The Fool Says, There is no God (Psalm 14)

Announcements

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

As you know, on Wednesday evenings, we’ve been working through an expositional series through the book of psalms. Last week, I reintroduced the series and gave just a brief reminder of the purpose of the psalms prior to the message and I’d like to remind us again of the purpose of the book as we jump into Psalm 14 this evening. Again, the book of psalms is unique when compared to other books in the Bible because the Psalms isn’t a narrative, it isn’t necessarily an historical record, and it isn’t like an epistle, which is letter meant to encourage and teach; though, it’s clear that there are narrative elements to the psalms, there are historical events in the psalms, and they definitely encourage and teach.

The book of psalms is a compilation of poems written by various authors during a multitude of different events all for the purpose of being utilized for the musical worship of the LORD. In many ways, we can look at it like an ancient hymnal meant to be utilized for Israel to worship God through singing. Now, of course, there’s a few differences, which you can ask me about after the service, but the point is that the psalms exist as a hymnal of sorts for the Jewish people to musically worship the LORD.

Unlike many of our modern-day worship songs, which emphasize joy, happiness, and an upbeat tempo, many of the psalms are actually more reflective, possibly at a slower tempo, and don’t always emphasize joy and happiness. This evening’s psalm is another one of those psalms in which it’s clearly more reflective than joyous, though it does end with great joy. Psalm 14 was written “To the choirmaster” of or by David—it was meant to be sang by a choir for musical worship and it was written by King David. We aren’t sure on the timeline of when it occurred or why it was written, we simply know that David wrote it as he reflected on the state of mankind.

Now, there is something that I do want to point out before we dig into Psalm 14 and it’s this, Psalm 53 is very similar to Psalm 14. It’s almost identical and you might question why there are so many similarities between these two psalms. I think, when I first introduced this series, that I mentioned that we were working through the psalms by book and between each book, we would take a break.

The book of psalms isn’t one large compilation of psalms, it’s actually five compilations that have been put side by side.

Book one is chapters 1-41

Book two is chapters 42-72

Book three is chapters 73-89

Book four is chapters 90-106

And Book five is chapters 107-150.

Chapters 1-2 provide an introduction of sorts to the whole collection of 150 psalms, whereas chapter 150 provides a doxology for the entire collection of psalms.

Scholars believe that each book was given to a different group of Israelites depending on their geographic location; and thus, everyone in Israel could continue to worship the LORD musically, even when not in Jerusalem.

On occasion, some of the psalms are very similar to other psalms in different books—Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 happen to be one of those occasions.

Psalm 14 is in book one; Psalm 53 is in book two—and they’re similar so that people in different areas of Israel could still utilize the concepts found in both psalms to worship the LORD musically.

It’s of note because anytime Scripture repeats something it adds emphasis to the importance of what it says. Keep that in mind as we study Psalm 14 together this evening. Let’s read Psalm 14.

Psalm 14 ESV

To the choirmaster. Of David. 1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. 7 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.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) Vss. 1-3, An Assessment of Mankind; (2) Vss. 4-6, The Punishment of the Wicked; and (3) Vs. 7, The Coming Kingdom. The psalmist starts by reflecting on the evil and the wickedness of mankind and by doing so, he explains what we typically refer to as the total depravity of man—that prior to salvation, mankind is utterly wicked. He then transitions into talking about the impending punishment who remain in wickedness; and then he ends, by reflecting on God’s salvation of his people and the establishment of his Kingdom. This psalm helps believers to understand the utter wickedness of unbelievers, that mankind isn’t genuinely good prior to salvation. It’ll also help us to understand that God is right in the punishment of wickedness, but as his people, we can rejoice in the coming kingdom.

Prayer for Illumination

An Assessment of Mankind (1-3)

David starts his psalm with a statement that not only contradicts how a lot of people in our modern-day world thinks, but he says it in a way that might sound harsh, but its truth is vitally important for us to understand today. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

I say that this is counter-cultural because it seems as if there are quite a few people who believe that there isn’t a God today—Pew Research states that approximately 60% believe that there is some form of a higher being (whether that being is the God of Christianity is a different story) and that only about 5-6% of the American population will outrightly claim that God doesn’t exist. Of course there are many variable to take into account, but the majority seem to actually believe in some sort of God.

Psalm 14 highlights the ones that say that there is no God by outrightly calling the ones who claim that there is no God fools.

Merriam-Webster says that a fool is “a person lacking in judgment or prudence.” To call someone a fool means that they are thinking or acting in a way that lacks sense.

When the Bible calls someone a fool it implies godlessness, corruption, and sinfulness.

Psalm 14:1 starts by calling those who reject God and claim that there is no God in their heart fools.

This is beyond simply making the verbal statement that God doesn’t exist; the Bible says that they’ve said it in their heart that God doesn’t exist.

Their inner person or their inner being doesn’t believe that God exists and that’s who the Bible calls a fool.

