Alright, Psalm chapter 49, let's
read this together. 20 verses in this psalm, and
I think you'll get the sense of the meaning of the psalm as
we read through this. In verse 1 of Psalm 49, Hear
this, all you people, give ear, all you 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. And then there's a transition
here. The first part, the first four verses there were opening
the psalm with this statement of how the one who is writing
here would open his mouth in a parable and reveal this dark
saying on the heart. Verse five, the transition says,
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 can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul
is precious, and it ceaseth forever, 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. They call their lands after their
own names. Nevertheless, man, being in honor,
abideth not. He is like the beasts that perish.
This, their way, is their folly, yet their posterity approve their
sayings. Selah. 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. 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 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
and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish. All right,
so if we look at this psalm together, and in the handout, if you happen
to have opened it, or if you do open it later, you'll notice
that I put in there two different versions, the King James Version
and the LITV version of the scripture here in Psalm 49, because some
of the verses, especially verse five, I found are translated
differently, and the difference in translation actually helps
us to understand it, so I put those in there. But let's look
at this psalm at a higher level in verses 1 through 2. Notice
in verses 1 through 2, the one who is speaking, who is the psalmist,
and he is penning this psalm, Well, actually, David was the
one who penned it, but the Spirit of God is guiding him. It says,
Hear this, all you people, and give ear, all you inhabitants
of the world, both low and high, rich and poor, together. Sometimes,
and I have said this recently, too, that the Bible was written
for the elect, for God's people. Well, clearly this verse contradicts
that, and so I stand corrected. The Bible wasn't written just
for God's elect. It was actually addressed here
to everybody all over the earth throughout time. It says here
very explicitly, all ye people, all ye inhabitants of the world,
low and high, rich and poor, together. So this reminds me
of in Romans 3 where it says, what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Clearly, that verse is describing every person that God's law is
given so that it would find all men to be sinners. So in that
sense, the Word of God is written to everybody. And we should recognize
that as it says it is here, particularly a lot of things are written to
God's elect, which we're gonna find out in a minute here. But
in general, the word of God is also written to all people. And
it is for that reason that we read in Isaiah 45, 22, look unto
me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved." Or however
it says, it says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends
of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Clearly we
take that as warrant for anyone at any time who is a sinner to
look to Christ and be saved. by His own word. And I find that
most comforting because I don't have anything of myself or in
myself, either now or future or past or anything that I can
look to, not my parents, not my children, none of my works,
none of my thoughts or words or anything that I can look to
as a reason for God to extend His grace and favor and love
and salvation to me. I find nothing No ground for
God's love in me, except for his word. I only have his word.
I can't find any other reason. And we're gonna expand on that
particular point here in a minute. But I just wanna point that out
in verse one. This chapter is meant for the
entire world. It's addressing all people. And it's important that everyone
acknowledge the fact that God has spoken. In Romans chapter
one, it says that everyone suppresses the truth. The natural man suppresses
the truth. God himself has shown to us. So we have no excuse because
God says, I showed it to you. And what are we gonna do, argue
with God and deny that he showed it to us? That's what people
try to do, but they can't convince God. So there's no leg to stand
on there. All right, but notice in verse
three, He says, here's what he's going to say to everybody. He
says, my mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of
my heart shall be of understanding. So clearly what he's about to
say is out of a good understanding. He knows what he's talking about.
And this is the wisdom of God he's about to reveal. Now, if
you remember, in 1 Corinthians 1, there's a verse there that
says, and I'll read it to you, something very profound, very
important, and it is an explanation of this phrase here in Psalm
49, verse three, where he said, my mouth shall speak of wisdom.
