A Study in Psalms - Psalm 49

We have a great psalm tonight. I'm looking forward to this one for many weeks psalm 49 And I've called this the worthlessness of wealth You know the Bible this psalm may have been written 3,000 years ago, maybe two thousand five hundred years ago We don't know the exact time But everything it teaches was relevant then was relevant in Jesus days and it's relevant today The greed everything it says is Relevant sufficient for today

So if you'd open your Bibles and turn to psalm 49 We will read it and pray and then get into it psalm 49 a psalm of the songs of Korah Hear this all peoples give ear all inhabitants of the world Both low and high rich and poor together My mouth shall speak wisdom the meditation of my heart shall be understanding I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheat me? Surrounds me those who trust in their wealth and boast in the abundance of the riches Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life For the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice that he should live on forever and never see the pit For he sees that even the wise die The fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others their graves are their homes forever Their dwelling places to all generations though they called lands by their own names Man in his pomp will not remain

He is like the beasts that perish This is the path of those who have foolish confidence yet after them people approve of their boasts like sheep They are appointed for Sheol death shall be their shepherd and the upright shall rule over them in the morning Their forms shall be consumed in Sheol with no place to dwell But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol for he will receive me be not afraid when a man becomes rich when the glory of his house Increases for when he dies, he will carry nothing away His glory will not go down after him for though while he lives he counts himself blessed and though you get praised when you do well for yourself His soul will go down to the generation of his father's who will never again see light Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like beasts that perish

Let's pray father We pray tonight as we study Psalms 49 that you would teach us about wealth About riches and What the psalmist was trying to convey the meaning through the power of the Holy Spirit May we leave here today knowing more of you in Jesus name

Amen. I Was watching the business news last week and it said that credit card debt is at an all-time high in the history United States and They explained why they said because during the lockout our government was printing lots of money and sending us lots of checks So a lot of people got accustomed to living off the stimulus checks and then all of a sudden they stopped coming and So a lot of people did not adjust their outgoing with their incoming and they put it on credit cards So that reminded me there was a saying that says nowadays people can be divided into three classes of people the haves the have-nots and The have not paid for what they have. I Hope you're not in that last category

If so, you've been to listen really carefully tonight to this song The type of psalm tonight is a wisdom psalm There's nothing quite like it in the book of Psalms when you start from Psalms 1 and you go up to the psalm 48 psalm 49 There's no psalm about wealth and riches and there I think the word riches and wealth are five times in this psalms It's a it's a wisdom psalm about the emptiness of riches It's a call not to put your trust in worthless things like riches But to put your trust in the Living God who gives eternal life Other authors called it the high cost of redemption One author called it

You can't take it with you another called it death and life's meaning another called it the poverty of Prosperity and another author called it the folly of trusting in wealth It's written by the sons of Korah We don't know exactly who the sons of Korah wrote ten psalms of the 150 psalm 42 You know that as the deer pants that wonderful psalm Then they wrote psalm 44 to 49 They wrote psalm 84 which we looked at last year Psalm 85 and 87 they wrote ten psalms or one of the sons of Korah wrote these psalms So the heading says to the choir master a psalm of the sons of Korah We know the sons of Korah were descendants of Koloth the tribe of Levi

They were priests and They were responsible for the tabernacle in the temple and their primary responsibility was the performance of music So we have three points to tonight's outline words of wisdom verses 1 to 4 words of wisdom on wealth verses 1 to 4 words of wisdom about the wealthy verses 5 to 15 and Then point three words of wisdom on the worthlessness of wealth verses 16 to 20 This psalm

We don't know the exact date. I mentioned, but it's probably written upwards of 3,000 years ago and You know that Job which we're gonna look at in about five weeks pastor Lance will be teaching on Job soon Job Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as well as psalms in the Song of Solomon are called the wisdom literature of the Bible They're they're written through the power of the Holy Spirit They're God's advice on how to live life wisely and This is a very unique psalm because it's almost like the book of Proverbs It begins the first four verses like the book of Proverbs

Let me give you some examples psalm 49 3 says My mouth will speak wisdom Match that with Proverbs 10 31 the mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom Psalm 49 4 says I will incline my ear to a proverb Proverbs 1 6 says to understand the proverb in a sing Psalm 49 10 says even wise men die Ecclesiastes 2 verse 16 says how the wise dies just like the fool and Psalm 49 10 also says fools leave their wealth to others and Ecclesiastes 2 verse 18 says I Hated my toil in which I toil under the Sun seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me and Psalms 49 Verses 12 and 20 both say like beasts that perish and that's what it says in Ecclesiastes 3 19 It says for what happens to the children of man Happens to the beasts is the same as one dies

