Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 49 | Date: August 4, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

I will let you in on a long-standing tradition in the Zaspel family. I don’t say that it’s a good tradition. I don’t necessarily recommend it. I’m sure some of you, in fact, will disapprove of it. But in the Zaspel family, when we play games, Dad cheats. It’s a long-standing tradition in the Zaspel family. My dad tells me that his dad always cheated when they played games at home when he was a kid. I don’t know. I never heard about it. I suspect that my grandfather’s dad, my great-grandfather, did the same. My dad did the same with us when we played games. Jim will tell you that his dad did the same when we play games at home. We play Crazy Eights, Monopoly, whatever it is. Dad cheats. He cheats to win. He cheats just to pull one over on you and have a good laugh at your expense. Now, don’t worry about it. When you learn that’s the way it is, it generates new kinds of fun and laughs and things like that.

Poor Kim, she entered the family thinking that we were a righteous family. First time she came to stay at our house, this was just before we were married. I think it was the week we got engaged and she said yes anyway, but we were, Kim and I were sitting on the floor in the living room one evening and we were playing a game of Monopoly. And my dad came in, said, “How’s it going?” And I said, “She’s killing me. She’s just burying me.” And she had a stack of money on her side in the properties. And I’m almost dead broke. And so he sits down on the floor with us. And pretty soon he’d reach over and grab a $500 bill out of Kim’s stack and slip it over to me. And then he’d get another and he’d get another. And then Kim says, “Man, I thought I had more money than this.” And it’s all I can do not to laugh out loud. Pretty soon the game has turned around entirely. I win, she loses. And she’s lamenting how she could lose when she was so far ahead. And then we fess up and we laugh. And she was introduced to the Zaspel family.

In her home, Kim was taught that cheaters never prosper. In my home, I was taught that’s not true. On a much more serious level, you learn that same lesson in the real world. A Christian student won’t cheat on his exam, he won’t plagiarize his paper, but he has to compete for the top position with students who don’t have such a conscience. Christian businessmen won’t make their work their idol. And so they take time for their marriage and for their family, for their church. But he’s competing against guys who have no intention of letting such things get in the way of making their millions. We have the same on virtually every level of life. A businessman won’t cheat his customers, he won’t misrepresent what he sells, he won’t overcharge, but he’s competing with the guy who will.

I read recently that, this is in our real world, most major crimes are never solved. Now, what that means is, of course, is that we have one guy who works hard, he’s honest, and he works hard to make a living. He puts up his money responsibly, disciplines his spending, and he saves his money so that finally he can get ahead, while at least the cleverest of the thieves make it the easy way. A Christian in the workplace won’t tell the same jokes. He won’t bow and stoop to the current sexual standards of the day or the gender terminology. And as a result, he’s kind of on the outs in the workplace. Often gets overlooked for the promotion, might even get terminated because he doesn’t use the right pronoun or something. We saw it this week in the Olympics. Watching it, we heard about it. This gal trains for years and years to go into women’s boxing. She gets to the Olympics and finds out the game is rigged. She has to box with a man. It’s not fair. It just is. And that’s the world that we live in. It is the way of the world.

And that’s the theme of Psalm 49. We find it in verse 5: “Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me?” Why should I worry about ethics when they don’t? What’s the advantage? What good is it for me to behave and follow some standard of rules and behavior that they don’t observe, and they get ahead, and I don’t? So this is another wisdom psalm that we’ve seen. Like so many in the wisdom literature, it’s given to grapple again with this theme of the problem of evil and the problem of injustice. Why do these things happen? Why does God allow it if God is king over all, as we are assured that he is? And if his rule is one of righteousness, then why do the unrighteous prosper so much and get by with so much of their wickedness?

Introduction: The Author And His Psalm

By way of an overview of the psalm, we have an introduction in verses 1 to 4, and then we have two main stanzas. Verses 1 to 4, he presents the author and his psalm. Then verses 5 to 20, through the rest of the psalm, we have the main body of the psalm expounding its message in two stanzas: verses 5 to 12, and then verses 13 to 20. Each of those two stanzas, 5 to 12 and 13 to 20, concludes with an almost identical refrain. It’s a proverb. Verse 12: “Man in his pomp will not remain. He’s like the beasts that perish.” And then verse 20: “Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish.” The difference in those two verses is one letter in the Hebrew. We’ll see that when we get there. So that’s his refrain. This clearly is a point of reference for the psalm to help unravel the meaning.