In 1 Corinthians 1, and verse 24, it says, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the context here,
he's talking about the preaching of Christ. In particular, he's
talking about the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And you can read that chapter
for yourself and verify that that's what he's talking about
here. For example, the second verse of the next chapter says,
Paul the Apostle, I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. All right, so there you have
it. So what is the wisdom of God? It's Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the wisdom of God. Isn't his name called the Word
of God? And where else do we find wisdom
but the Word of God? And what would God say that wasn't
the very revelation of wisdom, the wisdom of God? When God speaks,
it's certainly wise words, isn't it? Not only that, but in Jude,
The 25th verse, it says, now unto the only wise God, our Savior,
Jesus Christ. So clearly the Lord Jesus Christ
is the wise God, the only wise God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me read that to you also
by looking at that. And then Jude. There's only one
chapter, so when I say verse 25, it means the 25th verse. It says, Jude 1, verse 25, to
the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever, amen. And he has been speaking
here unto him who is able to keep you from falling, to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. Okay, so
I say that in 1 Corinthians 1.24, that Christ is the wisdom of
God. And also in Jude verse 25, that he is the only wise God,
our Savior. And in other places, such as
Colossians chapter two, verse three, where it says, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found. to show us that what's being
said here in Psalm 49 verse 3, my mouth shall speak of wisdom,
is that this is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God
speaking the gospel to us. That's what's about to be spoken
here, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? If we go
on in verse four, Psalm 49 and verse 4, he says, I will incline
mine ear to a parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the harp. Now, throughout scripture, God
uses parables. And what is a parable? Well,
there's another word that's often used. It doesn't necessarily
explain it, but it's called an enigma. An enigma is something
that's like a dark saying. There's a mystery that can't
be known unless it's revealed. And often an enigma is spoken
in a way that seems to hide the truth, but the truth is deep
because of the words that are used. For example, when in Scripture
God appears to one prophet or another by a vision, often the
vision is an enigma or a parable. The entire book of Revelation
is like that. There are languages that's used
there. It's clearly metaphorical language.
You see dragons and beasts and horns. and sea and land, and
these different colored horses, and all these things are clearly
speaking in a symbolic language. So that's a parable. In the book
of Daniel, Daniel sees dreams and visions, and they were parables
that had to be interpreted. In the book of Judges, Samson
gave the Philistines a parable when he said, when he's talking
about that lion that he tore in half with his bare hands and
after the lion's carcass lay there, bees built a They had
honey in the carcass of the lion, and Samson came by later and
saw that, took some of it, ate it, and he gave that parable
to the Philistines, and they couldn't figure out his riddle.
So that's an enigma, and an enigma is something that the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke in parables during his ministry in Mark. If you
want to turn to Mark chapter 4, I want to read this to you here
because it's so pertinent to what we're looking at here. In
Mark chapter four, he says in verse 34, but without a parable
spake he not unto them, and when they were alone, he expounded
all things to his disciples. All right, so here it's clear
that the Lord, if you read this chapter, if you read Matthew
13, he was always speaking in parables, the parable of the
sower, the parable of the wheat and the tares, the parable of
the mustard seed, so many parables. And he often brought his enemies
to shame by speaking a parable and they were the the ones in
the parable he was talking about. Like, for example, the the two
sons, one of them said when his father told him to go to the
field and work, he said no. And but later he repented. And
then the second son said, oh, sure, I will. But didn't go.
And he was showing how they were the sons, like the son who said
he would, but didn't. They were hypocrites. So in fact,
in Mark, chapter four, He says in verse 9, this is the Lord
Jesus, He said to them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
When he was alone, they that were about him, with the twelve,
asked of the parable. He said, Unto you it is given
to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are
without, all these things are done in parables." Okay, so this
is what I was alluding to earlier. The Bible is written to all people,
but God explains the Bible to His people. He says, they that
are without, everything is done in a parable. And then he goes
on in Mark chapter four, right after he said that, that everything
is done in parables to those who are without the kingdom,
outside of it. In verse 12 of Mark four he says,
and this is why, that seeing they may see and not perceive,
and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time
they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven
them. Now that seems really harsh,
doesn't it? That the Lord Jesus would speak
in parables in order to prevent those who heard him speaking
understand and believe and be forgiven. But that's what he
said. That's not what I said. And we
might not like what he said, but this is the word of the Lord.