So the other Psalms 49 14 says the upright shall rule over them Proverbs 12 24 says the hand of the diligent will rule and lastly Psalms 49 17 says when he dies, he will carry away nothing Ecclesiastes 5 15 says as he came from his mother's womb He shall go again Naked as he came he shall take nothing For in his toil that he may carry away in his hands So verses 1 to 4 are words of wisdom There are there a call They're an imperative and first off he calls to all peoples He's gonna list four groups of peoples

He's gonna list the low and the high and the rich and the poor and He says hear this all peoples give your all inhabitants of the world both low and high The New Living Translation says listen to this all you peoples pay attention to everyone in the world The opening verse here is a call is a listen to imperative to gain our intention when you see that word world there There are about seven different words for world and this one means the temporary time of world the temporary world of time People exist in a temporary world

It has a worldwide application He says to all peoples to all inhabitants and yes that speaks to Christians as well as non-christians Because Christians need to know about money riches and wealth to he then says to the rich and to the poor This is a use of merism where he's referring to all people by two extremes of category This is a economic class from the poor to the rich so he calls four different types of people everyone in the world to listen very carefully and Then he cries out with prudence

He's now going to use four different words to describe the psalm He's gonna say in verse 3 my mouth shall dispense wisdom It's a wisdom psalm the word wisdom refers to discipline and meaningful way of life That pleases the Father in heaven and provides successful and lasting time in the community So number one, he says wisdom number two, he says he's going to give understanding He says that the meditation of my heart shall be understanding the LSB translation says discernment understanding and discernment are the same Interesting that verse 3 says the righteous can have understanding yet verse 20 says the ungodly do not have Understanding and the Bible tells us that in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 14 that the natural man the ungodly man or the wicked man Does not accept the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness to him For he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned Thirdly he says he's gonna speak in Proverbs

He says I will decline verse 4. I will incline my ear to a proverb and There's lots of proverbs in this psalm like number verse verse 12 says man in his palm will not remain He is like beasts that perish that's just a simple proverb and we have lots of them here And I I read some of them earlier and fourthly he says I will solve my riddle to the music of the liar What does he mean by riddles? Well riddles are a type of word puzzle in ancient times They were used for entertainment

They were used to test wisdom riddles allowed the speaker to obscure valuable information from the unders undeserving while Simultaneously disclosing a vital truth to worthy listeners Probably the best-known riddle in the Bible is the one Samson gave remember at the wedding feast The 30 guests came and Samson said I'm gonna give you a riddle and the wedding feast was seven days Samson said out of the eater Something to eat out of the strong something to sweet and the 30 guests could not solve the riddle So they threatened Samson's wife and she she got it from him and the answer to the riddle was what is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? the same word used for Samson's riddle in Hebrew is Translated as hard questions When the Queen of Sheba came to ask hard questions or riddles to King Solomon It says when the Queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord She came to test Solomon with hard questions or riddles So Solomon was someone who could solve riddles and obviously he was the wisest man who ever lived Then we just finished our study in the book of Daniel and you may remember in Daniel 5 King Balthasar sees the hand of God writing on the wall and he kind of freaks out and he's scared and None of the magicians none of the enchanters could read what what God wrote on the wall But the Queen came in and the Queen says hey There's a man here named Daniel and he's a skillful interpreter of riddles one of the many things she said about him in Daniel 5 verses 11 and 12 and Jesus even used riddles

Remember when he said how can Satan cast out Satan? So riddles were very popular then a couple riddles in Psalm 49 here What can man give in exchange for his soul and Verses 6 to 9 will explain that nothing man cannot give anything for his soul Another riddle would be what is the great equalizer between the rich and the poor and the answer that one's in verse 10 Death Let's move on from the introduction verses 1 to 4 to the to the meat of the psalm words of wisdom about the wealthy Okay, and I've broken it down into seven points sub points there number one

What the wealthy cannot do What can the wealthy cannot do? They cannot make us or they cannot make the godly fear Okay, they should not make us fear This is a common theme in Psalms

