The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. Psalm 53 and Psalm 14 are basically,
word for word, the same psalm. So that makes it important. Paul
quotes Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 in both Romans chapter three
and in Romans chapter seven. And the repeat of this Psalm
is not a printing mistake. It's not that David forgot that
he had said these words before. These words are worthy of repeating. They need to be repeated time
and time again. These words carry great significance. Verse one, the fool has said
in his heart, and those words there is are italicized, the
fool had said in his heart, no God. Now the fool did not say
in his heart, there is no God as to deny God's existence. The fool, the senseless, the
wicked, the vile, had said from his mouth, no in his heart. What did the fool, the wicked
man say from his heart? He said, no God. They're not
only saying no God for me, they're saying no God, they're saying
no to God. They will not have this God to
rule over them. And that's what's so foolish.
That's why they're called fools. Can you say no to God? You can,
but with no success. For who hath resisted his will? So really, there's no saying
no to God. In the end, you and I will always
do what God wills. This is speaking of the attitude
of the heart. This is addressing the depravity,
the wickedness of every man and woman's heart. God's will is
always done, every day, all the time. And man by nature says,
no, no God. I'll have a will in the matter
too. Now the Word of God plainly declares that salvation is of
the Lord, and that God has mercy on whom He will, and whom He
will, He hardeneth. It's God's prerogative to save
or let men have their own way and die in their sin. Salvation
is all about God's will. It doesn't have anything to do
with man's will. Salvation is not, if I can, God
will. What can any sinner do? Can they
let go and let God have his way as men declare today? Can they
give their heart to Jesus? Can they get saved? Can anyone
get saved? There are labor laws that say,
if I work, I get paid. Men and women know if we don't
work, we don't get paid and we don't eat. But that's never,
absolutely never been the case in the matter of salvation. Salvation
has always been by grace through faith. Salvation has always been
God's gift to chosen sinners. God, in grace, gave some sinners
life. He gave them a heart that could
and would believe. You were dead. God gave you life. You didn't do anything. If you
receive something, you can't glory in it. You can't glory
in something that you were given. You can't glory in it because
you didn't do anything. You didn't do it. You can't glory
because someone else did it. Only the one who gave the gift
has reason to glory. You get no glory in the work
of another. There's no merit in receiving
a free gift. The statement that David makes
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is much more than just
an argument against atheism. This is speaking of a much darker
evil. This is saying no to God. This is attempting to deny God
His right to be God. Can you say no to God? It all
depends on who your God is. If he's a God who wants and tries
to do something, you might say no to him. If so, you might discourage
him or frustrate his will. But the God of the Bible is a
God who purposes and does. He says over and over, I will,
and they shall. God of the Bible purposes and
does. Is God one who needs man's help
and man's will to accomplish his own will and help man? Or
does God speak it and it comes to pass? Does God purpose it
then do it just as he purposed Yes. Amen. The God of the Bible is the one
who controls all things, and He executes His counsel to bring
all things to pass, just as He so purposed. Men and women need
to read their Bibles. God directs all things. This
is what makes the child of God's redemption sure. It's by God's
choosing, it's by God's calling, it's by God's saving, and God
bringing us to himself in Christ. But man's nature is to say no
to God. It is man's nature not to have
Christ to rule over them. And this is why verse one says,
corrupt are they. Who's corrupt? Those who say
no, God. No, God, I refuse to bow to you
as God. No, God, I refuse to bow to your
sovereign rule. No, God, I refuse your divine
appointments. I refuse to accept your omnipotent
providence. No, God, I refuse to believe
that I have no will and no work, no way in the matter of salvation. No, God. God, I say no to your
sovereignty. I say no to your holiness. I
say no to your will and purpose. God, I say no to your providence.
I don't like the way that you do things. I refuse to bow to
you and who you say you are. No, God. I know that I can and
must do something to be saved. And why don't people like the
way God does things? It's always right. God always
does what's right. I heard someone say not long
ago, God wouldn't do that. If it happened, then he did.
