Way to Psalm chapter 49, Psalm
49. Craig asked me yesterday where
I was coming from and I told him I was going to be coming
from this chapter and he said good and I know in the back of
his mind he was thinking we shouldn't be crossing paths this morning
because he had the Sunday school lesson. Well I want y'all to
know I quit counting how many references he used that I'm using
this morning. So for the Sunday school class
to you, I apologize, but I'm just not smart enough to change
this thing on the fly. So we're just going to stay with
what we've got. We're going to look at this psalm this morning,
but first of all, let's bow our heads to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, once again, we're
Privileged absolutely privileged to come into this house of worship
this morning and be amongst our friends where we can freely worship
and Praise your name We have seen your mighty works this week
that you have been pleased to keep us all safe and well and
we thank you for that We'd know not what you do and why you do
it, but we know it is for our benefit And we thank you for
that And now, as always, we beg your indulgence to come down
to us, Lord, and help us during this hour to open up your word
to us. My words mean nothing. But the
spirit can enlighten us all. And that is our request this
morning. Amen. First thing I'd like to do is
read through the chapter with just a few, just a few comments
along, going along, just maybe to help us out as we go to it.
But the psalmist starts out, hear this, all you people give
ear, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich
and poor together. And so whether you're rich or
poor or in between, our psalmist, he has news for us. Both those
who are highly honored, those who are revered, and then the
rest of us, those that are just mean and of low esteem. Hear
ye, hear ye, is his cry. He has news for us all. And he
says, my mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of
my heart be of understanding. First Corinthians chapter 1,
verses 22 through 24, where they Paul writes them this way, for
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greek, Christ the power of God. And take special
note of what Paul writes here in reference to Jesus as he finishes
this statement. He wrote of Christ and he called
him the wisdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
subject of our psalmist right here in Psalm 49 this morning.
And I hope that's our subject this hour. He writes, I will incline mine
ear to a parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the harp. And I'll blame it on Star Wars
where we always think of the dark side or something dark representing
evil. But I think that gives us a false
idea of what the psalmist means here when he writes dark saying.
The best I can figure and maybe explain it to you is that in
this psalm, the psalmist is filling the role of the preacher, the
preacher of the gospel. And if you remember, so much
of Jesus' teachings came to us in parables. And so when the
writer of this passage writes that he is inclining his ear
to this parable, he's telling us that he is willing to learn
this message, and then he will in turn preach it to us. And
he writes, wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the
iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in
their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
none of them. And though the psalmist is writing
directly to the rich here, I think that we could very easily substitute
both the low and the high and the rich and poor from verse
two without changing the truth of this statement of all, because
none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul
is precious. And one of the definitions of
this word precious is that it means heavy. I found another
definition for this word, and I'll speak of that a little later. But it says for the redemption
of their soul is precious and it ceases forever. That he should
still live forever and not see corruption. All of man's days
are numbered and there is nothing you can do for yourself or someone
else can do for you that will change this. Verse 10, for he
saith 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. They call their lands after their
own names. Nevertheless, Man being in honor
abideth not. And this abideth not just means
that a person only last a short while on the top side of this
earth. He is like the beast that perish. This their way is their
folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings, Selah. Generation
after generation that they watched the previous generation vanish
away. Yet they too willfully believe
this illusion of their earthly riches and accomplishments continuing
forever. Sadly, so many spend all their
time and efforts chasing these riches, and they spend no time
in concern for their souls. And they'll stay lost forever.
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.