You've probably heard me talk about it several times in the last few weeks Why should we fear the ungodly? Why should we fear in times of trouble? it says when the iniquity of those who cheat surrounds me those who trust in their wealth and Boast in the abundance of the riches the ESV which I'm using says times of trouble the NIV says evil days the NASB says days of Adversity and I mentioned we have wealth and riches five times Wealth here refers more to more than wealth It includes power and status as well as that person's Possessions It's a fundamental questions in the psalm

Why should I let the apparent prosperity of the wicked bother me? We spent a lot of time in Psalm 73 last year So this psalmist the sons of Korah He sees wealthy landowners probably taking advantage of the poor Jewish people But for the ungodly too often wealth is not enough

It's never enough Is it they will use power to gain more wealth and oppress and take advantage of the less fortunate people? There's an interesting verse in Deuteronomy that says you shall not move your neighbor's landmark your neighbor's stone mark property line Which the men of old have set it says the same thing in Deuteronomy 27 17 It says curse it be anybody who moves his neighbor's landmark Proverbs 22 28 says do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set says the same thing in Proverbs 23 Job 24 2 says it Hosea 5 10 says why are there so many verses at least six verses about? People moving the boundary line of people's property because it was a real big problem in Israel and the Jewish culture Rich landowners would steal the property from the poor people and you all know that great story in the Bible in first Kings 21 remember Naboth had a vineyard next to the palace and King Ahab who was a really bad, dude Wanted the vineyard so he goes to Naboth and says I'll buy it I'll trade I want that vineyard and Naboth says can no can do it's in my family's heritage I like it you can't have it King Ahab is very sullen very sad Very upset and he goes back to the palace and his wife who's Jezebel who's much more wicked than him Says don't you know you govern Israel? What she's incessant saying don't you know the power you have she says I'll take care of it And you know the story she calls in some worthless people They have a feast they invite Naboth and the two false foolish the two Worthless people say he cursed God and the king they take him out stone him and she goes Ahab go get your vineyard God was not pleased with that we know So you can see how the rich the powerful even kings of Israel would steal land from property owners I actually have my father's younger sister there She's dead now Had some property on the Miramichi River in Canada and a wealthy man brought the property next door And he actually took about a third of her property And she actually I think died before the the lawsuits the courts ever resolved it so it happens then it happens today Maybe some of you know people who've been cheated rich people will do whatever it takes to get richer more powerful to get lands But these people who boast in their wealth they have a false sense of security they never have enough power They're never satisfied, but the psalmist is saying the righteous don't need to fear God is on our side if you've been a victim of oppression fraud theft And you've never received justice don't fear Psalms 96 10 says God will render justice to the people's with equity Psalms 96 13 3 verses later says God is coming to judge the earth Let's move on to point that sub point number two what the wealthy cannot purchase what they cannot purchase Immortality immortality he says truly no man can ransom another or give God the price of his life In my translation the word ransom is used three times in ESV Ransom literally means to buy it means to buy and J

Vernon McGee says on this verse No matter how rich a man is he cannot buy salvation He and I go to the counter for salvation I have nothing to which by to which by salvation the rich man has money But he cannot buy salvation with it

We are both on the same par The rich man is excluded from redemption if he is deluded into thinking That he can either buy or do something or give something to obtain salvation Romans 4 5 says and to the one who does not work But believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness The rich young ruler in Mark 10 could not buy salvation, right? Simon the magician in Acts chapter 8 could not buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit Remember what Paul said to him? He said Paul said you think you could obtain the gift of God with money the jailer in Acts 16, however Cried out sirs

What must I do to be saved and Paul said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ John MacArthur said to gain every possession possible in the world and Yet to be without Christ is to be bankrupt forever we need to look at the rich the famous the powerful the ungodly as As Spiritually bankrupt they have wealth here

They have their 501ks They have their houses in Lake Tahoe and Aspen and Beverly Hills, but in the bank account in heaven, it's a fat zero Number three what the wealthy cannot perceive and that's the cost the cost of salvation We have the word ransom again for the ransom There was verse 8 by the way for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice Verse 8 continues to speak about the ransom price Not only can you not ransom another or buy salvation? They can't even perceive the cost of that ransom

