Alright, let's go back to the
passage that Brother Stan read in Ephesians chapter 1. Tonight
we're going to talk about the vanity of labor without Christ. The vanity of... I said Ephesians,
didn't I? Ecclesiastes. They're close. They're both Greek. But Ecclesiastes
chapter 1, I'm sorry. You know, I do get nervous still,
even after 30 years or so. But the vanity of labor without
Christ. Now, in our introduction to Ecclesiastes
this past Wednesday, I talked about the vanity of life without
Christ. And that's how this book opens
up. Vanity of vanities. What a pessimistic attitude. What a negative attitude towards
things. But it's not just pessimism.
It's not just negativism. It's reality. Because life without
Christ means nothing. Now that's what the theme of
this whole book is. Living on this earth, under the
sun, that phrase under the sun that's mentioned 27, 28 times
in the book of Ecclesiastes, means life here on this earth
that we grapple with every day, we go through every day. And
without understanding and being blessed of God by His grace through
Christ, It is all vanity. It's all nothing. It's all temporary.
We know that fleeting. The book of Ecclesiastes deals
with that quite a bit. It's all like running in circles
and never getting anywhere. And that's really the point that
Solomon, as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit in these first
verses here, what he's making there, the cycles of life. It's
like running in a circle and getting nowhere. No purpose,
no goal. other than the grave. And I know
we fight that, and man tries to prolong his days here on the
earth, but again, life without Christ is nothing. It's less than nothing. It's
meaningless. It's empty, without purpose. And that's what he says.
The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem,
the wise man Solomon. Vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher. Always vanity. Vanity of vanities. Well, look at verse 3. He says,
Well, what profit, what profit, what gain, what advantage hath
a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? Now,
the vanity of life under the sun has only one cure. And I want you to think about
this because here's the wisdom of God. The vanity of life under
the sun can only be cured by the death of the sun, S-O-N. In other words, the only way
we can really find meaning and purpose, fullness, satisfaction,
and certainly forgiveness and righteousness and eternity is
in the death of the Son of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the cross of Christ. is the only cure and remedy for
the vanity of life. And therefore, we must look above
the sun. We must look to the hills. We
must look to the heavens. We must look to God, for salvation
is of the Lord. And I dealt with that last time,
and I'm going to deal with it some more tonight. The vanity
of labor. Now, he talks about labor. You
know, the book of Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about labor.
Look over at chapter 2 and look at verse 18. He mentions labor
here again. So this is not the first part
here that we're going to study tonight. It's not the only place
he talks about labor. You know what labor is. It's
work. And we're going to talk about that. Man's efforts. Whatever,
in whatever way. We're going to look at it in
two ways. Man's labor religiously and man's labor practically. Everyday life. We'll look at
both. But look at what he says in Ephesians. I can't get away
from Ephesians. Look at what he says in Ecclesiastes
2.18. He says, Yea, I hated all my
labor which I had taken under the sun, all the work that I
worked under the sun, because I should leave it unto the man
that shall be after me. Somebody else is going to get
the fruits of my labor. And who knoweth whether he shall
be a wise man or a fool? It doesn't really matter. You
can't choose that. He says, Yet shall he have rule over all my
labor wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself
wise under the sun. This is also vanity. I think
about Solomon here because, you know, Israel, as far as their
state as a country, as a nation, economically and politically,
they were in a glorious state under Solomon. Now, religiously,
they weren't so well off, you know, even Solomon himself. But,
you know, after Solomon died, you know what happened? The kingdom
split. That's when you had the northern tribes, the ten tribes,
and then you had Judah to the south. And every, I tell you,
every king of the northern tribe was an idolater, an unbeliever,
did not lead the nation in the ways of the Lord. Most of the
kings of Judah were the same way. There were a few exceptions.
But most of them were idolaters, evil kings. They did that which
was evil in the sight of the Lord. There was a few who did
that which was good in the sight of the Lord. But I thought about
that when he says, you know, is it going to be left to a wise
man or to a fool? And so he says this also is vanity.
