Go with me back to Psalm 49.
Psalm 49. I want to read this Psalm again. And then I want to show you what
brought me to this psalm. And then I want to tell you something. I have a message, I very much
believe I have a message, but I more so want to tell you something
than preach to you. Let's see if we can really enter
into what this is saying. Psalm 49 verse one, it says,
hear this, all ye people give ear. all ye inhabitants of the
world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall
speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a
parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil, When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about, when that last day comes and all of this sin that's been
following me, when I stop and it all catches up and engulfs
me. Verse six, they that trust in
their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul
is precious, and that means costly, so costly it's a price they cannot
pay, and it ceaseth forever. And you'll notice that verse
eight is in parentheses. That means it's a statement that
was inserted into the middle of a complete thought. Let's
read verse seven and then verse nine. None of them can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him
that he should still live forever and not see corruption. For he
seeth that wise men die, Likewise, the fool and the brutish person
perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought
is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling places
to all generations. Just, you know, son to grandson
to great grandson. The end of verse 11 says, they
call their lands after their own names. They name their farms
and all those. And this is the mindset of man.
This is the mindset of man. Verse 12 says, nevertheless,
man being in honor, even though he was honored in this life here
on earth, he was successful. He was respected. Nevertheless,
man being in honor, Abide if not, there's going to come a
point when he is just not just no longer. He is like the beasts
that perish. This their way is folly. Yet
their posterity, their children after them approve their sayings,
they. Believe their ways and follow
their ways and and do the same things. Verse 14 like sheep they
are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them, and
the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and
their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he
shall receive me. Be not thou afraid when one is
made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, For when
he dieth, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend
after him. Though while he lived, he blessed
his soul, and men will praise thee when thou doest well to
thyself. He shall go to the generation
of his fathers. They shall never see light. Man
that is in honor, man that is honored in this world, honored
in this life, and understandeth not these things is like the
beasts that perish. Now, what brought me to Psalm
49 was verse 15. It says, but God will redeem
my soul from the power of the grave. for he shall receive me."
This is one of the glorious but God verses in the scripture. But God will redeem my soul from
the power, that means the hand of the grave, that means hell. The power or the hand of hell,
God will redeem my soul from that. Those two words, but God,
that is the foundation of salvation. But God, I love those two words,
but God, this is man. The scripture constantly declares,
constantly exposes man. This is man. This is what man
is. This is what man does. This is
man's consequence for it. This is man's condemnation. This
is man's end. But God. But God. Not but I. But God. That is music to a child of God's
ears. But God. Oh, I love that so much. But God. I came here to Psalm
49 because I was searching. I was looking up these verses
that had those two words in it. But God. And all of them are
glorious. There's. There are many of them. They're all glorious, but. This
one says, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the
grave. How can God redeem our souls
from the power of the grave? We're all we're all going to
die. We all have an end. Every man is going to return
to the dust from dust. We came into dust. We're going
to return. And it's because of our sin. If it was not for our
sin, we would not die. Where no sin is, there's no death. How can God redeem our souls
from the power of hell, that hold on hell because of our sin? The answer is Christ. The answer is in Christ, only
in Christ. How can God redeem us? Only in
Christ. It says in verse 15, for he shall
receive me. How can God receive sinners such
as we are? Only in Christ. Only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But God, those two words can
translate to in Christ. But in Christ, this is man in
himself. Oh, but in Christ. In Christ, everything changes. In Christ, everything is new. Everything's new. Everything's
brand new. Every time you see those two
words, but God, there is good news for sinners such as we are. that follow those two words every
time. Good news in Christ. Let me just
show you a few of them here. Okay. This is what I was looking
up. Some of the verses turn over
to Psalm 73. Psalm 73, verse 26, it says,
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. How? Where? In Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, my
flesh and my heart faileth, but Christ is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. He is my rock as my center margin
says. My rock and my portion forever. He's my rock. and my portion
forever. That means I get him. What's
my portion? That's what I get. What do I
get? I get him forever. That's glorious news. Turn over
to Romans five. Romans 5 verse 6, it says, for
when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But God, who did Christ die for? Well, he died for good people.
Nope, there's none good but God. Well, he died for righteous people.
Nope, he didn't come to call the righteous. Who did he die
for? He died for ungodly sinners. But God, he commended his love
to us in that while we were yet sinners, weak, ungodly sinners,
but God, that puts the credit where it's due. That puts the
glory where it's due. Turn over to first Corinthians
chapter one. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Foolish, weak, base, that means
lowly, despised, that last one's my favorite, not. That's what
we are, not. That was us, not. But God. Thank God. But God. That's just
so pleasant. That's so relieving to think
about it. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 10. Verse 13 says, There hath no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that
you may be able to bear it. What is that way? Christ is that
way, but God. One more, all right? We can't
do this without going to Ephesians 2. You gotta go to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2, verse 1, it says, and you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God. who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you are
saved. Dead, bound, disobedient, full
of lust and the desires of the flesh and the mind, children
of wrath, just like everybody else but God. But God, that's
our hope. That's our hope. But God, that
is our only foundation we have to stand on. But God, in Christ,
he saved us. That's it. Now, in thinking about
all this for a while, in thinking about what Psalm
49 was talking about. Yesterday morning, while I was
studying this, I prepared this message, most of this message
yesterday morning, and I got to thinking about what Psalm
49 is talking about, and I had a very burdening moment thinking about our children.