The fact of the matter is, is no one can understand unless
the Lord reveal it to them. And God reveals his word to his
people. His sheep hear his voice and
they follow him. He has mercy on whom he will."
Now, what does that make you do? Does it make us get angry
at the Lord? Do we think, well, that's my
fault. It's his fault then that I'm
not saved. No. That's not true. It's not his
fault that we suffer for our sins. Our sins are our own fault.
But if we are saved, we have to give credit to Him, don't
we? We have to give credit to His
grace because we would only know by His grace. So that's the first
thing we see here in Psalm 49, that what's being said is said
to unfold a mystery, to reveal an enigma, to make known something
that was hidden. But it's spoken in a parable,
okay? So that helps us to understand
how this is to be understood. Now let's read the next verse.
He says, after verse four, which says, I will incline mine ear
to a parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the heart. In other words, in this Psalm,
now verse five, wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when
the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? That's the
parable. It seems like an enigma. It seems
like an enigma to the natural man. What is he saying here? Why should I fear in the days
of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
That's a very deep truth, what he's saying there. And I was
trying to explain it to Denise before I really understood it,
and I was off track. And I had to go back and look
at it again. Some of the commentators here
will explain this as the fact that those who are the enemies
of the righteous unjustly are persecuting them, and they are
their enemies. And the psalmist is saying here
in verse five, why should I fear when my enemies persecute me
wrongfully? Well, certainly enemies persecute
God's people wrongfully. And they persecuted Christ and
it was wrong that they did that. But I don't think that's what's
being spoken of here particularly. I think just taking it right
here as it says, wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when
the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about reveals an ocean
of truth. And I would help, I would say
that the way I understand it is if we ask The question that
is to the natural person, a natural man, and ourselves included,
the way we naturally think, it's an enigma. How could that possibly
be? So let me ask the question that might expose this enigma
as a parable. How can someone, as spoken of
in verse five, why should I fear the days of evil when the iniquity
of my heels compass me about? How can someone be at peace and
rest in days of evil? And you can think of what days
of evil are to you, or they have been historically in the world.
All sorts of cruelty throughout the world at the hands of men. Just all sorts of death and destruction
and harm has come to people. So that's like a day of evil.
But is that the days of evil spoken of here? Another question
is, how can you trust God when things are so bad for you? That's
another enigma. The unbeliever would say, how
can you be trusting God when your life is a mess? It seems
like when we ourselves, and you can think about this your own
self, but I can talk to you from my own conscience. When I think
about myself, I can ask this question, how
can you trust God when things are so bad for you, especially
when they're so bad with the way you think and what you do
and say? Not only so bad for you, but
you're so bad, right? That's a difficult thing. How can you trust God when you're
so bad? Isn't that really the ultimate? Enigma to the natural man, how
can a sinner trust God? How can the publican say, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner? Doesn't that admit to God that
he's guilty? Doesn't that expose him to God's
just wrath? Yes, it does. But notice in his
cry, God be merciful to me the sinner, he also takes refuge
in the propitiation of the mercy seat where the Lord Jesus Christ
himself was offered in heaven. He offered his own blood. He's
the propitiation for our sins. God gave him for that. So how
can you trust God when things are bad? How can you trust God
when you're so bad? How can you trust God when you
yourself are a sinner? Isn't that the great mystery
and the enigma of the gospel to the natural man? How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? That's one. That's a great mystery
in itself and the revelation of how. is the glory of God. And the answer to that question,
how can God be just and justify the ungodly, is because in his
sovereignty, out of his own goodness, he sacrificed his son for those
who offended him by their deliberate rebellion, despising his word
and crucifying his son. Doesn't that show the goodness
of God and the greatness of God's mercy and grace? That is how
God can be just and justify the ungodly because he found justice
in the blood of his son. And he himself provided that
for sinners. That's incredible. Beyond words,
incomprehensible, immeasurable grace. But beyond that, or not
beyond that, but in addition to that, not only the question
is how can God be just and justify the ungodly, Sinners like me,
but how can sinners trust God, believing that Christ, by His
precious blood and perfect righteousness, can love me and wash me from
my sins in His own blood, and more, not only wash my sins,
but give me a perfect righteousness and give me an inheritance as
an heir and son of God, even as the bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ? me who by nature am nothing but
a harlot in mind and in thought, in word and deed. That's an enigma,
isn't it? And so I think if we understand
it in this way, it will explain the psalm to us. If we go on
in chapter 49, verse 5, he says, wherefore should I fear in the
day of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? Now, I just give you a couple of verses that you can, and we've
done this before, you can look in scripture. God compares our
sin as our enemy. He compares our sin to an enemy,
the greatest enemy that we have. The sting of death, even in death,
left unchecked, our sin will be stinging us. unless that sting
is taken away, and God is the one who alone can take it away.