Verses 1 to 4, then, first of all, we have the introduction, the author and his psalm. “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 heart to a proverb. I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.” So we have the familiar terminology of wisdom literature here. Verse 3, we have the words wisdom and understanding. Wisdom, you remember, in wisdom literature has to do with the art or the skill of living successfully before God, how to live successfully under Him.

Verse 4, he uses the word proverb. You’re familiar with that, of course. We have a book of Proverbs. Well, he has a proverb here as well. That’s verse 12 and verse 20, the refrain that he has that we’ll see as we go along. And then in verse 4, at the end of the verse, he adds another term. He said he’s going to include a riddle. A riddle. So we’re cued in up front that the message of the psalm may be a bit subtle. It’s not going to lie on the surface. It’s going to be a little bit subtle. It’ll be clear enough though, as we’ll see. And the riddle, of course, is found in that refrain, verses 12 and 20: how are people like animals? They die like the beasts. Verse 4 then sets us up to solve the riddle: “I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.” So we’re singing this song, but this song, this psalm, is a riddle, a proverb, wisdom to teach us, particularly with regard to this problem of injustice. And the answer to the riddle is found in the proverb of verses 12 and 20.

So verses 1 and 2 then call the people of all classes to hear. Low and high, rich and poor. It’s calling everyone to hear. Although, as we’ll see, he has a very different message for each. He has encouragement for the common man and then a warning for the high and the mighty and the rich. All right, that’s the introduction, verses 1 to 4.

The Destiny Of The Wicked Rich

Then verses 5 to 20, we have the body of the psalm. We have the proverb and the riddle. And verses 5 to 12 have to do with the destiny of the wicked rich. Verses 5 and 6 raise the question: “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.”

Now the psalmist here is contrasting himself with the rich, and I think it might be helpful to have a brief aside here to note what the Bible has to say about the wealthy or the rich. Wealth in the scriptures is viewed as a good thing. It is viewed as a blessing from God. We have examples of that with Abraham, with Job, and with others. Wealth in the Bible is a good thing, and it’s a blessing from God. But more often than not, and this is the curious thing, that although wealth is viewed in the Bible as a good thing and a blessing from God, more often than not, the biblical writers speak of wealth with negative connotations and warnings of various kinds. And what we find is that their sin is not in being wealthy, but their sin is in how they use that wealth and how they view that wealth. And that’s what we have here in this psalm.

In verse 5, at the end of the verse, they’re using their wealth to the disadvantage of others. They’re cheating. They’re using their standing to gain leverage over those who are less advantaged. And then verse 6, they trust in their wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches. So they’re both abusive and idolatrous. That’s the issue involved. So the question here is that given the prosperity and the success of the wicked, is there any advantage to being righteous? I live in an unethical world and in fact the unethical people seem to prosper the most. What then is the advantage of being ethical?

Now then we come to verses 7 and following where he begins by highlighting the limitations of wealth. Verses 7 to 9: it’s only temporary. “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.” That is, no amount of money can ever buy off death. You can’t give God enough. You can’t pay anyone else enough. Death has come. There’s no way to ransom yourself from death.

Verses 10 and 11: “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.” The point is, everyone dies. And when they do, they lose everything. It’s a common destiny of both the wise and the foolish. They all die. And when they die, they lose it all. You’ve probably heard the old story of the men who were at a funeral of a very wealthy man, and one man was talking to the other and talking about the deceased. “How much did he leave?” Answer: “All of it.” In death, both the wise and the foolish leave everything behind. Verse 10, you may have a huge bank account, but I have news for you: in time someone else will have it. You call it yours, but you have control over it only temporarily. Verse 11, you may have a big house, but soon, you know what? Your home will be a grave. That’s verse 11. You may have streets and buildings and neighborhoods named after you. But it won’t last. It’s like writing your name on water. It just doesn’t last. It won’t stay there.

I recently came across an Italian saying. I wouldn’t know how to say it in Italian, but in translation it comes out: “After the game, both the king and the pawn go into the same box.” Well, that’s really just what the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Timothy chapter 6. It’s certain. We’ve brought nothing into this world. We won’t take anything with us when we go. When we die, we lose it all.

