Psalm 49:1-20

Instant gratification is one of Satan’s favorite and most effective traps.  We are easily persuaded to spend now and pay later and to enjoy pleasures today without regard for the consequences of tomorrow.  God has created us as eternal beings but we tend to ignore the eternal and fix our eyes only on the present.  No matter how long we may live on earth, our lives here will be extremely short when compared to eternity.  Each of us will stand before God and He will determine our eternity based on the work of Jesus Christ.  None of us are able to pay the ransom price for our sin, so our only hope is in the cross of Christ who paid our ransom.  No matter how much power or money we accumulate we cannot purchase eternal life.  Death and standing before the Lord are unavoidable so we must stop living for today and start living for “THAT DAY” when our eternal destiny will be determined.  God would have us live in light of eternity instead of living for only today.

WEALTH CANNOT SAVE US FROM DEATH: Money is one of our most valued commodities.  We understand that wealth can bring us great comfort and provide for many pleasures in this live.  Money and power walk hand in hand on the earth.  However, money is absolutely powerless to prevent us from death and absolutely worthless when it comes to purchasing our eternal life.  The price of our sin is death and only through the blood of Jesus can we be ransomed from those consequences of our sin.  We cannot purchase our salvation but Jesus has already purchased our forgiveness when He shed His own blood for us on the cross.  We are not responsible or able to buy our salvation.  Our only responsibility is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’s death as our only hope for salvation.  We must stop living to accumulate wealth because it will be worthless in eternity.


WISDOM CANNOT SAVE US FROM DEATH: Wisdom and knowledge are wonderful gifts that are certainly valued by all men, and for good reason.  However, there are two kinds of wisdom: there is the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God.  The wisdom of this world brings about pride and will be severely judged in eternity.  The wisdom of God exalts the glory of God and recognizes the weakness of man because that is the reality of this life.  God’s wisdom will always lead us to the cross while man’s wisdom will always cause us to have self-confidence.  The cross and self-confidence have two very different eternal destinies.  Men may be impressed with our knowledge, but all the wisdom of this world cannot extend our lives even for a day, much less for eternity.  We must never place or confidence in the wisdom of men and this world.  Our confidence for life and eternity must reside solely in the cross of Christ.

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