he pronounced a curse on the earth, he made it plain to Adam and Eve that henceforth the life they lived would not be as it was in Eden's garden, where there was all to produce as much happiness as they could enjoy.

[7:24] No, the garden of Eden's day can never be known on the earth again. The thing is impossible. Men may, with good intentions, think to do this and that in national life to bring about such a state.

[7:43] But God will say, whenever they do, I will overturn, overturn, overturn, until he come whose right it is.

[7:57] God has ordained that man must earn his bread in the sweat of his brow. And that will never be abrogated as long as clocks are needed.

[8:14] And man kicks against it. But that does not alter the reality of it. And now, what man should realize is that when God pronounced the curse upon the earth and said, henceforth the ground shall bring forth thistles and thorns, it will not bring forth to the fullness it would have done had not the Adam fall taken place.

[8:44] God has overruled the curse that it is one of the most necessary things, the thing most desirable that man should labor.

[8:59] And that in his labor he should find there is a profit in it. I'm speaking now about everyday life and employers and employees ease.

[9:13] And God designed that man should find it overruled and that while it was under a curse he is ordained to labor, yet it could be mitigated, the civilization has advanced and it has done to a great degree.

[9:36] but alas we need the Lord to appear in our national life and every nation on the earth has got the same problem and it is all to do with labor and it all arises from this man is at war with his maker.

[10:00] It is the aftermath of the Adam fall and the word of God says if a man will not work then he shall not eat. Some think it a hardship to work for their bread although for our good it was men but those who won't work have no right to be fed and the idle are never content.

[10:26] And now that is just a little opening up of the setting of the subject as it were. And now I want to come to that labor wherein there is profit not for time only but eternity too.

[10:45] This is a word which should be I hope it will be a word in season to all of you who are following on to know the Lord in all labor.

[11:01] And now here it means soul travel and you find in the word of God when the spirit of God uses illustrations I often remind you of it you find that it is to do with labor let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus looking off all beside the labor is running and it means to run in our soul's desires then again we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against spiritual wickedness in high places and when you read fight the good fight of faith lay hold upon eternal life it all denotes labor and now the first lesson you and I must learn as grace is given is that there can be no religion that can be got easily no religion worth the name the way to heaven

[12:24] God has ordained should be through much tribulation so that when a poor sinner has the great mercy and a great mercy it is to be born again he begins to learn what this labor means and that if he is to get good for his soul he must labor to obtain it and all through the word of God you read such injunctions wait on the Lord be of good courage he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord and there is a word in Oseah wait on thy God continually and this denotes that it is a labor for a sinner born again to journey through life and at the end to get to heaven and now that will be the ultimate aim of what your labor is you do want to be made meat for the inheritance of the saints in light here you are before

[13:50] God as worshippers many of you do labor that you might be true worshippers you do want to get something for your soul's eternal good you do want to be helped on the road which has got heaven at the end of it you want to be assured that you are pilgrims to Canaan bound and now this means labor oh it denotes exercise of mind it means that you have to do with God that matters might be made right between your soul and God and in such labor there will ever be profit there will be spiritual profit and you must admit some of you dear people young or old wherever you are in life's journey in you must admit you have sometimes found in labor spiritual labor there is profit you have not always come up to the house of prayer and gone on your way unprofitable

[15:19] I would not like to think of you living a life like that but although it may not be every time you are waiting on God in the means of grace in his earthly courts that you get profit such as you would like it is good for you to be where you are it is good for you to be the subject of the labor there is a word in Timothy exercise thyself unto godliness and in this book of proverbs there is another word where it says the labor of the righteous tendeth to life if you remember Bunyan's pilgrims one of them in the pilgrims progress when his name was put down in the book he set out and he began to run and he had got something in his breast that denoted labor and as he ran he cried life life eternal life and that is the essence of this labor and that is the prophet this is life eternal that they shall know thee the only true god and jesus christ whom thou hast sent and now i will show you as the lord to help me some of the characteristics of this labor and i may also show you what may be you do not need to be told so much about yet perhaps you do but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury you remember one him writer he was a good man and he hit the nail on the head no big words of ready talkers no dry doctrine will suffice broken hearts and humble walkers these are dear in jesus eyes oh it is not the talk of the lips and remember it means religious talk it is talk that goes on between those who are chapel goers but it tendeth only to penury because there has been no labor it is not out of the abundance of the heart the mouth is speaking and

