DEATH-Psalm 49, JUDGMENT-Psalm 50

Old Testament, Psalms, Sermons

No photo description available.Recording of Sermon, 3/10/2024. Questions: Psalm 49, 50. Powerpoint: Ps49-50-DeathJudgment.

The Brevity of Life, the Certainty of Death, and the Futility of Wealth: “But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself” (Ps 49:15). “People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.” “People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish” (Ps 49:12, 20).

The call to mankind in the prelude (Ps 49:1-4) uses terms in Proverbs, being a wisdom psalm, and offers instruction to people rather than worship to God. It’s theme is the futility of wealth and wordliness, summed up in the refrain (Ps 49:12, 20) close to that of Ecclesiastes. But it declares the assurance of victory which Ecclesiastes leaves concealed. The great “But God…” (Ps 49:15) is one of the mountain–tops of OT hope, the high water mark of OT faith in a future life, about time and eternity and about what money cannot buy. Psalm 49 is simple and sublime, present and perpetual.

 
The primary concern of Psalm 49–a wisdom psalm–is the apparent injustice of a world in which wicked fools prosper while the righteous wise live in poverty. It shares with Job and Ecclesiastes a hard-won and enduring faith in God that rejects any easy or naive assumption of retribution in which wealth, prosperity and ease of life is associated with divine blessing for righteous living, while poverty is considered the consequence of sin.
 

Psalm 49 encourages the godly who are haunted by the power and influence of the rich. The problem of the prosperity of the wicked is difficult (Psalm 73). But the psalmist gives a ray of light as to the final resolution with a wisdom psalm that includes question (Ps 49:5-6), observation of life (Ps 49:10-11), proverbial conclusion (Ps 49:12, 20), metaphor and personification (Ps 49:14). [To Everyone (1-3). To all God’s people (4-6).]
  1. Everyone, Listen (Ps 49:1-4). To all people everywhere. Life is unstable.
  2. Everyone Dies (Ps 49:5-14). The futility of wealth. Death is universal. The certainty of death. Death is mentioned 333–394 times in Scripture. 4.2 people born every sec, 2 die. Every hour > 6,000 people die.
  3. Everyone, Be Wise (Ps 49:15-20). Redemption is possible (Ps 49:15). The great illusion. The limits of wealth. The fate of those who trust themselves. Job 19:25. Confidence is conditional (Ps 49:16-20). 1 Tim 6:7. Death is not the end of the road, but a bend in the road. If there’s no hereafter, then nothing matters. But if there is a hereafter, then nothing else matters.
  4. All God’s people Summoned (Ps 50:1-6). God’s righteous judgment (1 Pet 4:17).
  5. All God’s people, Be Thankful (Ps 50:7-15). Ritualism / formalism / system / unthinkingly religious cf. relationships.
  6. All God’s people, Be Warned (Ps 50:16-23). Hardened hypocrisy / pious platitudes / disobedience cf. living gratefully and blamelessly to honor God (Ps 50:23).

Why is Jesus able to redeed man?

  1. Rom 3:23-24: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Jesus’s redemption is available to all who have sinned.
  2. Eph 1:7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Redemption is achieved through Jesus’s sacrifice and the forgiveness of sins that it brings.
  3. 1 Pet 1:18-19: “For you know that it was 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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” This underscores the priceless nature of Jesus’s sacrifice, which is the basis of redemption.
  4. Tit 2:14: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Jesus’s sacrifice serves to redeem humanity from sin and to transform believers into a people dedicated to doing good.
  5. Gal 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.'” In Jesus’s substitutionary sacrifice, he took upon himself the curse of sin in order to redeem humanity.
  6. 1 Tim 2:5-6: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” Jesus, as the mediator between man and God, gave Himself as a ransom to redeem all people.
  7. Col 1:13-14: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Through Jesus, believers are redeemed and forgiven of their sins and transferred from darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son.

Sheol [šᵊ’ôl], mentioned 66 times, in its broad usage is the place where the dead live on. It is the underworld or unseen world of the dead, the realm of the dead, a place where the souls of both the righteous and the wicked reside after death, though there are variations in interpretation among scholars. It is often thought of as being deep down in the earth, similar to hell, “the land of gloom and utter darkness” (Job 10:21; 3:13; 2 Sam 12:23). The believer‘s hope for the future is deliverance from Sheol and restoration to new life in God’s presence (Job 14:13-15; 19:25-27; Ps 16:10, 11; 17:15; 49:15; 73:24-26). The OT had a clear understanding that there is life after death, though clarity awaited the coming of Jesus (2 Tim 1:10).

Those who trust in wealth, instead of God, have a final destiny of death. Psalm 49 uses the term Sheol [šᵊ’ôl] 3 times, referring vaguely to the grave or state of being dead. Those who honor God shouldn’t be jealous of prosperous but ungodly people. Just as the poor, those rich persons will one day face God in judgment.

4 kinds of riches:

  1. what you have/money and posssessions,
  2. what you do/deeds and works,
  3. what you know/knowledge and understanding,
  4. what/who you are: the riches of character.

Psalm 49 deals with 1) what you have (Ps 49:1-2), which is the least important. [The Folly of Riches without Wisdom. The World’s Empty Glory. What Money Can’t Buy.]