In Psalm 65, in verse 3, he says, Iniquities prevail against me. And the answer then comes, As
for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Clearly,
our transgressions against God's law, our sin, prevails against
us, and God calls it our enemy, and he's going to purge them
away. As death reigned, as sin reigned
unto death, it says in Romans 5, 21, as sin reigned unto death,
sin reigns like a tyrant. Death is the payback of God because
of our sin. It's the wages of our sin. But
as sin reigned unto death, even so, because of Christ, grace
reigns in the place of sin, it reigns unto eternal life through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Romans
5.21 is saying. So given that, now let's go on
in verse six of Psalm 49. He says, 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. So here we have the enigma, which
is an enigma to the natural man. It's only known by those God
reveals it as a parable is revealed to the disciples. But then he
expresses here the thinking of the natural man, they that trust
in their wealth. To trust in wealth is to take
refuge in wealth. It's to expect that my money
or my things, the things I have in this life, are going to deliver
me from trouble. The power's not going to get shut off because
I pay my electric bill. Or they're not gonna take my
house away because I pay my mortgage or whatever. I'm trusting in
my bank account. If I don't have money in the
bank, then I've got something to worry about. But if I got
money in the bank, everything's hunky-dory. That's trusting in
our wealth. We don't trust in our wealth.
We look to the Lord Jesus Christ to provide everything for us,
everything. And when we lay down at night or when we rise up in
the morning, when we eat, when our lives are sustained, we bless
and thank the Lord for sustaining them and giving to us out of
his hand. Not because, if we use the money
in our bank account to pay for those things, then we thank him
for that too. We thank him for everything. Everything comes
from him. But when we talk about wealth, God doesn't mean just
monetary wealth. He means the kind of wealth that
men use as a haven, a safe haven, against the days of evil, which
is what he said in verse 5, Wherefore should I fear the days of evil?
Well, the days of evil are when God brings me into judgment,
and I have to answer to God, the one to whom I have to give,
what? An account. How can I give an
account if I don't have anything to pay? If the account shows
me in a deficit and I have nothing to pay, then God, who is the
creditor, and I'm the debtor to him, a debtor for crimes I've
committed against him, and I've offended him and his justice
stands unsatisfied. And I'm on this side of the balance,
justice is on the other side, and I'm not in balance here.
The justice is not in balance. God's gonna require payment from
me. That's days of evil, isn't it? And what do men do? Well, they seek refuge. They refer back in their conscience
to their stores of things that will defend them in that day
of judgment. And the things they trust in
to defend them are their works. They trust their goodness. They
trust that God will consider, He'll put on the scales what
they've done and thought and said on the one hand, and whatever
is on the other side of the scales, that it'll balance out and God
will not. Bring them into condemnation.
