WEBVTT 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:32.640 Sometimes I've found, trust many of you have as well, that a single phrase or a quick expression can become the sort of thing that reorients your whole life. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.640 You remember it forever. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:36.399 Why does that happen? 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:39.119 I think most of us have sayings like that. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:47.280 You know, it's like my grandpa used to say things will either get better, get worse, or stay the same. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.079 Anybody heard that one before? 00:00:53.200 --> 00:01:07.599 A phrase that profoundly shaped my life came from a philosophy professor who told me a good man can say no to a bad thing, but it is a wise man who can say no to a good thing. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.079 Phrases like that. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:16.879 Many of us, for many of us, scripture holds a place like that in our hearts. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:24.079 Phrases, expressions, ideas, turns of phrase that just change the way we look at the world. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.879 Jesus was especially famous for this. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:47.439 He said, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:48.799 Right? 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:56.799 Our text this morning takes up a similar goal of shifting our whole perspective, of being a thing of wisdom. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.959 And one more saying of Jesus, I think, sets the tone just right. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:16.800 And in Mark chapter 8, Simon Peter has just confessed that Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and then Jesus rebukes Peter for for, and then Peter rebukes Jesus, excuse me, for foretelling his death and resurrection. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:21.680 And then Peter gets rebuked and told to get behind me, and he gets called Satan. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:29.680 And then right after that, Jesus calling his disciples together says that all who would come after him must take up their cross. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:37.360 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but forever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:47.439 And then he says, For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.439 That's the question of our psalm for this morning. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:03:03.680 And this psalm is a wisdom psalm that takes up a particular riddle, a particular answer, a complication to leave us with a solution. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.039 Look with me. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.919 That's Psalm number 49 and verse 1. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:13.439 We'll begin with wisdom's riddle. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.159 Hear this, all peoples. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:21.840 Give ear all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor, together. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.439 The psalmist begins by declaring that this hymn is for the whole earth to hear. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.680 All peoples, all inhabitants, high and low. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:28.159 Everybody. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:33.840 If you think of yourselves as too mid or moderate or average for verse two, it's too late. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.439 Verse 1 already caught you. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:36.879 All peoples. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.680 The command is to hear. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.599 But the force is really that of obedience. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:47.840 To listen. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:50.479 Heed this, the psalmist says. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:57.599 He wants everybody to think about what he says and obey its teaching, just like we tell our children to listen, right? 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.919 We don't just want them to like process what we said and then ignore it when we say that. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.120 He wants them to hear and understand and do. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:20.399 And so from the ramparts of Zion, if you look at the end of the previous psalm, the psalmist cries out to all peoples everywhere, declaring wisdom, understanding, a proverb and a riddle. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.600 Sounds just like the beginning of the book of Proverbs, doesn't it? 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:33.920 Of Solomon's Proverbs, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:42.319 And so this psalm is, if not in very early part of Israel's wisdom tradition. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.160 Definitely part of the wisdom literature. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.680 And we have to read it that way. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.279 It's a song, but it's also a proverb. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:05:00.079 And like many songs, we're reading the meditation of a heart, but it still speaks wisdom. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:08.079 Notice quickly how the psalmist summons his whole person, his mouth, his heart, his ear, even his lyre. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:14.240 All of these things to speak and think and listen and solve riddles. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:16.959 That's why you should all learn how to play guitar. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.519 So here then is wisdom's riddle. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:35.120 Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheats me surrounds me, those who trust in the wealth and their wealth, and boast of the abundance of riches. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:44.480 Remember, Israel is a somewhat modest nation in terms of size and might, and it's speaking to the nations around her in this psalm. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:50.079 And so if Syria prospered, Israel was in a little bit of danger, maybe. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:56.000 Harassed on every side by those who trust in wealth and abundant riches. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:01.519 The second line there for the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me is just three words in Hebrew. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:07.199 A tighter translation might be sinful heels surround me. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.000 Heels is where we get those who cheat me. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.600 It's used to describe a couple of things in your Bibles that will stick out to you. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:21.920 It's the negative interpretation of the name Jacob that Esau used against him to call him a cheater and an overreacher and a swindler. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:31.680 Some commentators see a reference in these heels to the heel in Genesis 3, where the serpent will bruise the Messiah's heel. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:36.879 But it's also used to describe an army's rear guard. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:43.040 It describes the extreme back of a person, their rearmost part. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:53.279 So we're talking about backstabbers, ambushers, assassins and weight, betrayers, swindlers, cheats. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:57.839 Jesus described Judas using this language. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.040 He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.279 That's a quote from Psalm 41. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:12.639 So the question is, why should I fear when all around me are wealthy swindlers? 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.680 What a slap in the face that is if you're the king of Tyre, huh? 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.839 All around me, everywhere about me, is a wealthy swindler. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:32.560 But it is, I think if we're honest, a scary thing, a little bit, when you're not so friendly neighbors prosper. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.759 Now I know that our neighbors are friendly, eh? 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:45.040 But would it make you just a little bit nervous if Canada started amassing a land force just south of Winnipeg there? 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:50.959 I mean, as the whole, maybe the United States wouldn't feel too nervous, but we might. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:52.000 Right? 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.199 We might. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:54.800 To bring it home a little bit more. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:59.759 Think about the guy who's always disagreeing with you at work when he gets a promotion. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:12.480 Or a classmate who's always tossing you those mean glances and competing for the attention of others who always has enough money for a new car or new clothes or the new iPhone or whatever it is. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:18.079 Or you graduates, maybe there's somebody who's always been a dork and a fool. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:23.040 When you did everything right, and they get into a better school. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:30.240 Find a spouse faster than you do, start having kids faster than you do, buy a big house before you can even buy a car. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:31.839 Whatever. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:38.559 I picked this psalm because I think its riddle cuts right to the heart of that problem. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:44.480 Why should we fear when the unrighteous prosper around us? 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:50.399 What can you do when you start to worry and feel like you're not keeping up? 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:55.759 Students, if you ask any old person here, I think we've all felt that. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:59.600 And yes, for this illustration, I count as an old person. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:02.639 I think we've all felt that. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:07.360 I would guess that sometimes we still feel it, don't we? 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.039 So that's the riddle. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.080 What can you do when you feel like you're not keeping up? 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:19.679 Or worse, what do you do when it feels like people are using their success against you on purpose to harm you? 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:26.399 As though Tyre and Sidon or Syria were marshalling their wealth to oppress by economic or military force. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:27.200 That's the picture. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.519 Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.000 Why isn't life fair? 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.840 It's wisdom's greatest riddle. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:40.799 So let's look at wisdom's answer. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:42.159 Verse 7. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:54.879 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. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.519 Just warn you not to rush ahead of the psalm too quickly yet, friends. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:01.519 Don't think of Christ just yet. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:02.639 Don't do it yet. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:05.919 For the fact of the matter really is that a man can ransom another. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.120 It happens all the time. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.240 Even today. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:14.320 In the last year, there are reports of kidnapping and hostage negotiations and ransom payments abroad. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:18.159 And frankly, even here in the United States, it happens. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:23.600 The wealthy can afford such a payment for their loved ones, or we get the phrase a king's ransom from. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:30.159 But the psalmist says the ransom price of a man's life before God. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.759 Before God is costly or exorbitant. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:44.799 So much that no man can pay enough to satisfy, to suffice, such that he could live on forever and ever and never see the pit. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:54.240 Now, truly, the wages of sin is death, but this text, I think, says something even more cutting, even more insightful. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:11:01.120 It is the price of his life, the ransom of their life. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:04.639 It's the life that is so costly. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:10.399 Do you see how precious life is in God's sight? 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:23.120 A life is so valuable to the giver of life that no man can ever pay its redemption price. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.759 Here's another one of those perspective shifting phrases we're all familiar with. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:34.720 I learned that as a little kid, walking around a store with my parents, goes like this if you break it, you buy it. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.279 Ah, you know that one. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.000 If you break it, you buy it. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:50.000 And the Lord who made the heavens and the earth knelt to form Adam from the dust and breathed life into his nostrils to make him a living, breathing soul. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:12:00.480 A soul, a life is so incredibly valuable in God's economy that once ruined, no one can pay him back. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:06.240 Right after Jesus asks, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:11.759 He says, For what can a man give in return for his soul? 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.360 You've broken it by sin. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.919 And you cannot afford to buy it. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.960 Though you work the rest of your days, the rest of your life to pay the debt, it won't suffice. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.600 Or rather, it will not cease unto the age. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.399 Might be a better translation of suffice. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:37.200 To all eternity. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:40.320 It will remain costly. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:47.759 Therein lies the uncomfortable doctrine of hell's eternality. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:57.279 The condemnation and eternal conscious punishment. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.840 That's the key doctrine of your Bibles. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.279 Hell doesn't end and you're awake for it. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:06.320 It makes you shiver, doesn't it? 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:26.240 This text teaches, I think, that hell lasts forever, not because God is cruel, but because the gift of life is so expensive, so dear, so precious, that you can never pay it back. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:28.240 Forever and ever. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.720 No one can pay the debt they owe. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:34.080 Truly. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:36.159 Even the wise die. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:39.519 Even the wise die. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:45.279 The fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave all that wealth to others. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:14:03.600 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names, all that wealth, all that success, all those big houses, degrees, careers, families, all those lands, lake fronts, sprawling acres, whatever it is. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:05.919 You can't take it with you when you go. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:08.320 It's kind of that simple. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:10.639 Everybody has to die. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:18.559 And Benjamin Franklin's poor Richard Almanac, he once wrote, Death takes no bribes. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.679 Death takes no bribes. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.000 And that's wisdom's answer. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:25.679 That's wisdom's answer. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.840 In the most basic sense to the riddles question, why do the wicked prosper? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.519 Why isn't life fair? 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:37.279 Wisdom replies, they don't really prosper. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:39.600 It doesn't really go anywhere. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:48.080 All that prosperity, all those possessions, all that success, all that learning, whatever it might be, it cannot survive God's justice. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:54.879 So don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:09.679 The preacher of Ecclesiastes, another wisdom book, mourns and says, For of the wise as of the fool, there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.639 How the wise dies just like the fool. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:22.639 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.480 Kind of makes it all seem pointless, doesn't it? 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:36.000 Striving for a good life is almost as wild a goose chase as trying to catch the wind with your bare hands. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:41.600 One day it all fades, slips right through your fingers. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:49.120 Though they thought their homes would last forever, naming their lands after themselves. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.480 I think the New American has the better translation of verse 11 there. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.639 The New American reads, their inner thought is that their houses are forever. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.200 Lying to themselves, right? 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:09.519 A legacy, a name, a family, a clan, even a memorial. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.200 They may last for generations, hundreds of years, even, and that's that's wonderful. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:15.919 Those are good things. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:22.159 We do well to remember and give thanks, but not even those things last forever. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:30.240 Other than the Lord, only the grave is everlasting. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:35.200 And man and his pomp will not remain. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.039 He is like the beasts that perish. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.759 There's a little play on words there. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:52.399 It's hard to see in most translations, for the word you see for pomp in verse 12 is the same as the word for costly back in verse 8 in the English Standard Version. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:58.320 James Hamilton, biblical scholars, supplies the word exorbitant as an English word you can fit in both places. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.519 He says the ransom price of their life is exorbitant. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.360 It's costly, it's exorbitant. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:09.440 And man in his exorbitance will not remain. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.319 The pun amounts to this subtle dig at the wealthy, right? 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:23.920 That though they love expensive things, their exorbitant luxury is simply not luxurious enough to save their souls. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:32.640 They may as well be as broke and penniless as sheep, as the beasts. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:38.960 I know a man whose testimony turned on this little phrase when he described his conversion. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:47.599 He said, I realized I was morally bankrupt before God. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:50.240 Wow. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:53.519 What an answer to the riddle, right? 00:17:54.079 --> 00:18:01.839 The psalmist defies any moderation here in his reply to the question of why should we fear the wealth of our enemies? 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.880 And he throws any claim anybody has to viability and God's economy out the window. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:15.839 It's like as if a man were complaining about the relative meagerness of his own home compared to his neighbor's, so the psalmist burns them both to the ground to prove a point. