Amen. Well, you can please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to the book of Psalms.
The book of Psalms. If you did not bring a Bible with you, that's okay.
We have Bibles there in the seat back in front of you, and you're going to need one this morning.
We're going to be flipping to several different places, because as I mentioned, I was not here last week,
and so I'm preaching two Psalms this morning. I'm making up for lost time.
We're going to do Psalm 14 and also Psalm 53, and we'll see the reason why, Lord willing, as we begin.
But we're going to stand in honor of the reading of God's Word as I read Psalm chapter 14 this morning.
Let's stand in honor of the reading of God's Word.
To the choir master of David, the fool says in his heart,
There is no God.
They are corrupt.
They do abominable deeds.
There is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside.
Together they have become corrupt.
There is none who does good.
Not even one.
Have they no knowledge?
All the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord.
There they are in great terror.
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion.
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice.
Let Israel be glad.
This is God's holy word.
Let's pray once more.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
Father, it is good.
It is true.
It is pure.
And it is necessary for us even when it hurts.
So we pray, Father, would you teach us this morning through your word.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Well, several years ago I was playing basketball outside.
And I did what I had done a thousand times before.
I shifted my weight onto one leg.
And I went to jump off of that leg.
But instead of going up into the air, my leg gave out on me.
And I went down to the ground.
And I lay there for a minute, but eventually got up.
And I hobbled my way to the car.
And I drove home.
And I cleaned myself up.
And I tried to convince myself that things were not as bad as it seemed.
Maybe it's just a sprain.
Maybe it'll get better.
Well, a week or two went by.
And it still didn't get better.
The pain had gotten a little bit better.
But it still didn't feel quite right.
And I had to be careful how I moved, how I shifted.
Because if I shifted just the wrong way, the pain would come back.
And my leg would give out.
But even still, I'm stubborn.
So I refused.
And I continued to try and convince myself I'm fine.
Things will get better.
Things will improve.
It's not that bad.
Well, eventually a couple of months went by.
And Amanda, like a good wife does, gave me an ultimatum.
She said, if it's not better, by X day, you are going to go to the doctor.
And you're going to get this thing looked at.
So the day came.
Still, it was not any better.
And so reluctantly, I went to the doctor.
And he began to assess the damage.
He began to shift my leg back and forth.
He took my leg and my knee and shifted it all around.
And then he scheduled an X-ray, which I knew was a waste of time.
Because I knew there were no bones broken.
But that's the next step in the process.
So we did an X-ray.
And when we confirmed there were, in fact, no bones broken, we scheduled the MRI.
Which was to get a good look at what is going on inside of me.
So we did the MRI.
And eventually, once the doctor got his hands on the results, he called me back into the office to confirm what I had hoped was not the case.
Things were worse than I thought.
And they were worse than I had tried to pretend that they were.
I had torn my ACL in my good knee.
And now, now that I knew the truth of what was wrong with me, what was going on inside of me, now I would have to decide how we would go about fixing the problem.
Let me tell you something.
I did not enjoy that conversation.
Nobody enjoys conversations like this.
Nobody wants to hear what is wrong with us.
Nobody wants to hear that things are worse than you thought.
Or worse than maybe you're pretending that they are.
But sometimes, you come across a passage in God's Word that functions like a truthful doctor.
It tells us exactly what is going on with us.
That's exactly what Psalm 14 does.
Psalm chapter 14 is like an honest doctor with no bedside manner.
It is direct.
It is uncomfortable.
It is honest.
It is a straightforward diagnosis of a sickness, a condition that's going on not just in some people here and there, but in all people, in every single one of us.
And what's the condition?
The condition is that we are sinners.
That we have, all of us, rebelled against a holy God.
We have denied Him.
We have rejected Him.
We have become corrupt.
We are sick.
Nobody wants to have this conversation.
Because we think that we're better off than we are.
We try and convince ourselves that it's not so bad.
But then passages like this come along and they show us the obvious truth of the situation.
This is our diagnosis.