Look at Ecclesiastes 2 verse 20. He says, therefore, I went
about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took
under the sun. Nothing but despair thinking
about these things. For there's a man whose labor
is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity, that's justice.
Yet to a man that hath not labored, therein shall he leave it for
his portion. This also is vanity and a great
evil. For what hath man of all his
labor, and of the vexation of his heart," that means the trouble
of his heart, a troubled heart, that's a vexed heart, vexation
of spirit. And he says, "...wherein he hath
labored." Under the sun for all his days are sorrows and his
travail grief, yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night.
This is also vanity. I don't think that Solomon would
be a bestseller in the religious bookstores today. Do you live
in your best life now? How to win friends and influence
people, the power of positive thinking. I don't think he would
go over real big in our religious bookstores. Because he just doesn't
scratch the itching ears of the people for what they want to
hear. He tells the truth. What's he talking about? He's
talking about life and labor without Christ. That's what he's
talking about. Without Him, we're nothing. Without
Him, without God's grace, without God's mercy and power in Christ,
we're nothing. And so we look for the remedy.
Well, the vanity of labor under the sun. Now, as I said, the
vanity of life under the sun can only be cured, remedied,
by the death of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
in his death we have the forgiveness of sins. Not in our labors, you
see, in his labor. And in his death we have the
righteousness by which God justifies us eternally and unchangeably,
forever and ever and ever. And in his death we have immortality
and eternity in spiritual life. Not in our labors. The vanity
of labor under the sun can only be cured by the Holy Spirit bringing
us to rest, first of all, in the labor of Christ himself.
We rest in his labor, and I'll show you some verses on that.
We rest in his labor, not our own. We rest in his labor for
all our salvation. And that's what he finished on
the cross of Calvary. He finished the work, and the
Bible says he did what? What did he do when he finished
the work? Now, this is a metaphor. Now, what did he do? He did something
that no high priest ever did. He sat down. He finished the
work. He rested from all his labor.
Doesn't mean that he got tired and had to rest. It means he
finished the work. It was done. It was complete. And so we find
fulfillment in laboring for the glory of God as we first enter
into His rest, His labor. And then we find fulfillment
in our labors here on this earth in any capacity, whether it's
laboring for the honor of God or laboring to feed our families. We find fulfillment there in
seeking to follow and honor Him in our labors. Follow Him because
of love and grace and gratitude. Working, as Paul wrote in Ephesians,
I'm getting that right now, and Colossians, as unto the Lord. And we'll see that in just a
minute. But let's look at these verses. First of all here, in
the first few verses, What he does, beginning at verse 4, he
describes the cycle, the endless cycle of activity which in itself
does not bring fulfillment, doesn't bring salvation, doesn't bring
forgiveness, doesn't bring immortality. We try to leave our mark here
on earth, but our marks don't last very long. He says in verse
4, one generation passeth away and another generation cometh,
but the earth abideth forever. Now, literally, the earth is
not going to abide forever, and Solomon knew that. This world
is going to be destroyed. The Bible says that, teaches
that. People who think this world is going to last forever, they
don't know God, Scripture says. Read 2 Peter 3. Those who say
everything is going on like it always has, and the Holy Spirit
through Peter reminds people, no, everything isn't going on
like it always has. There was a time when God purged
this world with a flood. And there's coming a time again,
he's going to purge this world with fire in his second coming
to gather his people unto himself and to judge this world, judge
this wicked world. But from man's point of view,
this world's old. We think of this world as old.
I don't know how old. The scriptures describe it probably
around 6,000 to 7,000 years, but I don't know if that's literal
or not. I know people, scientists think they know, but they don't
know either. They don't know. I know God is eternal. God is
eternal. He has no beginning and no end.
But from our viewpoint, we see this endless cycle of life, one
generation coming, another generation going, another generation coming.