At a very burdening moment, thinking about our children. And then
some of us received some news yesterday afternoon that confirmed
to me this burden for our children and for all of us. There is a
very sweet teenage girl at Dobbins Bennett High School who some
of you teenagers are acquainted with, friends with, who her mother,
she's a very kind, very sweet 40-something-year-old woman.
She went to bed Monday night, and she didn't wake up Tuesday
morning. And it has sent shock to many of the kids at the school,
And it sent shock to those of us who know her. She was in our home one time,
just precious, just a sweet, sweet, kind woman. And she has three daughters,
and two of her three daughters, the youngest one that I'm talking
about from the high school, And then her older sister, they kept
our nursery for us for our conference last September. And they're just two sweethearts. We talk about it all the time. That's a sweetheart of a girl.
And my heart is broken for them. I mean, my heart is really broken
for them. I know what it feels like. I know what they're going through,
and some of you do, too. Some of you do, too. And our hearts are broken for
them. And this just proves it. You know, when my mother passed
away, I had 11 months to process this. And this was just, and
it proves this burdening point. I had a deep burden over some
things and I wrote some things in these notes. And then when
I received this news yesterday afternoon, it just confirmed
to me this deep, deep burden that our
days are numbered. Our days are numbered. There
is an end coming. And there is only one thing that
is going to matter and is going to have any value in that end. If you have any recollection
of what Psalm 49 just said, all of that is going to have
no value in the end. There was only one redeeming
factor to the whole psalm. But God is going to redeem my
soul and receive me. That's the only redeeming factor
to this. There's an end coming and there's
only one thing that matters and is going to have any value, and
that's whether or not we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. David was saying there in Psalm
49, we can make all the money we want to make, and we do need
to make money. We've got bills to pay, and we have a gospel
to support. And we need to go out and work.
We can go make all the money we want to make, and we can go
have all the fame we want to have. It's more easy to be famous
right now than it ever has been in the history of the world.
You can go get all the fame you want to get. None of that is
coming with us. We can be as honored as men and
women appear to be honored in this world. None of that is coming
with us. None of that will have any value
because none of that can redeem a soul. None of that can redeem
a soul. And in the end, we're going to
see that we only have one need. We only have one need. We need
for the Lord our God to redeem our souls and to receive us to
glory. That's what we need. That's the
only thing we need. And I wish I had the ability
to impress this on all of us, how life and death critical this
is. I was young once. And when you're young, none of
this means anything. It doesn't mean anything to you.
It goes in one ear and out the other. I got plenty of time for
that stuff later. There may not be a later. I wish that I had the ability
and, and this is for all of us, but I really was thinking about
our young people. I'm, you know, you teenagers.
Especially, I don't care how old you are, really, but we only have one need. We need
for our Lord Jesus Christ to redeem our souls from all of
our sin. We need Him to pay the price
for all of this sin against Him. If I could only convey to you,
and when I say you, I'm putting me at the top of the list, okay?
I'm a you. But if I could only convey to
you how much sin we have committed against God and we don't know. Us adults, we don't know. We
can't fathom how much sin we've committed against God. While
we all walk around thinking, I'm not that bad. Oh, yes, I
am. We have so much sin. It's all
sin. We've sinned against God. We've
sinned against each other. We've sinned against ourselves.
We sin, we sin, we sin. And we need for him to redeem
our souls. That means we need for him to
buy back. That's what redemption is. When
you go to Walmart, there's only one way they're going to let
you leave with that stuff. You have to redeem it. That means
you got to pay the price for it. And that's what we need for
Him to do. We need for Him to buy back our
souls that have been sold into the captivity of our sin. We need for Him to make the payment
to buy us back and receive us to glory with Him. That's our
one and only need. And what burdens me and what
breaks my heart is not every person that hears this declaration of this one and only need that
we have, not every person who hears this will have a desire
for that need to be met. I just, I gut-wrenchingly, like
from the bottom ringing of my soul, declare this and it breaks
my heart to just think that people are going to hear this. A lot of children are going to
hear this message and they're not going to have a desire for
this need to be met. This applies to adults just as
much as it does to children, but I have a special burden for
you children. And it's for this reason. And
I want you children to listen. I know I'm saying children, you
teenagers, you kids, whatever you want to be called, you young
adults, you old adults. But I'm really focusing on you
young people right now. And here's the reason why. Just
because children grow up under the true gospel, I believe you
children know we're preaching the truth. I believe you know
that there are lies out there, and not every church building
preaches the truth. I believe you all know that the
truth is hard to find. And I believe you all believe
I'm telling the truth. But just because children grow
up under the true gospel, that does not necessarily mean they
grow up believing that true gospel. They may know that true gospel. But that does not necessarily
mean they will end up believing that true gospel and seeing their
need of that true gospel. And it's sad to say, but quite
often we grow up. I'm amazed that the Lord kept
me. Because I grew up in Nashville,
Tennessee as a musician, and I had one desire. To me, there
was one thing needful. I was going to make it in the
music business. And I cannot believe the Lord
spared me from that and here I stand. Often we grow up and can't wait
to leave mom and dad's house and we go out into the world
and this world entices us. And we see our need of this world. If you want to know what a need
is for Christ, just look at how you naturally feel about this
world. You want it. You need it. You'll do whatever you got to
do to have it. And you want more, more. Well, If God in mercy will
take His Spirit and cause His Spirit to turn that focus and
that attention to Jesus Christ, I want Him. I need Him. I'll do anything to have Him.
