Psalm 49 - Rich People and the Grave

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. I hope that you're having a good day so far.

We are in Psalm 49, and this is just a super, super interesting Psalm that I know it will encourage you.

It will challenge you, particularly if maybe you're still working a job, or really honestly, if you know people that are working jobs, this is a song for you.

Now, you might say, okay, well, most of the time when we're going through Psalms, like, it doesn't have anything to do with the workplace, or with jobs or money, but this one does. So let's dive in and see what it says.

The inscription for this Psalm says, for the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah. So this is who's doing it and the group that is going to be singing it.

The psalm says this, Hear this, all you peoples, listen, all who inhabit the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth speaks wisdom. My heart's meditation brings understanding.

I turn my ear to a proverb. I explain my riddle with a liar. Why should I fear in times of trouble?

The iniquity of my foes surrounds me. They trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches. Yet these cannot redeem a person or pay his ransom to God, since the price of redeeming him is too costly.

One should forever stop trying so that he may live forever and not see the pit. For one can see that the wise die, the foolish and stupid also pass away. Then they leave their wealth to others.

Their graves are their permanent homes, their dwellings from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves. But despite his assets, mankind will not last. He is like the animals that perish.

This is the way of those who are arrogant, and of their followers who approve of their words. Selah. Like sheep, they are headed for Sheol, for the grave.

Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in the grave, far from their lofty abode. But God will redeem me from the power of the grave, for He will take me.

Selah. Do not be afraid when a person gets rich, when the wealth of his house increases, for when he dies, he will take nothing at all.

His wealth will not follow him down, though he blesses himself during his lifetime, and you are acclaimed when you do well for yourself, he will go to the generation of his fathers. They will never see the light.

Mankind with his assets, but without understanding, is like the animals that perish. So here we see from this Psalmist, this admonition of don't trust in riches, trust in the Lord. Let's walk through.

Verses 1 through 4, the Psalmist starts off saying, hey, I've got something that everybody, rich and poor, needs to know. I've got some understanding.

I've got something that's like a proverb, and really many of these verses read much like the Proverbs or like Ecclesiastes does. He says, and so I'm turning my ear to a proverb, and I'm explaining my riddle with a liar.

He says, I'm singing about this proverb. And I can't think of the last time, perhaps, when we sang a song like this that said, your money won't save you. You are going to die.

And so you need to turn to the Lord. Frankly, I know there are some songs that have something kind of like that. Man, the song Better by Pat Barrett has some lines that kind of deal with that.

I think the song Forgiven by Sovereign Grace Music actually might have some things that tie in to that as well. If you want to look up a song that has something to do with that.

But this is why we have God's Word, why we have the Psalms, because it tells us what are the things that you need to be thinking about, and singing about, and praying about. And so it is important that we not trust in our riches.

This is what we see in verses five through nine. He says, Why should I fear in times of trouble? He says, The iniquity of my foes surrounds me.

He says, I know where I'm at, and I'm with God. I'm trusting in the Lord. But these other people, they are relying on their wealth, and boasting about how rich they are.

But these cannot save you. They cannot redeem you to God. They cannot pay the ransom, the price of your sin.

They are in verses number 7 and 8. Yet these cannot redeem a person, or pay his ransom to God, since the price of redeeming him is too costly. He says, one should forever stop trying, so that he may live forever, and not see the pit.

The opposite of trying to buy your way into heaven, of saying, hey, all of this money will get me a relationship with God. All of this money will sustain me throughout eternity.

You can think even of the Egyptians and their pharaohs, that they would be buried with tons of gold and treasures and gems because they thought that they were going to bring all those things to the grave with them.

And here the psalmist gives, here's how God thinks about it. You can't bring any of that stuff with you. You can't purchase everlasting life.

You can't purchase life beyond the grave. And instead, you need to trust in God. You need to stop trying so that you can live forever.

And man, this is our salvation, verses 7 through 9. Your good works, your money, your religious attendance, your charitable giving cannot redeem you or pay your ransom to God. It doesn't matter how many times you take communion.

It doesn't matter how many hail Marys you say. It doesn't matter how many churches you join. It doesn't matter the amount of money that you give to the Ron and MacDonald House.

It cannot redeem you or pay your ransom to God. The price of your sin is far too high. We learned that in the Book of Leviticus many, many weeks ago now, that our sin, the only acceptable payment for sin is death.

Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death. So, we can't redeem ourselves through our good works, through our money, through anything other than the blood of Christ.

And that's 1 Peter chapter 1, which I think I've referenced often in the past couple of weeks, that we were not bought back with silver and gold, but we were bought with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for us. Through him, we believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that our faith and hope are in God. So how do we have redemption?

How do we have ourselves ransomed? How do we live forever and not see the pit, not see the grave? We trust in God.