The earth seems to go on and on. Look at verse 5. The sun
also riseth, and the sun goeth down. And that's by the covenant
creation of God, the covenant of creation of God. And it hasteth
to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south,
and turneth about into the north. It whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuits." That's
the circle, the cycle, you see. And so he says, he says, all
the rivers, verse 7, run into the sea, yet the sea is not full,
until the place from which the rivers come, thither or there,
they return again. All of this, this meaningless
repetition, cycle of nature, cycle of life, and what he's
saying here, here's his point, nothing under the sun in and
of itself comes to a full and final conclusion of perfection
and glory. All this change. And you know
what? All this change, and it's not
getting better. Is it? Think about it. Many people
think it is. Many people think man is better
than what he used to be. Listen to the next verses. Verse
8. Here he shows the discontentment
of man. He says, verse 8, all things
are full of labor, man cannot utter it. He can't even describe
the meaninglessness of it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. You see that? Man's
not satisfied. And he says, the thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is
that which shall be done. There's no new thing under the
sun. It may be new to me, it may be new to you, but it's already
been around to somebody else. There's nothing new under the
sun. And what he's talking about is there's nothing new that brings
about satisfaction, that brings about fruition, that brings about
completion, that brings about glory. to make this thing worthwhile,
under the sun now. And he says, is there anything,
verse 10, is there anything where it may be said, see, this is
new, it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Now look at verse 11, he says, there's no remembrance of former
things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that
are to come, which those things that shall come after. No remembrance. Now, you read that verse and
you say, well, that's not true, I remember things. And, you know,
we study history. Well, that's not what he's saying
here. And, you know, we do remember things. In fact, even when we
get older, you know, we lose our memories, but they say our
short-term memories goes first and we remember things way back.
We can't remember what happened yesterday, but we remember things
that happened 20, 30 years ago. So there is a remembrance of
things. We have fond memories, sweet memories, relationships,
things like that. People who have gone, gone on
to be with the Lord, people who have passed on. But what he's
saying here is this. We don't learn from it. We don't
learn from history. In other words, we remember it
fondly, but it doesn't make us any better. It doesn't improve
us, you see. And somebody said, well, we've
got a lot of improvements. Well, let me show you this. What
is man's greatest need? According to the Bible, now,
what is man's greatest need? Now, I might say, well, my greatest
need is to have a million dollars. Well, you may think that, but
that is not your greatest need. You may think that will solve
all your problems. Remember, I told you, as you read the book
of Ecclesiastes, think about it if you already had all the
money you wanted, all the power you wanted, all the knowledge,
earthly knowledge you wanted, earthly wisdom. And still, what
does it mean? Vanity of vanities. Always vanity.
Without Christ, it means nothing. What is man's greatest need?
I've already mentioned them. Number one, the forgiveness of
sin. That's my greatest need. Sin
is my problem. Sin is my problem. Sin is your
problem. We fell in Adam, ruined in Adam. Our problem is not just what
we do, but what we are. We are sin. One of the things
the Holy Spirit convinces us of, convicts us of, when he brings
us to a saving knowledge of Christ, is our sin because we believe
not on Christ. And that's more than just the
sin of unbelief. That means this, that without Christ, without
Christ, I am nothing but sin. I am nothing but damned without
Christ. Without Christ, without His blood,
His shed blood, for the full payment of the justice of God
against my sin, for the forgiveness of all my sins, I am nothing
but sin. So what can the cycles of life
do for me? This endless cycle of nature.
What can all my labor do for me? I cannot work my way into
forgiveness, and you cannot either. That's why it's vanity of vanities.
Sin demands death and damnation. So my greatest need is the forgiveness
of sin. I'm not going to find it under
the sun. I'm not going to find it in my labors or your labors.
We're only going to find it in Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. He was made sin, the scripture
says. What a thought. What a truth.