More, more about the Lord Jesus. Tell me more. Oh, that's salvation,
but that's not natural to man. That's not natural to us at all.
We get out of this world and we see our need for this world
rather than our need for Christ. And we end up leaving this gospel
of our only true need. And we never look back. And then the end comes. There is an appointed end for
every soul here. For some, it's old age. For some,
it's young age. And there's no spare time. There's
no spare time. There may not be a tomorrow.
Honestly, I understand, you know, teenagers, you're so focused
on college, career, marriage, and children. I understand thinking,
I'll, I'll worry about that later, but again, there may not be a
later. How many people do we know? How
many people do we know who grew up under the gospel? And they left it and never came
back. How many people? I don't want
that to be you, you, you, you, you, y'all. I don't want that to be me. I don't want that to be us. I
don't want that to be us. There's only one thing needful.
There's only one thing needful. And I pray God would cause us
to see it and need it right now. Right now, turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. It's before Isaiah. It's a couple of books. It's
between the Psalms and Isaiah. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1, it says,
remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say,
I have no pleasure in them. That's the evil days. When those
days come where you finally get to that place where you say,
I just don't I don't need that. What he's saying is remember
now that creator he's saying call on the Lord God right now. Right now. I'm doing it right
now. I'm doing it right now. Lord. Have mercy on me. Save me. Call on the Lord right now before
the day comes that you say, go to worship God. I don't have
any desire to do that. I don't want to do that. I got better things to do. Oh, let's call on the Lord right
now in sincerity. This is what I want all of us
to understand, young or old. I don't care if you're 75 like
Abraham was. Today is as young as you're ever
going to be. Right now is the only youth you
have left. And what I want us to understand
is we are gathered together right now to worship God. We're here
to worship God. We're here to cry out to Him.
That's why we're here on a Wednesday night. We're here to seek these
eternal matters. We're not here for fun and games. We're not here for social clubs
and feel-good-about-ourself clubs and better-ourself clubs. We
have the YMCA for that. And in the end, the YMCA is not
gonna do anything for us. We have one great need, one great
need for all of eternity. This life is this fast. Eternity never ends. We have one great need. We need
the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God. We need him
to redeem our souls and receive us to him to glory. Real soon,
every person here is gonna understand the seriousness of that need.
When that moment comes, every person here will understand the
seriousness of that. Kids, listen, adults and kids,
this world is nothing. Eternity is forever, and we only
have one great need. One great need. We need Jesus
Christ to redeem our souls and receive us to glory. So let me
leave us with this, all right? Let's all cry out to God for
mercy. Right now. And let's all cry
out to God for redemption right now. And let's all cry out to
God for acceptance in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ right
now. And if we are not old enough
to understand what any of that means, then ask God to forgive
you. We understand what forgiveness
is. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me." Our Lord prayed,
Father, forgive them. We need forgiveness in the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we cry this, if we cry this
in sincerity, It will not be the cause of our salvation. Our
salvation is not in our hands and it's not our decision and
it's not our doing that causes our salvation. But if we cry
this, it will be the evidence of our salvation. If we cry this
in sincerity, no man or woman can truly cry to God for mercy
in sincerity without God Almighty putting that cry in them. It
can't be done. Man can't do it on his own. Men
and women in false religion do not cry out to God for mercy.
They don't. Mercy may be some lip service,
but they don't cry out to God for mercy. They cry out for worldly
events. They cry out for jobs, they cry
out for relationships, they cry out for healing from sickness,
they cry out for everything that pertains to the flesh. But a true cry for mercy, I need
mercy. I need mercy, a true cry for
redemption and acceptance in Christ. Only God can put that
there. So I pray that God has put it
there for all of us. And if he has, I want to encourage
us to cry right now. Cry right now. Time is short. This is too important. Cry to
the Lord right now. Come to Christ. Come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And let's do it with this hope
and this belief in our heart. I'll close with this. Go to John
6. Cry to the Lord, come to the
Lord, and let's do it with this hope in our hearts. John 6 verse 37 says, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. It does not matter if you are
young, old, rich, or poor. David said, hear this, all ye
people, young, old, rich, poor, it does not matter. He said,
if you come to him, every soul that comes to him, he will not
cast you out. He will not cast you out. Every soul that comes for redemption,
for acceptance, is going to get it. Every soul. Come. Silence gets attention. Don't
waste this time. Don't waste this time. Don't
sit here zoning out in the pews. Don't waste this time. Come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He will in no wise cast you out.
All right, let's all stand together.