Psalm 53, to the chief musician
upon Mahala Mashkel, a Psalm of David. The fool has said in
his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they and have done
abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one
of them has gone back. They are all together become
filthy. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they
eat bread? They have not called upon God.
There were they in great fear, where no fear was, for God hath
scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee. Thou
hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion, when God bringeth back the captivity of
his people. Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel
shall be glad. Now, the fool has said in his
heart there is no God. Of course he begins Psalm 14
in the same, with the same words. The fool has said in his heart.
Now, and we've talked about this before, but there's no, this
is not speaking about a man who goes up and says, well, I don't
believe in God. Because there really are no people
like that. The scripture says that the Lord
has more witness to every man. It says that the heavens declare
the glory of God. There are no men who honestly
and actually believe there is no God. But there are multitudes
who fall into the category of those whom the psalmist is speaking
of here. Because what he is talking about
here is a man who does not worship God, the true God. Now there are many gods that
are worshipped. Men will always find a god to worship. It may
be the god of no god. You know, isn't it amazing that
those who say they do not believe in God would become perturbed
at those who do? I mean, if you don't believe
in God, what difference does it make if somebody does? But
that's not the issue, is it? I mean, we see this with those
that fight against everything that has to do with faith in
the world, and I'm not, you know, getting into all of that, but they're not against, I mean,
what they're against, you see, is the God of faith, not the
faith that people have. And that's what David's talking
about here. The fool has said in his heart there is no Elohim. Now Elohim is a term that is
used for the supreme God. That's who God is. Of course,
there can be no other kind. See, men like a God of their
own making, just like when the Israelites had Aaron to make
them a golden calf that they could worship. Men like worship.
Men like to have religious activity. I mean, you know, it's just kind
of a desirable thing for men to have some sort of an outlet
of that aspect. You know, especially when it
comes time for a person to die and they're on their deathbed,
a lot of times they'll call for the preacher. Well, it's time
now. It's not that I necessarily believe this, but I just want
to cover all the bases and I want to get everything. You know,
I want to get all of your things in order, like the doctors may
say, well, you better get your affairs in order. And a lot of
people think of that in terms of, well, I'm going to get my
spiritual affairs in order. And I will say that in God's
mercy, sometimes He does bring a man to that place in order
that He might bring him face to face with his situation. He did that, did He not, with
the thief on the cross? I mean, there were two thieves
hanging on the cross, and both of them railed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Both of them cast these things
into his teeth, but something happened to one of them, did
it not? Something happened. And all of a sudden, through
no power of his own or any ability of his own to understand, he
saw that this one who hung there was not only an innocent man,
but that he was the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And God
in mercy spared that thief. Now, He spared the thief that
he might demonstrate the abundance of His mercy. And men in their wayward and wicked way to go
contrary to the way of God, they often use that as, well, you
know, I'll just wait like the thief on the cross and I'll call
upon Him. But you see, they think that
this thing, the outcome of this is in their hands so that they
can, whenever they get ready, call upon God. They'll put it
off as long as they can. You know, almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian. Almost. I was almost ready. I don't really think that's what
he was saying. I think he was actually making a mockery of
Paul. And he said, you think that by
this stupid stuff you're gonna caused me to want to be a follower
of Christ? The fool has said in his heart
there is no Elohim. There is no absolute God. Men
like God, don't they? Until you tell them that your
destiny is in His hands. Oh, well, wait. Wait a minute
now. God gives everybody a fair chance
and a square deal, and it's all up to you. And whenever you get
ready, the Lord will be sitting there waiting on you. The multitude
of men out there believe that. A lot of people that call themselves
Christians, they'll fight you in a heartbeat over this very
issue right here as to whether or not that God's decision is
that which caused a man to be saved and not a man's. That the
destiny of all men is in His hands. And the fool has said
in his heart there is no such God as that. I mean, we all got a free will,
and God's left it all up to us, dear brethren. There is a God
in the heavens, and He said, I'll show mercy to whom I will
show mercy, and whom I will, I'll harden. And it is necessary
that a man be brought down to the place of understanding that
God in order that he might call upon
His name. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable
iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
Well, that can't possibly be true, could it? I mean, there's
none that doeth good? I mean, there's not one little
thing that's good? Well, that's what it says. And it didn't say there's some
that almost do good. He said there is none that doeth
good because, you see, The good that he's talking about there
is not the good as men look at it. Now, as we look around us,
I mean, there's plenty of people that do good things. I mean,
I've known good people, haven't you? I mean, the woods are full
of good people. As far as men are concerned,
I mean, we don't find anything terrible about a lot of people.