Rich or poor, good and bad, they all look the same in the grave,
and it's not a pretty picture. But God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave, for he shall receive me, Selah. 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 man will praise thee when thou doest well to
thyself. He shall go to the generations
of his father. They shall never see light. And
now hear what our preacher has to say of those who have been
given bountiful blessings in this life, but they give no glory
to the one who was pleased to give them these gifts. Man that
is in honor and understand that not is like the beast that perish. Like so many parts of scripture,
this passage has something to say not only to and about believers,
and in this passage it's a word of comfort and a word of hope
to them, but it also has something to say about non-believers. And
in this case, as I've mentioned before, to some of the more affluent
or some of the more rich or honorable of that group. Now, I spent a
lot of time reading different commentaries where I could go
through this passage and more or less go verse by verse with
it. But that I decided in the end, it just take way too much
time. And I want to move our direction another way. But I
do want to address this nonbeliever as mentioned here, because it's
feel so many of the verses. So just a few things that that
is said here, here, I want to pull out again and speak about
that. We'll look at verse six real
quick. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in
the multitude of their riches. We've all run into people that
this verse here describes, and it's only natural, at least it
is for me, I'll be honest with you, to be a little envious of
these folks, these folks who seem to have it all. But in reality,
when it's all said and done, they really deserve our pity.
to trust in something as fleeting as possessions. And think about what a possession
is, whether it's wealth or land or a house or whatever. Think
about this past week. We just had one night of rain. And think about all the work
and toil and trouble that got washed away, all these dams, Few houses, a few cars, just
like that. It was nothing for God to allow
that rain. And it's gone just like that.
But so many put their hope and their faith in these riches and
these possessions and what they have obtained. To boast that
you have done it yourself and not give praise to the first
cause of all things, to the one who allowed you to have it, the
one that gave it to you, it's nothing short of foolishness. And then it continues, none of
them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God
a ransom for him. And that's not only blood relations,
but that's any relation or friend. One person can't help another
no matter what they have attained in this lifetime. I'll get back
to this in a little bit. Let's look at verses 16 and 17.
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. I've got a couple of golf references
to you and for a lot of you that won't make any difference but
trying to bring out some current events here and this is the first
one I'd like to. We all know I'm sure everyone
in here has heard that Arnold Palmer has passed away and I'm
not passing judgment on the man. In fact, when I hear his name,
every time I hear his name, it brings back a special night in
my life that changed my life to the night forever. So if you
ever say I'm a Palmer and I smile, it's my own private thought,
but it's a nice one. And in a lot of respects, he
made a lot of lives better. He employed a lot of people,
put in the work, made a lot of golf courses where people can
get away from this tough world every once in a while for a few
hours and enjoy themselves. But in doing so, he has, he obtained
an awful amount of wealth and a lot of honor and a lot of glory. I've been watching the Golf Channel
all this week and they've spent a lot of time praising this man. Among men, he was a giant, that's
true. But today, everything he obtained
in this lifetime whether it's houses, land, or a good name
amongst all others. He's no different than the beggar
who died in the street, who's buried under the name John Doe,
because no one knows who he is. All of that does the rich man
no good in just a very short while. You just don't take it
with you. You don't take it with you. Now
there is a common refrain that was found in a couple of these
verses. If you want to look, it's at
the end of verse 12. Speaking of the rich man and
the honorable man, he is like the beasts that perish. And this
psalm ends that way. Man that is in honor and understandeth
not is like the beast that perish. Now, this beast is not just a
common animal. It's not like your pet at the
house, or it's not like the cow in the field. This beast represents
the wild animal, the wild animal that is hunted, hunted down by
another wild animal, and it's killed, and it's eaten up in
that wild. This is an apt description of
the rich after their deaths. They spend a lifetime striving
for what is so quickly devoured and so often ruined by other
generations that follow. Look around. Study a little bit
of history. A lot of wealth, it usually doesn't
make it past two, three generations at the most. They think their
houses will continue forever, but they crumble away. In verse
12 again, nevertheless, man being in honor abideth not. He is like
the beast that perished. The beast lives only for a short
night. That's what abideth really implies. All of our lives are just a twinkle
of an eye. But he spends that time gathering
his wealth, and he gathers the alkylates. But when he's gone,
there quickly It's like they're just torn apart, just like the
wolves that catch their prey and quickly devour them. And
though this speaks to nonbelievers, it is a message to all of us,
me included. Your soul is so much more precious
than what you gather in this lifetime. As I said, you don't
take it with you. Don't get yourself caught up
too much in the here and now because there is an eternity
to come. So now I want to turn our attention
to what this passage has to say to the believer, to God's people. And I've already made the statement
that these words speak a message of comfort and hope to the believer.
