Psalm 49, and I was saying to Lynn while we were
driving over this morning about this 49th Psalm, it is so timeless. All the scriptures are, but this
Psalm 49 seems like it was written for today. 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 sayings,
sayings that could not be known unless I made them known upon
the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? They that trust in the wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, what they have,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to
God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their souls,
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 like wise the fool, and the brutish person
perish and leave their wealth to others. Their 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. Like sheep, they are
laid to 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 Now this is his answer to what
he says in verse five, why should I fear in the days of evil? But God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave. For he shall receive me. Be not
afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is
increased. For when he dieth, He shall carry away 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 and
they shall never see light. Man that is in honor and understandeth
not is like the beasts that perish. That's God's word. Like the beasts
that perish. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come into your presence in Christ's name. And how we desire
that you would speak that you would deliver us from hearing
the words, thoughts, and opinions of a sinful man, but that you
would speak from your word, and that you would reveal thy
son to our hearts. Now, Lord, bless us for the Lord's
sake. Forgive us of our sins for the
Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake, be with
us. Make yourself known. Pray for those that are going
through difficult times, trials of mind, body. We pray for your
blessing upon them. We pray for our friends that
aren't here that you'd keep them by your grace. We pray for your
gospel wherever it's preached. Lord, meet with us for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Now let's read this 20th verse. I want to kind of use that as
the introduction to this song. Man that is in honor and understands
not is no different than a beast
that perishes. Now that's God's word, not mine. And that almost sounds harsh,
doesn't it? But that's what God says. Man that is in honor. Now, you know people who you
admire. People who are not believers,
but you've admired them. They've done well for themselves.
They've made certain achievements that you admire. You may admire
many things about them. They're an honor. There are a
lot of people like that. Man that's in honor. That is
well thought of. that is well respected. Is there
anybody that you work with that you respect? Man that's in honor, that's not
speaking harshly of that, but that man that doesn't understand, he doesn't have the fear of God
is what that means. He has no understanding of who
God is. He has no interest in who God
is. He has no understanding of how
God saves sinners. He's a man that's in honor, but
yet he understands not. This is God's testimony. He's
like a beast, a beast that cut off an animal. And that's God's testimony. I
know some people may say, well, are you saying that about men? No, God's saying it. Big difference
in there. This is what God says. Now let's
look at this psalm and see what made him say this. Hear this, all ye people. Now this is a message that everyone,
everybody in the world needs to hear. And that's who it's
addressed to. Everybody in the world. And I
think this is important to remember. Sometimes we think, well, the
Bible's addressed to believers or the Bible's addressed to unbelievers.
No, it's just addressed to men, men altogether. 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, the enigma, upon the harp. That which cannot be
known, unless I make it known, I'm going to make it known right
now. Now that ought to interest us,
shouldn't it? This is what God says, and he
tells everyone to listen. This is what Jesus Christ the
Lord says. And he says, give me your ear,
I'm going to give you that which is important. And you know what
I think of something like that? I've just been oppressed the
last couple of days thinking about claiming to be God's spokesman. That is a, that is difficult. When I think
of who I am and when I think of my own insufficiency and my
own inability, and here I am claiming to be speaking for God,
oh, pray for me. I covet your prayer. I need his
mercy. But here, the psalmist, I think
it's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking first, He's saying, listen to
me, and I'm going to make known that which is dark, that which
you wouldn't know unless I make it known. This is what is truly
important. Now, he makes this statement.
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity
of my heels shall compass me about? Now, first of all, that's
the Lord speaking. He's the one whose heel was bruised
by the serpent. And he says, why should I be
afraid? Why should I be afraid? But this
is also David speaking. And he's talking about the evil
days of judgment. When all my iniquities are gonna
be encompassing me. They're going to be brought up
to me when I'm getting ready to stand before God in judgment. Now, I want you to think about
that. The iniquity of your heels, compassing you about, and here
you're getting ready to stand before God because you've got
plenty of iniquity, don't you? I've got plenty of iniquity,
plenty of things that I'm ashamed of. Plenty of things I wouldn't
want you to know about. And you got plenty of things
you wouldn't want me to know about. But everything is gonna be brought
to light at that time. Now with that in mind, David
said, why should I fear? David, why would you even say
that? Well, you're going to hear why you have no reason to fear
even when the iniquity of your heels that you're conscious of.
are brought out at the thought of standing before God in judgment. Now, he says, they, verse six, they that trust
in what they have, they that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Oh, I've got
this, I've got that. My good outweighs my bad. I'm
gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay. Their riches cannot pay the price. They that trust in wealth and
boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. I think of the
people saying, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name?
