Psalm 49. I titled the message, A Universal Message. As you see in the first verse, hear this, all people give ear all inhabitants of the world. And this is the prophet speaking under the inspiration of God. He's going to write this psalm, and everyone I read believes David wrote it. So we will accredit it to David. Or I can just say the prophet, and that'll cover it, who wrote this psalm. It's a universal message. You know, the gospel is a universal message. It's not just to one nation called Israel. It is to all people. The Lord said to His disciples, go into all the world. Don't you exclude any part of the world. You go where I open doors, and you go and you preach the gospel. The gospel is a universal message. It's the same message all over. Wherever God sends it, it's the same message. It doesn't change. Because all men are the same. When you remove all the garb, you remove everything about a man, whether he's in a palace or he's in a tent, they're all the same. Lost. They're all lost. They're all sinful men and sinful women. And this message is sent to all people, and I thought about this. We are the ones, people are the ones that exclude themselves. You know the doctrine of election, if it were not for the doctrine of election, nobody would be saved? You know the angels that fell not are called the elect angels? God chose them and they kept their first estate. They are called the elect angels. Men and women exclude themselves. When the gospel was sent, Christ said, You will not come to me that you might have life. You will not come. It's not as if someone wanted to be saved and they desired to be saved and God said, No, you're not one of the elect. That's not so. Anyone who desires to be saved, God made him willing. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Any man, any woman, any person that desires to be saved, God made them willing. Or they wouldn't come. They wouldn't come to Christ. You and I would not have come to Christ if we could have kept from it. We wouldn't have done it. So this message is to all people. It's to everyone. God has a people over the whole world. And this message, when it is preached, is a savor of life unto life to some, and is a savor of death unto death to some. It's a sweet smell of life. It's life unto life, abundant life. But to some, it's death upon death. It's the smell of death. It just adds to their death. And then it's a call to all class of people. It's not a certain... it's not a certain like a certain... people in society is to all class of people. Look there, both low and high, rich and poor. This message is to all class because in the end, all are the same. They're the same. Just go dig the grave up after a person's laid in it for a few years. When you do that, you know what you get? You're just all bones. We're all bones. That's all it is. They're all the same. The grave and grace are two great levelers. And then it's a message here. Look here in verse 3. It's a message of wisdom. It says here, "...my mouth shall speak wisdom." When our Lord spoke wisdom, never a man spake like this man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. And when he spoke, he spoke wisdom. He didn't just speak about wisdom, he spoke wisdom. And when he opened his mouth, he would speak wisdom. And listen, "...and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding." The prophet is speaking here. He's under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. So when he speaks, he's speaking the wisdom of God. And he's saying here, "...and the meditation of my heart." I'm not just babbling. I'm not standing here babbling. What he's saying here is he's speaking about something he has experienced. He's not talking about something he has not experienced. And our Lord said this, As I hear, as a man, He said, As I hear, I speak. And our Lord experienced everything he had to say. And the prophet here, he's saying here that my mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about. And he says in verse 4, I will incline my ear to a parable. It's a revealed message. What I'm about to write and what I'm about to say has been revealed to me. And I will open my dark sayings upon the harp." He's going to put this to music. David's going to put this to music. And someone said this, that when he says, I'll open my dark sayings upon the harp, he says, when someone plays the harp, they put their ear right down to it to make sure they're right in tune. He's not saying anything out of the way. What he's saying is what God has given him. That's God's messenger. It's a revealed message. The writer didn't come up with it. And then in verse 5, listen, Wherefore should I fear? This is an interesting verse here. This is a very interesting verse. Why should I fear, even though my sins compass me about? Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall encompass me about." There are several things I read on this, and some things were really impressed upon me. First of all, when he speaks here of his heel, it has the meaning of supplanter. Remember when Jacob and Esau were born, and Jacob got him by the heel, and when he come out, he was called Jacob, which means supplanter. And what he's saying here when the supplanters, those who have tried to trick me and bring me down, he said, in the day of evil, when they do this, I'll not fear. God is my protection. God is my fortress. Even though I can't see the evil of the human heart, I can't see your heart, you can't see my heart, but God sees it. And I'm not going to fear, he said, when the evil time comes, because God will keep me, God will save me from the supplanter. But also this, I've seen this, wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12, Remember now thy Creator in thy youth, while the evil days come not. He's also speaking here of old age, when old age comes on. And I've seen this with some. When old age comes on, it's like their life comes at them. And I'm thinking of one particular person, but their life comes at them and their sinfulness comes at them. And he's saying here that when I grow old and feeble, And my health fails me. And sin troubles me. My sin troubles me. Your sin trouble you? David said, My sin is ever before me. My sin is ever before me. When that