[18:06] I am very much afraid although I dare not turn aside to take up the time to comment upon it I say I am very much afraid in the so called religious world today there is a thousand times too much talk of the lips as to what ought to be done in this matter and that that the church of Christ might be revived but much of it is working from without but it cannot be revived from without it must come from within not by might or by army but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts and if you could only be engaged deeper down preacher and people alike in this labor in our everyday life before God so that our own souls could be more profited and we be made fruitful in our profession fruitful in good works it would soon bring about a gracious revival that we long to see in the church of

[19:22] Christ and especially under Union Chapel roof but there is to be a labor regarding it in all labor there is profit and now this labor can be summed up like this it is a labor to have matters right between God and our souls and now you do know and you know the pastor does wish you well you do know I say if you are the subject of such a labor if in your everyday life there is something that goes on in secret places between God and you and it is a concern say unto my soul I am thy salvation remember me

[20:23] O Lord with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation it is good to know that labor it is good to be the subject of such an exercise unto godliness and sometimes it will well up in your breast even when you are going about your everyday avocations wherever that may be and whenever it does well up do take advantage of it yes see see

[21:33] Jesus and see in him all your salvation and all your desire can you remember when this labor began within you when you first of all began to think as you had never thought before about your soul you had heard about it maybe from baby days onward in the house of prayer about sinners and their never dying souls but now something had happened and something said to you thou art the man and this labor began and you felt it was you who had to do with God and God had to do with you and from that day to this you had never been the same man or woman youth or maid that you were before before you were in the world and of it you lived after the flesh the things of the flesh you had your ambitions your concerns to be this or that but when this labor began then you found that eternity took precedence of time and how did you feel

[22:59] Jesus engraved it on my heart that thou the one thing needful art I would from all things parted be but never never Lord from thee in all labor there is profit then there is what I will term a labor under the law you sung in our opening hymn about it who but the soul that's led to know how just how holy is the law will to the cross of Christ repair and seek salvation only there and now this labor under the law it may be long or short God is a sovereign in what the length of a law work may be preachers use that term law work it is a kind of theological term some of our stereotype phraseology but at the same time there must be something known and felt of this labor under the law and if it should be by terrible things in righteousness oh that will be very solemn of a truth beyond words to describe when you hear the laws loud thunder do this do not do that and when you find in your labor to be better and to do better that all your labor is fruitless and at length you get profit in that labor by realizing not the labor of my hands can fulfill the laws demands and then you have to yield under the law and recognize he whose law it is and you have to solemnly confess that you are utterly unable to keep it in any jot or tittle of its demands in the way that

[25:25] God requires it to be done you have to say if thou Lord should mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand and you know that you cannot stand and there you are under the law labor end and what you learn and good it is to learn it is that as you are as a poor sinner born again being taught by the spirit of God how sad our state by nature is and our utter helplessness in things divine you were made to realize there is profit in it because you were made painfully aware of your own helplessness and your utter hopelessness under the law so that if you could gain heaven by producing a good thought one that is spiritual in its nature you must give up hope of ever reaching heaven for that thought you cannot produce but with many people this labor under the law will be here a little there a little line upon line and precept upon precept and it may run over years and

[26:59] I have known instances where some people on their dying beds have at length been brought down rock bottom in their labor under the law and to learn deeper down than ever they did before that salvation is of the Lord and by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh living be justified and they have come to this my soul into thy arms I cast I trust I shall be saved at last and in that there was profit because they came in to that word of which I read to you come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest in all labor there is profit and remember whenever you try to pray or whenever you come up to worship

[28:10] God your soul and its profit should be your chief concern and now another characteristic of this labor is to labor against mark the word against what one is by nature and you do need divine aid to do it you cannot do it without it what you are by nature is very solemn and the longer you live the deeper down you go into the knowledge of it and the hymn writer gets right down to bedrock truth how sad our state by nature is our sins how deep their stains and satan holds and binds us fast within his slavish chains that is what happens if you are left to what you are by nature but all if you are a sinner born again you have got a new nature a new heart has been given you a new spirit has been put within you and that will labor against what you are by nature so that every day it will be your concern let not sin or iniquity have dominion over me oh how it does well up at times so that you can understand this needs carefully thinking about what