One who doesn’t just claim verbally not to believe, but wholeheartedly disbelieves in their very being—their mind, their heart, their inner self rejects God.

The Bible calls this person a fool—a person who rejects God with their inner being is one who lives, thinks, and acts, in a way that lacks sense.

But the Bible doesn’t stop by calling them a fool, it explores the depths of their depravity through lines two and three of vs. 1, “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.”

This verse again goes against the grain of modern-day thinking concerning who man is. Many people hold to the false idea that man is genuinely good, but they sometimes make foolish decisions; man is morally upright, they just get tripped up on occasion.

The reality is as Psalm 14 says, that they’re all corrupt doing abominable deeds—there is no such thing as a genuinely good person or a morally upright person apart from God. Psalm 14:1 makes that abundantly clear.

David reiterates this truth in vs. 3, “there is none who does good, not even one,” and then it’s actually repeated by the apostle Paul in Romans 3:9-20.

To think that mankind apart from God isn’t wicked, is to go against what Scripture itself says.

In addition, this verse goes against modern-day philosophical ideas in that many in our modern-day period believe that people are born as a tabula rasa or blank slate.

Many people today believe that people are born morally neutral and how they end up as an adult is simply a result of how they were raised.

There is some truth in that statement, that your childhood effects your adulthood, but there’s two errors in the tabula rasa thinking—(1) it assumes that man is born neutral and (2) it removes culpability from the person and places it on someone else.

In reality, mankind isn’t born morally neutral. In fact, we know from Psalm 14 that all mankind is morally corrupt doing abominable deeds without God and we know from Genesis 3 that this corruption starts at the moment of birth. And that the individual chooses to continue in wickedness rather than following God.

This is what David is reflecting on in Psalm 14—that mankind is corrupt and they refuse to follow God. Now, of course, you read that “they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” and it might cause you to question whether that’s a legitimate statement.

FIrst off, let me answer that by saying that it is Scripture, these are the very Words of God and because they’re the Words of God, who is only truthful, you can rest assured that what he says is true.

But for someone who isn’t coming to this with the presupposition that God is only ever truthful, you might read this and think, “But I know plenty of people who have rejected God and do good things.”

Let me ask you to consider what James writes in James 2:10-11 “10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

Our finite minds think of sin as separate entities and our sinful nature causes us to categorize sins by severity—so, telling a white lie isn’t as bad as stealing from someone; stealing from someone isn’t as bad as taking someone’s life. Taking someone’s life isn’t as bad as blasphemy. And so on and so forth, we justify our sins by comparing our sins to the sins of others. We’re like the Pharisee who prays in the temple and thanks God that he isn’t like the sinner next to him.

The reality is, that James 2:10-11 teaches us that God doesn’t view sin by degree, he views all sins equally as transgressions against the Law—so if you break any part of the Law, you’re guilty of it all. In God’s view, a white lie breaks the whole Law; theft breaks the whole law; murder breaks the whole law; and blasphemy breaks the whole Law.

What David is saying in Psalm 14 is that those who are without God break the entire Law and thus nothing that they can do is good in light of their transgressions of the Law. As transgressors of the Law, everything they do isn’t good because it’s colored in light of their transgressions.

It isn’t until the person repents and believes that their good works are seen in the light of righteousness from God and they’re no longer identified by corruption and abominable deeds.

But David’s focus here is on those who haven’t repented; that have refused God. And he continues in vss. 2-3, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”

David states that God is looking down from heaven on the children of man—and it paints an image of God looking around the clouds to see what mankind is like.

Which, let me be clear, isn’t exactly the truth. This is an anthropomorphism, which simply means that David is utilizing human attributes to explain God’s actions.

If you think with me, God is Spirit and he doesn’t have a physical body in the sense that we do. So, he doesn’t exactly have eyes and a face that’s looking down from heaven to the earth.

But this anthropomorphism gives us a pretty vivid image of what this is like—God is watching mankind and it’s actually not the first time that the Bible describes God doing this.

Genesis 6:11-12 talks about the corruption of mankind prior to the flood, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sign, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”

Genesis 11:5 during the Tower of Babel incident, the Bible says, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.”

God watches mankind to see how man acts, reacts, and thinks. We call this his omnipresence and his omniscience, his ability to be in all places at all times to see what is happening and to know what is happening.

David says that God is watching the children of man and he’s specifically looking for something.

Vs. 2 says that he is looking for children of man that understand and seek after God.

The idea of a child of man understanding is that he knows truth and acts prudently concerning that truth—we could say that God is looking at the children of man to see if there’s someone who knows the truth about him and does something wise about it. Since David is focusing on the fool, it makes sense then that this person has no genuine understanding, that’s why he is a fool.

To seek God means to seek the very presence of God—sometimes, people have a very mystical or spiritualized idea of what it means to seek after God. Part of that is simply because we live in a very new age focused culture, but what Scripture means when it talks about seeking after God, it’s the idea of seeking his presence or to literally seek his face.