He will not judge them, but he will excuse them and so that's
what he's saying here in verse 6 they that trust in their wealth
and Both themselves in the multitude of their riches in the New Testament
Jesus said That the rich man the farmer who had a lot of things
he he thought about how much he had he said hmm See where
am I gonna put all this stuff? Oh, I know I'll build bigger
barns. That's what I'll do. Everything's
going to be glad. And the Lord says, you fool,
this night your soul shall be required of you. And then he
summed it up. He says, so is everyone who is
not rich towards God. So if we're not rich towards
God, what that means is we don't have any righteousness. We don't
have any good works. We don't have any spiritual and
heavenly blessings. We have no grace. We're impoverished
because we have trusted in our wealth and not in God's riches,
which are in Christ alone. So this is what the natural man
says, wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when, I'm
sorry, in 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. There's so much truth in this verse. First of all, who's
the one who holds men captive because of their sin? It's the
one who has to be paid the ransom. It's God. And who's the one who
requires a ransom for the setting free? It's God. And who says
how big the ransom has to be? It's God again. Who pays the
ransom? The Redeemer. Who can pay it? No one on earth. None of them
can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for
him. There's no one. You might be able to pay the
debt of another person on earth. They might owe some money and
you might be able to pay their debt and the debtor will set
them free. You can pay a man to free a man,
but you cannot pay God to free a man, you see. He says in verse
eight, for the redemption of their soul is precious and it
ceaseth forever. The redemption of their soul
is so precious that it can only be measured by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because only the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the ransom that will free a man who is a
sinner from the wrath of God, from the curse of God's law,
from death, and from sin, and from Satan, from everything that
sin brings. And so that's why these words
are so precious. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Galatians 3.13.
Or in Revelation 5.9, thou hast redeemed us to God. Out of every kindred, tongue,
people, and nation, by thine own blood thou hast redeemed
us to God. That's what it says in Revelation
5, verse 9. Or in Acts 20, 28, that the Lord
purchased the church. God, let me read that to you
in Acts 20, 28. The Apostle Paul was speaking
to the Ephesians just before he said, I won't see you again.
He says in verse 28, take heed therefore to yourselves and to
all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. There you have it. That's a precious
price. That's a very high price for
the ransom of a man's life, isn't it? The redemption of their soul
is precious and it ceaseth forever. In 1 Peter 1, verse 18, he says,
you're not redeemed by corruptible things like silver and gold from
your vain conversation, but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. That's precious. That's most precious, isn't it?
From the beginning, God evaluated what it would take. He himself
is the one we offended. He held the balance in his hands
whether or not a ransom would be allowed to redeem us. And
then he specified what that ransom would be. And then he gave the
ransom, which is his son. And then Christ gave himself. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. He redeemed them by his own blood.
And then God accepted his blood for them. And Christ obtained
from God their eternal redemption. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12. That
is a precious redemption, isn't it? So in verse 7, Psalm 49,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother and give to
God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is precious
and it ceases forever. Because the redemption, the ransom
price is paid to God for the redemption of his people, when
Christ offered his blood, as it says in Hebrews 9, 12, by
the eternal spirit, he offered himself to God, His own blood,
He obtained our eternal redemption. Therefore, it's what God thinks
about Christ. that is the substance of our
redemption. We're set free because of what
God received from Christ. He's the creditor. We're the
debtors. Christ is the one who owned our
debt and paid it with his own blood. Matthew 20, 28, the son
of man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his
life a ransom for many, for many, for all of his redeemed. And
this was, according to Ephesians 1, 7, this was set up by God
the Father before the foundation of the world. He's the redemption
for our sins. And then in Psalm 49, verse 9,
he says that he should still live forever and not see corruption. So our redemption, our Redeemer
has redeemed us by his precious blood and there can no more be
a debt laid to our charge because We are alive, we are released
from sin and death and Satan and the curse of the law and
the bondage of the law and the grave and hell, everything. We're
released forever. It's an eternal redemption without
anything left out. That's verse nine. Notice that
this is a place in the Old Testament where God speaks about resurrection. Our sins weren't just paid for,
but we were actually forgiven. We were set free. Our sins were
taken from us, laid on Christ. He paid for them. They were no
more on us. He completely removed them from
us. This is incredible. Verse 10, For he seeth that wise
men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish. and
leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought, now this
is from verse 10 that we're reading, 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. He is like the beasts
that perish. This their way is their folly,
yet their posterity approve their sayings. So from verse 10 through
verse 13, what we're seeing here is that this thought of the natural
man, that he can somehow escape the prison his sins brought him
under, the debt he owed to God, that he can redeem himself, which
is a false notion, Yet this same natural man sees that wise men
die, both the fool and the brutish person. They leave their wealth
to others. Their inward thinking is that
they're going to continue on and on. How many people go to
bed at night thinking, well, this could be the last night
of my life. All my wealth is going to be
for nothing. I can't take it with me. All
the honor I've received from men, I can't take that into the
grave with me. It's not gonna do me any good.