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:20.960 That such things really are of little spiritual value. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.000 Remember wisdom's answer, though. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.200 Burn it all to the ground in your heart. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.279 Remember wisdom's answer. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.079 Next time you feel like you're not keeping up. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:41.599 For these things, whatever they might be, they don't last forever. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:49.039 Have you ever heard somebody say, though, that the solution is worse than the problem? 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:51.599 Because that's where we are right now. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:53.200 That's what happens here. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.119 Wisdom's answer to wisdom's riddle causes a new problem. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.559 I've called it wisdom's complication. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:05.279 In verse 13, this is the path of those who have foolish confidence. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:08.480 Yet after them people approve of their boasts. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:17.279 Like sheep, they are appointed for Sheol, and death shall be their shepherd. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:31.119 Derek Kidner writes that this phrase, death shall be their shepherd, ranks for sinister effect among texts like Jeremiah 9.21, where death climbs into the windows to carry off the living. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:37.200 But he writes now in this text, Death is no intruder. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.880 He is on his home pastures. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:43.839 The grave will be their home. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:46.319 No matter how large their mansions. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:51.519 Death will be their shepherd, no matter how large their flocks. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:58.400 Sheol, their only companion, no matter how many followers they acquire. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.680 Job's friend Bildad, great name. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:07.119 Job's friend Bildad says, indeed, the light of the wicked is put out. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:15.440 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted, and is brought to the king of terrors. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:17.680 Spooky stuff. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:21.359 So here's the complication. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:24.559 I'm reading ahead just a little bit to make it plain for you. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:26.160 The complication is this. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:28.079 What about me? 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:31.599 What about you? 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:33.279 What do we do? 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:43.359 If wisdom's answer to wisdom's riddle is that everybody dies, these things start to get a little complicated, don't they? 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:51.839 No one anywhere can escape the grave, and we're left looking for another solution to this complication. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.839 And then verse 14 strikes a brighter note. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:01.519 The upright shall rule over them in the morning. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:13.119 The morning, this dawn that he speaks of, seems to be a reference to the new day that arises after death, and death's night and death's darkness. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.119 That is, the resurrection of the dead. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:23.119 That's what many believe he's writing about here, the resurrection of the dead, when the judgment of God sets the upright to rule over the unjust. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:33.359 Even as the unrighteous are consumed in Sheol with no place to dwell, unable to pay the ransom for their lives, destitute in their graves. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:39.359 A psalmist has a solution, and his solution is God. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:41.359 God. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.559 God can pay the ransom. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:45.920 It's the only way. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.119 It's the only way. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:52.000 He's the only one with enough capital to pay the debt you owe. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:54.400 Like little kids. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:59.680 We've broken it, and our only hope is that dad is gracious enough to buy. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.200 It for us. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:07.119 I have been threatened with washing dishes in the restaurant until I'm 17 before. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:08.000 Right? 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:14.079 Your only hope is that Dad is gracious enough to pay your debts. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:20.079 He says, but God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:25.839 And I scratched my head all week at how in the world he knows that. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.160 How does he know that? 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:34.480 He hasn't said anything yet, and not much to come to tell me why he thinks that. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:38.880 My first thought was to look at the understanding at the end of verse 20. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:42.079 There's something there, and we'll get there in a little bit. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:46.960 But that didn't satisfy me because verse 10 says, even the wise die. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:54.880 And that Ecclesiastes verse I showed you earlier said that wisdom and understanding also are but chasing after the wind. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:23:03.759 So being wise and insightful and understanding isn't enough to ransom one's soul from Sheol. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.799 Then I wondered if the answer was in the other Psalms of the sons of Korah. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:13.519 This is the last one in a cycle that begins in chapter 42, or Psalm 42 rather. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.839 And in those seven, eight Psalms, you see God's steadfast love. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:25.359 You see his sovereign free choice and election of Israel, the covenantal relationship that flows out of that choice that's all there. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:31.279 Psalm 44 cries out to God in prayer: Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:33.440 There's something there. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:38.720 By this point, the reader ought to be confident of God's love for his own people. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:43.680 But the best solution, I think, is right there in the text. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.480 That's why there's a Selah there. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:50.240 For he will receive me. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.000 God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:58.319 For, so then there's the reason. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.599 For he will receive me. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:02.960 Selah. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:03.920 Stop and think about it. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:05.119 Read it again. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.960 He will receive me. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:10.640 It's supposed to explode on your minds. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.799 We're not reading it in Hebrew. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:21.359 It's supposed to explode with wisdom's great eureka of understanding, this aha moment, this light bulb that gives all of life meaning. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:26.319 Alec Modier writes, there is a death without hope, and there is a death full of hope. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.680 And that word receive is the difference. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:36.160 He will receive me, the psalmist sings, because he's done it before. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:37.920 Because he's done it before. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:42.880 That little word for receive is an ancient word in your Bibles. 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:44.000 You've read it before. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:46.240 Flip back to Genesis with me. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:57.440 Back in Genesis chapter 2, the Lord God took the man, received him, took the man, and put him in the garden. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:05.440 In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 21, he took one of Adam's ribs. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.079 He received one of Adam's ribs. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:11.519 Chapter 3, verse 19. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:22.480 God says to Adam, by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken? 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.200 Out of it you were received. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:29.680 For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:40.079 Verse 23, the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:46.880 How does man come out of the dust of the earth after he's returned to it? 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:48.480 He is taken. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:51.839 It's our word for received back in Psalm 49. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:57.759 So God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will take me. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:01.279 Look to Genesis chapter 5. 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:05.519 And look at verse 24. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:12.559 Enoch walked with God. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:15.359 And he was not. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:20.640 For God received him. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:24.480 For God received him. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:30.880 And so wisdom's solution is just a logical deduction. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:39.119 All of humanity owes God an eternal debt for the life they've ruined, but Enoch didn't have to pay. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.440 And Enoch never could have paid. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.440 So how can that be? 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:47.839 Somehow God received him. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.119 God will receive the upright too. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:52.400 Somehow it has to be possible. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:53.279 It's our only hope. 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.920 We've broken it and cannot buy it. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:01.200 But the psalmist knows that at least once before, actually twice. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.880 But I don't know if Elijah is before or after this psalm, so we can't use it. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:14.480 Once before, God bought a redemption, paid a debt, and ransomed someone from the grave. 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:23.119 That is the resurrection hope of the morning light that Daniel will later say so plainly in Daniel chapter 12. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:28.559 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.960 Some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.359 Sleeping in the night, awaking in the morning, rising to everlasting life. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:42.240 God has promised, God has done it before, and he will surely do it again. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:49.200 That is wisdom's solution to wisdom's complication, to wisdom's answer, of wisdom's answer, to wisdom's riddle. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:50.799 You with me? 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.240 And so don't be afraid. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:05.039 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases, for when he dies, he will carry nothing away. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.200 His glory will not go down after him. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:18.880 For though while he lives, he counts himself blessed, and though you get praise when you do well for yourself, his soul will go to the generation of his fathers who will never again see light. 00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:21.039 Dawn, morning. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:23.759 Will never again see light. 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:25.920 So don't worry about it. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.440 Don't worry about it when somebody else gets rich. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:32.400 When their house increases in glory. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:40.400 I don't think any of you are, but if you're an ancient king of Israel, don't fear it when the Prince of Sidon has four sons, almighty warriors. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:53.759 But if you're about to leave home, start school, start working, be not afraid when somebody is smarter, faster, more successful than you. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:29:00.640 All that stuff that makes people caption their social media posts with so blessed, though he counts himself blessed. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:02.799 Don't let it get in your head. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:05.279 Don't let it get in your head. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.279 But I'm underselling it a little bit, if that's my only application. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:11.839 Underselling it a little bit just to make the point. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:15.279 But the psalmist does not write, don't envy them. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:18.319 No, he writes, be not afraid. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:25.119 Because the wealthy people he has in mind here are those who are ruthless and cruel, even violent. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:29.599 They're backstabbers and they're treacherous like Judas. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:38.400 All the wealth they amass in the Psalm is used to oppress you, to persecute you, to do you harm. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.200 And they can't take any of that with them when they go anyway. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:43.680 It's all just striving after the wind. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:46.640 So it's even stronger. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:47.680 Right? 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.799 Even if you speak of Christ and they reject you, be not afraid. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:55.359 Be not afraid. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:02.799 No, you, my friends, set your hope on something that lasts forever. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.200 Store up your treasures in heaven and be rich toward God. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:12.799 For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.319 What use is the good life if it all gets destroyed anyway? 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:20.640 No. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:25.839 You who would be disciples of Jesus Christ, take up your cross daily. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:35.039 Follow in the footsteps of your Redeemer, preach the good news, engage in good works, await the return of the good shepherd, because that's the good life. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:39.279 That's what it really means to be blessed. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:44.960 That is the understanding of verse 20. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:53.920 The Psalm sets forth a wisdom to live on so that your heart's meditation shall be understanding. 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:02.559 It's the difference between the godly and the ungodly, regardless of wealth. 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:05.599 But especially when it comes to wealth. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:13.359 Do you ever fear, like I do, that our relative prosperity in the world is just embarrassing? 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.559 Does that guilt creep in? 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:19.759 Like we've got more stuff than we really know what to do with. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.279 That pang of conscience is a good sign. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:35.440 It's one of those early steps on the path of wisdom that understands this: that no material wealth, no earthly success can make us right before God, who could take it all away in a moment. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:37.599 Remember Job? 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:57.599 Understanding, understanding our position, our mortality, our humanity, that's what makes sense of wealth, of possessions, of houses and cars, grandkids. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:01.599 That's what makes sense of all of those things. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:08.640 The wisdom literature, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, they all agree on this point. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:14.240 What else was the lesson of Job except that the Lord is the blessed one who gives and takes away? 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:19.920 At the end of the book, Job answers the Lord and says, I know that you can do all things that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:26.480 I uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:36.960 I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you, therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:43.200 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:48.480 And Job died an old man and full of days. 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:53.759 Surely Job died in great pomp with abundant riches. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:55.839 He saw four generations of his children. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:00.720 There has not been another man of understanding like Job who knew his place. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:13.039 Because knowing our place before a holy God is the wisdom that makes you immune to fear and anxiety when your enemies prosper. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.079 Ecclesiastes concludes this way. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:18.160 All has been heard. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:19.440 Enough talk. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:21.680 Fear God. 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:23.920 Not that other stuff. 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:27.759 I keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:35.839 Look down at your Bibles quickly back in Psalm 49 and see that Psalm 50 is written by Asaph. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:42.160 Psalm 51 then begins a new cycle of Davidic Psalms. 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:55.359 Many commentators see Psalm 50 as the conclusion to these nine Psalms, beginning at Psalm 42, this collection of the Psalms of the sons of Korah. 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:03.039 And after the psalmist speaks wisdom in Psalm 49, God Himself steps to the stage in Psalm 50. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:04.799 He speaks to summon the earth. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.559 Our God comes and he does not keep silence, it says in verse 3. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:20.400 And I think the last two verses of Psalm 50 give a lot of clarity to the understanding we're seeking from our Psalm this morning. 00:34:20.559 --> 00:34:22.800 It says this in verse 22. 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:28.400 Mark this then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart and there be none to deliver. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:30.960 That's the scary part, right? 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:37.519 But the one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:45.679 To one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God. 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:49.280 I will show the salvation of God. 00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:55.119 And then David's repentance in Psalm 51 is put forward as an example of that posture. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:56.400 It's incredible. 00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:59.599 You could get lost in these pages. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:08.480 And so while our psalmists don't yet know, they haven't yet been shown the full salvation of God. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:10.639 You have. 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:11.760