happens, he said, I'm not going to fear. And the reason I'm not going to fear is because my sins have been put away by the blood of Jesus Christ. They're gone. They're gone. There are times when sin rises up and troubles. It troubles the heart. If you're alive, it does. It'll trouble you. It troubles me. But that's when I run to the cross. That's when I run to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ where my sins were put away. That's where I find peace. I don't find peace in the fact that I repent. I find peace in the fact that Jesus Christ died. And his death answers the demands of God's law. Now I can have peace when my sins trouble me. When they trouble me. Why should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity of my heel shall compass me about? In Christ I'm safe. It doesn't matter if men are after me. It doesn't matter if Satan's after me. It doesn't matter if my sins are after me. If they trouble me, I'm safe in the shepherd's fold. I'm safe under the blood. Under the blood, I'm safe. Now he turns here and he speaks of men. And he gives us a real insight here to men by nature as they are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says here, They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, what they have here is a misplaced trust. They trust in their wealth. Everything's going to be all right. I've got plenty of money laid up." You know what that rich man said? So thou hast much good laid up for many years. Now what am I going to do? I'm going to build a bigger barn. He didn't say, I'm going to support the gospel. I'm going to help the poor. He said, I'm going to build a bigger barn. I'm going to tear down my barn. I'm going to build bigger barns. I'm going to expand. And God said, you fool. You are an absolute fool. This night your soul is required of you. You think that wealth is something that you got by yourself. It's misplaced trust. They trust in their wealth. And they boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. They go around boasting, bragging of what they have done. Isn't that what Nebuchadnezzar did when he went out on the balcony? He just said, look what I've done. But now listen. Here's what they don't understand, they don't realize. That the power of wealth has its limits. I know there's people who have wealth, they have what is supposed as power. They can do a lot of things, buy a lot of things. But wealth has its limits. It cannot ransom a man's soul. It can't do it. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them, none, can by any means redeem his brother, his closest relative. It doesn't matter if he's got all the wealth in the world. He can't redeem his brother and give to God a ransom for him. He can't redeem his brother. First of all, God owns what he has. Think about it. You're going to give God what's already His? I mean, what are you giving Him? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The gold is His, the earth is His, everything in it is His, and you're going to just take something out of His bank and give it to Him? Well, that'd be like borrowing money off Him and then go to my bank and get my money and then pay me back for it. No, He says, no, you can't do it. God can't be bought. Justice can't be bought. And listen here. None of them can by any means whatsoever redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever. The redemption of the soul, and one of the meanings for that word, I believe it's in Hebrew, one of the meanings is this. It's heavy. It's heavy. You can't come up with it. You and I cannot come up with what God demands. All the riches in the world will not come up to what God demands. God does not deal in currency. He doesn't deal in monetary things. For the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceases forever. You can't come up with it. Now let's go back and read 7 and 9 together. None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him, that he should still live forever and not die, not see corruption, not go to the grave. How many men, how many people, men, women, have spent fortunes When the doctor says, you're going to die, you've got cancer, you've got six months to live, they spend all they can spend to live another day, another month, another year. And you know what happens? They still die. They still die. The Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the grave. Think about that. And then what happened? You know later on, he had to die. He had to die. You go read Genesis. They live 900, Methuselah, 969 years, and then he died. Here's what the human nature, men and women, don't get. Okay, you live another year, then what? Then what? You've got to die. That's what he's stressing here. You have to die and all the riches in the world cannot pay God for your soul. It can't ransom your soul from the grave. You're going to see corruption. And the corruption here is not just the rotting of your body, it's the rotting in hell. You're going to hell. That's what he's talking about. that he should still live forever and not see corruption. The rich man, the proud man, the wise man, he tells us here in verse 10, all must die and leave all their possessions to others. For he seeth that wise men die. It doesn't matter if you're educated or uneducated. It doesn't matter. I don't care if you're Einstein or Nostein, you're going to die. It doesn't matter. That's what he's saying here. He sees that the wise men die like the fool dies. And listen, you and I see that, don't we? That's why Solomon said, When we go to the house of mourning, there in Ecclesiastes, the living lay at the heart. Now everybody that visits there is alive. He's not talking about those who are alive. No, he's talking about the living, those who are made alive in Christ. They understand what's going on. When they go to a funeral, they understand what has just happened. And they lay at the heart because they know, sooner or later, they have to die. You and I have to die. That's what this is all about. and no amount of money, and no amount of honor, no amount of credentials is going to buy or ransom our soul out of the pit. It's not going to do it. For he saith that the wise men die, likewise the fool, and the brutish person perishes, and they leave their wealth