Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14. I'd like for us to look this
morning at one verse of Scripture, verse 23. Proverbs 14.23. The
Scripture says, In all labor there is profit,
but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury." Now, this passage
of Scripture deals with two extremes. Number one, it deals with labor
that absolutely assures profit. Then it deals with talk that
assures poverty. I've entitled this message, Profit
and Loss. Profit and Loss. In all labor, Now we know that
whatever the scripture says is so. We know that. This word is
God's word. It's profitable for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, for proof, rebuke. In all labor. Now the key to
understanding this opening truth is the word ALL. This is where
we would all do well to look at the words that are being said.
Never assume that you know what a word means. The word ALL here means perfect. To make perfect. or completed. That's what the word all there
means. It doesn't mean what we normally think of just anything. Or everything. The word means
perfect to make perfect completed. Now knowing the meaning of this
word absolutely is going to eliminate any labor that we can do. Perfect labor? To make perfect
labor? Completed labor before God? Now, I know that a believer does
labor. I know that. Scripture, 1 Corinthians
3, 9, For we are laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. The Apostle
Paul said in the Church of Corinth, 1 Corinthians 15, 10, By the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace was bestowed upon
me. It was not in vain, but I labored
more abundantly than them all. And then Paul, under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, wrote these final words on that passage of
Scripture, Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
God's people do labor. They walk. They seek. Not for salvation, but as the
result of, the effect of. The Apostle Paul declared that
by the unmerited blessing of God, he didn't deserve it in
himself, that he was what he was. And he defended his authority
and magnified his office as an apostle by declaring that the
gifts and the grace of God that was bestowed upon him were not
in vain. Almighty God does not do something
and it would be empty and worthless and unprofitable. What God Almighty
does, God does. And it is. And He accomplishes. God is not trying to do anything. If Almighty God is going to save
a sinner, He is going to save that sinner. He shall not fail. We just read
that. But Paul was careful, and every believer is, to absolutely ascribe nothing,
no profit to himself, but all to the grace of God that enabled
him to believe and to walk with, to bow to, and to serve the Lord. Luke 17, starting in verse 7
of the scripture, sets forth this truth, Luke 17,
7. But which of you, having a servant
plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he
is come from the field, Go and sit down to meet And will not
rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird
thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterwards
thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant, because
he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise
ye, when ye have done all those things which were commanded you,
say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. Almighty God calls His people
and places them where He does in His body. He calls them to
whatever position, every office, whatever that position is. You say, well, He didn't call me
to be a preacher. He calls you to come here. Be faithful to
that. He calls you to pray for one
another. Be faithful to that. He calls
you to give of the increase. Be faithful to that. Whatever
Almighty God has called you, be faithful. But when we've done
all that we've done, we are just unprofitable servants. We haven't
added one thing to the glory of God. We've done that which
was our duty to do. It is my duty to study. And they said, well,
don't you think that the Lord will just give you a message
and you can just kind of wing it? No. If I stand up here to wing
it, I'm telling you, never has it entered in your mind. You
say, well, Marvin, it seemed like to me all the years you've
been preaching, and basically you're saying the same thing
every time, it seems to me, that you'd be able to just start the
thought of coming to this pulpit, having not gotten to God's Word
and searched that Scripture and asked God's blessing. And asking
God's blessing while you're standing here scares me to death. Where would I go? Would I empty? It is my duty to be prepared,
to study. Oh, how very, very low before
Almighty God must His people lay. Ministers and those that
hear, as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, I'll tell you the evidence. I've said this before.
I'll tell you the evidence of growing in grace. You find a
people that are just in themselves. They absolutely have no confidence. And they come before Him hearing
His gospel faithfully, faithfully, faithfully. Hearing His gospel. Seeking, asking, knocking. And the more Almighty God shows
them of Himself, the more lowly they see themselves. Grieving
in themselves. Trying. That's growing in grace. I mean, this little old fake
facade that you see on television and everybody hooping and hollering
and stuff, that's a circus. That's a circus. That's a game. That's all that is. It's just
a big game. Playing, that's all they're doing
is playing. God's people, they want to hear
what God has to say. And I'll tell you another thing,
too. They want to be quiet. But all the earth keeps silence
before Him. In all labor, there's profit. So therefore, I know this. Though
we do labor as servants of the Most High God, It doesn't speak
of us at all labor. But calling to remember that
it means perfect. Completed. Let's talk about the
labor of Him that's profitable. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. His work. is perfect. His work is all, in all labor. His labor. Therefore, His labor
is essential. Psalm 127, 1 says, Except the
Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build
it. Except the Lord. Keep the city. The watchman waketh, but in vain. In this all labor, this perfect
labor, this completed labor, there is profit. It's going to
get the job done. The Lord will accomplish. Therefore, it's absolutely essential
The builders of the Tower of Babel. Oh, what a perfect picture. This is a perfect picture of
man by nature. Here's what they said. Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven,
and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the
face of the whole earth. But in vain. They toiled. Why? The Lord confounded them.