I mean, most of the people that come into the store every day,
I mean, they're fine, upstanding people. I trust most of them,
not all of them, but most of them, you know? And perhaps trust
some of them more than I should, but nonetheless, as men look
at it, there are good people. But this is not talking about
that, because it's coming back to the very same thing. You see,
God says there is none that doeth good. And the fool has said in
his heart, that's not right. I mean, God can't hold men accountable
for every little thing. I mean, they always were trying
to do their best. They have done abominable iniquity.
There's none that do us good. The Lord said, as He looked upon
Isaiah, or through the words of Isaiah, as He looked upon
Israel, He said that your righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Wasn't He
commenting on the sins? He said the righteousnesses.
So you think about all the good people that you know. All the
good deeds that you know people have done. All the ones that
you've done in your life. And you pile them all together.
And you brush them all off and you paint them up any way you
want to do it. And the Lord looks at it as iniquity. Because the scripture says He
is of purer eyes than to look upon sin. And so consequently,
This is an absolute truth that there is none that doeth good.
God looketh down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Now, the psalmist
is not describing here a scenario wherein God opened the window of heaven and look
down at the earth to see what was going on. Now a lot of people
think of God in that way because again, the fool has said in his
heart, there is no God. They think of God as kind of
overseeing what's going on, but they don't see Him as the absolute
God. who will do all his pleasure,
calling a man from the east to fulfill his will, a bird. He'll
do whatever. You see, he numbers the hairs
on people's heads. That's the God they don't wish
to have. But the psalmist is speaking
here in a fashion wherein men might understand, get the picture
of this. Because actually when it says
God looked down from heaven, the word that's used there is
that He opened the window. That's when it says He looked
down, it says He opened the window. He looked down. That is the way
in which men would understand it. That is, he put his gaze
upon men. He sees everything at all times
that men do. So we know that there's not a
way in which he wouldn't know what was going on, but so that
men might get a picture here, God looked down from heaven upon
the children of men. He has surveyed the situation. And what conclusion did he come
to? He wanted to see if there were any that did understand,
that did seek God. Well, I've known people that
sought God, didn't you? But you see, that was as a result
of that which God did, and not as a result of what they did.
And this is the conclusion that he came to. He looked to see
if there were any that didn't understand. If there were any
that had a comprehension of spiritual things. Remember what he told
Nicodemus? He said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did understand. There were none.
The answer to that question is there were none. Nicodemus wasn't
convinced of that when he came to the Lord, was he? Because
he said, Lord, we know you're a teacher sent from God. We want
to learn from you. Lord, I'm here and I'm ready
to learn. The Lord said, Nicodemus, you
can't even understand a thing in the world that I'm fixing
to tell you unless you be born again. And so this is what he saw, every
one of them is gone back. They're all together become filthy,
that is corrupt. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. There's not one deed that a man
can do that can cause him to be acceptable in the sight of
God. Not one thing. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? I mean, is man just hating the
gospel because he doesn't know any better? Or is it because he says, I will
not have this man to rule over us? See, men are in active rebellion
against God. They're not in passive rebellion,
they're in active rebellion. Now when the Lord softens a man's
heart, He begins to cause him to see the rebellious nature
of his heart. But until such a time as that
occurs, he can't see it. He thinks he's just going along,
he's serving God. I mean, I was raised up in the
church and taught the Bible and all that kind of stuff, and I
never really thought that I was a rebel against God. I mean,
I knew who God was, I thought. I never saw myself as a rebel
against God until such time as the Lord saw
fit to teach me what I was. And when He did, and when He
taught me who He was, I could see very clearly then that yes,
I am indeed a rebel against God. Only by grace can a man see that.
