A fool's heart. A fool's heart. The fool has said in his heart.
You take out the two parentheses, the two words in Italian, the
fool has said in his heart, no God. No God. Man with all of his intelligence,
with his accomplishments, considered in light of what God says about
the natural man here, about unbelievers, man's not near as good as he
thinks he is, is he? You see, man is proud of his
knowledge, so proud of his knowledge, proud of what he knows. If you
point to his life and say, But look what it says in verse
2. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men
to see if there were any that did understand and see God. Well, they say, see what I've
done. God says, see what I know. They say, see what I've accomplished. And God says, see what I see. Man may impress man. Pretty easy
to impress flesh. But God sees man, the unbeliever,
as he is, as he is. You remember in Acts 17, when
Paul went to Mars Hill, and there were the Athenians. They were
all gathered together just to hear some new thing or tell some
new thing. And Paul got there, up there
with them, and he got to preaching to them. And he began saying,
I see you fellows. I said, you fellows know so much,
and you're so smart. And you gather here to learn,
and you great philosophers, you're just all about. But he said,
I see that you're too religious and you're too superstitious.
For with all your learning, with all your knowledge, and all your
temples, and all your sitting here debating, he said, this
one thing I know, that you don't know God. You've got an altar
here to the unknown God. And the one you don't know, that's
the one I'm going to tell you about. You don't know Him. And that's the way people are.
You've got to tell them who God is, because they're not born
with the knowledge of that. And yet, with all our knowledge
and our understanding, there's a truth, a truth that strikes
at the heart of our pride, starts right at the very heart of our
pride. Human beings are fools. The fool hath said in his heart,
no God. And oh, my, when God says you're
a fool, they're fools for forgetting God. The world may applaud them,
may brag about them as they indulge in their wickedness, as they
do their abominable works, but the Holy Spirit condenses them
and judges them as fools. He says the fool has said in
his heart. And it seems like the wickeder
you can be in this world, The more meanness that you can get
into, the more you can make a name for yourself. Now you can do
the worst thing and become infamous or famous for doing something
bad. And they do these abominable works, and yet men praise them
and brag about them for it. But man has rejected the most
important knowledge that a man can have. He does not know God. And of all the knowledge that
a man needs to get, that's the knowledge that he needs to get
more than anything else, is the knowledge of the most holy. Huh? And I'll make you keep this and
look in Romans chapter one with me for just a moment. Romans
chapter one. You know, hardly anybody say that they
don't know God, but the scripture tells them that they don't know
God. The fool has to say in his heart, know God. I don't want
no God. I don't want no ruler. I don't want nobody over me.
In Romans 1.19 it says this, that God's made himself known,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, where
they manifested in their conscience, in the creation. in the heavens that declare His
glory, in the firmament that shows His handiwork, in all the
glorious things God has showed it unto them. But what does man
do? Look what he says back in verse
18. He says, For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They suppress
this truth that God makes known to them. They suppress this truth
that God reveals to them. They suppress the truth that's
manifest in their own conscience. They suppress it. They hold it
down. And that's back over in our text. The fool has said in
his heart, No God. Now listen, you think about this.
There's no wisdom apart from the knowledge of God. To reject
Him is to reject the source of our very being. It's in Him we
live, move, and have our being. You reject Him, you reject the
source of all true knowledge. You reject Him, you reject the
source of all wisdom. And I can prove that to you from
the Scriptures. Look in Proverbs 1. You know, I'll admit, I was a
fool for years in the beginning of my pool. But look what he
said here in Proverbs 1, 7. Talking about the fear of the
Lord, talking about the wisdom, and you reject God and you reject
the knowledge of God and the wisdom of God and the source
of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Oh, you're talking about knowledge.
Knowledge of what? First of all, a knowledge of Him. Secondly,
a knowledge of yourself. Thirdly, a knowledge of sin.
Fourthly, a knowledge of how desperately you need to be saved.
Then you'll understand your weaknesses, your inability. There's so much
knowledge that goes in fearing God and knowing God that we cannot
begin to plumb the depths of what it is in knowing God, the
beginning of the wisdom of God. And look what he said down in
verse 9. Excuse me, chapter 9, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. What we say is he's starting
to get a little sense. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Just the beginning of it. Just the start of it.