And we see it in three parts this morning.
Three parts.
Here we see the foolishness, the lawlessness, and the pervasiveness of rejecting God.
This will be our outline this morning.
If you're taking notes, we're going to see the foolishness, the lawlessness, and the pervasiveness of rejecting God.
And here's the payoff.
If you can stick with me through the bad news, okay?
And if you can stick with me through the uncomfortable bad news of our diagnosis,
I promise you we will get to some good news of how we can fix it at the end.
Okay?
The first, rejection of God is foolishness.
Rejection of God is foolishness.
Look there to verse 1.
He says,
The fool says in his heart,
There is no God.
David says,
Atheism is foolishness.
And that's a fairly bold claim, isn't it?
Because what it means is that many of our higher elites,
academic professors and scholars, scientists, politicians,
those who we might think would be the smartest and most elite among us,
actually, David says, if they deny God, actually they are fools.
Richard Dawkins,
Niels Bohr,
Alfred Nobel,
Sigmund Freud,
Carl Rogers,
Stephen Hawking,
some of the brightest, most intelligent,
most influential minds in human history,
according to David,
have been fools.
Why?
Because although they study his creation,
and although they live within his creation every day,
although they have studied it,
and in many ways understand it at a far deeper level than you and I probably ever will,
they completely miss the message.
Psalm 19 tells us that creation has a message.
Creation speaks a message.
Psalm 19 says,
The heavens declare the what?
The glory of God.
The skies above proclaim his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech.
Night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech,
nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words go to the end of the world.
In other words,
everyone has heard the voice of creation.
Every single person who lives underneath the sky
has enough evidence available to them day in and day out
to know for a fact that there is a God who made the world and everything in it.
If you live in creation,
you have evidence of the existence and the glory and the creative power of God.
So then the question becomes,
well then,
why don't all people acknowledge him?
Why is it that so many people deny this God?
If the evidence is so readily available,
why do so many brilliant people deny him?
Romans chapter 1 speaks to that question.
Romans chapter 1.
I want you to flip there with me,
because we're going to come back to Romans here in just a minute.
I want you to keep a finger there.
We're going to come back there again in just a minute.
But Romans chapter 1,
starting in verse 18,
Paul says,
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Did you hear that?
It is not that they don't know the truth.
The heavens itself declares it.
That's what Psalm 19 told us.
But by their unrighteousness,
they suppress the truth.
They know that there's a God.
And Paul says they know that there's a God.
This is a shocking common knowledge
that exists within every person on the planet.
Paul says there's not a single person on the planet,
Christian, atheist, or otherwise,
who doesn't know deep down in their hearts
that there is a God.
They know it, but they suppress it.
It would be ignorance to not know the truth,
but it's foolishness to know the truth
and to suppress it.
Listen to this, verse 19 of Romans 1.
He says,
The fool says in his heart,
There is no God.
Atheism is foolishness.
But I want you to look and notice back in Psalm 14
where the fool says this.
Where does the fool say that there is no God?
It's not with his lips, is it?
In Psalm 14, he's not saying this out loud with his lips.
Where does he say it?
It's in his heart.
The fool says in his heart there is no God.
This type of atheism goes deeper than just verbal atheism.
This is a denying, a suppressing of the truth of God
within your own heart.
It's not just verbal atheism.
It's as the English Puritan, Stephen Sharnock, would call it.
He called it a practical atheism.
Do you realize you can claim all the right things with your lips?
You can acknowledge that there is a God with your lips
and yet deny him in your heart.
Do you realize this?
You cannot be a verbal atheist,
but you may be a practical atheist
if you know there's a God
and yet suppress the truth of his existence within your own heart.
What could possibly cause someone to do something so foolish?
What could possibly cause someone to suppress the truth of the existence of God
and pretend like he doesn't even exist?
The answer is our condition.
It's sin.
It's foolishness.
Sin does not behave rationally.
It is a sickness.
Our sin, what it does is it turns us away from God and his glory
and drives us instead to ourself.