to others. You know, this is what troubles Solomon in Ecclesiastes. When you read Ecclesiastes, one of the things that just upset him He looked at all that he had accomplished, and it just troubled him. He said, who knows if I'm going to leave this to a fool or not. I have worked, and I have used wisdom, and I have accomplished these things, and it just upset him that he might leave it to a fool. Which it shouldn't have upset him, because when you leave it, you leave it. God gave it to him, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. But he was thinking like a natural man. We do that, don't we? We do that a lot of times. We start thinking like a natural man instead of the spiritual man. Let me see what I'm at here. And listen to this in verse 11. Their inward thought is this. Here's the inward thought of the filthy rich. Here's the inward thought of the wealthy. Here's the inward thought of the man who thinks he is a self-made man. He has become a millionaire, multimillionaire. He has done this on his own. He's really got out there and worked. And his inward thought... Now, he doesn't come out there and say this. People don't say what's in their mind. He's not going to just come out and say this. This is what he's thinking inside. And God is telling us here what men think. He's telling us what goes on in the heart. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling place to all generations. How many times have you heard this far has been in our family for five generations? Well, one day it won't. One day, it'll come to an end. It doesn't matter. But this is their inward thought. Their inward thought is not of God. There's no thought of God in their mind. The thought of God is not there. Their inward thought is about their self and the legacy. Somebody asked me that one time. I had someone call me sometimes and say, what kind of legacy do you want to leave? I said, are you kidding me? Me? You want me to leave a legacy? I tell you what I want to leave, the gospel to the next generation. I want to preach the gospel so clearly that God is pleased to raise up someone else under the ministry and it goes right on. It doesn't matter if he's standing here in a pulpit or if he's sitting out there in a pew voting on the next pastor to come in here. That's the legacy I want to leave, that he preached the gospel. He preached the gospel. But their inward thought is this, my house is going to continue forever. And they're dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. This is how you try to reach beyond the grave. This is like when you go to the grave and you've still got one hand sticking out. That's what they're doing. They're trying to make sure they got some kind of attachment to the future. You know, some control of the future. That's what they're trying to do. They call their lands after their own name. Nevertheless, man being in honor buys not. He doesn't impress God. There's only one person that's ever impressed God. This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. He's the only one who ever impressed God. No matter how successful a man is, he must die and meet God in judgment, and he will stand there..." Now listen, because this inward thought is that he... Here's this too in verse 11. His inward thought is that he's going to carry these things into eternity when he stands before God. Well, he's sadly mistaken. Man being in honor, he abides not. The honor doesn't go with him. Naked I came into the world, and naked I'm going to leave it. You're going to stand before God stripped. I mean absolutely stripped, bare. Whatever he was in this life, It means nothing to him. It will not gain him anything in that life. Men applauded him in this life. Nobody's going to applaud him in that life. Nobody. Nevertheless, man being in honor by his not, he's like the beast that perish. He's like the beast that perish. He's like a dumb dog run over by a car. That's what he's like. It's a beast that perish. That's what he's talking about. He's like the dumb animal when it dies. Except this, when an animal dies, the beast that perished, it actually perishes. It's no more. But not that man. Not that man. We are eternal. Everybody's going to live eternally. Everybody. And this, their way, not the Lord's way, their way is their foolishness. Their way is their foolishness. They left the way, they had nothing to do with God's way, Christ said, I am the way, they had nothing to do with that way, and they went their own way, and their way is their folly, yet their posterity is no smarter than they. It's no smarter than they were. This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approves their sayings. Oh, such is the folly of the foolish that are in honor. They die and their posterity approve their words and foolishly quote them. It's interesting, I've been last, a few days ago, we were sitting eating and I had some, I was listening to some Greek, I was listening to a poem, some poetry being read. I listened to poetry being read, I think by Red Frost, I think the guy was reading poetry. And then I looked there and I saw some of these Socrates and I listened to his quotes and some Stoics and I listened to his quotes. And some of it I thought, you know, some of these quotes, they sound really good. And at one time, the Greek people who listened to them believed every word of it. And they quote these men. These men are quoted. But they perished. They perished. And nobody's laying it to heart that even though they have a clever saying, You know, Confucius says this. Well, Confucius is in real trouble. How about quoting what the Lord said? That's truth. That's truth. But like sheep, listen, well, verse 13, Selah. Think about that. Think about that. These men perish and you're going to quote them? You're going to follow what they say? They're in hell. That's not very smart. That's not very intelligent. To turn your back on the wisdom of God? To turn your back on the way of God? Man, I don't want to follow that. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. They are laid in the grave. Like sheep that are slaughtered, they are laid in the grave. Listen, death shall feed on them. But let me go back here. Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Here's the meaning of that. They are shepherded. Death is their shepherd. Death shepherds them to the grave and then into hell. Who's our shepherd? The Lord is our shepherd. I shall not want. Death is their shepherd and they sure gonna want. Death will shepherd them like sheep into a fold, and death will shepherd them right into the grave and right into hell. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, and death shall feed on them. The worm that dies not shall feed on them. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. You know what that is? That's the resurrection. See, right now, for the most part, those who are in wealth and those who are in honor, the Scripture says the rich speak roughly. The poor entreat. They beg. They have dominion. For the most part, they run the big corporations. They have dominion. But when life is over, life is over, the rich man was sent to hell. And Lazarus, the one whose dogs licked his sores, he went to glory. That's what he's talking about. The rich man and all his riches wound up in hell, and the poor man Blessed are the poor in spirit. He's talking here about the poor in spirit. They wind up in glory. They wind up in dominion. They reign as kings and priests. The rich man in hell, he doesn't reign at all. I guarantee you, the servants that were under him, that wound up in hell, they're getting back. Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. You know what that gnashing of teeth is? That's unleashed hatred. Those men who stand in the pulpit and lie on God to congregations, and that congregation and that pastor end up in hell, guess who's getting gnashed at? I don't want to be on that end of it. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death feeds on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, in the resurrection, and their beauty, their beauty shall be consumed. Because she ain't beauty. Not after the grave gets a hold of you. After the grave gets a hold of you, it consumes all beauty. It's gone. Their beauty shall consume in the grave. And that'll be their dwelling. Here, it's hell. It'll be their dwelling. But God. Oh, there's good news in this. You know, sometimes you've got to wade through the muck and the mire to get to it, but there's good news in this. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Oh, grave, where's your victory? Death, where's your sting? God has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, God will redeem. God will redeem my soul. He will not leave my soul in hell. That's what the Lord said. Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell. He will not see corruption. We are going to be raised. We're going to have a new body. You know, I'm talking to you about things that's real. Things that ought to excite us. About to get a new body? You know, when I was a boy, we had to wear the same pair of shoes all year long, man. I mean, by the time we got around to getting another new pair, I had holes in them. I mean, my tennis shoes, the toes of them would flop over when I was running. And boy, when I got a new pair of shoes, I was like a new kid, just strut around with them new shoes on. We're getting a new body, a new one. Just like a boat laying there for all that time. There was a man that Vicki and I took care of. His name was John Howson. He had MS and he was in a wheelchair all those years. And now he's walking. Now he's got a new body. Now he's healthy. All those who die in Christ are immediately healthy. They have eternal youth. Eternal youth. I can't even imagine that, but it's so. I may not be able to imagine it, but I can believe it. I can believe it. God will redeem my soul. He'll redeem me by the blood of Christ. He redeems my soul, but not with money. Peter said, but with the precious blood of Christ, without splatter or blemish. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. He shall receive me. I'm going to be with him. It says in Ephesians 2, he has made us accepted in the beloved. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased." Don't be afraid of someone that has power over you, that they're rich. He said, don't be afraid when somebody's made rich. God has that man under control. He's under control. When he dies, he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul, He didn't bless anybody else, but he blessed his soul. And men will praise you. They'll praise you when you do well to yourself. They'll think you're a genius. They will. They'll think you're just a genius. They'll think you're a business genius, you know. But boy, when you die, ain't nobody gonna bless you. You die without Christ, you'll be as hated as anybody that's ever been hated on this earth. Ain't nobody in hell loves each other. When God withdraws His hand and He sends out His wrath, there's one thing that's not in hell, and that's love. It's not there. He shall go to the generation of His fathers. They thought the same way He did and they all ended up in the same place. They shall never, listen, this is terrible, they shall never see light. I can't imagine what total darkness is forever and ever and ever. You know when darkness fell upon Egypt, back when Israel was in Egypt, it was thick darkness as almost can be felt. It tells you in Genesis, you can feel it. Well, the darkness of the pit is far worse than that. They shall never see light. They'll never understand and they'll never see light, not even so much as a candle. He says here, man that is in honor, understand this, when you see somebody that's in honor, you know, they walk in the room, everybody's kind of ooh and ah, don't you ooh and ah. Because man that's in honor and he understands not, he understands not who God is, who Christ is, and what he is. He understands not. He's like the beast that perished. He's like the cow that they took to the butcher. He took him in there and that cow had no idea what was about to happen. Shot it right between the eyes. And that's what man, he's like the beast. He's going to the slaughter. He doesn't even understand he's going to the slaughter. But God hath redeemed my soul. He shall receive me. All those who look to Christ have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And God has received them. He has made us accepted in the Beloved.