And the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Is understanding. And instead of seeking true wisdom
and the knowledge of the Holy One, they deny Him. And if they
don't deny Him outwardly with their tongue, they do it inwardly
in their hearts. Very few people would stand up
and say, I don't, you know, I don't know God. I don't want to know
God over me. I don't want to know anything
about God. I'm not interested in Him. But if they don't say
it with their tongue, they say it outwardly, with their actions,
and inwardly in their hearts. And the fool has said in his
heart. Do you notice he said in his heart? That's his life. His heart, that's the seat of
his being. When we're talking about a man's
heart, we're talking about his mind, we're talking about who
he is. We talk about a heart. If a man believes with his whole
heart, if he calls on God with his whole heart, righteousness
begins in the heart. Salvation, whosoever calls on
the Lord from his heart shall be saved. And you see, beloved,
the heart talks about the man, the person. And this person in
his heart, in the core of his being, what makes him him, he
turns around and says, know God for me. That's in his heart,
the verb being. His affections are not on God,
his mind is not on God, and let me tell you this, his mind is
not right toward God. He doesn't have a right mind
that even has a right thought toward God. And, oh, that's a
horrible condition to be in. Now, this doesn't mean they're
not religious. Most people are. You know, that's
why you know our Lord Jesus Christ. They ask Him time and time again.
If you're the Messiah, tell us. If you're the Christ, tell us.
Show us the sign over and over and over. You know why they did
that? Because they said in their heart, Oh God, we will not have
this man to reign over us. But they were religious people.
You know, Mary was showing me things. You know, you all get
these things in your mailbox. You know, if you'll keep sending
this letter on, and keep this chain going, then God will send
you a great blessing, or you'll get just out of money at the
end of the... If you ever send one of them letters on, you're
going to never learn anything about it. Mary showed me one yesterday,
saying, God, if you keep this going, God will give you a blessing
in disguise. God ain't never disguised a blessing.
He lets us know where His blessings at, all of His blessings are
in Christ. Get your rabbit's foot, get your
four-leaf clover, get something, because all these folks that
send these things up, they're religious. But what the Acts have said,
I'm a fool in my heart, and there is no God. If you think God's
going to bless you through sending a letter, other than the letter
of this blessing book, that's a fool. When you say that, anybody
that thinks you know that God is going to, you know, Mary said,
somebody took a picture of a big pile of money and sent it off
and said, now, if you keep this going, this is what you're going
to get. When all, we know where all blessings
are, all blessings are in Christ. Think of what I'm talking about.
A fool has said in his heart, no God. When a person sets up
an idol, they say in his heart, in his heart, he says there's
no God. When a person sets up silver
in the place of God, they say no God. It doesn't mean their
conscience are completely dead either. It just means they will
not submit themselves to God. And Paul says this is a problem
for every member of the human race. At one time, look in Romans
3. Oh my, this is the condition
of men outside Christ, and had it not been for the mercy and
grace of God, this is where we'd all be. Paul asks this question here
in Romans 3, 9. What then? Are we better than
they? No, no and no wise. We have proved before both Jews
and Gentiles that they all are under sin. You may be a Jew and
attend the synagogue regularly, but you're under sin. You may
be a Gentile and worship at a pagan altar, but you're all under sin.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth. There is none that seeks after
God. They're all going out of the way. They're all together
become unbrockable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of Asht is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. And here's
the reason why it's all this way. There's no fear of God before
their eyes." Huh? Oh my. So back over in our text
again. that Paul used this thing to
say, this is the way everybody is, outside of Christ. And we
found that out. When God gave us a knowledge
of Himself, He gave us knowledge that this is what we were. And
without Him, this is what we'd have stayed. Now, he says here,
it says, a fool hath said in his heart, Oh, verse 3, they're
all on a side, they're all together, become filthy. There's none that
doeth good, no not one. Now let me quickly go down through
this psalm if I can. Let me give you some attributes,
some characteristics of those that are in unbelief, the natural
man. as he is, in which he says his
natural man, his best estate is vanity. First, it's all the
fool that said in his heart there's no God. Here's the first thing
about them. They're corrupt. They're corrupt. Now, everybody knows what corruption
is. You know, if you get a cut or a bad sore or something like
that, corruption sets in. Well, this is the same word,
something that destroys or causes to ruin. When corruption sets
in, it's going to rot and ruin and destroy. And that's what
this corrupt is. That's something that's in them
that destroys or causes to ruin. And sin has so corrupted the
human race. And men, I'm telling you, beloved,
you know it, that man destroys everything he touches. Even things
that are good, they corrupt. Drugs are good. They are good. Wouldn't you hate to be in a
world without drugs? If you was going to get surgery,
or you had a bad headache, or you got some awful disease, and
you had to have medicine, medicine and drugs is great. They're wonderful. But what does man do with them?