It's inconceivable, isn't it? No amount of money or anything in all the world could ransom a soul But it costs the life of the very Son of God First Peter 1 Verses 18 to 19 is one of the most coupled the most two beautiful verses in the Bible first Peter 1 18 to 19 and it says knowing that you were Ransom, maybe your translation says redeem their interchangeable ransom and redeem knowing that you are ransomed from the feudal ways Inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver or gold Verse 19 But with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot You know, you've heard this saying many times. I'm sure money will buy a bed but not sleep Books but not brains Food but not an appetite a house but not a home medicine, but not health amusement but not happiness Finery but not beauty a crucifix, but not a Savior There's a story not a story Alistair Begg you all if you know Alistair Begg Wonderful Scottish preacher, you know just that Scottish accent so you can look it up on YouTube sometime Look up Alistair Begg the man in the middle. I'll rephrase it simply, but I can't compete with Alistair Begg but he tells the true story of the thief on the cross and Then he tells a hypothetical story of when the thief in the cross got to heaven So when the thief of the cross got to heaven hypothetical story The the the angels are in a they're in they're just going crazy

Like how is this guy here? Why is this guy here and they're grilling him about how did you get here? you know and and they're and finally the the angel Goes to get his supervisor and the supervisor comes over and he's frustrated too Because he doesn't know how the thief got to heaven and they asked the thief

How did you get here? And the thief says the man in the middle cross said I could come and that's true Okay, because but 700 years before the Messiah came Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 55 verse 1 said come everyone who thirsts Come to the waters and he who has no money Come buy and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price the Messiah then came and The Messiah said in Matthew 11 28 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest And then the one of the last verses in all the Bible Revelation 22 17 says the Spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and Let one who is thirsty come let the one who desires to take of the water of life without price So what the wealthy cannot perceive is the cost but we who have Jesus Christ in her heart

No, it's a free gift of God Let's move on to sub point number four what the wealthy cannot prevent and that's death Verse 9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit the New Testament version of this verse is Hebrews 9 927 I trust you've memorized that verse to share Christ and that says just as it is appointed for a man to die once After that comes judgment death is certain you know someone has said that on the back of the birth certificate when your baby is born is Written in invisible ink a death certificate the exact day that baby will die and only God knows the day The richest man on earth could not by paying all his wealth to God escape death You know, sometimes the Old Testament passages like Psalm 49 Have a New Testament equivalent commentary and that's found and let's turn there to Luke chapter 12 We've turned to this quite often on Sunday many times And you know the the parable of Luke chapter 12 the parable of the rich fool and Lance said I think 25 years ago This is the only place in the Bible Luke chapter 12 this parable where God says you're a fool to somebody And why are there a fool? Well, we'll read it Luke 12 verse 13 Someone in the crowd said to him Jesus teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me But he said to him man who made me a judge or arbitrator over you and he said to them take care Be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions Psalm 49 6 has abundance of riches verse 16 and he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man produced plentifully and He thought to himself

What shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops and he said I will do this I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul soul You have ample goods laid up for many years Relax eat and drink and be merry But God said to him fool this night Your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared for for prepared Whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich Towards God if you go back through that parable five times He says I and four times He says my nine personal pronouns

No thought about God No thought about using his money to help God's kingdom No thought about the poor but verse 21 is the verse that's applicable to us

So is the one Who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God? So we mentioned it's the only place in the Bible where God calls somebody a fool Well, there's lots of fools today, aren't they lots of fools today chasing? There were fools in the psalmist days there were fools in Jesus days and they're fools in our days Let's move on to sub point number five what the wealthy cannot keep what can that keep they can't keep their treasures, right? verses 10 to 12 He says for he sees that even the wise the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others He talks of in verse 11 their graves are their homes forever

They're dwelling places to all generations And verse that even though they they called lands or property after their names and man in his pomp will not remain He's like beasts at Paris Death is the great equalizer, isn't it? Death is universal

It says from the wise to the stupid They're all gonna die and they're all gonna leave their wealth to somebody else their homes their lands behind Now the proud will try to the proud will try to ignore this hard harsh reality Won't they they imagine that their wealth will enable them to live forever. I was in Sprouts of this week and I should have bought the magazine to show you but it's talking about There was a one of those magazines at the checkout line and it was literally saying how to live forever But it's an obvious truth that everybody can live can see Although they can't see it, right? They fail to see it because they refuse to see it Although they know they'll die they behave as they'll actually live forever And I was thinking about if you go home tonight and turn on the news There's probably a 50-50 chance that there'll be a car chase somewhere in LA tonight It just seems like there's car chases every day

