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. (Psa 49:7-9)
Psalm 49 holds great Christological significance for us as
we prepare our hearts for resurrection Sunday. Verses 7-9 should shatter any hope that it is
possible for us to accomplish our own salvation or to preserve ourselves from
death.
The Bible is clear: All people die.
When the Lord warned Adam regarding the forbidden fruit in Genesis 2:17,
“in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” He spoke of a spiritual
death that would culminate in physical death. The death that Adam brought into the world spread to all men because all sinned (Rom 5:12).
The Bible is equally clear that all people face judgment. Because of sin, “it is appointed for man to die once, and
after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27).
We will all stand before the judgement seat of God (Rom 14:10). The penalty for sin is death and all men deserve this punishment (Rom 3:10-18;6:23).
Some may think that it must be a simple matter to rectify
this situation. “After all, everything
is for sale. You just have to find
the right price, make a deal with God.
Surely, God can be bought, right?
If not with money, then surely with good works?” Of course, the Bible does not allow for
such bargains, as we’ve already seen in Psa 49:7-9. Yet many, many people are banking on making a deal with God.
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, handed
every preacher in America a gift-wrapped sermon illustration this week when he
said, “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not
stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in
heaven. It’s not even close.” Though
Bloomberg is one of the wealthiest people in the country, he was not referring
to the ability to buy his way into heaven with money. He made the above statement regarding his work to eradicate
smoking, guns, and obesity. That
is, in his estimation he has done enough good works to earn his way into
heaven.
Most of the noise about his comments this week was not over
the bad theology, but that he had the nerve to think he had done enough good
works. That should tell us that
Bloomberg is not alone in the belief that a person can earn heaven.
But the psalmist indicates that this is impossible. No man can ransom another. No man can give to God the price of his
life. No ransom can ever suffice,
whether in the form of money or good works. There is not enough money in the world nor enough good works
imaginable to purchase our freedom from the penalty of sin.
Why is that? Because
of the infinite holiness of God every sin that we commit is infinitely
offensive to Him. Our finite good
works can never pay off an infinite sin debt. For that reason, no person has the power to ransom his own
life or the life of another.
We might expect the rest of the psalm to be one of complete
hopelessness, but it is not. V15
reads, But God will redeem my life from
the power of Sheol, for He will take me. We couldn’t redeem or ransom ourselves, but God could. He sent His eternal Son to the earth to
live as a man. Perfectly. Without sin. By living a righteous life He qualified Himself to serve as
a spotless sacrifice for our sin.
He was crucified by sinful men, taking upon Himself the sin of the
world. Three days later He was
raised from the dead, proving that His payment was sufficient to buy our
freedom from death and sin.
But what about v7 - "truly no man can ransom
another"? So how could Christ
ransom us? He was a man, but He
was also God. And being God, He
was infinitely righteous. And that infinite righteousness was sufficient to pay our infinite sin debt.
Certainly, a normal, sinful man could never ransom himself or
another. But a sinless, infinitely
righteous God-man could. And
did. The sin debt is paid for all
who repent of their sin and trust in Christ for salvation.
This Sunday we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. May our minds be focused
on its significance as we approach Sunday. What we could never do for ourselves God did for us in
Christ.
But God will redeem my
life from the power of Sheol… (Psalm 49:15)
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