I invite you to turn tonight in the scriptures to Psalm 49, Psalm 49, and we'll be considering the whole of this psalm tonight. I know in some churches they every year preach Psalm 90 and I was close to doing that, but I was pulled, maybe we'll start a new tradition in the Escondido urc next year and do psalm 90 because i love psalm 90 but i was directed again to psalm 49 and i think it's such an appropriate psalm to close out 2023 and begin 2024 so tonight we'll be looking at the whole of psalm 49 found on page 558 let's give our attention tonight to the lord's wondrous word to the choir master a psalm of the sons of cora hear this all peoples give ear all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom. The meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle to the music of the liar. Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches. 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. For he sees that even the wise die, the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations though they called lands by their own names man in his pomp will not remain he is like the beasts that perish this is the path of those who have foolish confidence yet after them people approve of their boasts like sheep they are appointed for sheol death shall be their shepherd and the upright shall rule over them in the morning their form shall be consumed in sheol with no place to dwell but God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol for he will receive me be not afraid when a man becomes rich when the glory of his house increases for when he dies he will carry nothing away his glory will not go down after him for though while he lives he counts himself blessed and though you get praise when you do well for yourself his soul will go down to the generation of his fathers who will never again see light man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word and this is sort of a part two to this morning as the themes are so much the same i think it provides us such a clear answer in the midst of this song so well as we conclude tonight 2023 i thought something of a wisdom passage would be appropriate to conclude the year. And I've always had a special place for Psalm 49. The reason that I have always found Psalm 49 fascinating, sometimes the Lord directs you to these verses or passages that you've never given much thought. And that was the case early on for me in the ministry. The reason is in my first call, I had a man who was probably about 55 years old he was in all of my years at least uh living in in ministry he was one of the toughest men i had ever come across he was a hard man he was a vietnam vet he had fought wars he had been in the church for some time and up in Linden and I remember when he had the shocking news that he had brain cancer. Those visits are hard and I'm a new young pastor and I didn't quite know how this would go and what do you say at moments like this and you never know what you're going to expect in response from people when this happens and so I said to him, I said, Jim, I said, do you have any fears and are you ready are you ready for death there was no way he was not going to die it was terminal and he looked at me and he said pastor i have none i stood back i thought not every believer goes to death that way but it troubled me at first it troubled me because that can't be right he said it with a cold face he said it with a hard stern response nope i have no fear about this at all. Was that faith? It's not faith. It seemed hard. I wanted some kind of emotion. I could work with some kind of concern. None. Maybe it was confidence. So I didn't quite know how to process this as a young pastor. So I'm sitting there and I'm thinking well jim you're not going to last long i said um what do you want me to preach at your funeral and without batting an eye he says psalm 49 i had no idea what psalm 49 was most people say preach whatever you want but no one has ever said in the ministry to me i want you to preach psalm 49 but after it was done i went home and i sat down and i read psalm 49 and i thought to myself now i understand jim now i understand jim he is what psalm 49 describes he was clinging to this psalm even though the emotion was not there well we end the year and we start a new one and i want you to hold that story here for a minute because i'm going to give you another story in a minute there are a million things i could say tonight uh tonight you think about how everyone looks at the year new year's resolutions will have probably already been made you bought a new journal i'm sure and you are ready for the new year the gym tomorrow will be packed to the anguish of all of us who are actually consistent. I used to be critical of all that. I used to be really critical of all that, but I want to say tonight, since I want to be somewhat positive, I like new beginnings. I think new beginnings are good. I think new beginnings are healthy. I think new beginnings are right. Fresh starts the Lord constantly gives us. I think we need them. There's something sweet about new beginnings there's something good about new beginnings and i want you to think about that this year as we look at the new year but i want us to be realistic because i know that we break promises and as i that faith that i saw in jim years ago my goal tonight in this message is that you would be refreshed and that you would be renewed in the most important message as you begin your new year that you would live in the enjoyment and the peace of the lord shepherding care for you that's that's what i want you to think about with me tonight the lord shepherding care because the lord could call upon you anytime and it would be over this life will be over but i think that scares us maybe a little bit i want to say tonight this is my goal in this psalm preaching this that like jim it shouldn't. Sure, we have fear. Sure, we have doubts. All people are different. All of us are wired differently. Jim was wired a certain way. But the overall picture is the Lord wants us to have confidence as we approach this. Confidence as we think about impending death. That's his will for us. That's his desire