These people in the cars are fools like the rich fools, right? There's a helicopter over them There's probably three or four helicopters over and there's probably 12 to 20 sheriffs CHP or police chasing them They're not gonna get away right now But they're in the car and they think they're gonna get away because they think it's like Hollywood where they can just escape So they're like that They're like rich fools

They think they're getting it away and the rich fool thinks well I don't care if I'm 84 or 90 or 95. I'm gonna make more money. I'm gonna get more money I'm not gonna share it. I'm gonna store it up So They actually think they'll get away with it verse 12 tells us that to live this way

You're like a beast You're like an animal now, what's the difference between a human and an animal humans could reason humans can think humans can Have discernment but animals don't but those rich people that that are called fools They're just like beasts and he's gonna say that in verse 20 in addition and we'll get to that later Let's look at sub point number six what the wealthy cannot escape

What can they not escape shield? It's mentioned three times in verses 14 to 15 okay, she'll is the Old Testament equivalent of Hades that temporary abode where they would go and Today we would say hell would be the equivalent of it verse 13 tells us that the rich have a foolish confidence in their wealth When Jesus said it is harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven The Jews went crazy They were astonished because Judaism taught that wealth was a mark of God's blessing But Jesus said no and you notice here

It says in verse 13 yet after them people approve of their boasts They're they're foolish people following the rich people There are poor people There are middle-class people who aspire to be like the rich fools So they follow them, you know, you don't have to be wealthy to perish because of wealth There's lots of poor people but you can be poor or middle-class and perish because making money is your goal Forgetting about spiritual things

So it's not just the rich who can be foolish Verse 14 is a very interesting verse it describes rich fools as sheep now in the New Testament Believers are described as sheep right Jesus calls us sheep, but here you have this very interesting saying Death shall be their shepherd Okay, so one commentator suggests that the comparison was sheep here Suggests that rich fools are like grazing animals not knowing at any time They're going to be slaughtered Death will shepherd the ungodly Well, God will redeem the righteous from the power of Sheol Alexander McLaren wrote several hundred years ago

He wrote an entire sermon on this verse 14 And he compared the shepherding of death with the good shepherding of Jesus He suggests that the psalmist when he's writing Psalm 49 knew of Psalm 23 And so he thought of while the psalmist is writing death is my shepherd

He remembers the Lord is my shepherd So if you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight, the Lord is your shepherd, but if you're a rich fool Death will be your shepherd Jesus said in Matthew 1626 for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and Forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul? What can the wealthy cannot do they cannot cause fear to the believer what the wealthy cannot purchase immorality What the wealthy cannot perceive the cost of salvation what the wealthy cannot prevent death what the wealthy cannot keep treasures What the wealthy cannot escape shield but sub point number seven is about the godly What can the godly know what we can know is eternal life? Verse 15 is the diamond in this psalm

It's the the main theme in the psalm for us It's like John 3 16 or Romans 5 8 of the Old Testament What did the psalmist know about eternal life a lot of commentators would try to say in the Psalms They didn't have a very good understanding of eternal life I disagree Moses knew about eternal life in Hebrews 11 27 It says that Moses was looking for the reward Abraham knew in the Hebrews 11 10 It said Abraham was looking for the city that has the foundation whose designer and builder is God Job knew in Job 19 25

He says I know that my Redeemer lives and at last he will stand upon the earth the psalmist knew about eternal life and that's why he wrote this verse 15 and there's two points there God will ransom us and God will reunite us

So when the psalmist is writing this He hasn't been ransomed yet because it's maybe a thousand years before Jesus came But in verse 7 it says no man can ransom another Verse 8 says that the ransom of their life is costly So for the third time we see the ransom in the ESV version But before you see the word ransom notice the first two words perhaps the most beautiful words in the Bible but God But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol John MacArthur if you have a John MacArthur study Bible It says that this is one of the greatest affirmations of the confidence of God in the book of Psalms Although the faithless person cannot buy his way out of death the faithful one is Redeemed by the only Redeemer God himself

The psalmist here is looking forward to the ransom of the cross While we look backward to the ransom that was paid at the cross Titus 2 14 another beautiful verse says that it says who Jesus gave himself to redeem us or Ransom us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself of people that is very own possession Who are zealous to do good works? So the psalmist was looking forward forward to the ransom of his soul He knew that when he died he was not gonna be kept in Sheol by the power there But that he would be ransomed that God would buy him out of the power of Sheol Subpoint number two there