Most religious men don't believe it. If you told them they were
rebels against God, they'd say, no, we're not. Well, we go to
church every Sunday. We even tithe and we do all these
things. We give to missions and we go
on mission trips and we do all sorts of things. No, we are not
rebels against God. But by nature that is what we
are. And regardless of what we may
perform, In the depths of our soul, if the Lord held back His
hand from us for one minute, we'd go right back in the same
old way. See, Peter wasn't a rebel against God, was he? And he really
didn't think he was. I mean, Peter really did mean
what he said when he said, Lord, if all these guys fold up like
a two dollar suitcase and they leave, not me. You can count on me because I
will be there. He really believed that. He really
thought that was true. But the Lord showed him, did
he not, that that wasn't the way it was, that he was a rebel
against God in his heart, that he would deny the Lord, that
he would turn away. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Yes, they've got knowledge. The
Lord has given it to them. The invisible things of the world
testify to the glory of God. They know it. They know there
is an absolute God, but they say, we won't have this God.
We don't want Him. See, there is no God for me.
That's what they say. I'm the one. I said this a couple
weeks ago, and this is a true thing. Men are not against predestination. They just believe they're the
predestinator. And they're happy as long as they're the predestinator.
You know, well, I can do whatever I want to do. I'll do this and
I'll do that. Well, you know, by the grace
of God, you may find out that's not true. Because you'll do what
God ordains for you to do. May He show mercy. Have the workers
of iniquity no knowledge? Yes, they do. Who eat up my people
as they eat bread? They have not called upon God.
You see, the enemies of the gospel are arrayed on every hand, but
it's not because they don't know any better, it's because they
will not submit to the rule of Jesus Christ. And they will make
a mockery of the things of God, and they will chew up the people
of God. and spit them out. And then he says, there were
they in great fear where no fear was. Now this is speaking about
the people of God. Because often times it is that
the people of God grow fearful of those who would say there
is no God. Often times those that would
attack the gospel, we become worried Oh, what are we going
to do if Donald Trump don't get re-elected? Huh? What are we going to do? Now
listen, the Lord puts whoever He wills in there, and the Scripture
says that He puts the sorriest ones He can find in those places. That's what He showed Nebuchadnezzar. said that the basest men of the
earth the Lord has put in these places. And you know who he was
talking about? His own body himself. How did Nebuchadnezzar learn
that? He didn't learn it when he was proudly sitting on the
throne, did he? But he learned it when he was
eating grass like an ox in the field. And he said, boy, when
my reason returned, he says, I worshiped the Most High. He
said, I knew there was a God in the heavens. And I knew that
the Most High ruled an army of heavens and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and there is none that can stay His hand or say
unto Him, What doest thou least of all men? But sometimes the people of God
grow fearful. at the onslaughts of those. Oh,
what are they going to do? They've taken prayer out of the
schools and Bible reading and all these things. You know, that's
just terrible. I mean, our country is going
to hell in a handbasket because of all these things. You believe that? No, I'm going
to tell you what's wrong is that men, the Lord has removed back
his hand of restraint and he is showing men exactly
what they are and our nation is going down the tubes as far
as I can see because that restraint is removed. But men are no more
corrupt today than they have ever been. I mean the wickedness
of men is the same at all ages and all men have been in rebellion
against God from the beginning. But God in mercy does sometimes
restrain that. The remainder of wrath He will
restrain. But He said, there were they
in great fear, where no fear was. For God had scattered the
bones of him that encampeth against him. There's a scripture that
says that when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Lord
will lift up a standard against him. It is a true thing that the enemies
of God and the enemies of God's people which are one and the
same. See, men hate God's people because they hate God. They hate
the gospel because they hate God. Now they like aspects of
the gospel, don't get me wrong. You'll find multitudes of people
talking about the gospel. But it's the gospel that men
control. It's not the gospel of the Bible.
It's not the gospel that shows that Jesus Christ paid the sin
debt of his people absolutely and without condition. He obtained
eternal redemption for his people. That's not a popular message.
You'd think it would be. You know, the man that has known
the Lord to be the Lord, he rejoices in that because what other kind
of salvation could he have if Christ hadn't procured it? I
mean, if the Lord didn't purchase our redemption, dear brethren,
what redemption would we have? I mean, if somebody told you that
you could have a million dollars if you could swim through a vat
full of a thousand alligators that hadn't been fed in a month. If you can swim to the other
side, you can have the million dollars. What good would that do you?