So I want to begin, and we'll spend most of our time on this
word of comfort. And then if I've got a couple
minutes left, I'll finish on just one or two little things
on this oath. But let's listen to the words
of verse 5 again, if you would. Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? Now with all my study, and I
can't tell you how many full commentaries I read and snippets
on a lot of these verses, there was not a common refrain about
what this meant. So I'm not going to tell you
I have any idea really of what especially the end of this passage
means. But I do want to pass a couple
of things that made a lot of sense to me, pass that along
to you. One thought was that where it says here, my heel shall
compass me about, it had the alternate translation of meaning,
when my enemies surround or supplant me. Isaiah 51.12 is also a word of comfort to
Zion, to God's church. And in it, the Lord states, I,
even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art thou, though thou
shouldst be afraid of a man that should die? And of the son of
man, which shall be made as grass. We are being given the same advice
here in Psalm 49 and verse five. Think about your heels. And I'm
talking about the outside of the heel, not the inside. The
heel may be, especially if you go barefoot a lot, one of the
toughest parts of your body. Think about when you were a child.
Always running around, especially in the summertime, spring and
summer, and early fall without shoes. Your feet just got tough
as all get out. And every once in a while you
might step on a rock or step on something wrong and it would
hurt. But it was always just for a little while. If you really
got it good, a bruise might last a day or two. But it'd quickly
go away and off you'd go again, just like nothing had happened.
So it is when evil in this world comes upon a believer, most especially
when it's done by evil people. The hold that they have on you
and the pain they cause, you look back on them, it really
only lasts a short while, doesn't it? It may not seem that way
when you're under duress, but God always knows how much you
can take. And when you get to your limit,
he pulls that evil away and he lifts the burdens off your back.
It's like that heel, tough. The pain quickly goes away, and
you go again in him. And for the second thought I
learned that made a lot of sense to me, I'll just start with a
question. How many of us here this morning feel the effects
of old age? I ain't gonna say who, but I
heard some complaining going on between the services today,
and for one time, it wasn't me. So that made me feel good, actually.
We could spend many a days each in turn talking about what's
wrong with us. Well, there was an 18th century
theologian. I'm sure many of you have heard
his name before. His name is John Edwards. And he related
old age to this days of evil. And one of the passages that
he uses a reference that sent him along this path, it came
along out of Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one. Said, remember
now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not. Before you get old, is what he's
saying. Nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them. It is as if our decaying bodies
are a reminder and a result of the culmination of a lifetime
of sin. the sins that we have continually
committed from the start of our lives to now. The more our sins
are added up, the worse we feel. The older we get, the more we
decay. But the word of comfort is for
the believer that these end days Honestly, they should really
bring joy and not prevail. When you're young, it seems as
if eternity is a long ways away. But as you age, that changes.