And not only we don't want what God wants,
we want what we want.
We don't want God's fame.
We want our fame.
And it's so much easier to pursue the passions of our flesh
if we can convince ourselves that there is no God,
that we're not accountable to anyone.
This is foolishness, David says.
The fool says in his heart there is no God
and they are without excuse.
Not only this, but second.
Second, we see the result of this rejection.
Second, this rejection of God produces lawlessness.
Verse 1 says they are corrupt.
They do abominable deeds.
There is none who does good.
In verse 4, David, he just throws up his hands.
He says, have they no knowledge?
All the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord,
don't they know better?
Why do they do the things that they do?
David can't wrap his mind around all the wicked behavior that he sees.
But look again and ask yourself,
what is at the root of their wicked behavior?
Why are they corrupt?
Why do they do abominable deeds?
It's because they have rejected the Lord.
Rejection of God is at the root,
is at the foundation of all lawlessness.
All wickedness at the very foundation
has at its root a rejection of God.
Again, Stephen Sharnock, he says,
all sin is founded in a secret atheism.
Atheism is the spirit of every sin.
Church, we have to remember this.
When we look around at our culture,
and we look around at our friends,
when we look around at our family members
who aren't believers,
and when we just toss up our hands
and we say, well, why are they acting this way?
Don't they know better?
Why are they doing the things that they do?
We have to remember that external actions
are just the symptoms,
but the sickness is actually a rejection of God.
David says,
this denial of God has produced in them
all sorts of corruption.
They actively do abominable deeds,
and at the same time,
they do not do what is good.
They actively pursue evil,
and they resist doing good.
This rejection of God has flipped everything upside down,
and again,
that's what sin does, isn't it?
Sin is a foolish rejection of God
that twists and distorts our desires
and our ambitions,
so that we hate what is good,
and we love what is evil.
So that we resist what is good,
and we pursue what is abominable.
So that we reject God and His glory,
and we worship instead all sorts of false gods
of our own making.
And this is, again,
exactly what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1.
Hopefully you still have your finger there.
Romans 1.
And we'll pick right up where we left off.
Paul says,
Those who reject God are without excuse for,
verse 21.
Listen to this.
For although they knew God,
that is in a general, intellectual way,
they knew He was there.
Although they knew God,
they did not honor Him as God,
or give thanks to Him.
But they became futile in their thinking,
and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise,
they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man,
and birds,
and animals,
and creeping things.
Therefore,
God gave them up
in the lust of their hearts
to impurity,
to the dishonoring of their bodies
among themselves.
Why?
Verse 25.
Because they exchanged the truth
about God for a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator,
who is blessed forever.
Amen.
Listen to this.
Verse 26.
Their women exchanged natural relations
for those that are contrary to nature.
And the men likewise gave up
natural relations with women,
and were consumed with passion
for one another.
Men committing shameless acts with men,
and receiving in themselves
the due penalty for their error.
Verse 29.
They were filled with all manner
of unrighteousness,
evil,
covetousness,
malice.
They are full of envy,
murder,
strife,
deceit,
maliciousness.
They are gossips,
slanderers,
haters of God,
insolent,
haughty,
boastful,
inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents,
foolish,
faithless,
heartless,
ruthless.
Though they know God's righteous decree
that those who practice such things
deserve to die,
they not only do them,
but give approval to those who practice them.
Does this sound familiar to anybody else?
Romans chapter 1 reads like America's obituary.
How in the world
could something written almost 2,000 years ago
in a different country,
in a different place,
in a different time
sound so familiar
and so true to our culture
right here and right now?
I'll tell you.
It rings true to us
because
this same sickness
that existed in David's day,
that existed in Paul's day,
exists right here
and right now
in our day.
What is it?
It's the sickness
of sinful rejection
of God.
Do you see the root issue here?
At the root,
at the foundation
of every sinful behavior
is denial
and rejection
of the glory
of God.
This rejection
is the root cause
of all sexual perversion.
We deny God
and we pursue
the desires
of our own flesh.