Would you jump in? No, I'd say you can have the
million dollars. Why? Because it's an impossibility
that you would ever get it. But you see, men say, well, we'll
just believe when we get ready. They said, if we believe, and
the Lord did say, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord,
he shall be saved. That's an absolute truth, dear
brother. There's never a man that ever called on the name
of the Lord, seeking his mercy, knowing himself to be a rebel
against God. Broken in a contrite heart, never
been a man that ever called upon the Lord who went away without
that which he came for. Because the Lord saves such as
be of a broken and contrite heart. That's just the way that He is. But only He can cause a man to
come to that place. There were they in great fear
where no fear was. No need for God's people to be
fearful of those things which Satan would cast up before us.
It doesn't matter who the president is. The Lord is still going to
be the Lord. When you read the election results,
He is still going to be the Lord. And the one He wants in there,
He might want Elizabeth Warren in there. What about that? Oh my, what will we do then?
Well I'll tell you what we'll do, we'll just worship the Lord.
Because whoever He puts in there is the one that He'll put in
there. And He'll turn their heart with us ever He will. And it
may be to the destruction of our nation. But I'd rather be
in a nation Where God is in control of all things and destroys it,
then I had to be in one that's just going off out here on its
own power. I mean, David said, you know,
he'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of our God than to
dwell in the tents of wickedness. I want to be where the Lord is.
Doesn't make any difference to me what he does. Now, you know,
some things are far more enjoyable than others. You could ask Jonah
about that, he'd tell you. He had some finer days than he
had when he was riding along in the fish's belly. I imagine
he could probably think of a lot of times when he sat down and
had plenty to eat and everything, and he was, you know, thinking
back on that. He was saying, you know, that
was an enjoyable time compared to being in the fish's belly.
But I'll guarantee you this. When all was said and done, Jonah
would have said, you know, I'd rather been in the fish's belly
than I had been on that ship going down to Tarshish. Because
he said, that fish brought me right where the Lord wanted me
to be. And I couldn't be anywhere else. What a glorious thing,
brethren. To be in the hands of the Lord.
Do you remember when the Lord Chastened David and the nation
of Israel for his numbering the people. And he gave him several
choices of what he could do. He said, I just want to be cast
into your hands, Lord, because don't turn me over to men. Lord,
I just want you to do whatever you need to do. Job said, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. Don't want to be anywhere
else. Lord, if you beat me to death,
I'd rather be beat to death by the hand of God than I had to
be turned over to myself to go on another way. So there's no need for fear where
no fear was. There's nothing to be fearful
of if we are in the hand of Almighty God, for God has scattered the
bones of him that encompassed against thee. They can't do a
thing to you. Don't fear Him that can do something
to you in this life. Sure, bad men do bad things. Somebody can shoot you. They
can do all sorts of things, torture you. They can do all sorts of
things that are terrible as far as men are concerned. But brethren,
they cannot do anything to harm you ultimately. Fear not him
that's able to kill the body, but he said fear him who is able
to destroy both body and soul in hell. That's the one you need
to fear. He's not talking about the devil
there, he's talking about the Lord. This one whom people say,
who the fool says, there is no God. I'm not going to serve a
God like that. What do you mean God killed somebody? I had somebody get mad at me
one time because they said God killed him. I said, what? God
doesn't kill anybody. Well, He sure does kill people.
He said, I kill and I make alive. I, the Lord, do all these things. He has scattered the bones of
him that encampeth against thee. Thou hast put them to shame because
God hath despised them. The Lord does despise the wicked. There are those whom the scripture
says his soul hates. He'll destroy the wicked. He
will by no means clear the guilty. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. Their foot shall slide in due time. Because they are
those who say, there is no God for me. I won't worship Him. I won't fall down before Him. God hath despised them. Oh, that
the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion. when God bringeth
back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel
shall be glad. Now what he's speaking about
here is the revelation of the salvation of God. You see the
Lord Jesus Christ, he purchased the redemption of his people
when he went to Calvary's cross. He got it in his hand, it's his,
but now they didn't know about it. See, that's what the preaching
of the gospel is. It comes along. That's why it's
good news. Because you see, those whom the
Lord is pleased to put under great duress at the consideration
of their own rebellion and wickedness before the Lord, the good news
of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. That's
a glorious thing. You see, that's what He said
here. When God bringeth back the captivity of His people,
Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. What does it mean?