Now there's something above the sun that you can lay hold of
right there. The Son of God incarnate, God in human flesh, without sin,
became accountable for my sins and died on the cross to cure
me of that sin problem. And therefore, that's the only
thing that's worthwhile. What's my greatest need? Righteousness.
That's second. Righteousness. God's throne,
His government, His nation, His household is established in righteousness. And my friend, without righteousness,
you're not a part of it. You're not there. And you can't
get righteousness through the cycles of life. There's nothing
new that's ever come along that'll make a man righteous. Nothing
new under the sun. There's a lot of new things that
we see in medicine, things like that, but they were already there.
Man, God has just allowed in His providence man to put things
together that weren't put together before. But I'll tell you what,
there's nothing new that has ever come along that can make
a sinner righteous before a holy God. Won't happen. God judges according to righteousness. When I stand before God at judgment,
What am I going to present as the reason that God should say
to me, enter into glory? Is it my labors? No, vanity of
vanities. Is it my self-improvement? No,
we read in Psalm 39 this morning, man at his best state is altogether
what? Vanity. Everything that I could
plead under the sun, of myself, from myself, or happen to myself
experientially or whatever, is vanity. So where am I going to
find righteousness? I've got to go above the sun.
I've got to look to Christ, who is the Lord, my righteousness,
Jehovah's sake, who again died on that cross to establish the
only righteousness whereby God could be just and justify me,
an ungodly sinner. What is my greatest need? Spiritual
and eternal life. Man is born dead and he can labor
until he is blue in the face and he cannot make himself alive
spiritually or eternally. Isn't that right? Born dead and
trespasses in sin. with no ears to hear and eyes
to see the glory of God." Back up there in verse 8, what does
it say? The eye is not satisfied with seeing. We'll see a lot
of things in our life, but it will not bring satisfaction to
this point. It will not bring us to see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our only hope is to hear
the Lord say to me, blessed are your eyes, for they see. You
see things that man under the sun in all his labor, cannot
see and will not see, doesn't want to see. You see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's an amazing thing. If you've
seen that, you just listen. Do we realize how blessed we
are to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Don't
ever take that for granted. And I know this is not possible,
but think about it this way. Think about if you could have
that kind of knowledge and it not mean anything to you, how
meaningless this world would be. That would be a terrible
thing, wouldn't it? That's why it says, nor the ear
filled with hearing. He hears a lot of things. He
hears a lot of things in religion. Here's a lot of things in philosophy,
here's a lot of things in entertainment, here's a lot of things on the
news, here's a lot of opinions, has a lot of opinions himself,
but it's all vanity until you hear the Lord say, blessed are
your ears for they hear. Christ said, my sheep hear my
voice. Do you hear his voice? Do you
hear the glory of God in the preaching of Christ? Do you find
fulfillment in what he accomplished as your mediator, your advocate,
your substitute, your high priest, the Lamb of God, hear the word
of the Lord, O Israel. He said, other sheep I have that
are not of this Jewish fold, them also I must bring, and thou
hear the shepherd's voice, O the shepherd's call. That's the only
thing that's going to fulfill the ear eternally. You see, man under the sun doesn't
have that. Think about it. You know, when
we talk about seeing and hearing, we can talk about the lust of
the eyes. We can talk about itching ears.
That's man under the sun. But we cannot be truly satisfied
until we see God's glory in Christ. So what advantage is there under
the sun? Well, there is absolutely, now
listen to it, there's absolutely no advantage. That's what he
says. What prophet, verse 3, hath the man of all his labor
under the sun? which he taketh under the sun." There is absolutely
no advantage, no profit, religiously, for man in all his labor under
the sun. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. Look at this. This is one of the most familiar
passages of scripture to you. Here's a description of man's
religious labors under the sun. Right here. In verse 4 of Philippians
chapter 3. Now, you may not go through the
exact same experiences that are described here by Paul speaking
of his life before regeneration. Before the Lord brought him to
a saving knowledge of Christ. But it's all the same. That's
what Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes. Whatever labor you took religiously,
Before you came to know Christ, it's vanity. And look at how
he describes it, verse 4. He says, "...though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more..." Now,
the flesh here describes the labor, religious labor, of a
man or woman under the sun without Christ. And here's what he says,
"...circumcised the eighth days of the stock of Israel..." There's
what happened to him, there's his pedigree of the tribe of
Benjamin and Hebrew of Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee.