That brings us to the first refrain, this proverbial saying in verse 12, the proverb: “Man in his pomp will not remain. He’s like the beasts that perish.” He trusted his wealth. And that wealth did him good, but only until it didn’t. Man in his pomp will not remain. Just like an animal, he dies. Now, according to verse 4, the message of the psalm is in a riddle. And the riddle is contained, he says, in a proverb. And that proverb is an “is-like” kind of proverb, a comparative proverb. The man in his pomp will not remain. He is like the beasts that perish.

So the riddle here is kind of hidden in the Hebrew. I don’t like to mention Greek or Hebrew words, but this time I will, just because I think you’ll enjoy seeing how he does that. The two refrains, verses 12 and 20, are nearly identical. They differ in just one word, and in fact, that one word is just one letter of each word. So, verse 12: Man in his pomp, Yalin, will not remain. Verse 20: Man in his pomp, yet yabin, without understanding, is like the beasts that perish. So with just a slight pun, he’s telling us this riddle. Man in his pomp will not remain, he’s like the beasts that perish. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish. So the message pertains to the pompous rich. Man in his pomp, he may be rich, pompous, but in the end, he dies just like the animals, and when he does, he loses everything, and there he remains. That’s what the psalmist wants us to understand in verses 5 to 12.

The Destinies Of The Wicked And The Wise

Now, beginning with verse 13, he expands. Verses 13 to 15, he contrasts now the destinies of the wicked and the wise. You want to watch this carefully. Verses 13 and 14, the wicked are destroyed in Sheol. Verse 13: “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.”

So he’s still talking about death, and he begins here like he did in the earlier stanza, verses 7 to 9, if you want to look back at that. Truly, no man can ransom another or give God the price for life. The ransom’s too costly. Nobody can buy off death. It’s too expensive. You can’t do it. And the point is, we all die. In that sense, this sounds a lot like the book of Ecclesiastes. Everyone dies, and that makes all of life seem futile.

Keep in mind here the point of his concern. And the point of concern is: what is the advantage over the righteous? What’s the point of it? The wicked make wealth their goal, and thus they are idolatrous. And yet, they prosper. The righteous make God their goal. They’re righteous, and yet they don’t seem always to prosper. And in the end, they both die, so what’s the point? What’s the advantage of being righteous?

Well, the psalmist wants to tell us there is a difference. The discussion of death in stanza two takes a very different note than what we had in the earlier stanza, verses 7 and following. And notice how he describes the death of the man who trusts in his wealth. Verse 13: “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.”

So everyone dies, but when the fool dies, this is his point—everyone dies, but when the fool dies, he dies forever. And then notice that haunting metaphor of verse 14: “Death shall be their shepherd.” What a horrible expression. Death shall be their shepherd. Death will lead them to the corruption and decay, but it will never lead them again to life. Death shall be their shepherd. The wicked have no understanding. They die, and they die without hope. That’s it for them, and that’s it forever. Now when he says that everyone dies, when the wicked die, he dies forever, he’s not denying the continued existence of the soul, he’s not denying a time of resurrection for judgment to come, but speaking in broad strokes, they’re in death forever. That’s their destiny and that’s it.

But that’s the difference now between the wicked fool and the righteous wise. Verse 14, the end of the verse: “Like sheep they (that is, the wicked) are appointed for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.” Then verse 15 explains: “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.” Now notice the contrast here between verses 7 through 9 and verse 15. In verses 7 through 9, no one can ransom the life of another. It’s too expensive, you can’t give God enough of anything, and you can’t pay anyone enough money; you can’t buy off death. Verse 15: God will ransom and receive the righteous. And then, according to the last part of verse 14, the righteous, the upright, shall rule over the wicked. There’s a turnaround. A reversal is coming.

So death is the great equalizer in one sense, but not forever. The difference between the wicked and the righteous will be clear, he’s telling us, after death. And then to use Jesus’ words, Matthew chapter 25, he’ll separate the goats from the sheep. Goats will go off into outer darkness and the sheep will enter the joy of the kingdom of God. And according to verse 15 here, the upright shall rule over the wicked.