Why, in your name, we've cast out demons. In your name, we've
done many wonderful works. They had a lot of wealth, didn't
they? A lot of things they recommended themselves with. We've done this,
we've done that. And what is the Lord gonna say?
Then shall I say unto them, depart from me. Ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. Now what a terrifying thought,
these people who think, well I've got plenty, my good outweighs
the bad, I'm gonna be okay. What's he say to them? He said
in verse seven, none of them. Not one can by any means redeem
his brother, nor give to God a ransom for them. No man can
redeem himself or his brother. Now, remember this, this thing
of redemption. The only way I can stand on that evil day is if
I'm redeemed. Redeemed. Oh, that's a word that
is so precious. Christ redeeming me. The only way I can stand before
God in judgment is if Christ has redeemed me. How's that sound to you? You
agree? The only way I can stand before
God in judgment is if Christ by himself, I love that scripture,
Hebrews 1.3, when he had by himself, that means no contribution from
me, I didn't have any hand in this, when he by himself purged
our sins. Those iniquities that compass
me about, he purged them. He put them away. They're not. That's the only way I'm gonna
be able to stand on that evil day. None of them can by any
means redeem his brother. There's nothing you can do to
give God a ransom that's sufficient for him. Sin, every sin, all sin, is infinitely
evil. And none of us understand that.
But it's so. Sin is against God. And this
sin that you and I are guilty of, It's not just lying to get
out of trouble. Everybody's done that. It's murdering
the son of God. That's the sin that God holds
you and me responsible for. Is there anything you can do
that would make satisfaction for that? No, not in any way. The redemption of their soul
is precious. The blood of Christ's most precious. The scripture speaks of the precious
blood of Christ. Oh, how precious is His blood.
And it ceases forever. It's a one-time offering. It's
over. It ceases. And the best thing
that me and you could do is what the writer to the Hebrew said
to do. He that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own works. That's the best thing me and
you could do. I'm trying to live the Christian life. Stop it.
Stop it. cease from your own works and
enter into his rest. Verse nine, that he should live
forever and not see corruption. You see, if you're redeemed,
you're going to live forever. And I mean, life before God,
the life of God in your soul, and you're never going to see
corruption, you're going to live forever in perfect likeness to
Christ. Beloved, I wish every one of
us would just be looking forward to dying. Looking forward to
it. Best day of my life would be
the day of my death, when I see him as he is, and I have no iniquity
to even feel guilty about. I won't even remember what it's
like to be a sinner. To me, that is the most mysterious,
I won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner. Everybody
here ought to, if you're in Christ, when's my day coming? When's
my day coming? For he seeth that wise men die,
likewise the fool, and the brutish person, and they leave their
wealth to others. They have this wealth they're
trusting in, All they do is leave it to somebody else. Their inward thought is verse
11, that their houses shall continue forever. And they're dwelling
places to all generations. They call their lands by their
own names. Isn't that stupid? The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Well, this part's mine. No, it's
not. You're a tenant subject to immediate
eviction at any time. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. I would call that by my name.
That is humorous, and that's what men do. Nevertheless, even
though men think their riches, what they have is sufficient
to make them accepted before God, nevertheless, and this is
what he said in verse 20, he repeats it in verse 20, nevertheless
man, being in honor, a man that does well for himself, a man
that contributes to society, a man that you would admire for
the things that he has done. And there are people like that.
You know, really, we ought to be, every one of us, beginning
here, we ought to show respect to everybody. They're men. Show respect to everybody. Every
time I act disrespectful or feel disrespectful towards someone,
I'm wrong. This is not talking about, making
fun of their honor or treating with contempt their honor. But
that one who being an honor, he abides not. He's like beasts
that perish. Now, it's because he doesn't
understand who God is. He's going to say that in verse
20. But that man, no matter how much he achieves in this life,
the Lord said, if what should profit a man if he gained the
whole world? and lose his soul. What should
a man give in exchange for his soul? This life is so fleeting. It's so temporary. It's not even
a blip. Verse 13, this their way, their
way of salvation by works, their way of salvation through what
they have done, through what they have, this their way is
their folly. It's crazy. It is foolish. There is a way, the wise man
said, that seemeth right to a man. It's the way we naturally think.
The end thereof are the ways of death. This their way, is
their folly, yet their posterity approve of their sayings. We
agree with that. We pass our foolishness down
to our posterity. And our posterity approves of
what we're saying. Men are just blind when it comes
to the things of God. Everything we think is wrong. Chew on that for a second. Everything
we think, naturally, about God is wrong. Verse 14, like sheep, they are
laid in the grave, death shall feed on them. And the upright,
that is every believer, every man that is upright in Christ,
righteous by Christ, justified, shall have dominion over them
in the morning. We're in the night right now.