Here comes his works, his labor, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But now look at what he says, verse 7, but what things were
gained, what profit, what advantage, what things were gained in profit
and advantage to me at that time, those I counted lost, vanity
for Christ. That's what he's saying. When
I see God's holiness and my sinfulness and the glory of Christ and Him
crucified, I see that all my religious labors and my religious
efforts to save myself, to make myself righteous, to improve
myself, they're vanity. They're loss. He says in verse
8, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss, vanity, for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, his faithfulness to save me and
to keep me and to bless me, the righteousness which is of God
by faith. Everything else is vanity. Let me read you some
scripture. Psalm 127, verse 1. It says, except the Lord build
the house. And what he's talking about is
the family, the household, the spiritual household of God. Except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Salvation's of the Lord. He didn't
build it. It's vanity. All the labor. And
I think about people trying to start churches and put together
churches, and they don't preach the truth and they use ungodly
means. And I'll tell you exactly how it happens. Somebody says,
well, I got out and I preached the message and I had what they
call an altar call. Somebody asked me, do we believe
in an altar call here? No, we don't. We believe in calling
sinners to Christ, who is our altar. All right. You come to
Christ, and you don't have to move a muscle. It's a heart matter.
It's where the Holy Spirit brings you. And you'll tell somebody
about it, confess it in Believer's Baptism. You don't have to walk
an aisle or anything like that. That's not scriptural. But you
see, Christ is our altar, and we confess Him. We confess Him
before men, number one, in Believer's Baptism. Number two, in identifying
with a church body where Christ is preached and lifted up and
served and followed. and in the partaking of the Lord's
Supper as a believing body. That's how we do it. But you
see, somebody says, well, I preached a message and nobody came down
the aisle. Nobody gave their heart. So what
are you going to do? Well, they change their methods.
They change their methodology. Well, we'll start a bus ministry
and we'll put a $20 bill under one of the seats. Or we'll get
Bozo the Clown up here to entertain him. Or we'll build a big gym
and have a basketball program or start a softball team. And
then we'll get them in and then we'll... No sir, except the Lord
build the house. May that labor that are in vain.
All we have to do is what God told us to do. Go out and preach
the gospel to every creature. And he'll add to his church as
many as he sees fit. Christ said, come unto me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I'll give you what? Rest.
Rest in Christ. He said, labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give you, for him hath God the
Father sealed. You see, this is a clear testimony
that all without Christ is vain. With Christ all is glory and
gained by his grace. Paul wrote it this way in Philippians
1, verse 21. He said, for me to live is Christ. You see, what Ecclesiastes is
describing here is living and laboring without Christ. Paul
said, for me to live, that's my very, he's my very life. For
me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the
flesh, in this physical life, this is the fruit of my labor,
yet what I shall choose I know none. This is the fruit of my
labor. All of this to the praise of
the glory of God's grace. Look at Hebrews chapter 4 with
me. Entering into His rest. I love that. This is the issue. The Bible says we have to labor
to enter into His rest because we have to come to We have to
be brought to repentance from our dead works and our fruit
unto death. You know, that's what Paul called
it in the book of Romans chapter 7, laboring without Christ is
fruit unto death. But look here at Hebrews chapter
4, verse 1. He says, let us therefore fear,
that means to reverence and respect and worship God, lest a promise
be left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem
to come short of it. How do you come short of entering
into his rest? You don't rest in Christ. You
don't believe in him. You don't submit to his word,
and his righteousness is your only way of salvation. You keep
trying to work it yourself, laboring under the sun. And he says, for
unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, talking
about the Hebrews in the wilderness. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. You can hear it with the physical ear, but you have to
believe it. That's God-given faith. But look down at verse
9. He's talking about the Sabbath.
Now, the Sabbath means rest. And he's talking about the people
of God today. And he says, there remaineth therefore a rest, and
if you look in your concordance that word is Sabbath, a rest
to the people of God. We have a Sabbath. Now what is
our Sabbath? Or better yet, who is our Sabbath?
