Ep. 107. Psalm 49-50 | Man Will Not Remain
EPISODE 107
MAN WILL NOT REMAIN: PSALM 49-50
Since I was in seventh grade, I have been struck by the number of people who will say they don't believe in God, but that they are sure if there is a God and if there is a heaven, they will end up there one day because they have been "basically good." Understand what I'm saying here; they disbelieve God, but imagine if there is a God, he must weigh our deeds on a moral scale similar to how we might weigh something as good or bad and that their good deeds must outweigh their evil deeds. Now, every Christian would say that we are made righteous only by faith in Jesus and his completed work on the cross and the empty tomb, but we still tend to talk about people as basically good or basically evil. I even hear Christians saying things like, "I really hope they come to faith; they are such a good, kind person." Or, "I don't see how they could ever come to faith; they are so wicked or evil." Even though we know, as believers, that the Bible teaches not a single one of us is "good" apart from God and that we are all by nature "objects of wrath," we still tend to measure people by their own merits rather than the merits of Christ.
If someone disbelieves Jesus, they are enemies of God, there is nothing good in them, there is no righteousness in them, and they are dead in their sins. However, if someone has put faith in God, we are children of God, good, righteous, and alive, not based on our works or merits, but those works and merits of Jesus.
When we get to a text like Psalm 49:7-10, we are confronted with this idea very plainly. "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." No person can ransom themselves from death to God. No person has "earned" any righteousness or goodness or favor with God based on their deeds. All benefit for the believer rests solely at the feet of Jesus. "God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol." God is the one who ransoms us from the grave. Not even thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil or my firstborn son could deal with my transgressions before God. Our redemption is ONLY the work of God through his son, Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
We have got to quit thinking there is anyone kind enough to deserve God's grace or anyone wicked enough to exclude them from God's grace. This was brought home for me in the spring of 2015. I was praying for the salvation of one of my sons. I was pleading with God to save this child of mine. "God, he is a good kid. He is precious. He deserves to have you do this for him." Later in the same prayer time, I prayed for my father's salvation. My father was not a good person and I'll leave it at that. "God, I suppose if you can do something for my father, that would be nice too. He is a hard and selfish person. He is far from you. He hasn't cared about anyone but himself ever. If you can save him please do so, but especially my son."
I had allowed my personal feelings about these two individuals to shape how I prayed for them. Yet both my son and my father were enemies of God as long as they were separated from Christ. Both my son and my father were void of goodness and righteousness. Neither my son nor my father had any chance of changing their position before God based on the choices in life they had made or, as of yet, been unable to make. People who don't know Jesus need him. People who do know Jesus are righteous because of him. "No one can give God the price for his life, for it would never suffice."
ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7; Leviticus 10:1-3; Hebrews 12:28-29; Numbers 16:35; Ephesians 2:3; Micah 6:6-8