So what we have here is the doctrine of life after death in the Old Testament. That’s often been questioned. There are several passages in the Old Testament that are clear about this, even though they don’t give all the detail that we find in the New Testament. But there are several Old Testament passages, famously in Job and Isaiah 26, and most famously, probably Daniel chapter 12, verses one to three. But we have it here as well. The psalmist does not have here all the details. He doesn’t have all of the light that we have in light of Christ’s resurrection, but he is confident that a better day is coming that lies ahead of him after death. While the wicked are being shepherded by death, without hope, the righteous, he says, will enjoy deliverance from death. He will ransom them from Sheol, and they will rule over the wicked.

Now the psalmist here, of course, is not able at this point in redemptive history to spell out specifically just how it is the righteous will rule over the wicked, or just how it is the righteous will be raised to life after death. He doesn’t give us the details of that. He doesn’t tell us on what ground the righteous can be raised from dead, because sin is the grip that holds them in death. And he doesn’t deal with all of that here. But in the flow of the canon, all of this points us relentlessly to Jesus. You’ll remember how Jesus answered this very question in John chapter 11. His friend Lazarus had died. He says to Lazarus’ sister, Martha, “Your brother will live again.” She says, “Well, I know he’ll live again. He’ll rise again in the resurrection.” Remember how Jesus responded? “I am the resurrection and the life.” And what he points us to is the solving of this whole problem of Jesus as the representative and forerunner of all of his people. That he came, he offered himself in sacrifice to God, satisfying the demands of God against us because of our sin, and standing in our place he ransomed us from sin and from death. He was vindicated in his work, God raised him from the dead, and we, his people, those for whom he died, follow him in his resurrection, and we are vindicated with him.

All of those details are to come yet in the gospel. We don’t have it all here yet. But the ransom price that he speaks of, that the wealthy could never afford to pay, Jesus paid. Verse 15: “He will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,” while the unrighteous continue in death to be raised only in eternal destruction. The righteous will live in the resurrection of Christ. So Psalm 49 teaches us ahead of time the value of Jesus Christ. Those who belong to Christ may live with an expectant hope that outweighs the pleasures and the disappointments of this brief day here.

Now verse 14b, the last part of the verse, is significant. Notice: “The upright shall rule over them in the morning.” Isn’t that interesting? So after death comes the morning. So he’s shaping our perspective. Customarily, our days begin with the morning and end with the night. First the light, and then the darkness. But here he reverses all of that. Today is night. And in the resurrection, it’ll be the morning. This life is nighttime; morning comes in the resurrection. And the psalmist both warns the wicked then of their coming fate, and he establishes a happy perspective for the righteous in the hope that they have.

Be Not Afraid

And so verses 16 to 20, we come to the last section here of the psalm, and it counsels us accordingly. Verse 16: “Be not afraid.” And I think the NIV here captures the idea well: “Be not overawed when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies, he’ll carry nothing with him. 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 to the generation of his fathers who will never again see light.” And then we have the refrain again as a final reminder, a word of warning: “Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish.”

It is the mark of the wicked that they live as though today were the whole of reality. What makes him a fool? Lacks understanding. He lives as though today is all there is. For the Christian, it is a failure of the first order to forget who we are and feel sorry for ourselves when there are disappointments and when today is difficult and we are confronted by injustice. If I die today, I die with the firm hope that death will not have the last say. Death will never be my shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ will be my shepherd in life, in death, through death, and in resurrection. All of the utopian dreams that have been offered humanity, none of them can compare to the Christian hope.

When we see injustice dominate, this psalm tells us we must remember, that’s just for today. Or to follow the metaphor, that’s just for this evening. In the morning, it will be different. Verse 14: “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.”

You’ve probably heard it, there’s a tale that’s told about a wealthy man who had an appearance by an angel. And the angel told him he could have whatever he wanted. And the man said, “I would like a copy of the newspaper from one year from today.” And it’s produced for him. Immediately he starts thumbing through to go to the stocks page, of course, to find his finances. And while he’s thumbing through, he comes to the obituary column where he sees his own picture. And suddenly his whole perspective changes, and he’s lost interest in the stocks entirely. And that’s, in a sense, the lesson of this psalm. Don’t be a short-sighted fool. Think and live from the perspective of the end. In the morning, the righteous will rule over the wicked. Amen.