He brought to nothing everything that they were doing. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. But without me, you
can do nothing. Nothing. Ephesians 2 verse 19. Scripture says, Now therefore,
you are no more strangers, foreigners, but your fellow citizens with
the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. Did you notice who was doing
the building? His labor is essential. The Lord's people are not strangers
to Him. They are citizens of the city
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation upon whom they
are built, placed, built up. The labor of Christ is essential. All labor. All labor. There is profit. Secondly, the
labor of the Lord is accepted. At his baptism on the Mount of
Transfiguration, this is what Scripture says, a voice was heard
from heaven, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Now, there is no Scripture that
more clearly sets forth the absolute perfection of the work, of the
labor of the Lord Jesus Christ in the redemption of His people
God the Father is well pleased with Christ and all that's in
Him. Behold My servant, whom I uphold,
Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I put My Spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's going to show His people
that there's no judgment to them. Oh, how comforting to know by
faith that as the Father is infinitely, eternally, finally well pleased
with the Son, His sacrifice is the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. God is well pleased with His
assumption of our nature. He's well pleased with His obedience
to the law. He's bringing in an everlasting
righteousness right now. Saving His people, calling them
out, comforting His people. Finally, eternally, assuredly, He's not going to fail. God's
made us the righteousness of God in Him. In Christ, God Almighty
has everlastingly loved His people. And those in Him, He is our security. Thou lovest Me before the foundation
of the world. Loving Him, He loves His people.
His labor is absolutely effectual. That's the third thing. When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it's finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. I went back to look at that word.
As I've said before, listen, you'll read these words, he gave
up the ghost. It said, he surrendered and entrusted. Isn't that what we're doing right
now? Entrusting, surrendering, being found in Him. As He surrendered
His Spirit, gave up the ghost, we entrust our eternal soul to
Him who alone is our hope. We behold the Lord Jesus Christ
upon His cross as the Sacrificer, the Priest, the Sacrifice, and
the Altar, crying forth, It..." Think about that. It. When He
said, It is finished. It. It. All that the Father had
given Him to do. All that the Father had entrusted
into His hands. All that the Father everlastingly
loved. Everything. Everything. Summed
up in that one word. It. Is finished. It's finished. It's finished. I am so thankful. that He did not leave my salvation
in my hands. I am so thankful that He did
not entrust my well-being, my keeping of my soul to me. I love salvation by the grace
of God. I love the sound of God's purpose,
and God's will, and God's election, and God's predestination, and
the assuredness of that blessed salvation in Christ. You might
say, well, that'd just make you want to just, you know, let it
all go to the wind and stuff. Oh, no sir. Not a believer. Not
a believer. I'm telling you, when you find
a person that has that attitude, I'm telling you, you're looking
at an unbeliever. I don't care what they claim
to believe. I don't care what they claim
to believe. They're lost. A believer, by Almighty God dwelling
in them, He keeps them by power. willing to come, willing to call.
They are continually coming. They come and they come and they
come and they come. He that cometh to me, they're
coming right now. And if He allows them to live
one more second, they'll be coming them too. He that cometh and
cometh. The Lord calls me to hear. Lord,
cause me to see. Cause me to knock. Lord, keep
me by Your grace. It is finished. The Apostle says we're more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. I got to thinking about that
Scripture. More than conquerors. Now you could say, okay, now
we know this. Are we conquerors in Him who
has conquered? Yes. Yes. But what does it mean
that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us? More? Yes. Here's what it is. Not only are we victorious in
Christ, the captain of our salvation, but even the afflictions and
trials of our warfare, and that's what was being spoken of right
there, the warfare that we go through. Humanly speaking, any
conqueror, any conqueror, that went through battle, all the
great generals, all of them, they were victorious. But I'll
tell you this, in that victory, there was a lot of loss. There
was a lot of bloodshed. They lost some friends. They
lost some close ties. There were some things that got
destroyed. Not here. Even the afflictions
and the trials magnify His glory and therefore are good. All things
work together for good. We're more than conquerors. Everything. There's no loss. There's no loss. Everything is
yay and amen. His essential, accepted, effectual
labor, openly displayed by the Father when three days after
being buried, He rose from the grave, ascended into heaven,
and now ever liveth, He ever liveth, ever liveth to make intercession
for us. I told you this before, but it
just came to my mind again. You know, you take a man that
loves his wife, Loves his family. He just lives for them. Well, I understand that, I guess. But concerning him, he ever liveth
to make intercession for us. But the talk of the lips tendeth
only to penury. The context of this passage would
lead us to know Just taking it in the context. It's talking
about all labor or talk. Just talk. Just vain chatter. Vain talk. Empty talk. The talk of the lips tendeth
only to penury. Loss. emptiness, nothingness,
vanity. This people draweth nigh unto
me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me. In closing, Romans 16. Romans
16, 17 and 18. Now I beseech you, rather than mark them which cause
divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have
learned, and avoid them. For they are such as serve not
our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, their own heart, their
own desires, and by good words, fair speeches, deceive the hearts
of the simple." to one of my family yesterday. And he told me about a situation
that he was in. He was perplexed on what to do. He was telling me that a friend
of his had confessed to him he'd been unfaithful with his wife. But he made this statement, he
said, but I'm telling you, he said, I want to be faithful.
I want to be honorable to the Lord. I'm being faithful to my
wife, but I really love God. And I told my son-in-law, I said,
he's a liar. He's a liar. No, he's not. Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. Talk tendeth to penury. Loss. Draw nigh to me with their
lips or heart far from me." Oh, bless the Lord that He who
is all-powerful, all His labor, perfect labor, there's profit. That's exactly what we looked
at in that first service this morning. You call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people. Lord, bless these words to our
heart. Lord, cause us to hear fresh. Help us according to Your
good pleasure, for Christ's sake.