It gets closer and closer. And for the believer, he knows
that every day that passes, it just means that he or she He's
just one day nearer to seeing their Lord face to face. And
if you spend your time contemplating that, finding joy in that, you'll
find that some of these maladies, they just don't seem quite as
bad. As I read over the chapter, the
most comforting words I found in Psalm 49 came to me in verse
15. Look at that with me, please.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he
shall receive me, Selah. And note that that was in contrast
to what will happen to the unbeliever. It was this verse that first
caught my attention as I was reading this psalm, and since
it ends with this verb, with this word selah there at the
end, we need to sit down and think about it for a while. And
I'll attempt to do this by using the four-part outline here, and
I hope it doesn't take us too long. But I'm gonna do it, my
outline's gonna use these four words, implied, denied, supplied,
and applied. So let's look at this. We're
going to start with the word implied. And though you read
this passage again, it never just comes maybe quite out and
straight says it, but you read this chapter and you can't help
but come up with the conclusion that the soul must need redeeming. Redemption is a necessary part
of the salvation of a sinner. But why is this so? Why? Why do we need redeeming? And
here where I'm gonna walk all over Craig. Keep your place here
and turn to Genesis chapter two with me. Just a couple verses
here, a few verses here in chapter two and chapter three. What is man's original state? I really should start reading
it. Verse 28 of chapter one, but for time sake, I just want
to look at three verses here in chapter two and try and answer
this question. What was man's original state
when he was first created? How was he? Where was he? How
was he living? Let's look at verses 15 through
17 right quick. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Man started
existence in paradise. That's where he lived, paradise.
And no matter what your idea of paradise is, no matter how
wonderful you may think it to be, whether you think it's a
beachside cottage, or you think it's a mountainside retreat,
or you just think it's being all by yourself for a whole day
where you ain't got to hear nobody else, whatever your idea of paradise
is, I can guarantee you it pales in comparison to the truth of
this evening. Not only that, man had all he
needed. He had a home. He had this paradise
to live in. It didn't rain yet, and he was
in harmony with the animals. He didn't even need shelter.
And as far as nourishment, as far as food, he had all he wanted. He could eat from every tree
in the garden, save one. He could eat until he looked
like Porky the Pig was the thought that came to my mind when I thought
about that. Everything he needed was provided
for him. And it was provided to him by
the hand of God. And he was righteous. It's hard
for me to comprehend that. He was righteous. Righteous in
the sight of God. He was sinless and he was perfect. He was at peace with God. He
was in harmony with God. How do we know this? Well, we
just read it. He conversed with God and he
had a complete understanding of God. As Craig explained to
us in the first hour, he was given one commandment. Thou shall not eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. And he very well knew exactly
what that meant. You continue reading, you have
no doubt about that. So this was man's original state. He walked and he talked with
God. And that's as good as it can
get. But what about now? What about man's state now? And
I may continue using the word man, but I'm really talking about
me. So when I say man, substitute
the word me. Adam was no different than the
rest of us. Or better yet, we were no different than Adam because
we received his nature. And we know that we just can't
ever leave well enough alone. We're always tinkering and we
always think we can make things better. including ourselves. That's what Adam thought. And
he decided to do something about it. He thought he could educate
himself. So what did he do? Look at chapter
three in verse six. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat. Though he knew exactly what God
meant when he said, don't eat, well, he ate anyway. He took
that bite of the fruit. Eve was deceived, but Adam ate
of the tree willfully. And what is the result? What
condition then was he in, which is the same as the condition
we are now in? Look at verse 17 here in chapter
3. 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, and 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.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return
unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken,
for dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou return. And go to
verse 23. Therefore, the Lord God sent
him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from
whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. So where is man now? What is
this current condition? Adam started in paradise. Look
around. This ain't no paradise we're
in. He was at peace with God, but man has anything but peace. How much turmoil are in the lives
of men? Man still having to work for
the daily bread, right? They still have diseases. They
still have accidents. Hospitals are full. They still have strife one with
another. I don't know about y'all, but
I'm awful glad I don't live in Chicago. And I feel safe to say that their
conscience, though so many people nowadays deny it, their conscience
still talks to them when they sin. Mine still does. Doesn't yours? All of these are nothing short
of evidence that man is in no ways at peace with God. This
wouldn't be our condition if we were. Instead of walking with
God, man is really at enmity with God. And forget about having
any understanding of God and what He means and being able
to do His commandments. The best knowledge that any of
us have of Him can only be described as a snippet, just a little bit. And if we've gained any of that,
it was only because He was pleased to reveal it to us. Really, the ones who claim they
know the most nowadays, your modern-day theologian, your modern-day
preacher, the religious zealots, they're really the ones who actually
know the least, aren't they? They're just making it up as
they go along. This is the condition that man
currently resides in, lost and alienated from God. To return
to the state in which Adam was first created, to be at peace
with God and to be in the presence of God, he must be redeemed. So what is redemption? I told
you I had a couple of golf references because that's what's going on
nowadays. I'll use another current event of something that happened
Friday. Y'all may know that the Ryder
Cup's going on. And as I like to refer to it,
it's a blood sport. It's America versus Europe. 12
of America's best golfers going against 12 of Europe's best golfers.