When He sets them free. When He shows them His salvation. When He opens their eyes that
they might see just like old Gehazi when Elijah was there
and surrounded by all these armies. And he was frightened and worried
and said, Master, what are we going to do? And the prophet
said, Lord, would you just open his eyes that he might see? And it says that he opened his
eyes and he looked and there was chariots of fire all around
on the hills around him. For the angel of God encampeth
around the people of God. The Lord will not forsake those
that belong to Him. And He has indeed set forth the
preaching of the Gospel to reinforce that in the minds of God's people. Paul said, Reckon ye yourselves
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now I've heard some preachers
talk about it. It's like, well, make believe
that this is true. You know, just kind of think
on it that it's true. That's not what he's saying.
It is true. We are dead indeed under sin.
Well, wait a minute. I feel sin rise up within me.
Yes, you will. And you'll find it rise up within
you until the day that you die. But greater is he that's in you
than he that's in the world. Because you see, dear brethren,
the Lord Jesus Christ indwells His people. And that's why Brother
Al closed his message there a while ago about reconciliation. See, that's what the gospel is.
It is a word of reconciliation. Now, most of the time when you
hear the term reconciliation talked about, it's talked about
from the aspect of that God was angry with men and now He's become
reconciled unto them through the blood of the cross. Well,
that's not what reconciliation is. God has never been angry
with those whom He loves. There would have never been any
redemption if God was angry. I mean, if God was angry with
those whom He loves, what would have been the impetus for Him
to do something about it? No, He loved His people from
the beginning. That's why He sent His Son into
the world to redeem us. So what is reconciliation? Well,
it's the work of God. to change the heart of a man
from being one of those that says, there is no God for me,
to one that says, oh Lord, rule and reign in my life. See, a man by nature, he wants
God to help him. I never met anybody that didn't
want God to help him. You know, men will pray to God
or they'll pray. I mean, I don't know that they're
praying to God, but they're praying. They're praying to who they think
God is. And they'll say, Lord, help me out of this jam. And
Lord, if you'll help me out this time, I won't do this again.
You've done that yourself, haven't you? You've been in that situation,
you know what I mean. Yeah, Lord, if you'll just help
me this once, I won't do it anymore. Well, it's just natural. Every
man does that. You know, that's like a little
kid pleading with the teacher not to send him to the principal's
office. And if you'll just let me by
this time, I'll be good tomorrow. Well, what happens? His own nature
takes over and he's back about doing the same thing tomorrow.
But that's the way men are. I'm not surprised. You shouldn't
be either. That's just the way men are.
But you see, the work of reconciliation is that when the Lord is pleased
to cause a man to throw down those arms of rebellion wherein
he said, there is no God for me. We pray you be reconciled
unto God in Christ. Throw down your arms of rebellion.
Because Christ has died. Christ has paid the price for
sin. He has satisfied the claims of
justice and that which you are so worthy of, that destruction
which waits at noonday which should fall upon your head in
a moment. God has held back for those of
a tender heart that call upon His name. Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, the Lord said, and I will give
you rest. See, that's reconciliation. That's
what the Lord does in the work of reconciliation. It brings
a man from a place of rebellion to a place of service, to a place
of waiting upon the Lord. And what can a man do to save himself? Not a thing
in the world. The Philippian jailer sprung
in, says he sprung in with the light. He says, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Paul told him the only thing
that he could do. He didn't say fill out this card,
sign up. He said believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. I don't know You know, people
have tried to define what that is and write books on it and all that
kind of stuff, but the simplicity of it is this, that only those
whom the Lord is pleased to move in their heart can believe. That's what the Lord said to
the Pharisees. He says, you cannot come to me.
He said you will not, but he said you cannot. You can't come. No man can come unto the Father
unless the Father draws him. You can't come. But oh, can you believe? Will you believe? Do you believe? the work of God. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. I have no doubt, dear brethren,
that the mercy of God will continue to visit His people, and He'll
cause them to believe. He'll cause them to read this
Psalm right here, and He says, Oh Lord, don't let me be a fool.
Lord, don't let me. Because you see, when I read
this, I say, Lord, that'll be me. That would be me. That's the way I am by nature.
Lord, I'll continue on in that way, but Lord, don't let me be
that man that says there is no God for me. Oh, the blessed and
precious Word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It tells us that
He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords, that He bled on
Calvary's cross and died for sinners. And those that are hungry, those
that are in need, those that are poor, He said, come unto
me. Oh, that the Lord might give
us grace today to believe, to be those that lay hold upon Him,
to be reconciled unto Him. What a glorious mercy that is.