He takes them and he corrupts them and becomes addicts and
destroys their homes, destroys their lives, destroys their children,
destroys themselves, because that's what men do. They'll take
something that's so wonderful and corrupt it. Men will take
alcohol. There's nothing wrong with alcohol.
The Scriptures does not forbid men to have a drink. It does
not do that. But what does man do? He takes it and abuses it,
and just absolutely abuses it. It goes on until he makes the
food out of himself with it. Men will have a good marriage.
You know, marriage is a good thing. And he'll destroy his
marriage, a man or a woman will, because they're not satisfied
that the grass is always greener on the other side. They take
everything that God has given us that's good and you leave
the man alone with it and in a little while he'll destroy
it. They take the law that God used to make us to know what
sin is and now they try to make that the rule of life for a man.
And it was never a rule of life for anybody. All it was was a
death sentence and condemnation and guilt. Christ is the one
who comes to set us free from that. But, oh my, that's what
men will take something that's good, and he'll destroy it. Oh, they do all they want.
Look what it says. Not only are they corrupt, but they've done
abominable works. Abominable works. Oh, my. Hell of abominable works. Brag
on their works. Brag on what they've accomplished.
Here's a song I wrote, a songbook tonight. Listen to this. Listen
to this. Must I go empty-handed, thus
my dear Redeemer meet? Not one day of service give Him,
lay no trophy at His feet. Must I go empty-handed and meet
my Savior's soul? Not with one soul with which
to greet Him, must I go empty-handed? God knows Tess has done an abominable
work. He's done an abominable work. That's an abominable work. People think you've got to go
out here and rob, steal, cheat. All you've got to do is bring
some work that you've done and try to present it to God as something
that He should accept because you've done it. And God will
say, that's an abomination. Over in Titus, he says that they
professing themselves to be holy and pure in works, they deny
Him being abominable in every good work indeed. And then the
Word says here, look what it says, they are corrupt, they've
done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. They're
empty of moral goodness, empty of it. There is none that does
good. None. None. When I talk about moral goodness,
I mean they do it no right from wrong. Everything is the same
to them. It makes no difference if you're
good or you're bad. It makes no difference if you're
up or you're down. It makes no difference if you're
right or you're wrong. I mean, nothing is wrong for
them. And Nicodemus says they want to keep God out of every
aspect of their lives. There's none that doeth good.
Look what happens in verse 2. The Lord looked down. God looks. When God looks, He sees. When
God looks, He sees and He takes notice of. He marks things. And
the Lord looked down from heaven. What did He look upon? On the
children of men. When he went out searching, and
look where it says, the Lord looked down from heaven, from
His throne, high, way up there, way above us. And there He is
on His throne, and He looks down upon the children of man, and
He sees to see. And when He looks and He sees,
do you know what He saw? In Genesis 6, 5, he says, God
saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth. And
over in Genesis 18, God said, I'll go down and look, I'll go
down and see about Sodom and Gomorrah. And all beloved, and he went
looking. He didn't go looking for the wealthy man. He didn't
go looking for the great man. He didn't go looking for the
learned man. Look what he's looking for. Look what he's looking for
when he takes notice. He looks upon the children of
men to see if there are any that did understand. What does he
mean understand? Do you understand anything about
sin? Do you understand anything about yourself? Do you understand
anything about your state before God? Your state and condition
before God? He said, do you understand your
destiny? Where you're going to end up?
Do you know what the end of your days are going to be? Is there
any of you that understands? Does anybody understand? And then look what he says. And then if they understand,
does anybody understand and do they seek God? Do they see, if
they understand, do they seek God? Anybody seeking God? That's what God says. I wonder,
I look down to see if anybody understood. And is anybody seeking
me? Anybody seeking me? Oh, my. Look in Proverbs 18.7. Just a
minute. Proverbs 18.7. You know, A man's
mouth and what is in his heart, it's going to come out sooner
or later. And oh, look what it says here about a fool's mouth.