[30:00] Erskine said to good and evil equal bent I'm both a devil and a saint and you know that some things that arise from what you are by nature they are devilish in their nature and when you look round the world and hear and read as you do of what man perpetrates being what he is by nature things that strike you with horror and sometimes fill you with indignation against the perpetrators of such wickedness yet if you look in the glass you are just the same sinner but for the grace of God just the same sinner and it is only as you are helped to labor sigh and cry unto God for help to fight what you are by nature that it can be kept down and kept under in all labor there is profit and now there is this labor and that is to be separated from the world and

[31:23] I should judge that is harder nowadays than it has ever been since time was born because the world is full of chaos and confusion and hell itself is let loose in the world and the devil is working over time doing all the mischief he can to captivate mankind and as you have to go about in the world and labor to earn the bread which perisheth you find within if you are a sinner born again you need divine aid not to fall a prey to what the world is and for the spirit of it to possess you oh it does need much grace nowadays to be separated from the world in the spirit of it but there will be this labor that you will be the subject of that the world may not overcome you but that you might be helped to live like

[32:41] Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season I can only give you hints then there is another characteristic of this labor in that you will need divine aid of a truth to be engaged in it to submit to the will of God oh there is that about us as we are born which makes us very willful not only wicked but willful and sometimes we are like Jonah and I sometimes looked at Jonah and I am glad that the book of Jonah is in the word of God and do you remember that Jonah back answered God do so well to be angry said

[33:41] God and all because a gourd was blighted that he could no longer have the shelter it afforded and Jonah a prophet a man taught of God a man who was indeed born again had got a niche to fill in the purposes of God said I do well to be angry there you see how sad our state by nature is and how unwilling man is as he is born to submit to the will of God you want to back answer God preacher and people alike must all plead guilty here and you say and why should this be and why should this come into my life as it has done and now my life I have got to live on another basis altogether to what I have lived it her to four my plans are all blasted yes my pleasant pictures are marred eh but there is this labor oh if you can but be helped to labor to humble yourself under the mighty hand of

[34:59] God and and if you can find it in your heart to say not my will but thy will be done the cup which my heavenly father hath given me shall I not drink it oh you will find there is profit in it you will see that the will of God is your sanctification look at it like this you keep asking God to give you a real religion well he is doing it but he is doing it in that way in which he alone can do it we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God and therefore this is the will of God your sanctification what comes into your life whether it be affliction loss or cross bereavement adversity persecution whatever the nature of it may be it will be as

[36:07] I have said tribulation but it is the will of God shall Simon bear the cross alone and all the rest go free there is a cross for everyone there is a cross for me it is the will of God you cannot go to heaven cross less and if you should be cross less do remember this and very solemn it is to tell you you are Christ less remember that he that taketh not up his cross and follow it after me cannot be my disciple whatever he may be otherwise he cannot be my disciple he must take off his cross he must submit to the will of God and when God says this is the way walk ye in it he must go in it with willing feet and say choose thou the way and still lead on now leave me till

[37:15] I say father thy will be done in all labor there is profit and then there is this characteristic which I've already hinted at a little it may be there is a labor to be lively in our soul's experience how many of you are lively in your soul's experience this Sabbath afternoon you were alive thank God that you are many of you but are you lively where are you living in the lamentations of Jeremiah or have you got as far as to be dwelling for a while in Psalm 103 bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits that is what it means to be lively in our own souls what do you sing sometimes evidently the hymn writer knew something about it dear

[38:29] Lord and shall we ever live at this poor dying rate our love so cold so faint to thee and thine to us so great in all labor there is profit yes and now you will find this to be a labor there is a labor owing to our inability to do good I have told you many times and I should tell you as long as I live that it is a great mercy if you have it in your heart to do good because you were not born like it you must be born again to be like that but when you are born again then you know I would do good but evil is present with me and you have to labor under a consciousness of your inability which means that sometimes you labor under a sense of being prayerless or it may be praise less or it may be when in the attitude of worship as you are you seem to have no heart for it you are as hard and unfeeling as the seat you sit on and now that should bring about labor you should be looking unto