It's the foundation
of all greed
and theft.
We deny God
and we worship money.
It's the foundation
of all covetousness.
We deny the worth
of God
and we deny
the satisfaction
that can be found
in Him alone
so we crave more.
We crave satisfaction
in some earthly good,
some bigger home,
a better job,
a nicer car,
a dream vacation,
whatever it may be.
It's the foundation
of rebelliousness
in children.
We deny the structures
of order and authority
God has given us
and we all want
to be God
of our own world.
Denial of God
is the foundation
of every evil pursuit.
Are we in agreement?
That's good.
Because it's third point.
Before we point our finger
out at everybody else
and shake our head
at the sin in our culture
and in our world
and the sin of our neighbor,
we have to realize
point number three,
rejection of God
is pervasive.
It's pervasive.
In other words,
it's not just a them problem.
It's a us problem.
It's not just an out there issue
where other people
are sinning
and we are not.
This is an us problem.
Look there to verse two.
Verse two shifts
to the Lord's perspective
on all of this.
Look what he says.
It says,
The Lord,
he looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are
any who understand.
If there are any
who seek after God.
And verse three
gives us the answer.
They have all turned aside.
Together they have become corrupt.
There is none
who does good.
Not even one.
One.
Let me tell you
how we tend to read this.
Our natural inclination
is to read this
and say,
Yeah, I agree.
It is terrible out there.
Right?
All those sinners
out there.
Why can't they
get it all together?
But look what it says again.
It says,
There is none
who does good.
None understand.
No one seeks after God.
Not even one.
Not even me.
Not even you.
This is a universal issue.
You and I
and everyone else
are all guilty
of making the same
foolish exchange.
We are guilty
of rejecting God.
It's our very nature
to do so.
All we like sheep
have gone astray.
We have turned
everyone to his own way.
And that is exactly
Paul's point
in Romans chapter 3.
Flip there back with me
again one last time.
I've had us
looking at Romans
because Paul has been
building up
to this point.
Paul quotes
Psalm 14
in Romans chapter 3.
He spends all
of chapter 1
illustrating
the sinfulness
of the nations,
the Gentiles
who have rejected God
and who have followed
their own passions,
who have chased
after idols.
And he says,
hey,
we all agree
that the judgment
of God rightly
falls on people
who does stuff
like that,
right?
We all agree
that that's wrong
and I just imagine
all the Jews
nodding their head.
Yep,
I get it.
Yes,
of course.
How could they do that?
They've rejected God.
The judgment of God
rightly falls on them.
They deserve
to be punished.
And then Paul
turns the tables
on them.
And he says,
therefore,
you have no excuses,
oh man.
Every one of you
who judges,
for in passing judgment
on another,
you condemn yourself
because you,
the judge,
practice the very
same things
as it is written,
chapter 3,
verse 10,
as it is written,
none is righteous,
no,
not one.
No one understands.
No one seeks for God.
All have turned aside.
Together,
they have become worthless.
No one does good,
not even one.
In other words,
church,
this is our problem.
This problem
is universal.
So he asks,
well what then?
Are we Jews
any better off?
I mean,
surely we Jews
are better off,
right?
Romans 3,
verse 9,
no,
not at all.
You fill in the blank
however you like.
Whatever you think
makes you superior
to anybody else,
you fill it in right there.
What then?
Are we Americans
any better off?
Any better off
than the Iraqis
or the Russians?
Are we any better off?
No,
not at all.
What about us Republicans?
Are we better off,
right?
Surely,
than the Democrats,
right?
No,
not at all.
Democrats,
we're better off,
right?
We're better than the Republicans.
Not at all.
Why not?
Because you,
me,
and everybody else
all have sinned
and fallen short
of the glory of God,
every one of us.
Our sin nature
is the great equalizer.
we have to understand this,
church.
A rejection of God
is a universal condition
which ought to lead
to a complete demolition
of any streak of pride
in our hearts.
We are all in the same boat here.