Verse 10, for he that is entered into his rest He also hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his." Now, he's referring
back to the creation. God created the world in six
days, and on the seventh day, he rested. Again, it doesn't
mean God got tired and had to re-energize like we do. But it
means he finished the work, and on the seventh day, he rested.
He was glorified in the finished work of creation. Well, what
he's talking about in verse 10, that he, therefore, he, that's
Christ. Not you, and not me. He that
is entered into his rest, Christ entered into his own rest. When? When he finished the work of
our redemption on the cross. He said it's finished, John 19,
30. Christ is the end of the law, the finishing, the fulfillment
of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth. He
also has ceased from his own works as God did from his, just
like God Finished the work of creation
in six days and then rested. Christ finished his work as God-man
on the cross and then he rested. And his rest is the glory of
his accomplishment. Well, look at verse 11. Let us
labor, therefore, to save ourselves by our works. No, that's not
what it says. Let us labor to improve ourselves.
No, it says let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, his
rest. Christ is our Sabbath. I rest
in his finished work for all my salvation, for all my forgiveness,
for all my righteousness. You see that? Lest any man fail
after the same example of unbelief. We rest in him. And then, what
advantage under the sun is our labor practically? Now, when
we labor, We work for the Lord when we labor, we work to feed
our families. Look back at Genesis chapter
three. Now, let me show you a couple of verses here and then I'll
close. Look at Genesis chapter three. I want to show you something
about how the Lord has set this whole thing up from the very
beginning after the fall. After the fall in Genesis chapter
three, the Lord pronounced three curses. All right. The first
one was spoken to Satan, Satan who had come in the form of a
serpent and deceived Eve. And Adam took sides with Satan
and Eve against God and the whole human race fell in Adam under
condemnation. And it says in verse 14, now
look at Genesis 3, 14, here's the first curse given to the
serpent, given to Satan. And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all
cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly
shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, because he deceived the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed, the woman's seed, Now, you know, physiologically,
the woman doesn't have the seed, the man does, the woman has the
egg, but he's talking about the woman's seed here. It shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. What's he talking about?
That's a prophecy of the woman's seed. That's Christ. Alright? Now, here's what Satan did. Satan
usurped authority as he was allowed by God and decreed by God, and
he brought the whole human race under condemnation under the
covenant of works in Adam. What's the only remedy for that?
The woman's seed. God in human flesh, Christ coming
and dying on the cross to save us from our sins. Dying on the
cross so that we might be justified before a holy God. That's the
only remedy for it. That's the only way the curse
of condemnation and death can be removed on the cross of Calvary. So you see, life here on earth
without Christ is just a life of cursedness, vanity. You might be a millionaire, but
without Christ it's coming to an end. You'd be like that fella
when he said he had to build bigger barns to fill all those
barns up because he had so much that he couldn't store it all,
and he said, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee. He died a rich man, but he died and it was all vanity.
He was damned forever. That's right. The rich man who
looked up from hell said, send Lazarus back to tell my brothers
about this so they won't suffer the same thing I'm suffering.
Christ said they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear him.
Let him hear them. All right, now the next curse
that he pronounces is upon the woman. Look at verse 16. Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children. Now that's not just talking about
the pain of childbirth, ladies. That's talking about the sorrow
and the pain and the suffering you specifically, even more than
the man, have for your children all the days of their life. That's
right. Not just going through childbirth.