  1. Kidner. 1973. This World‘s Empty Glory. To all men everywhere (Ps 49:1-4). Brief triumph (Ps 49:5-9). Total loss (Ps 49:10-12). The great divide (Ps 49:13-15). The great illusion (Ps 49:16-20).
  2. Longman III, Garland. 2008. The Folly of Riches without Wisdom. Mortality of Humans. Intro (1-4). A. Question (Ps 49:5-6). B. Certainty of Death (7-12). B2. The Folly of Riches (Ps 49:13-14). A1. Resolution of the question (15-20).
  3. Keller. 2015. Wisdom (1-4). No security (5-12). The ultimate ransom (13-20). 
  4. Motyer. 2016. Beyond Life & Beyond Death. A1. discernment (Ps 49:1-4). B1. Wealth: its limits (Ps 49:5-9). C1. Beyond life (Ps 49:10-12). C2. Beyond Sheol (Ps 49:13-15). B2. Wealth: its limits (Ps 49:16-19). A2. The key factor: discernment (Ps 49:20).
  5. Goldingay. 2013. Death catches you when you don’t expect it to.
  6. Death is certain, but God [Heitzig]: The brevity of life and the certainty of death. We live precariously. We die certainly. We must plan accordingly.
  7. Why should I fear [LeBoutillier]? What money can’t buy [Guzik].

The Judge in the High Court Breaks Silence. “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me (Ps 50:14-15).

A theophany in this powerful psalm imagines God appearing in fire and tempest at Mount Zion to summon the entire world to his judgment seat (Ps 50:1-6). But if all eyes are on Him, His eyes are on Israel. The whole psalm is addressed to the covenant-people, speaking first to the unthinkingly religious (Ps 50:7-15), and then to the hardened and hypocritical (Ps 50:16-21), to bring them a sharp breadth of reality. It is a message which the prophets and finally Jesus puts to a church that had forgotten that all its dealings were with the living God (Ps 50:23-24).

Psalm 50 is concerned with true loyalty to God. Loyalty is antithetical to formalism and hypocrisy, as the Lord requires a heart of gratitude. Different from most other psalms it encompases features of theophany, accusation, warning, and an invitation to repent. As a divine oracle, it adds to the cosmic perspective in Psalms 46-49, and is concerned with the security of Zion/Jerusalem. Sarcastically, God says he doeesn’t get hungry and doesn’t need sacrifices (Ps 50:9-13). He rebukes all pious platitudes (Ps 50:16-21) and commends the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Ps 50:14, 23).

 
Psalm 50 is the first psalm attributed to Asaph, breaking the string of Korahite psalms from 42-49, and followed by the second great collection of Davidic psalms–Psalm 51 extending (except 66, 67) to the single Solomonic Psalm 72 to conclude Book II. Although Psalm 50 is part of the Elohistic Psalter (42-83), the divine name Yahweh appears once (Ps 50:1).
  1. Kidner. 1973. 1975. Psalm 50: The Judge Breaks Silence. The judge appears (Ps 50:1-6). Plain words to the religious (Ps 50:7-15), to the hypocrites (Ps 50:16-21). The parting charges (Ps 50:22-23).
  2. Longman III, Garland. 2008. A Heart of Gratitude. Psalm of Asaph–Cosmic Perspective: Sacrifices of Thanksgiving. A. The righteous judgment of God (Ps 50:1-6). B. Warning to the Godly (Ps 50:7-15). B2. Warning to the Wicked (Ps 50:16-21). A1. The righteous judgment of God (Ps 50:22-23).
  3. Tim Keller. 2015. Psalm 50: Judgment begins (1-6). Superficial religion (7-15). Hypocritical religion (16-23). 
  4. Motyer. The High Court. A1. The court assembled (1-6). B1. The 1st defendent: ritualistic formalists (7-15). B2. The 2nd defendents: credal formalists (16-21). A2. The courts decision (Ps 50:22-23).
  5. Wilson. 2002. God the Judge (Ps 50:1-6). The 1st accusation (Ps 50:7-15). The 2nd accusation (Ps 50:16-23).
  6. Goldingay. 2013. Psalm 50: Keep it simple.
  7. Meaningless religion [LeBoutillier]. Judgment begins with the people of God [Guzik]. 
  1. “Hypocrisy is the essence of evil.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  2. “Religious people tend to divide the world into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ They want to divide the world into believers and nonbelievers, righteous and unrighteous. But Jesus came to show a different way – a way of love, compassion, and inclusivity.” – Desmond Tutu
  3. “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” – Brennan Manning
  4. “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God, forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.'” – Billy Graham
  5. “Some of the cruelest men in the world are also the most devout. And they will use whatever doctrines give them the sense of power they need.” – John Irving
  6. “The hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself. What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one.” – Hannah Arendt
  7. “Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground. Pretending you’re moral, saying you’re moral is not the same as acting morally.” – Alan Dershowitz
  8. “The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!” – Tennessee Williams
  9. “Nothing is so obstinate and unyielding as a small idea once it has lodged in a true believer’s mind.” – AA Hodge
  10. “There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” – Charles de Montesquieu
  11. “Hypocrisy is the essence of evil. Secretiveness is the essence of hypocrisy. The grossest lies are the most fascinating to the liars because they have convinced themselves that they are true.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
  12. “We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.” – José Emilio Pacheco
  13. “The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On one hand, it calls for the worship of God; but on the other hand, it also calls for the elimination of the evils of society. If we are going to be true to the gospel, we must be involved in the struggle for social justice.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  14. “When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.” – Unknown
  15. “The hypocrisy of religion and the hypocrisy of politics are the two greatest enemies of human progress and development.” – Fela Kuti

“The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice. Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God” (Ps 50:1-2, 6-7).

“When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation” (Ps 50:21-23).

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