Let us then turn in God's words to Psalm 49, Psalm 49, and look at this sermon in the Psalms, really. So let us turn to Psalm 49, reading together the whole of the Psalm as our text, as our scripture reading this morning. Let us hear the word of Almighty God. Hear this, all peoples. Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will disclose my dark saying on the heart. Why should I fear the days of evil? When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their souls is costly and it shall cease forever. That he should continue to live eternally and not see the pit. For he sees wise men die, likewise the fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man, though in honor, does not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish and of their posterity who approve their sayings. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lives, he blesses himself, for men will praise you when you do well for yourself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor yet does not understand is like the beasts. that perish. Thus far, the reading of God's word. May he add his blessing to our consideration of it this morning. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, as we open God's word this morning, we have before us a song. We're told that it is a song of the sons of Cora. It is a contemplation He says that he will talk about dark sayings. And certainly as we read this, this is rather a difficult thing because we as human beings are so easily running after the things of this world. But God says, what do we have? when we run after the things of this world and not after the glory of God, we have nothing. We can't take it with us. Verse 17, for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. The psalmist elsewhere says, I envied, I feared, I was angry when I looked and saw that the wicked seemed to not have any troubles in their life. And I looked at my own life, and he says, I had great problems. Then he says, then I considered their end. And we need to consider the end of the matter. And so as we look at this world and as we look around us and see perhaps from time to time, perhaps often, it seems like the wicked are triumphing and having good times while we struggle and fret and fight day by day. We need to consider their end. And we need to also consider then our end. What are we doing? Are we following after them? Are we trying to get in and be rich and honored in this world? Or are we serving the glory of Almighty God with all of our beings. And so, brothers and sisters, as we open God's Word, the theme that we want to see from Psalm 49 is that we are not to fret when evil seems to triumph. We need to realize that we believers are redeemed from the grave. that while they have their best things in this world, our best things are far better and yet to come in the heavens. So we are not to fret when evil seems to triumph. We have hope in our death. We are redeemed from the fear, from the danger of the grave and given eternal life. In verses one through six, we see that we ask the question, why should the believer fret when the wicked seem to triumph? It's our feeling that when we see the wicked triumph, this is the bad thing. And certainly we want good things in this world. And yet this world is not the end of the matter. And as we see them seem to triumph, Our second point from verses 7 to 20, we are reminded that judgment is coming. So why should we fret when the wicked seem to triumph? We need to consider the dangers of unbelief. Listen. The psalmist cries out, hear all peoples. This is a call not just for those who were in Israel, this is a call to all nations, to all peoples. Again and again Israel had this idea that the message of the gospel was just for them. And we are reminded here that that was certainly not true. The gospel, the message of salvation, the consideration of our lives is for all people. And he continues, listen, people both low and high, rich and poor, God is not a respecter of persons. Every one of us needs to consider where we are. It is just as easy for the person who is poor to spend their time worrying about money and serving things as it is for the person who is rich. And so all need to consider, what do we do? What do we have? The danger of hell is universal. The need to prepare for judgment is universal. Every one of us needs to take time and consider these things. The psalmist says, I will speak wisdom. I will think on and bring out the meditation of my heart, which is understanding. There are things to think about. which we will not consider without it being brought to our attention by God's Word. Now the world witnesses these things to us. Romans 1 tells us that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen in the world. But we, without God bringing it to our attention through His inspired Word, through special revelation, will not understand it. And the world around us suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. So we need to consider, think about our ends. God's word speaks wisdom to us. God uses this psalm. God uses his preachers to cause us to meditate on understanding. And we need to understand what God has designed this world for and what God has put us in it for. We need to take a good look at the judgment that is coming. And we need to prepare. How then should we live? And the psalmist continues, consider a proverb, a dark saying. We need to consider God's word as a whole, but here in this psalm, the sons of Korah lay it out for us as a proverb, as a spiritual truth, that we need to consider a dark saying. And we need to consider the dark facts that are laid out before us. And we live in a world in which it seems that wickedness triumphs. The psalmist says, why do we fret about this? And yet we do, don't we? We get so worked up whenever things go against the way we think they should go. And that God's ways are not our ways. God's understanding is not our understanding. God tells us that there are going to be problems. He tells us that we're going to be persecuted. That there are going to be martyrs for the Gospel. The writer of the Hebrews tells us that we have not yet resisted the shedding of blood. Pray for those who are so persecuted. Because we're still in the flesh. We can be persecuted too. We are pilgrims, we're told. here on earth. This is not our home. Our eternal home is in Emmanuel's land. The new heavens and the new earth. The psalmist says, the iniquity at my heels surrounds me. Isn't that just a powerful picture? As we walk through this world, we are surrounded by iniquity. And it comes up and it hits us not in our heels, but in our faces. Do we need to fear? Now we have to think about what happened throughout history. Think of the reformers and the Christians of those times. Think of the Huguenots. Think of our brothers and sisters across this world who are