The fool has said, a fool's mouth is his destruction. Proverbs 18, 7. A fool's mouth
is his destruction. The fool has said in his heart. You just let a fool alone, he'll
destroy himself. And his lips are the snare of
his soul. He'll use his words to snare
himself. That's what our Lord said, by
your words you'll be condemned, by your words you'll be justified. And let me tell you something,
sin brings such a horrible blindness that there's none to seek after
God. Our Lord Jesus Christ in him was life, and the light was
the light of men, and the light shined in darkness, and darkness
comprehended not. Sin brings such a horrible, horrible
blindness. You see, lost men, lost men,
I'm telling you, they have no spiritual intelligence. They
have no spiritual witness, wisdom. And as we say today, boy, they
ain't got a clue. Not a clue. And that's why lost
men don't know anything. Don't know anything. And if you want any of your friends,
And your loved ones, to know anything about anything, they're
going to have to come hear the gospel. They're going to have
to come listen to the Word. They're going to have to come. And God's going
to have to be the one to teach you. And then look what it says, that
they not only don't, that there's any that did understand and seek
God. And look what happens down in
the last part of verse four. Not only there's none that seeks
after God, but there's none that call not upon the Lord. They
don't even call upon the Lord. They don't call on Him. They
don't call on Him. Just call not on the Lord. Why
would I call on the Lord? And this says here that no, not
one. It says there, you know, they
seek, and the reason that people don't seek God, no, not one of
them, is they see no value in Him. They see no worth in Him. They see no value in Him. What would there any value be
in me seeking God? What value is God to me? You see, people will seek religion,
but they won't seek God. They'll seek religion. You know
what they said about our Master? He's a wine-beggar and a glutton
because he ate with publicans and sinners. John the Baptist come preaching
repentance, and they said, Oh, he hath a demo. But if they don't mind religion,
just don't give me God. Don't make it too serious. Just
a little religion. I just want to feel comfortable.
I just want to feel good about myself. Don't get carried away
with this business of religion. Don't get carried away with this
business of seeking God. Don't make God to be everything
and all the beginning, end, and all things. Don't do that. I
can take a little bit, but don't give me too much. Isn't that
the way people are? And look what he asks there.
You see it said here that they've all gone aside. Let's go back
up to verse 3 again. They're all gone aside. They're
all gone aside. All gone aside. And look what
it says. They are all gone aside. They
are all together become filthy. Filthy. Have the words of iniquity,
you know that word filthy, that means stinking. And David asked
this question here in verse four. Have all the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? What? Well, he's already proved
it to have no knowledge. Why would he ask that question?
He's already proved it to have no knowledge. It's already proved
that they just have the bomb of the works. They're corrupt.
They're altogether filthy. They're altogether turned aside.
They're altogether stinky. And look what else it says here.
Who eat up my people as they eat bread. Now how in the world
do they do that? How do these wicked natural men
eat up the Lord's people? Well, they devour those who God
made most worthy. who God, by His blessed grace,
saved. He said they call them God's people, who eat up my people
as they eat up bread, and don't call on the Lord. They devour
their characters, devour their testimony, devour their commitment,
devour their love for Christ. They devour their love for order.
They devour their love for what's right, just, holy, and true.
They devour their love for righteousness in Christ and His righteousness.
They make no distinction between right and wrong, and they have
no regard for honesty whatsoever. Lost humanity. Lost humanity. Hate God, hate His people, and
prosperity to them is money, things, and accomplishments And
they hate and despise that we desire God and the beauty of
Christ above all things, that we desire for our souls to prosper. They mock the believer as he
has an unfailing trust in God. How can you believe in God and
look at you? And you're sick? Look at you. And you're in trouble?
Look at you. That your body's failing you?
Look at you. You're getting old? Look at you.
Your mind's losing your mind? And they'll mock you and make
fun of you. Where's your God at? He was the same place when
I had my right mind. And He'll be there when my mind's
completely gone. He'll be there when I'm gone.
I asked Brother Henry that one time when his son got killed
in Vietnam, I said, where's God at when your son got killed?