But the woman's heart and pain and sorrow and vexation will
be unto her children all the days of her life. And you'll
have it. And you know that's so. And men,
we have it to some degree, but not like mama. Not like mama. It just doesn't happen. And that's
a curse for the woman. And it says, and thy desire shall
be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. That doesn't
mean that she'll always be submissive to her husband. What that means,
literally, is she'll be in conflict with her husband. That's a curse,
ladies. You're in conflict with your
husband. But what's the remedy? Well, the Bible says in the book
of 1 Timothy, or 2 Timothy, I can't remember, the woman will be saved
in childbirth. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean that every woman that has a baby is going to be saved.
Not so. Your pain and sorrow in childbirth
will not save you from your sins. That's labor, if you listen.
Without Christ, that labor's in vain too. That's right. But what does it mean? It means
that salvation is going to come through the woman's seed. For
unto you, a child, a son is given, a child is born. And who is that
child? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And how is the remedy for this conflict? What's the remedy for
this conflict? Well, read Ephesians chapter
5. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as unto the
Lord. That marriage relationship is to be a picture of Christ,
who's the head of the church. represented by the husband and
the woman who's represented, the church is represented by
the woman. That's the remedy. Alright, now look at the third
curse, verse 17. This is the curse upon the man.
He says, And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is
the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of
the field, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return in the ground. For out of it wast thou taken,
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Hard labor. That's what he's talking about.
The labor of man is cursed. That's why when Cain brought
the labor of his hands from the cursed ground, he was not accepted. Because God won't accept that.
It takes the blood of the Lamb to forgive sins, to bring forth
righteousness, to bring forth life. So a man works. Most men today are identified
by their work. When you meet somebody, one of
the first questions you probably ask them is, what do you do?
Because that's the way man is identified. You could say it
this way, and I'm not really being facetious here. You could
say, in what way are you cursed? And many of you may see your
jobs as being cursed. I don't know. I hope not. What's
the remedy? You see, all that's vanity without
Christ. What's the remedy? Turn to Colossians chapter 2. Look at Colossians chapter 2.
How can man rise above this cursedness of labor? Trying to make a living,
trying to feed his family. I'm going to show you the remedy
here, and that doesn't mean you're always going to get up every
morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and say, boy, I'd just love to
go to work today. All right. But here's the remedy. Colossians chapter 2, look at
verse 16. He's saying, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or
of a new moon or of the Sabbath. Wait a minute now. I'm in the
wrong one. I said Colossians chapter 2. Turn to Ephesians. I'm going
to get you all there before this night's over. I thought I had
that in my notes worked out real good here. Okay. Look at chapter 6 of Ephesians
verse 5. This is what I want to go to. And then I'll turn to Colossians.
All right. All right. He's talking about servants here.
And today we would look at that as employers and employees. He
says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, your
boss, according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness
of your heart as unto Christ. Here's what he said. Here's the
remedy for that curse and vanity of labor when you work. Think
about it this way. You're not just working for that
man. You're working for the Lord. You know why? Because he gave
you that job. You're not working for your salvation. You're not
working to try to gain favor from God. But he's the one who
blessed you with that job. Thank God that you have a job.
You say, well, I need a better job. Well, look for a better
job. But you work that job you have as unto the Lord. Look at verse 6. Not with eye
service as men pleasers. In other words, not just putting
on airs and faking it, he says, but as the servants of Christ. That's the purpose of this whole
thing, see? It's not just a vain labor, but
you're working as a servant of Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord
and not to men. That's the remedy right there.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."
You'll be blessed of God, not trying to earn God's favor, but
blessed in that service. Think about it. Paul wrote in
1 Thessalonians chapter 1 there that we read, he said, we give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and
labor of love. and patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. That's the
remedy for that curse. And I'll find that verse in Colossians
for you sometime. I think it's Colossians 3. I
think it's 3, isn't it? I said 2, didn't I? I had 2 in
my notes and it should have been 3.