How could any of us say no to God? Because we're corrupt. That's
what David says. We're rotten. That's what the
word means. We're bad to the bone and beyond. Verse 1 says
that all of us have done abominable iniquities. We've all done loathsome,
detestable, revolting, disgusting things called abominable iniquity. All that you and I do is sin.
We corrupt things because sin is what we are. Abominable iniquity
is ours because we are abominable. And verse one says, there's none
that doeth good. Men and women by nature are ignorant,
wicked, vile, disobedient, and unwilling servants. They say
no to God. No to any help from Him. No to
any deliverance from Him. No to everything from Him. And
He is the one thing needful. How could we be so ignorant?
We are corrupt and do abominable iniquity, and we are without
excuse. We're without excuse because
of creation. Seeing creation is proof enough
to God's existence. We are without excuse because
of divine providence. We are without excuse because
God has preserved His Word for us to read, study, and search
and see that only a powerful, almighty, omnipotent God can
providentially, by His own will and purpose, cause everything
to work in perfect order. The sun, the moon, the planets,
the stars all do His bidding. The rain, the wind, the storms
all heed His direction. There's no excuse to not believe
there is a God. And in verse 2, it's the same.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see that
if there were any that did understand. Was there any that did seek God?
Who's looking down? It's God that's looking down.
Where's God looking down from? He's looking down from heaven.
This is the true God from heaven. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from the Father of lights, cometh from Him who is above, in whom
there is no variableness, no shadow of turning. The Supreme
One is the one who looks down from heaven. The God who looks
down from heaven is the one and only true God. He does what He
wills in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And there is none in heaven, none in earth, none under the
earth, that can stay his hand or question his will or his purpose
in whatever he does. God looked down from heaven as
only the true God can. And who was he looking at? He looked down upon the children
of men. He looked down upon me and you. Why? To see if there
were any one who did understand and seek after God. And as you
can see, the word any is italicized and it's added, but it should
be because God did not find any or anyone who did understand.
There were not any who understood God. There were not any who did
seek after God. What did these folks not understand?
They had no understanding of their sin. They had no understanding
of God's perfect righteousness. They had no understanding how
the sinner becomes righteous. They had no understanding as
to how God could be just and still justify. They had no understanding
as to why they would say no to God. What did God find when he
looked to find any that sought after him? Did he find any? Not
a one. Verse three. Every one of them
has gone back. All have left God and their sin
is the cause. They all departed God. Every
one of them apostatized and went away. None of them sought God. And here we have the exposing
of man's will. I can sum up man's will with
two words. Man won't, two words, know God. Why? Because they're all together
become filthy. Did they become filthy after
they were born? No, they were not born good and
became bad. No, they were already filthy
after Adam's sin. They were filthy when they were
born. And God doesn't think like us.
We don't understand the character of God. He doesn't think like
us. He's altogether other than we are. We've all gone back. And this is such evil. Man, by
nature, finds God repulsive. And men and women find God unfair. You tell someone that God saves
whom he wills, how he wills, when he wills, and they'll say,
well, that's unfair. A man told me one time that my
God was his devil. He thought God was too loving
and too good to send people to hell. Folks argue that God wouldn't
do that. Friends, if God doesn't send
people to hell, then why does hell exist? Men believe in evolution. They believe that mankind is
evolving, that mankind's getting better. They believe that everyone's
born the same, and the difference between us is the ones that we
make. Mankind needs educating. Mankind
needs grooming. In other words, man works hard
to make themselves to differ. With the right upbringing, teaching,
grooming, and educating, men and women can make a difference
in their personal lives and make themselves worthy to be saved. It's a lie. Here's what the Bible
says. Mankind is dead in sin. He's evil, corrupt, and filthy,
and he can do nothing to save himself. God must divinely intervene
in the sinner's life. Reveal Christ to them. show them
their need, and then they'll see that because of their need,
they need the great physician. Oh, may God be pleased to show
you that salvation is of the Lord. You have been listening
to a message by David Edmondson. the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652,
Madisonville, Kentucky, 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m., Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.