We can't read this
and place ourselves
in any group
that we think
is outside
of this natural condition.
We are not exempt.
We gotta wipe our hearts clean
of any idea
of superiority
to anyone else.
Why?
We all share
this same
natural condition.
Jew and Gentile alike,
Republican and Democrat alike,
black,
white,
Hispanic,
American citizen,
illegal,
alien,
rich,
poor,
Auburn,
Clemson,
USC,
University of Georgia.
All of us are in this
same broad category
of sinners.
That college too,
whichever one
you just mentioned
right there.
I didn't hear what it was,
but you're included.
We have all turned aside.
Together,
we have become corrupt.
This is all of our problem.
We have to start thinking
in biblical terms.
Understanding the world
and everything in it,
everyone else in it,
and ourselves as well
in biblical terms.
This is hard.
It's hard to shake off
all the other things
that try to determine
our identity
and our worth
and to put us
in buckets and categories.
The Bible teaches us
there are only two types
of people.
Only two types of people
in the world.
It's not us and them,
whatever your definition
of us might be.
It is those who have been
forgiven of their sin
and those who remain in it.
those who have been forgiven
of our rejection of God
and those who continue
still to reject Him.
Those who have been forgiven
of our natural rebellion
against the Lord
and those who continue
to rebel.
understanding these two categories
of people
is absolutely crucial
to understanding the Psalms
and understanding
what's going on here
in Psalm chapter 14.
We've seen it over and over
and over and over and over again
throughout the book of Psalms.
There are only two types of people.
You remember what they are?
It's the righteous
and the wicked.
Look back there with me
to Psalm 14.
And once you're there,
put a finger there
and flip over to Psalm 53.
This is why I wanted to preach
two Psalms this morning.
Psalm 14 and Psalm 53.
I want you to make your way
to Psalm 53
and I want you to tell me
if this sounds familiar
at all to you.
Psalm 53.
Psalm 53 goes like this.
The fool says in his heart
there is no God.
They are corrupt
doing abominable iniquity.
There is none who does good.
God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any
who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all fallen away
and together they have become corrupt.
There is none who does good,
not even one.
Have those who work evil
no knowledge,
who eat up my people
as they eat bread
and do not call upon God.
Stop there.
Does that sound familiar
to you yet?
These two Psalms
are almost identical.
Why are we repeating
the same thing?
Why is David going back
and saying the same thing
in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53?
That's the question.
And the answer is found
in the one verse
that's different.
Psalm 53 and Psalm 14
verse 5.
There's only one verse
that's completely different.
Verse 5 of Psalm 53 says,
There they are in great terror
where there is no terror.
For God scatters the bones
of him who encamps against you.
You put them to shame
for God has rejected them.
But Psalm 14 verse 5,
you flip back there,
it says,
There they are in great terror
for God is with the generation
of the righteous.
You would shame
the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
Do you see the difference?
Stay with me here.
Do you see it?
Psalm 53
is God's response
of judgment
on the wicked.
He says,
You have rejected me,
I have rejected you.
That's what our sins deserve.
We are at odds
with a holy God
and justice demands
that our sins be dealt with.
Psalm 53
is God's response
to the wicked.
But look at the focus
in Psalm 14.
Psalm 14 says,
You have rejected me,
all have turned aside,
and I will be your refuge.
You are guilty,
you are in the all here
who have become corrupt,
and yet I will shield you
from what your sins deserve.
You have denied me,
I will call you righteous
even though you're guilty.
Two types of people.
You see it?
Again, Psalm 53 says,
All have sinned,
the wicked will be judged.
Psalm 14 says,
All have sinned,
and God is with the righteous.
How in the world
do we understand this?
The answer is found
only in the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this.
The difference between
these two people,
the righteous
and the wicked,
is not whether or not
you are guilty.
We are all guilty.
The answer is whether or not
you are in Christ.
Listen to this.
The gospel is the bad news
that all of us
are guilty of rebelling
against God,
but it is the unthinkably
good news
that God
pardons
guilty sinners
by punishing
His own Son
in our place.