persecuted even now for the gospel. The statistics on Christian persecution are mind boggling. We think we're okay here in this country, but across the world, it is dangerous to be a Christian. And as our own nation throws away Christianity, it'll be here too. Do we need to fear? far rather be prepared. How are we prepared? We need to consider their end. Consider going back to the idea of the reformers. Some of them were burned at the stake. Some of them were, you know, tortured for the gospel. Just horrific things. And yet, brothers and sisters, we have in Christ something far and beyond. And that's what Jesus tells us. If they persecuted me, how much more will they persecute you? And we live in a world full of those who seek and trust in wealth and riches. Should we fret? I think it's interesting, I was reading this morning as part of my devotions and also in preparation for the sermon out of Matthew Henry on this passage. And he said, God often gives the wicked power and riches. He doesn't give that to his people, at least often. Why? Is it because he doesn't like us? It's because wealth and riches and power are snares. They catch the wicked. They're a danger to us. We say, oh, I can handle that. Well, obviously we can't, and that's okay. We need to understand that our riches are not earthly. Our riches are in the heavens, eternal. What happens to the riches we gather on this earth? Well, what does the psalmist say? He says they can't take it with them. When he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend with him. The glory that we can gain on this earth, the honor doesn't go with us. and neither do all the things we can gather on this earth. Colloquially to say, there's no luggage rack and no trailer hitch on a hearse. We can't take it with us. When people trust in their wealth, when people boast about the multitude of their riches, think about what people do all the time today. When people put their hope in these things instead of in the almighty God, do we need to worry? Do we need to fear? When they persecute us, God is still in control and he will turn all of this to our, to his people's good. And so we need to say, do we fret when evil seems to triumph? Judgment's coming. Earthly riches cannot redeem from judgment. Those with riches, verse 7, cannot redeem their brother from God's judgment. None of them can by any means, verse 7, redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. We can't even help our friends, our brothers. Money can't redeem us. Remember, Christ's redemption was with His blood, 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Christ paid in our place. The redemption of souls is costly, verse 8. And it shall cease forever. It cost Jesus his life and the payment of hell for each one of us. And it shall not cease forever. Hell does not end. The payment of death and of hell is eternal for the unbeliever. Revelation 14.11, "...and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night." And yet even in the middle of this, God points us to heaven. That there is this idea of redemption. Notice what the real redemption is going to do, verse 9. continue to live eternally and not see the pit. While it will take us an eternity in hell to pay for our sins if we do not believe, there is the promise of eternal life for the believer, that he should continue to live eternally Not only is the eternal judgment of God paid by Christ, but we are saved to live eternally so that we will not see the pit, we will not see hell. But we have to understand, all die alike. And yet there is a total difference. It all looks the same, doesn't it? You see the person in the casket? It doesn't look different one to the other, to the next. Wise men and fools all die, and they leave their wealth to others. While there doesn't seem to be a difference between the death of a believer and the death of the unbeliever, we are told that he sees wise men, verse 10, when they die. Proverbs 14, 32, the wicked is banished in his wickedness, but the righteous has a refuge in his death. We have hope, we have a refuge in death. Likewise, the fool and the senseless person perish, and they die the same way. Whatever they do, whatever they have will be given to others. Now note that the same is true, we all die from an earthly perspective of believers on the things on this earth. When we die, our stuff is given to other people, the things on the earth, but the things which they have built on the foundation of Christ will come with them to heaven, gold, silver, and precious stones. And we can take those who believe on Christ because of us to heaven. So where are we laying our treasure? The psalmist continues. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever. They're dwelling places to all generations. That they'll be important enough that people will remember them. And that this is so and so's house. And we put a name on it even sometimes. I always have to chuckle with Sanford. He's got to have his name on everything. He's been so rotten otherwise with credit cards and stuff like that, but we're going to redeem ourselves by putting our name and giving money. And so often we want our names stuck on stuff. I don't want my name on anything. By the way, Luther said the same thing. They named a church after him. Where we are as human beings is not important. What are we pointing to? We should be arrows pointing to Christ. People believe that what they have in this world, their houses, their dwelling places to all generations, we're told. We think our things will somehow satisfy us and cause us to be remembered. People call their lands by their own names. Think about how we name houses in our culture around here. That's such and so, so-and-so's house. Well, they haven't lived there for 40 years, but we still call it that, right? And some of us who move in say, who? And yet what happens? Our kids don't know those names as well, do they? They call it somebody else's name. so-and-so's house. It doesn't matter if our name is honorable on this earth. We die, verse 12, much like animals. Those who are honored on earth all die. So do we as believers, by the way. But death appears to be similar to that of animals. We're getting worse here, not better, right? We all die. There doesn't seem to be much difference between the believer and the unbeliever. Now, the psalmist goes on to say, it looks like animals too. Yet God is the one who makes the difference. Faith in Christ is what makes all the difference. If we are in Christ, our death is entirely different. And the psalmist continues. And as we said, these are dark sayings. This is hard stuff, guys. But we have to see it. We have to understand it. We have to prepare. As we said, the psalmist elsewhere says, I was envious. When I saw the unbeliever prosper, then I considered his end." This is how it is, verse 13. This is the way of those who are foolish and of their posterity who approve their saying. Those who follow after the things of this world and then their children and their grandchildren. The idea of foolish, of course, has the idea of being unbelieving. And we're told they die like animals. They can't take anything with them, and they will receive eternal judgment. Verse 14, unbelievers like sheep die. Now I don't know if some of you might be able to identify who this is, but there was a man I knew once who said, sheep are diers. But God says the same thing about us, verse 14. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them. Look around you. Look over, consider the cemeteries we have. How many people, there's more in the cemetery than there are in Eureka nowadays. We're all going to die. Think over history, how many millions upon billions of people have died. Guess what? We all have this idea, I'm going to beat it. What does God say? We're not going to beat it. And if Jesus tarries, there is no discharge in that war, the writer of the Hebrews says. Be prepared. This is how it is for the foolish. Those who do not believe in Christ are cannon fodder for death. Isaiah 43 verse 3, For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba in your place. What's that mean? Ethiopia, Sheba, Egypt was there and was used by God to bring forward what He wanted in the world. And think what happened to the Egyptians. They were ruined because God gave the Israelites the wealth of Egypt. What's going on there? God uses the unbeliever for the blessing of his people. We read that in devotions this past week as well in Proverbs. That God takes from the unbeliever and lays up for his people. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, we're told. While man runs after the things of this world, tries to gather them together. What does Solomon say in Ecclesiastes? Grasping for the wind. God says in the morning, the believer, the upright will have dominion over them. When The unbeliever who has gathered, who has fought for all of this stuff on this earth, dies. God promises that he will give it to his people. The meek, we're told, shall inherit the earth. And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. These people who have riches, have honor, have the things of this world, have rulership over the world, all that is consumed, far from their dwelling. Those who die as unbelievers, their beauty, all that they have, all that they counted worthy and important, will fall apart. Beauty and importance are not important to God and will be destroyed in the grave on this earth and further destroyed in God's eternal judgment. God redeems His people. The unbeliever dies like a beast. God will redeem my soul from the grave. This is a hard saying. The psalm is, as the psalmist says, dark sayings. But brothers and sisters, here is the joy that we have as Christians. While the world seems to be overrun by unbelievers, while the world seems to be run, and they seem to get what we think would be the good stuff, we have this glorious promise of God. Verse 15, But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. The believer has a refuge in his death. God redeems us. The grave, as the psalmist has painted this picture, this yawning chasm of death into which all people fall. God says we're redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ. And not only are we redeemed, notice that last little phrase there, for He shall receive me. Not only do we have the promise that we have hope in the grave, but God receives us. When we die, we don't go into a place of torment and of judgment. The picture that God gives to us is that we go to be with Christ. We go into Abraham's bosom. We go to God, to our Savior. And so we do not need to fear, verse 16, when one becomes rich. Don't worry when evil seems to be winning. This is the best they can have, this world. When it seems the glory of their house has increased, don't fear. Trust in God. Verse 17, when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. We've talked about this a number of times. They can't take their stuff with them. They can't take their glory with them. It won't follow anyway. And though they bless themselves, those blessings fall to nothing. While people may have a high opinion of someone, that doesn't mean God will. And they go to the generation of their fathers and shall never see light. What is the generation of their fathers? Hell, death, judgment. They shall never see light. They shall never see good or anything that is light. For the unbeliever, the best things they will ever receive will be on this earth. For the believer, this is the worst stuff we'll ever see. And the psalmist closes, verse 20, a man who is an honor yet does not understand is like the beasts that perish. And so brothers and sisters, as we consider this world and when we say, well, is evil triumphing? Not eternally. And as we consider those facts, we need to consider God's judgment as a part of that. And know that God will judge. And brothers and sisters, God redeems our soul from the power of the grave and God receives us. And so we don't need to fear judgment. We don't need to fear death in Jesus Christ. Jesus took that all in our place and he has redeemed us. We talked about that, verse nine, for eternal life and eternal glory. But brothers and sisters, we do need to look. And that yawning. Pit of hell. We need to see that. God lays it in front of us this morning. So that we can understand. What this world is about? Why are we here? We're here to glorify God. All this other stuff that we so easily run after and think is important, isn't. And whether we be rich, whether we be poor, whether we be important on this earth, whether we be lowly, we all need to consider our end. Consider God's judgment and live in light of that. Amen. Let us bow ourselves before our God in prayer, and we'll close this prayer together with the Lord's Prayer. Almighty, most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace. Because without that grace, we would be facing the same thing that the world around us and the unbelievers are facing. And we pray, Lord, that we would look honestly at ourselves and see. And confess that we fully and truly deserve. Your eternal judgment for our sins. And we pray, Lord, then that we would be driven all the more to our knees before the awesome Savior. Our awesome Lord who saves sinners. And Lord, we bow before you, we pray, Lord. We believe help thou our unbelief. We pray, Lord, that we would then always more and more look and live to eternity as pilgrims on this earth, knowing that heaven and the new heavens and the new earth are our home. We thank you for the fact of Jesus Christ, that he purchased this for us. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, praying as he taught us to pray, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.