God will reunite us He says for he will receive me This is a very beautiful word here Not only will God ransom but God will receive him receive him literally means eternal life The New Living Translation says he will snatch me from the power of the grave The NIV says he will surely take me to himself The word here he will receive me is the same words used in Genesis 5 24 Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him the same Hebrew words God took him as he will receive me here in Psalms 73 verse 24

It says you guide me with your counsel and Afterwards, you will receive me into glory receive me is the same word We have here in verse 15 and in 2nd Kings chapter 2 When Elisha is about to go up in the world when the prophets are saying, you know today You're Matt you're gonna be taken away with your master and he's saying about four times that word Taken away is the same word He will receive me here But God redeems the life of those who trust in him Rather than those who trust in riches and I love it here It says he Will receive me The psalm is not just about riches

It's not just about wealth It's not just about rich people perishing in hell This is basically a salvation psalm Also Have you been ransomed tonight? Are you looking forward for the renewification with Christ? John 5 24 is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament It's a triple promise from God He says truly I say to you Jesus is speaking whoever hears my word and Believes on him who sent me promise number one has eternal life Promise number two

He does not come into judgment promise number three, but has passed from death to life That means when you have Jesus Christ in your life through believing and hearing not by works He says you have eternal life He says you will not come into the judgment where the the sheep go judgments You'll come into the abema seat judgment where we're judged for our works But you will not be judged for your sins and number three He says you pass from death to life before you receive Jesus Christ if you perish you spend a turning in hell But once you receive Jesus Christ, he says you pass from death to life

You have eternal life That's a triple promise from God Let's go on to point number three words of wisdom about the worthlessness of wealth verses 16 to 20 The rich will leave everything. I think we know that right? You know the saying you never see a U-Haul behind a hearse is a very familiar saying But the rich are gonna leave two things They're gonna leave their riches and they're gonna leave their splendor number one is riches He says at the beginning of verse 16 be not afraid when a man becomes rich And then he says in verse 17 at the beginning for when he dies, he will carry away

Nothing Remember verse 5 said why should I fear in times of trouble and here it says be not afraid There will always be rich people in this world They'll always be powerful who are getting richer more powerful Always oppressing the poor and the needy, you know, not so much maybe our country maybe yesterday We saw abuse of power in Washington, and it seems like maybe it's getting worse and worse But try living in a third world country

There's not a judicial system today You might be able to hire a lawyer today You might be able to have an advocate group help you with your property dispute or something But in poor countries, they're just abused land can be taken from you like beer But it says they're gonna carry away nothing Job 121 said after Job lost everything Job said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord. I hope you can say that if sometime you lose a lot of things Ecclesiastes 5 15 says as as he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again Naked as he came and he shall take nothing for the toil that he may carry away in his hand The New Testament backs this up in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 6 and 7 says godliness with contentment is great gain For we brought nothing into the world and we can take and we cannot take anything out of the world I like what Martin Luther said 500 years ago The Lord commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom he gives nothing else They're bankrupt in heaven

So they're not gonna take their riches They'll leave everything but they'll also leave their splendor It says in the last part of verse 16 when the glory of his house increases It says in the last part of verse 17 his glory will not go after him They're ultimately a nobody in hell they have no fortune in hell they have no fame in hell They have no power in hell They have no friends in hell They lose all that glory that they had here Let's move on to sub point Number two The rich will never see life verse 18 talks about their Prosperity

Yeah, they can get rich here for though while he lives he counts himself blessed and though you get praised when you do Well for yourself Yeah, there's a lot of rich people out there He counts himself blessed like the rich fool in Luke 12 So verse 18 is about Prosperity now, but verse 19 is about perdition Later perdition is hell It says in verse 19

His soul will go to the generation of his father's Who will never again see the light, you know, we looked at the parable in Luke 12 about the rich fool There's another parable about a rich man Jesus gave it's also in Luke Luke 16 probably my favorite parable It's about the rich man who was closed in purple and fine linen and who feasted it says substitutely every day And at his gate laid a poor man And it's the only parable of the 40 parables where we actually name the man named Lazarus His name is Lazarus and he's covered with sores and I'll just read it to take a time It says this poor man Lazarus desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades being in torment He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at Abraham's side He called out father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue I am in anguish in this flame but Abraham said child remember that in your lifetime you receive good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish That's the verse that the rich people need to remember child Remember that in your lifetime or this lifetime You had good things and maybe you are poor middle-class not too many rich people here tonight Maybe you didn't have a lot of good things