[39:57] Jesus if so be you might be found at Jesus feet clothed and in a right mind but you will find there is this inability to do good that you must labor against if you would get profit when you take the word of God sometimes and search the scriptures there seems to be nothing special and you may shut the holy book and go on your way and feel cast down but there are other times when it is otherwise when you can say I rejoice in thy word as one that findeth great spoil in all labor there is profit but I must hasten on and now there is this labor do see if you know something about it dear friends if you do not at the present time when you were born again the day is not far off when you will begin to learn it and that is to labor to be content with such things as ye have in this labor wherein is profit you realize godliness with contentment is great gain and it is a mercy to be the subject of it when sometimes we look round our home lives and the many comforts that god has bestowed and when we think how pilgrims of olden time had to live and they never had a hundred part of the mercies that we every day receive oh there should be a labor going on in our hearts to say thank you to god in as much as he has laid the lines for us in such pleasant places so that as regards the things of everyday life we have not over much anxiety every meal time our table is spread every night our bed awaits us and our home stands where it is and you are welcome to open the door and go in and dwell there and realize how good the lord has been to provide a shelter for you in all labor oh do labor to have contentment you look at folks faces when you go about the streets the great majority

[42:38] I nearly said 99 out of 100 you see discontent disappointment disillusionment you see hardness and you can see that they're living as they're born and that they're against God and godliness but you who maketh thee to differ from another what hast thou that thou dost not receive and now this should humble you bring you down like the psalmist when he said who am I O Lord God in what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto then there is this labor I like that word I quoted it recently he that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh the city all the mischief our own spirit has made along life's way for us individually sometimes and sometimes in the causes of truth so that all the church trouble that has ever been has arisen from what man is by nature not what he is by grace no what he is by grace endeavors to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is great profit when you labor to rule your own spirit and remember if any man have not the spirit of

[44:22] Christ he is none of his let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus then there is a labor to see the hand of God in all his dealings with us and to know that the way we are going along is the right way when all is said and done in this labor you do want to realize that you walk with God he not walk with God a lovely biography and it says the apostle Paul penned it to the godly Colossians as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him and there should be a labor to do it in all labor there is profit a labor to endure in our profession of his name and remember

[45:27] I've no time to work it out but this comes to you whoever you are and wherever you are as individuals born again there is a labor that a minister knows and of a truth it is a labor especially one who is a pastor we watch for your souls and as one that giveth an account that we may do it with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you we look round with joy when we see those who are being born again who are following on to know the Lord but we look round sometimes and wonder here is such and one I'm not fitting caps on I'm illustrating this here is such and one here is yet another such and one who all their life long have been found in the same seat in the pew but as yet can of

[46:35] God or is it a solemn truth there going to be an exhibition a solemn thing a saint to appear grow up with wheat and prove to be a tear oh there is labor in being a good minister of Jesus Christ and one of the most sorrowful things that falls to our lot is whenever you have to see anyone laid in the grave without God and without hope yet all their life long have been chapel goers and I have known what that unhappiness is once or twice in my ministerial life and then remember if your name is on a church roll you are not to settle down on your lease because it is recorded there no there is a labor which belongs to being a member of a church that you should walk in accordance with what you profess to be and that you should seek to pray one for another bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of

[47:54] Christ and love as brethren and do all that you can to show whose you are and whom you serve and when I say do all that you can I mean it belongs to this labor like Joseph Hart says behold the gospel plan trust in the Lord with all your heart and do what good you can and any officer in the church of Christ whatever office he or she may be called upon to fill there will be a labor connected with it that you might have profit in filling it and the church of Christ get the good of it but I must come to the amen in all labor there is profit and had the time allowed

[48:55] I would have shown you that every grace has a labor connected with what grace it is faith has a labor faith is the gift of God deep in the heart it lies it lives and labors under load though damp it never dies and then the apostle Paul spoke to the Hebrews about their labor of love so that love has a labor when all is said and done the talk of the lips will never do just to exhibit what love is love must be reduced to practice so that to the one you love whoever it may be you would do whatever love enables you to do and when it comes to him whose name you profess what will you say then regarding the outcome of this labor were the whole realm of nature mine that were an offering far too small love so amazing so divine demands my life my soul my all in all labor there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury let it not be just words words of which

[50:34] Job said the words of thy mouth are like wind but let it be that spoken of which out of the abundance of the heart the mouth is speaking and as godly John said that which we have seen tasted handled felt of the good word of life declare we unto you in all labor there is profit and you see dear friends if you live your life from the time you are born again and know what this labor is all the profit you have gained will meet you on your dying bed and when you go down into Jordan swelling there it will be and all that profit you have gained in your labor before God with whom you have to do that you may be one with whom living and dying it shall be well all that profit will be there in the accumulation of it and you will know that

[51:51]  God has given you a religion not only to live by but one to die by and may that mercy be yours and mine Amen