for us. And I think Psalm 49 gives us a window into that by way of contrast. That's extremely helpful when considering that all-important thing. It's like Ecclesiastes, this psalm. It's like a proverb, this psalm. It's a wisdom psalm, unique in the Psalter, right in the middle of the Psalter, that is really unlike any of the other psalms. It provides a unique perspective about life. It provides a neat perspective about thinking of this great theme, that life is just a mist. life is just a vapor and death is imminent but what i like about it sort of at least when i was thinking about a wisdom passage for tonight more than ecclesiastes is that it doesn't conceal the answer the wisdom texts often stand on their own leading you to fill in the blanks as the as those wisdom passages and ecclesiastes and proverbs do and and leading leading us to fill in the blanks about death and answering things and sometimes it can be more challenging and there's a lot of debate how to preach ecclesiastes and the vantage point of the author and how he's looking at life and these things are all studied by many scholars but this psalm is really capturing something important for us and it doesn't leave us without question on how to understand the psalm or how to interpret it clearly and it's really capturing for us the futility of again like this morning worldliness. The futility of worldliness because of the problem of death. The psalm begins by challenging us in an interesting way, by challenging us by saying, I want you to listen to a riddle, if you will, a proverb, wisdom from God. I want you to think about wisdom from God with me for a minute. It's remarkable because it's as if wisdom is calling out everywhere in this psalm. Wisdom cries aloud, Proverbs 1 says, in the street and in the market. She raises her voice. So in this psalm, the psalmist is raising the voice of wisdom for us to think about wisdom in life. And consider something that in general people do not accept or that they go through life rarely considering or rarely giving thought about. Hear this all peoples. Give ear all inhabitants, verse 1, of the world, both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak wisdom. The meditation of my heart shall be understanding. It's as if God is shouting to us in this psalm. Wisdom. Will anyone listen? Who is wise to understand the wisdom that I'm presenting to you? Will you consider the backwardness of things with me for a minute? Will you look at life and be honest and listen to the wisdom that comes from this psalm? The psalm is doing something very important tonight. It's drawing out a very important comparison of two different kinds of paths in this life. That's exactly and expressly said in verse 13 where you'll notice here that he says, is the path of those who have foolish confidence the psalm spends a lot of time speaking of this kind of path it spends most of his time speaking of this kind of path so that the clarity of the other path becomes very clear for us and looking at that it's really the the paths the two paths that are held out right at the beginning of this altar when you think of psalm 1 there's the path of the righteous and the path of the ungodly and here he zeros in and and explaining it a little bit more for us on the path of the fool in this life the one who lives for foolish lives with foolish confidence he arises every day in pride and in self-confidence because the psalmist says he's living in his own strength you can't picture tomorrow and i have um i have many plans for 2024 as we looked at this morning we talked about i will go here and there build this secure this do this the imagery of the foolish path the one with foolish confidence is he completely lives life without any consideration at all that his life is from God that the breath that he has in this life every heartbeat every moment is from God but he doesn't live with any recognition of that and you see that major thing said in verse 6 now what I'm gonna he's gonna do is draw a strong comparison between the rich and the poor those who have wealth and those who have who those who are poor and he uses that in a sense if we're looking at it just materially we're all rich in america we all live as kings and queens in america but he's using this to illustrate a point again it's not that that riches are evil in themselves or that having is evil in itself that is not what he's doing here but it's important to understand the contrast that he's drawing here where he says that there are those who are trusting in their wealth and not just trusting in it but they are boasting about their lives and how much they've accomplished and how much riches they've achieved it's just true that even in the sense of having a lot of material wealth it brings a sense of security it brings a sense of of security that conveys and can provide a confidence over over the sorrows of this life over the hardships of this life there's a reason that jesus said the rich are generally disinterested in spiritual things because if you have everything you do not need god well this is what psalm 73 will will describe with asaph the wicked go on there is no think about asaph's lament about how the the the wicked look at life the path that they've chosen in life they go on there's no pains it seems in their death their strength is firm they're not in trouble like others they're not plagued like other men pride is their necklace at the heart of it they say we have everything what do we need you see what's really bothering the psalmist tonight what's really troubling him tonight as we look at this is that the futility of worldliness that everyone is living to achieve and happiness by this wealth money happiness very few in this pursuit are thinking of what's most important there's no proper fear here over what's really bothering the psalmist everyone who is on this path seems to be in general in denial of what is about to come that's the enigma of the song what do i mean it's the wisdom of the song It's the wisdom that he wants us to consider in the psalm. The pathway of those who live with foolish confidence in life is this. They live with no fear of death. That's