It's not where you play individual and the best one wins. You make
up teams and play each other. Friday morning, really the best
team the Americans had happened to play just by the draw. The
captains put a list, the other put up the list, and they just
happened to wind up in the fourth spot. They played each other.
The Americans won. That afternoon, it just happened. They played each other again.
That time, the Europeans won. And it just struck my ear after
the After it was over and they were interviewing the Europeans,
the ones who had just won, one of the golfers made the quote.
He said, we were able to redeem ourselves this afternoon. That's
what redemption is. It's a return to the original
stake, really by paying an equivalent price for what was lost. For
our golfers, these two Europeans just played really a wonderful
round of golf. You can't play much better. But for redemption, the redemption
of a soul, well, that is a price beyond measure that must be paid. to return man to his original
state, the original state that Adam was in, to be in the presence
of God. So that moves me to my second
word, and that is the word denied. Like I said, the gopher made
the statement, we redeemed ourself. Not so in the case of redemption
of a soul. And here, I just need you to
use a little common sense and remember what I just read back
in chapter 3. If you want to, you can go ahead
and return back to Psalm 49. When God removed Adam and Eve
from the Garden of Eden, don't you think that if it was
any way possible for a man to redeem himself, to do anything,
that God would have given him an opportunity to do it at that
time. No, he can't. That's because he can't do anything
for himself. That's as plain and simple as
I can say it. It's impossible a man cannot
redeem himself. He can't gussy himself up enough
to make himself presentable to God, much less pay this required
price, this price beyond measure that it takes to return him to
his original state, righteous before God. And as far as having
any other son of Adam do it for you, as we've already read from
our text, none of them can by any means redeem his brother
nor give to God a ransom for him. Wealth, power, knowledge,
nothing one man has can be offered to God to redeem another. Honestly,
that's just trading one bad apple for another. All men need redemption. We all do. We're all sinners. We're all alienated from God. And since we all need redemption,
then anything I can do for you or anything you can do for me
is of no use. It is no value. Verse eight tells
us that the redemption of their soul is precious. I told you
there was another meaning for this word precious I found. That
is the word costly, costly. It is a cost beyond measure.