Morning's coming. and the upright shall have dominion
over them, and their beauty, the things that they thought
were so valuable, shall consume in the grave from their dwelling."
Everything that they hold valuable, highly esteemed, is going to
consume in the grave. But, now here's his answer as
to why I'm not going to fear when the iniquity of my heels
compasses me about. Here's the only reason I get
this. This is the only reason, but
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. He shall
receive me. Now I'd like you to turn to Romans
chapter three. Hold your finger there, we'll
come back to Psalm 49, but Romans chapter three. I want to look at the last phrase
of verse 22, for there is no difference. The man who has done well for
himself, and has contributed to society, and the man who is
a street person, who makes no contribution to society, one
who is just overcome with whatever, before God, there is no difference. You take the most moral man and
the most immoral man, Before God, there is no difference. And if I think there is, it shows
how little I know of God and how little I know of the sinfulness
of every man. There is no difference. I hope we all believe that. It's
so whether we believe it or not. there is no difference. And here's why, verse 23, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now that's what sin is, it's
coming short of the divine glory of God. Being, verse 24, justified freely
by His grace through the redemption. Remember I said God will redeem
my soul? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Now, I wish it wasn't this way,
but when people think of a redemption story, they think about how someone
has been bad and they've turned things around, maybe through
people's help, but they've turned things around and they've redeemed
their life. That ain't redemption. Doesn't
have anything to do with what redemption means. Now, listen
to the words of this verse of scripture I just read. In fact,
now remember, there's no difference between any man. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We're all on that level,
down at the bottom, all of us. Don't think that you have anything
that can recommend you to God to redeem your soul. We're all
down here. Down here. Being justified. Justification means that you
don't have any sin. If somebody's justified, that
means they're not guilty, right? Not guilty. They didn't do it.
When the judge pronounces somebody justified, that means he didn't
do it. He's not guilty. Now that's the
state I want to be before God, not guilty. Being justified,
the next word is freely. Now get that word freely. Freely, that means there's absolutely
nothing you do to achieve or earn this. It's absolutely free. No strings attached. You know, we've never experienced
anything like that in life, have we? Hadn't happened. Hadn't happened. But here it does. No strings
attached. Being justified freely. by His
grace. And the only way I'm gonna be
justified is if it's an act of God's grace. Through the redemption, through
the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And here's how that works, verse
25, whom God hath set forth, and that word set forth means
foreordained, foreordained. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation. Now that's a word that's not
used much in our day, propitiation. If you talked about a propitiation
at work Monday, somebody said, what? What are you talking about?
Well, I want to know, don't you? Propitiation is a sin removing
sacrifice. And that's what Christ did. He
removed and made not to be the sin of his people. And that's
how I can stand with my iniquity of my heels compassing me about
and not fear judgment. because of the redeeming work
of the Lord Jesus Christ in my behalf only. Now that's how that
works. Now let's go back to our text
in Psalm 49. But God will redeem my soul. From the power of the grave,
he shall receive me. He, the God of glory, shall receive,
shall embrace, shall welcome me as one fit to be in heaven. He shall receive me. Be not thou afraid when one is
made rich and the glory of his house is increased. He must be
doing something broad. For when he dieth, he shall carry
nothing away. How much did he leave? Everything. Everything. When he dieth, he shall carry
nothing away. His glory shall not descend after
him. Though while he lived, he blessed his soul. Live in the
dream. And you know, men will praise
you when you do well to yourself. When you see someone that does
well, that achieves, that is whatever doing well is in this
life, people praise you for it. They'll pat you on the back,
say, you're a good guy. You've done well. He shall go to the generation
of his fathers and they shall never see light. Outer darkness is one of the
descriptions. And I don't know what all hell
is. I don't, it scares me. I don't know what all, I know
but one of the descriptions is darkness though. He's never gonna
see light. And then he makes this concluding
statement, man that is in honor and understands not. He has no
understanding of God, has no desire to know God, has no understanding
of how God redeems sinners by His grace. He's like a beast. He's like a beast, he's like
an animal that perishes. Now that's God's description.
He's no different than an animal. Somebody that doesn't love God,
they're like a beast that perishes. And this is not speaking harshly.
It's just speaking as God says, and really the beast that perishes
is better off than the man who perishes with no understanding. That beast's existence is over. That man who is in honor and
understands not, his existence goes on forever in a place he
does not want to be. It is a timeless poem.