a remarkable thing. Have you ever thought about that? You do at times, but the wicked don't. This is a crucial thing tonight. How many will drink the night away and they have no fear? that they could ruin their lives with death, in death. This is what he says in verse 10. He says, That's quite a statement, isn't it? All of their complacency, all of their ease, they appear to be completely ignorant of something that the psalmist has a great perspective about. he's saying how could you miss this about life how could you go on in life and miss this very important thing what the majority of people are doing with their lives is thinking of how they can accumulate enough to buy their happiness for a temporary moment that they exist under the sun that could expire at any minute that makes no sense says the psalmist none of it will pay out and so the man goes on with his life and he does not think of that very soon all of this is going to end and that nothing he has will be taken with him into eternity there's a sobering exception to that I guess when you die you do get to keep one little piece of land you know what that is your gravestone and yard that's what he says in verse 11 their graves are their homes forever see what the psalmist is calling us to see is very few people are thinking about this and he says their inner thought you'll notice this here in verse 11 their graves are their homes forever they're dwelling places to all generation their inner thought he goes on to say is that their houses will last forever they're dwelling places to all generations they call lands after their own names nevertheless though in honor they will he will not remain he's like a beast that perishes now you remember that first story a moment ago when we were in linden um at about the same time that that man from the church died darcy's uncle was living up in white rock and um he was a very successful man he was a very wealthy man he had a beautiful home in white rock and he was very successful he was very respected he was confident of course that he was a good man he loved his riches he loved to showcase himself and his riches it was interesting because he would come and he would visit us in linden and he took he seemed to take a liking to me as a pastor which was interesting because he was a self-proclaimed atheist he didn't believe in any of this he didn't didn't believe any of it was real in fact he often would mock it one day he got sick a strong man got sick and so i drove up to to white rock to the hospital by myself and i went and sat in the room in the hospital and i said to to him don you don't look like you're going to make it are you ready to meet the lord have you repented and believed the gospel it was one of the strongest witnessing moments i think i've had in my life and he said would you pray for me chris and so i prayed and he seemed receptive he started crying. He said, I want you to pray again. So I prayed. Well, guess what? The Lord granted him healing for three months. Three months. So we were sending him during that time my messages, And Darcy was in the family. And during that time, the other man, Jim, who I told you about at the beginning of the sermon, he died. And so we thought, you know, maybe we'll send him Psalm 49. So we mailed that sermon to Don. And he took that sermon, Psalm 49, and he listened to that message. And he told the family after he heard the message from Psalm 49. He wrote back and he said, I am an atheist. I don't want any more to do with this. I don't want Chris to come anymore. And I don't want to hear any more about this. What a moment. Psalm 49 shut him down. He loved his riches. This is not something we're just talking about where we say this is a hypothetical. He loved his life. He would not let it go. All his money, shortly after, he died. All his money went to his young wife and not the family, causing a bitter problem. All indications are he perished in his sin. Psalm 49 offended him. He wouldn't hear it. That this is real. And the psalmist is asking us tonight, who is the wise among us today? Who really has a grasp on this? who really has enough wisdom to think about this what do you think life is about now when you start to think about this you naturally come to the conviction that we need a shepherd we need a shepherd i think the psalm raises the issue of fear here the confidence listen to this the confidence of the fool is that think of Don he has absolutely no fear of death well maybe that's true maybe deep down they do but the way he's capturing the way they respond and harden their hearts to it the psalmist asks a question in light of this in verse 5 that's so important notice what he says why should i fear in times of trouble when wicked deceivers surround me those who trust in their wealth do not be overawed he says when others grow rich he puts into the categories here in the very well-known use of jesus jesus's use about rich and poor why did jesus give so much attention to the rich and the poor why did he use these categories so much i think he had a lot on his mind psalm 49 the rich don't fear but the poor do now that's backward or is it there's something captured about the poor it's a strange reversal the poor live in fear because they can't sustain themselves. Fear grips the poor because how can they pay to get out of the evil days? The vile days, the evil days the psalmist is thinking about is death. So think of it. Many people live with no thought of this. but some do that's the poor and the psalmist asked the question well wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute why should i fear who's the poor who's the rich i'm poor but why am i fearing this is the wisdom of the psalm what does it mean the wicked don't fear because are you ready for the answer death is their shepherd what a statement did you see that in verse 14 like sheep they're appointed for shale death shall be their shepherd what a sad verse can you imagine singing tonight what if i just flip back to everything you take for granted. I take for granted. Think about it. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Death is my shepherd, I shall want. He takes away my pastures. He destroys my soul. He leads me in paths of wickedness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear evil. For death is always with me. Its rod and staff refuses to comfort me. There's no table for me in the midst of this. Surely evil and wickedness follows me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in Sheol forever. What a thought. The single great issue for you, beloved, is that you're walking an entirely different path. Verse 7 is the issue of the psalm. No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them. 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. Never see decay. But verse 15. But God will ransom my soul from the power of the grave. From Sheol, He will receive me. Verse 16. Do not be afraid. Well, he's saying you are the poor and you have no reason to be afraid. Is there any greater gospel statement of the resurrection with clarity in the midst of this dark psalm? If you're ever looking for a resurrection passage, this is quite a passage. You enter 2024, whatever evil days are in front of you, listen to what he's saying. You have absolutely nothing to fear. We're the poor. We can't pay our debt to God. Do you see it? No one has the money to pay this debt. Who's poor then? We have a debt that money can never pay, no matter how rich you think you are. There needs to be an atonement for your life, he says. But who can buy back their life? And it's as if the cry of wisdom says to us, observe the path that proves this point. They don't worry about that. But you do. Your life has to be bought back. It has to be bought back from the fall into the sin and death and darkness that has earned you the grave and death and Sheol and judgment. But the psalmist says no one can do it. No amount of money could buy back our lives because God won't accept it. The buying back of a life, he says, is too costly for the richest man who has ever existed on the face of this earth. verse 15 so death is their shepherd death is leading them to it but verse 15 isn't this beautiful God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol he will receive me that's how great his love is for you beloved and the question is how does god buy back my soul if no money can do it well you know this peter could must have been reading psalm 49 for you know it's not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your fathers in other words you know no amount of money could do this you know that no amount of money could buy you back but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ the lamb without blemish or defect that's the most amazing truth of the Christian gospel that though you can't redeem your soul God does it for you who are the poor Jesus came here for the purpose of going to the cross to stand in our place to take the wrath of God and on that cross after the torment in his body and soul of the wrath of God equivalent to an eternity's worth of suffering he breathed his last he said it's finished and he released you from that condemnation to say to you today I'm your shepherd and prove that he went into the grave for you and rose triumphant out of it and you know what the Lord says. Because of that, I will receive you. Now, there are some sitting here tonight who may not make it through 2024. It might be you. Do you think what the psalm is saying to you? Two men were set in front of you tonight. I had trouble with the response of the first man, shame on me, because I didn't see a lot of emotion. He was trusting. The other man was not. When you die, do you know what happens? Because of this, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. This is why we say in the Heidelberg, you're not paying for sin when you die. When you die, you get a death benefit. You put it off forever and he immediately receives you. That's what the Psalms say. God has not left us in darkness. And the encouragement of the psalm assumes here for us to celebrate tonight that if the Lord is our shepherd, we lack nothing. He himself has taken the initiative to redeem our souls, to get you out of the grave. God's going to shatter the power of the grave. He has through his son. The tomb will open. And those who have believed will rise to the resurrection of life. well this is the hope that the lord wants you to have everyone lives differently may not be like that man who could say tonight so strongly nope i don't fear it at all in honesty we do at times but it doesn't take away this truth the lord wants you to know as you enter a new year he is your shepherd not death not death and that means he has replaced death with what life god is not the god of the dead but god is the god of the living of abraham isaac and jacob two paths james boyce to close once told the story of preaching he was called to come and preach to a dying man the man was unwilling to take the preacher's hand, his hand. The preacher talked about the afterlife and asked him, what are you trusting in? As he was breathing his last word, he said, pastor, I confess. I can't let go of the keys to these storage cabinets. He feared that his money would be taken from him when he died. So he wouldn't grasp the preacher's hand. Two kinds of grip. A grip of the world, like Lot's wife, or the grip of Christ. And that grip is his. Lay hold of him in this day and you will be saved from your sins and you will live in 2024 with the sting of death the joy of that taken away knowing that you belong in body and soul and life and in death to your faithful savior jesus christ who has paid for all your sins with his precious blood let us believe that that's what he wants from us let's pray heavenly father thank you for this marvelous psalm bless us oh lord and help us for we're that week and i pray oh lord that you would comfort your sheep and that those lord where death is leading them as their shepherd that you would break that power you would use us to give strong witness for those in that darkness and that we would live lord with joy and confidence in your work through your son thank you for comforting us with these words tonight, giving us perspective as we head into 2024, the year of our Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.