OUR FATHER WHO CAUTIONS AGAINST DELUSIONS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Psalm 49 verse 11 says this;

Their tombs will remain their houses forever,  their dwellings for endless generations,  though they had named lands after themselves.

The psalmist, speaking of those who trusted in their great wealth, declares that the great wealth they boasted of will be of no help to them.

They sought honor and tried to gain eternal notoriety for themselves by naming lands after themselves but they could not escape death any more than poor men could or even animals. Their wealth would not spare them from being entombed forever.

To pay the ransom for a single life so that that a person is spared destruction and brought into eternal life, as the psalmist says in verses 7 - 9, is extremely costly and no man, even one of extreme wealth, can pay this price.

No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—so that they should live on forever and not see decay.

What is impossible for man, however, is possible for God and God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, not only paid the ransom for a single man but paid enough by sacrificing Himself to die upon a cross to bring salvation to many sons across the world.

The eternal life that wealthy men searched for and could not buy, was in fact given as a free gift to whomever would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the death He suffered for our sake.

Amen.

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