He said, same place he was when we killed his son, sitting on
his throne. And oh my! And notice what it
says here now. And oh my! They were in great
fear. Great fear. Why were they in
great fear for? Why were they in great fear? And look what it says in the
margin there. They fear the fear. They fear the fear. They fear the fear. Oh, they
fear the fear. How in the world can you fear
the fear? But notice the difference between
the righteous and the poor. He said in verse 6, He has shamed
the counsel of the poor. God's people here are called
poor, and the Lord's their refuge. But you know what they're called?
Fools. And oh, listen, I tell you, they
devour, notice it. And I tell you what, you know
what makes them poor? They claim nothing but Christ. And we claim nothing but Christ,
and yet we have the greatest wealth. You know why? Because
we're heir of all things. If you have Christ, what else
do you need? What else do you need? When it's all said and
done, He gives us a place to live, but when it's all said
and done, when we get ready to leave this world, the only thing
that will be real to go out into eternity and face it is Christ
Himself. And oh my, bless you, we're heir
of all things. And then it says there in verse
five, for they are in great fear. The margin says, they fear the
fear. You know, everything in this
world, in this life, is characterized by loss. Everything is characterized
by loss. I mean, loss, loss, loss, loss,
loss. Everybody in here has some losses.
Lost loved ones, lost property, lost money, lost health, lost
friends. There's a great loss in this
world, and this life is characterized by loss. And the lost man, he's
terrified by loss. He's terrified by loss. He's
terrified of the loss of goods. What will I do if I lose everything?
He's terrified of the loss of love. Often nobody loves me.
He's terrified about losing his life, the loss of life. And yet
he says, there's no God, no God for me. And oh, because there's
no God, he's left alone in this world. And oh, and he says, you're afraid
when there ain't no cause to fear. And I tell you, to be left
alone in this world, have to face God. When you say there
is no God, they should fear God. God's against them. And it's
so foolish to deny God. Now contrast this with God's
people. Look what in verse 5 and 6, look
what he says. They were in great fear. Fear
they feared, for God is in the generation of the righteous. Where's God at? Dwells in his
people. The whole generation, all his
people, generation of righteous, God is in that generation of
his people. And yet you shame the poor. Huh? But the Lord's His refuge. The
Lord's His refuge. What a wonderful place to be
hid. What a wonderful place to have a refuge. And then lastly,
look at David's hope for salvation in verse 6. Oh, salvation from this world
of fools. Don't you get disgusted with this world full of fools.
Don't you get disgusted with it. Don't you get aggravated
with it. Don't you just get... Sometimes you see what's going
on in this world and all the abomination that there is. And I tell you, you go on vacation
and leave your television off and don't even get on the internet
or nothing like that, go do that for five or six days, and you
know what? You'll get a little clear-headed, you'll get a little
calmed down, but just the minute you turn it back on, it just
picks up right where you left off seven days ago. Nothing's
changed. But oh, God's going to save us
from this world of fools. Look what he says, Oh, that the
salvation of Israel, we'd come. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion. And Zion is the place where God
dwells, dwells in His church. We've come under Mount Zion,
not under the, to the city of the living God. Oh, that salvation
of Israel will come out of Zion. Here comes God bringing salvation. Here comes God bringing us out
of this world. God's bringing us out of this
world of fools. And oh, listen, then He says,
you know what will happen when this happens? When He brings
back the captivity of His people, when He sets them free, brings
back them, saves them from their captivity, brings them out of
their captivity. And look what He says then. Jacob
shall rejoice. Who's Jacob? Thou worm, Jacob.
We're all descendants of Jacob. Jacob had the love. And Israel,
what's going to happen to her? She's going to be glad. Oh, I'm
glad, Lord. The Lord sent us salvation. And
I'll tell you something, beloved. You know what our Lord said about
salvation? He said, with men it's impossible. Oh, that salvation will come
out of Zion. God sends salvation, sends salvation. And I read something today, and
the fellow that done this, 150, I finished a book today that's
probably 150, 160 years old, a messenger man, priest, and he said in that, he says that
the Lord, when the last of God's sheep is gathered in, the last
one of God's elect is saved, He says, then it'll all be over. And He said that's expected to
happen any time. That's 160 years ago. So we are
much, much nearer now than it was then. Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, come.