Maybe you had bad things growing up But it says he is comforted here We're gonna be comforted in heaven Our comfort comes in heaven not earth and It says in verse 26 and besides all this between us and you there's a great chasm Has been fixed in order that those who had passed from year to you may not be able to there's no purgatory There's no second chance

There is a hell and there's a heaven Let's look at the last sub point the rich will perish like beasts you remember verse 12 Mentioned man in his pomp will remain he is like beasts that perish verse 20 says man in his pomp Yet without understanding is like beasts that perish so the rich here are described as pompous But they don't have any understanding They won't read the Bible They won't search out Eternity even though God says eternity is in their heart while the believer has understanding the believer Read the words of the Bible They understand the future events

They understand how it's gonna end out the rich Without Christ are just like beasts just like animals who have no reasoning abilities of the future Events So what does this Psalm teach us? I'd like to say maybe four things tonight and finishing Psalm 49 ought to prepare us to die It ought to prayers to die

It's a wise Psalm a wise meditation Upon the meaning of life look around you and look at the rich the famous the powerful look at their riches their arrogance and Remember the rich fool in Luke chapter 12 Death is the great equalizer great death is the great leveler This is wisdom literature Psalm 49 that we need to teach our children and our grandchildren And I'm afraid there's a lot of Christians that aren't teaching their kids about money kids today are growing up demanding everything And parents can't say no and they don't know how to handle money and they can get into serious debt and problems as they grow up number two, we need to trust in the Lord and live wisely in spite of powerful oppressive people and Maybe what we saw yesterday in Washington It's going to get more oppressive if they hire eighty seven thousand IRS agents Are they going to go after churches and 503 charities and things maybe? So the but just remember the destinies of the wise and the foolish are vastly different You might be wrong in this eternal life, but just make sure you have eternal life What is not adjusted in this life? Will be adjusted in the next life. I Was Corrie ten boom who lost everything when she was sent to a concentration camp in knots when the Nazis arrested her and her family she said I Have learned that we must hold everything loosely Because when I grip it tightly it hurts when my father pries it from my fingers loose and takes it from me number three this psalm does not prohibit people from becoming wealthy and Powerful, there's nothing wrong with being wealthy as we see characters in the Bible such as Abraham Isaac and Jacob Lot although he didn't handle his wealth, right? Job you'll see in a few weeks Boaz Abigail and Nabal King David Solomon Hezekiah in the New Testament Zacchaeus Matthew Joseph of Arimathea the Roman centurion Lydia Dorcas Barnabas and Philemon all were apparently wealthy but they didn't trust in their wealth to trust in their wealth is foolish and Futile and listen carefully too often an increase in wealth Leads to an increase in sin Just just study the people who won those lotteries Most of the time most of the time it does not in well Okay, more money means more problems more temptations and quite often more sin James Boyce one of my favorite pastors said since we are eternal creatures We ought to focus on how we might prepare for eternity Rather than how we might accumulate increasing wealth here and perish with it James Moffat said a man's treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character how he makes it and how he spends it and Billy Graham said if A person gets his attitude toward money straightened out Then almost all other areas of life will be straightened out We need to teach our children our grandchildren about tithing You know when when you're when your grandchild or your child gets that $50 gift at Christmas from from you or your parents Are they taught to give $5 to church on Sunday? I'm afraid that most Christians don't teach that anymore But they need to be taught tithing they need to be taught that some of that money could be going to support missions It's God's money all of it It's God's kingdom and we need to teach our children and our children's children Investing in treasures in heaven and not in earth and number four lastly those who cherish power Those who cherish the wealth of this world They're gonna perish like the beasts of the field rich wise famous and powerful, you know Jesus said in Matthew 19 24 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God I've lived almost half my life outside the United States and it's true Whether it's a poor country like India or Myanmar Thailand's not so poor But they do have some poor people that the most countries it's not the religion Buddha or whatever

It's money people are chasing and it keeps them out of heaven But those who live by faith like you hopefully tonight will triumph over the grave Hopefully you're like the proverb in Proverbs 15 verse 16 Says better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it You want a great treasure? Trouble is going to come with it Next week We're gonna look at Psalm 77 and that's called overcoming depression and discouragement