We don't trust in our wealth. So, can I encourage you? What do you spend your time on?

What do you spend your time thinking about? Are you constantly consumed with making more and more and more? Are you constantly consumed with getting stuff, of buying things, of enjoying all of this world's wealth?

Or are you primarily concerned about your relationship with God? Where you're at with Him? Treating others and loving others like He wants you to?

Doing the actions that He calls you to? Being a disciple? What consumes your time?

And I do want to say, you can be a business person and do well at your business and spend time caring about how good your business is and do it in a way that you are seeking God.

That you're saying, God, I want to treat my clients right because that's how you would want me to. God, I want to do well in my business so that I can support my family.

I want to do good at my job so that I am able to have money that I can give, that I can be generous to those in need, that I can give to your work, that I can do the things that you want me to.

So there is a way in which you can both care for your business and spend time in your business and work hard at your job but realize why you do it and have the goals within your business or job that it's all directed towards the Lord.

And then verses 10 through 12, the psalmist writes, Hey, everyone dies. The wise, the foolish, the stupid, everyone dies. And all of their stuff gets left to other people.

And though people build big buildings and put their names on them and make colleges and slap their names on those, he says, they're just going to the grave. And all of the things that they spent all of their life for, it doesn't do them any good.

He says, you know, it's like if a dog named something after himself, a dog dies and no one at that point really cares what that dog did with their life. It doesn't matter the estate that he left behind. It doesn't do them any good.

And he says, so this is for humans that, you know, we can think of all the, you know, billionaires and things of today, those with fantastic riches of, you know, Bezos and Musk and Buffett and Trump and at one point, Kanye and all sorts of different

people, that all of the money in the world doesn't buy them a relationship with God. And once they're gone, once they're dead, it doesn't matter what they did anymore.

They will stand before God and they will give an answer for what they have done, what they did with Christ, what they did with the life that God gave them. So what's important is not, you know, he who dies with the most toys wins.

That's not how it works. It's do you have a relationship with God?

He says for these people that have spent all of their time, all of their attention, all of their care has been on their money and their work, then they're going to go into the grave and death is going to lead them.

And he says the upright are going to be those that rule one day.

So here, you know, possibly pictured even the future millennium reign of Christ and David and those that are resurrected to life, that these people are going to be ruling, but those that did not care about God, that didn't love him, that didn't obey

him, those are going to be the people that are just in the grave. And the psalmist writes, but God will redeem me from the power of the grave, for he will take me. Here, there is a declaration of a hope in the resurrection.

Contra the Sadducees' thoughts in the New Testament that there was no resurrection, this psalmist thought that God was going to redeem them from the power of the grave. So he says, don't be afraid when a person gets rich.

When the wealth of his house increases, he says, don't worry yourself about going, oh, I can't believe this person is making all this money. I can't believe this person's business is so successful. Don't they know?

Don't people know? Doesn't the government know how shady they are in these things? He says, don't be afraid.

Don't get upset over other people's wealth, he says, because when he dies, he's going to take nothing at all. His wealth will not follow him down. This is mankind with his assets, but without understanding is like the animals that perish.

Today, are you trusting in Christ? Do you believe in him and his sacrifice, in his shed blood for your sins? Have you believed in him for your redemption and your ransom?

If you've never believed in him, if you've never repented, turn from your sin and turned to the Savior. You can do that today. It's not about all of the other religious things that you can bring in.

It's having faith in God to say, Lord, I know what you have said in your word that I need to do and not do and think and not think and say and not say. And I have not measured up. I have sinned.

I have done wrong. And as a result, I am headed for the grave. I am headed for hell.

And so, God, please forgive me. I accept Jesus's full payment for my sin. And I'm turning to him as my Lord.

I'm giving the reins of my life over to Jesus. That what he wants me to do, I am going to do. And the Bible says that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

For with the heart, man believes, resulting in righteousness. And with the mouth, man confesses, resulting in salvation. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Today can be your day of salvation. Believer, for you today, what are you spending your time on? In your job, in your business, in your workplace, how are you thinking about what you're doing?

Are you doing it to exalt the Lord, to be a light for Jesus where you're at? Are you doing it to provide for your family? Are you doing it so that you can be generous to others and to give to God's work?

Or are you just trying to get a bunch of stuff to amass wealth for yourself? Let's not trust in riches, let's trust in the Lord. Thank you for tuning in today.

Tomorrow is Psalm 50. The episode after that is Psalm 51, and I know that's going to be, man, it is one of the greatest chapters in all of scripture, and I'm really excited to go over it with you all. Psalm 50, not necessarily one.

I'm as familiar with right off hand, so I'm looking forward to getting into that study with you all next episode. Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful day.