Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 49

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons from the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host on this podcast

[00:00:14] We will be going over the book of Psalms

[00:00:21] And in prayer father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this Psalm today

[00:00:26] Lord I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them

[00:00:33] I ask this in Jesus name. Amen

[00:00:37] This is Psalm 49 beginning in verse one

[00:00:41] Hear this all peoples

[00:00:44] Give ear all inhabitants of the world both low and high

[00:00:50] Rich and poor together

[00:00:52] My mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding

[00:00:59] I will incline my ear to a proverb

[00:01:03] I will disclose my dark saying on the harp

[00:01:07] Why should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me

[00:01:15] Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches

[00:01:21] None of them can by any means redeem his brother

[00:01:26] Nor give to God a ransom for him

[00:01:29] For the redemption of their souls is costly

[00:01:33] And it shall cease forever

[00:01:36] That he should continue to live eternally and not see the pit

[00:01:42] For he sees wise men die

[00:01:45] Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others

[00:01:53] Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever

[00:01:57] They're dwelling places to all generations

[00:02:01] They call their lands after their own names

[00:02:05] Nevertheless man though in honor does not remain

[00:02:10] He is like the beasts that perish

[00:02:13] This is the way of those who are foolish

[00:02:17] And of their posterity who approve their sayings

[00:02:22] Say lau

[00:02:23] Like sheep they are laid in the grave

[00:02:27] Death shall feed on them

[00:02:30] The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning

[00:02:34] And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave far from their dwelling

[00:02:41] The god will redeem my soul from the power of the grave

[00:02:46] For he shall receive me

[00:02:49] Say lau

[00:02:51] Do not be afraid when one becomes rich

[00:02:54] When the glory of his house is increased

[00:02:58] For when he dies he shall carry nothing away

[00:03:02] His glory shall not descend after him

[00:03:06] Though while he lives he blesses himself

[00:03:10] For man will praise you when you do well for yourself

[00:03:14] He shall go to the generation of his fathers

[00:03:18] They shall never see light

[00:03:20] A man who is in honor yet does not understand

[00:03:25] Is like the beasts that perish

[00:03:29] Friends I want to dive in to Psalm 49 today

[00:03:34] Psalm 49 is attributed to the sons of Korah

[00:03:38] But it is initially designed to the chief musician

[00:03:43] In other words originally this Psalm was designed

[00:03:49] To be in a worship service

[00:03:51] And there is no mention of an instrument

[00:03:55] In the title

[00:03:57] So it could have just been chanting or singing of this Psalm

[00:04:03] But this is not like an ordinary Psalm

[00:04:07] It is a Psalm of wisdom

[00:04:10] And that being the case this is actually more like a proverb than a Psalm

[00:04:17] Proverbs are designed for wisdom

[00:04:20] And for those of you listening today this is your host Bill Kelly

[00:04:25] And some of you may not know this but I have another podcast

[00:04:30] That goes over the book of Proverbs

[00:04:33] And if you want to write this down it's called Wisdom Today

[00:04:39] With Bill Kelly

[00:04:41] K-E-L-L-E-Y

[00:04:43] And I have a daily podcast going over the book of Proverbs

[00:04:49] And talks about the importance of having wisdom in your life

[00:04:54] But let's break this Psalm down

[00:04:56] I want to go over a few key components that I think may help you

[00:05:02] Hear this all peoples give ear all inhabitants of the world

[00:05:07] Both low and high rich and poor together

[00:05:11] My mouth shall speak wisdom

[00:05:14] And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding

[00:05:18] I will incline my ear to a proverb

[00:05:21] I will disclose my dark saying on the harp

[00:05:25] And friends what these verses are telling us is we have a choice the way we live our life

[00:05:32] We can receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior

[00:05:36] And do all that we can to acquire wisdom

[00:05:40] This is like wisdom calling out to us

[00:05:45] My mouth shall speak wisdom

[00:05:47] That is what God's desire is is that we acquire wisdom

[00:05:52] Let's go to verse 5

[00:05:54] Why should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me

[00:06:01] Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches

[00:06:08] None of them can by any means redeem his brother

[00:06:12] Nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their souls is costly

[00:06:20] And it shall cease forever that he should continue to live eternally and not see the pit

[00:06:29] And friends

[00:06:31] When we break this down here, they are separating Christians from non-christians

[00:06:37] They are separating people who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior

[00:06:43] Because our soul is our mind our will and our emotions

[00:06:50] It's basically our free will and we have a decision that everyone needs to make during this lifetime

[00:06:59] To receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior or not to

[00:07:03] That is how important that decision is

[00:07:07] And your soul hangs in the balance depending on which decision you make

[00:07:14] Let's go to verse 10 for he sees wise men die

[00:07:19] Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others

[00:07:26] What this verse is telling us is friends. We are all going to die

[00:07:31] Whether we're rich or poor whether we're male or female

[00:07:35] Whether we've received Jesus or whether we have rejected him. We all are going to die

[00:07:42] Let's go to verse 11 their inner thought is that their houses will last forever

[00:07:48] They're dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names

[00:07:55] Nevertheless man though in honor does not remain

[00:07:59] He is like the beasts that perish and once again we're talking about the mortality of man

[00:08:07] Beasts are the same all animals will die all human beings will die

[00:08:14] This is the way of those who are foolish

[00:08:18] And of their posterity who approve their sayings say law

[00:08:23] Say law means think on what you just read

[00:08:28] Foolishness there's a verse in the bible. It says only a fool

[00:08:33] Says in his heart. There is no god

[00:08:36] We are separating people who live with god in their life and look to him in their time of need

[00:08:45] Verses those who choose to reject god

[00:08:49] Like sheep they are laid in the grave

[00:08:52] Death shall feed on them the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning

[00:08:58] And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave far from their dwelling

[00:09:04] But god will redeem my soul

[00:09:08] From the power of the grave for he shall receive me

[00:09:13] Now friends, I am reading out of the nelson's study bible and I'd like to read the commentary on those two verses

[00:09:22] These verses vividly

[00:09:24] Describe both the power of death

[00:09:27] And the greater power of god

[00:09:30] When it says their beauty shall be consumed

[00:09:34] Death is the great leveler

[00:09:38] People who have beauty

[00:09:40] riches and power in this world

[00:09:43] Will lose them all at death. You can't take anything with you

[00:09:47] They will be stripped of everything except their character or soul

[00:09:54] This is why the scriptures exhort us to pursue

[00:09:58] character development

[00:10:00] God's law

[00:10:01] Holiness wisdom and knowledge more than anything else. It's more important than anything else

[00:10:11] Each use of the word grave in these two verses is a translation of the hebrew word

[00:10:19] sheol

[00:10:20] meaning death

[00:10:22] God will redeem my soul the

[00:10:25] solveness trusts in god

[00:10:28] To deliver him

[00:10:30] From the power of death

[00:10:33] Let's go to verse 16

[00:10:35] Do not be afraid when one becomes rich when the glory of his house is increased

[00:10:42] For when he dies he shall carry nothing away

[00:10:46] His glory shall not descend after him friends whatever you accumulate on earth

[00:10:53] It will not go with you into the grave

[00:10:57] Though while he lives he blesses himself

[00:11:01] For men will praise you when you do well for yourself

[00:11:05] He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light

[00:11:10] A man who is in honor yet does not understand is like the beasts that perish

[00:11:17] And friends we will be survived by our loved ones

[00:11:22] But none of the material possessions we have will follow us

[00:11:27] Friends put your trust in Jesus and him alone

[00:11:35] Please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 50