The gospel
is the bad news
that yes,
we are guilty,
every one of us,
but it's the good news
that Jesus Christ
came for the guilty.
It's the bad news
that we're sinners,
we are sick,
we share this condition,
we have all done
abominable deeds,
we have rejected God,
we have become corrupt,
but the good news
is that Christ Jesus
came into the world
to save sinners
of whom I am the foremost.
The bad news,
this psalm describes
all of our fallen
sinful nature,
but the good news
of the gospel,
Christ Jesus
came to give us
a new nature.
The bad news
is that our sins
deserve death,
but the good news
is Christ Jesus
died for us,
and more than that,
rose from the grave
and defeated death
so that any sinner
who turns from their sin
and puts their faith
in Christ
can be made righteous
and live forever
in the sight of God.
That's the gospel
and it's our only hope.
That is the cure
for our condition.
You know,
our natural response
to a text like this,
to Psalm 14
or Psalm 53
is either to point the finger
out at other people
or to pretend like
it's not so bad.
And if you felt that tendency
this morning to say,
I'm not that bad.
That doesn't describe me.
Or if you read through this
and you thought of somebody else
and not of yourself,
you've missed it.
But if you hear this
and you are pricked
to the heart
and you know
that you're sick
and you know
that you've sinned
against the Lord,
I have good news for you.
Jesus says,
those who are well
have no need
of a physician
but those
who are sick.
I came not
to call the righteous
those who think
they're doing alright,
but I've come
to call sinners.
God's word
has shown us
this morning
that we are broken.
Now,
you can choose
to pretend
that it's better
than it is
and you can try
to deny it
as long as you can.
You can walk
with a limp
or
you can cast yourself
totally,
helplessly,
completely,
confidently
into the arms
of Jesus,
the great physician
who came
to take
your sin
away.
And to give
you
his righteousness.
Here's the point,
church.
This is the thought
that I want
to leave you with
as we leave
this place.
Our sinful condition
is far worse
than we could
possibly think.
But the grace
of God
towards us
in Christ
is far greater
than we could
possibly imagine.
So what's our
response then
as we close?
Two-fold.
Pray for salvation
and rejoice
in what God
has done.
This is how
David closes
this psalm.
Psalm 14,
verse 7.
He says,
Oh,
that salvation
for Israel
would come
out of Zion.
When the Lord
restores the fortunes
of His people,
let Jacob rejoice.
Let Israel
be glad.
Pray for salvation.
if you have
experienced
the saving
grace of God.
Pray,
pray,
and pray
some more
that the Lord
would extend
that same
saving grace
to others
around you.
How do we
expect to see
the Lord reach
this community
of all and all?
We desire to see
the Lord save
many in this
community,
don't we?
The way He's
going to do it
is through
your prayers
and through
faithful evangelism.
Pray
that the Lord
would save,
forgive,
and convert
even the most
unlikely,
most rebellious
sinner you know.
And pray for
salvation and pray
for the coming
day when the Lord
will return and
bring final and
total salvation
for all of His
people.
Not only this,
if you have
received the
grace of God,
rejoice in what
God has done.
rejoice and be
glad.
Christians of
all people
ought to be
full of joy
and gladness.
We of all
people ought to
be rejoicing.
Why?
Because we
have received
an eternal
inheritance that
none of us
deserve.
We've been
healed by the
grace of God
through the
gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Lord,
Father,
we confess we
have sinned and
fallen short of
your glory.
There's not a
person in this
room who can
claim that we've
lived perfectly as
you desire.
Father,
we praise you
that you sent
Christ to live
in our place as
we should have
lived, to die in
our place as we
deserve to die,
and to rise from
the grave that we
might have certain
hope of eternal
life through
faith in him
alone.
God, we pray if
there are any
here who do
not know you,
Lord, would you
give them the
gift of salvation
this morning?
God, we pray
for salvation,
and we pray that
we would rejoice
in what you've
done.
We ask this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Do just
let you
более
song
Jesus' name