They don't think that way, do they? They think, well, I gotta,
they make their plans. They put plans in place, and
they think if I get enough saved up, I'll live comfortably the
rest of my life. That's the way we think, naturally.
And especially true in spiritual matters. But we're bankrupt.
We're spiritually without any riches. And we need all of our
riches from God in Christ, and that's the only place there are
true riches. But here he's saying, the inward thought of the natural
man is that they're just gonna live forever. And their dwelling
places will just last. How long did the Romans think
that their country was going to last, or the Greeks, or the
Persians, or the Babylonians, or the British, or the Americans,
or whoever? They all have this notion that
their lands are going to go on and on, and it's going to bear
their name. We're the people of this country. You'll see people
fist bumping and all sorts of things to indicate their mutual identity from their country,
you know. We're the Americans or we're
the Africans or we're the Japanese or whatever, you know. People
love to go back to their culture and their roots, as it were.
But there's nothing there. It's empty. If you keep going
back, you're back to Adam, and you're outside the garden, and
you need a redeemer. All right, he goes on. He says,
so nevertheless man, in verse 12, man being in honor abides
not. He's like the beasts that perish. This is their way. This
their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their
sayings. Remember Jesus told the Pharisees and the scribes,
he says, you garnish the tombs of the prophets. You show that
you're just like your fathers who killed the prophets. He attributed
the guilt of murdering the prophets to the scribes and Pharisees.
And that's what he's doing here. He says their posterity approved
their sayings. Their children naturally grow
up thinking the same thing. Because the seed, the flesh,
begets flesh. It doesn't beget spirit. We produce
the same offspring here. In 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. So this is talking
about the resurrection. The saints shall judge the earth,
it says, in one place, in the book of 1 Corinthians. Don't
you know that the saints shall judge the earth, I think, or
people, the world, I think he uses the word world there. shall
judge the world. So he's saying that the upright
shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty
shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God Verse
15. Here's the answer to the enigma. Remember the enigma in verse
5? How can you not fear in the days of evil? How can you be
at peace and at rest? How can you think in yourself
that you can come to God as a sinner? Here's the answer. Verse 15.
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he
shall receive me. Selah. That's it. I know, Job
said, I know my Redeemer liveth, and He shall stand in the latter
day on the earth. He says in verse 16, but be not
thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house
is increased. Don't look around at people and
say, look, that man is so much. I heard Jesse Gistan say one
time, he says, there's three kinds of people in the world.
There's the rich, there's the poor, and then there's the wanna-be-rich. And that's, I think, a very accurate
thing to say. Most people wanna be rich. There's
some who are rich. It's interesting that there aren't
a lot of rich people, that they're the minority. But you look at
them, and people wanna be like them, And the Lord's telling
His people, don't be afraid when one is made rich, when the glory
of his house is increased. For when he dies, he shall carry
nothing away. His glory shall not descend after
him. And notice, most specifically, this applies in the spiritual
realm. When you drive by over in our
town, there's this humongous new Mormon building that was
put up, a building put up by Mormon people. And it's got so
much wealth dumped into that building. That's where their
trust is. That's where their glory is.