Nothing a man has or can do can pay this required price. And
here's where we move to our third word, the word supplied. And
it is in this the believer finds all the comfort he needs. For
God's people they are redeemed, but the costliest of prices was
paid. Keep your place here in Psalm
49, if you want to, in just a couple verses from 1 Peter 1, verses
18 and 19. I'll give you a second to get
there. I think I'm doing okay on time. And I just want you to read these
words with me. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, I
say the rich man can't redeem you folks. From your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's what it costs. All men need redemption save
one, and that is because he carries the title the God-man. He was
made of a woman. We all carry the nature of Adam. The sinful man. We have his nature. But not Christ. He was born without
Adam's sinful nature. He was born with a righteous
nature, just as Adam was first created. But unlike Adam, he
did not fall. He committed no sin. So when he shed that precious
blood on the cross at Calvary, He paid the penalty for the sins
of all the elect and returned them to the state of the original
glory that Adam had with God. Christ paid their sin debt. He
paid an equivalent penalty for all their sins and transgressions. Think about that for a little
bit. And think about it through your own eyes. I can't stand
up here and tell you I completely understand all of that. I do
know this, I am a tremendous sinner. So therefore, a tremendous
price had to be paid for my redemption. But not only that, the sins of
all of God's elect were paid with that same payment. Think
about how much sin you have in your life and what it takes to
redeem you. And then multiply that time after
time after time again. That's how precious the blood
of Christ is. That is precious indeed, the
costliest of prices. But it's also a picture of true
love, a love without conditions. We have no idea what really what
this love is all about. We love with conditions. We love our spouses. We love
our children. But that love can go away. Divorce
courts are full. We see it all the time, children
and parents at each other's throats. But not this love. Christ loved
his bride so much, and I've already tried to speak to really how
worthless his bride is when you look at your own self and your
transgressions and your sins. He loved his bride so much that
he willingly laid down his life for her. God loved his chosen
people so much that he willingly sacrificed his only begotten
son. And God loves Jesus so much that
every precious drop of blood he shed on the tree, it was of
immeasurable worth As he paid for the sins of the elect. Christ. And only Christ is the acceptable
sacrifice. He is the one Craig. He is the
only one. What praise and glory and honor
Christ deserves? From such wayward creatures as
we are. Unfortunately, we can't even
do that right. The righteous one gave his life
for the most undeserving so that they could return to fellowship
with God, the fellowship that was forfeited by their father
Adam in the garden. How wondrous is God and how wonderful
is our Christ. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out why God would sacrifice
his son for a sinful wretch like me is beyond my comprehension
and understanding. But that doesn't mean I can't
rejoice in it and praise God for it. And most especially his
dear son. So now we move to the fourth
word, and that is the word applied. Mr. Spurgeon, he made the statement
that Jesus wills to have the whole of what he bought with
his precious blood with him in heaven. He will not lose any
part. He did not die for a part of
a church, nor will he be satisfied unless the entire flock, which
he has purchased, shall be gathered around him. In other words, all
of God's elect shall be saved, and this work of redemption will
be applied to all of them. How? By the work of the Holy
Spirit. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4, verse 30, and grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Another reference to what Craig
said, we have one God, the triune God, and they are all involved
in this work. And I don't make this next statement
to promote sinfulness and unconverted men and unknowing men, they might
take something like this and run with it either to continue
in their sin or to say I am promoting it. These words are for those
of you who have been sealed by the spirit. They're for those
of you who lay prostrate at the feet of Christ, continuously
begging mercy and forgiveness for your sins. How comforting it is to know
that for those of you who love Christ, that no matter your unworthiness,
and no matter how undeserving you are of Christ's work, His
great work of redemption, we are told by Paul that the Spirit
will keep us till the end. Craig's already read this this
morning. John 6, 39, And this is the Father's will which hath
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. Jesus' blood
paid for their redemption, and the Spirit keeps them. None has
been or ever will be lost. I told you earlier I was going
to end with a message of hope, and those of you who stand up
here, you know how what I want to say next is the truth. But
you know how disheartening it is when you're studying a passage
And you go to Hawker, and he really has almost absolutely
nothing to say about it. I'm telling you, your heart sinks
when that happens. In Psalm 49, 15, but God will
redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive
me. And I've got in parentheses here
what I'd make sure and tell you that this here is this last day.
Here's all he wrote on it. The psalmist here draws a fine
contrast in the death of the believer to that of the ungodly. His flesh rests in hope, period. That's it. But that's enough, isn't it?
That's enough, isn't it? The believer rests. In this,
he has hope that he will not suffer the corruption of the
grave, not this corruption that the unrighteous we read about
will suffer. Their hope and their rest and
their faith lies in the promise that's here given to us in this
beautiful song. Christ rose from the grave, and
so shall they. Christ said, and if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there you may be also. The grave couldn't
hold Jesus, folks, and it will not hold his redeemed. I hope you can find comfort in
that. I surely did myself. Thank you.