But he says, no, the glory won't descend after them. In a spiritual
sense, people who don't know Christ and don't know how God
saves people by the Lord Jesus Christ are spiritually without
any riches. And yet, if we have Christ, we
have all things, don't we? We're complete in Him. There's
no measure to the riches we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have a perfect righteousness. We have all grace from God. We
have God Himself as on our side. We're the children of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is beyond description. So don't be afraid. Don't be
tempted by the devil's wealth. And he promised Jesus, everything
is mine. You see everything? It's all
mine. I can give it to whoever I want to. And Jesus said, thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And he said, get behind
me, Satan. But that's the way he works,
is by tempting men by holding before their eyes those who appear
to be successful apart from the gospel. This apparent success
is just empty. It's just a mirage. He goes on
in verse 18. Or verse 17, when he dieth, he
shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after
him. His good works and his wealth and his world are not gonna help
him in the grave. Verse 18, though while he lived,
he blessed his soul and men will praise thee when thou doest well
to thyself. Have you ever heard someone say,
good for you? That's what he's saying here.
People say that, good for you, good job. Way to go, you know. But that doesn't matter what
men say. The applause of men is worth nothing. It's only the
praise of God. And he says, that a circumcision
is of the heart whose praise is not of men, but of God. God
respects His work, and that work in God's people is a heart to
look to Christ. That's the true circumcision.
We are the true circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
That That, dear believer, that is true riches. Everything else
is just a puff of steam about to go away. Verse 19. He shall go to the generation
of his fathers, they shall never see light. Man that is in honor
and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish. You know
how bees perish. Sometimes you go to the store,
and I've done this before, chicken, $1.78 a pound or whatever it
is, you think, chicken are worth very little. A $1.78 a pound? What if I was only worth a $1.78
a pound? It's not worth much, is it? He
says that man who is in honor and understandeth not is like
the beast that perishes. We don't naturally understand
the parable, the mystery of the gospel, which is Christ and Him
crucified. Our Redeemer has redeemed us
from our sins, from all iniquity, Titus 2.14. redeemed us from
death and the grave, Hosea 13, 14. He redeemed us to God, Revelation
5, 9. He redeemed us with his own blood.
He's forgiven all of our sins. That's what I want. I don't want
anything else but that. Don't you? I say that as speaking
from this new man that God has given to us. Notice also here
when he says, that man who is in honor and understandeth not.
You can only know God if you understand the way he saves sinners. Isn't that true? How do you know
God? You know Him in Jesus Christ.
And how do you know Jesus Christ? As the one who saves His people
from their sins. His name is Jesus, God with us. The Word made flesh, dwelt among
us. We saw His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He has declared Him. And the way He revealed Himself
to us is as the way, the truth, and the life to the Father. You
see? The way to the Father, the truth
from the Father, and the life of the Father is in Christ. He
is that. So we know God when we know Jesus
Christ. We know Jesus Christ when we
know Him as our Savior. And when we know Him as our Savior,
then we know the wisdom of God and all of His perfections in
His glorious person. when we see what He's done for
sinners. Don't you know? And I read that and I know in
my natural self I'm no different than those described here who
trust in their riches and end up with nothing. Unless the Lord
have grace on us, that's the way we'll be. Unless He gives
us ears to hear and causes us to hear, everything is in Christ
done by Him and to His glory. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for the mystery of the Gospel unfolded in the Lord Jesus Christ,
our precious Savior, our Redeemer. Help us to say with Job, I know
my Redeemer liveth. We're not looking to redeem ourselves.
We're not looking for another person to redeem us. We only
trust Christ and Him crucified, He who is God. who the only wise
God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him, all righteousness,
all of the sanctification and the redemption that God has made
Him to us, all of it's in Him, and this is our wealth, our riches,
our confidence that Christ is all. In His name we pray, amen.