What David is saying is that God is looking at mankind and there’s no one that knows the truth about him and no one is responding to the truth about him; no one is seeking his presence.

Instead, as vs. 3 reminds us, “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” This gives us an image of mankind that is typically contrary to that of what people think of mankind to be. Mankind apart from God is wicked, it is corrupt, it does abominable deeds. And apart from God’s working within people, man always rejects God, because of that corruption, because of that wickedness, because of their original sin. David continues into the next section reflecting on that wickedness, but realizing that there are repercussions to wickedness. Let’s re-read vss. 4-6.

The Punishment of the Wicked (4-6)

Psalm 14:4–6 ESV

4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.

David poses a rhetorical question in vs. 4 that’s meant to express almost a shock or dismay of the psalmist concerning the wickedness of the evildoers or what vs. 1 calls the fool. David asks, “Have they no knowledge?”

Which again, is rhetorical because vs. 2 does indeed inform us that they don’t have understanding, which is revealed by their lack of desire to seek God.

So, David isn’t asking whether they have no knowledge, he already knows that they lack understanding. The question is really, why exactly does he ask this then?

He asks this question to again, express a sense of dismay or shock; and he does this for the purpose of expounding on how evil or how wicked the people that he’s calling out are.

We see their wickedness in vss. 4-6, but within these statements are statements of hope for God’s people as well. Let’s take a moment to look at these statements separately.

The wickedness of these people is expounded on in the following phrases:

In vs. 4 David calls them “the evildoers who eat up my people and do not call upon the LORD”—the idea is that their wickedness is pronounced or made evident by their vicious attack on David’s people. Remember, David is the king of Israel and he’s right to call them his people, but it’s clear in vss. 4-6, that these people aren’t just David’s; they’re God’s people as well. And David says that the evildoers are “[eating] up [his] people as they eat bread.” They’re devouring the people—there aren’t specifics given here, but we could sum up what’s happening with the word persecuting. They are persecuting God’s people. Because these are God’s people, we could rightly say that the evildoers, the wicked are persecuting God’s righteous people while refusing to believe in God.

In vs. 6 David says that “[the wicked] would shame the plans of the poor” and in line with what’s going on in vss. 5-6, it would seem as if David is making the statement that the wicked even in light of a warning from God, are still going to humiliate the afflicted, they’re still going to persecute God’s righteous people because the wicked have refused to call upon the LORD.

But again, those two statements are interspersed with statements of hope for God’s people as well:

Vs. 5 says, “There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.”—Even in the midst of persecution and affliction from the wicked people, the Bible tells us that the persecutors and afflicters should be in great terror because God is with his people. God has made the promise to never leave nor forsake his people in Hebrews 13:5 and that promise is solidified by the Spirit’s permanent indwelling of his people (as we studied in John 14 a few weeks ago on Sunday). God is always with his people, he never abandons them—there is hope for God’s people even when faced with persecution.

In vs. 6 David responds to the shaming of the plans of the poor with, “but the LORD is his refuge.”—We’ve spoken several times throughout the psalms what the concept of a refuge is. It is a place that provides shelter from danger or trouble. We take shelter in buildings during storms—in some places, they have hurricane and tsunami shelters that are more fortified for those types of stronger storms. Christians in restricted access countries will utilize embassies as a refuge when facing danger from local governments. David says in vs. 6 that the wicked will shame the plans of the poor, but the poor has God as his refuge—his safe place, his security.

Despite the wicked or the evildoers harming the righteous and persecuting the poor, David can’t help but to point out the hope that those that are genuine believers can have and should have in God himself.

For us, in our present condition, we don’t face persecution and harm in the same sense that David is speaking of in Psalm 14. The amount of persecution that we might face today in the United States is miniscule, which is why you see so many self-proclaimed Christians ins the US claiming persecution when Starbucks stopped serving coffee in Christmas cups and switched to holiday themed cups. That’s why so many Christians in the US get so offended when they face the slightest pushback concerning anything.

In reality, what the Bible has in mind when it speaks of Christians facing persecution and harm is the very real sense of death, destruction, and loss of everything. Again, we don’t face this sort of persecution in the United States today, but our Christian brothers and sisters face it on a daily basis in places like China, the Sudan, and North Korea.

We have Christian brothers and sisters that are being attacked, being arrested, tortured, and beaten; that’s what’s in mind when David says that the persecuted and the afflicted take God as his refuge. This is what David has in mind when he speaks of God being with the generation of the righteous. Those that face persecution and affliction can have hope because God is with them and God is their refuge.

If those who are facing severe and genuine affliction and persecution can have hope because God is with them and God is their refuge, how much hope can we have as believers that don’t experience that great affliction and persecution? And the beauty is that God’s presence amongst his people and his being our refuge aren’t the only reasons for our hope. And David expresses this truth as a longing for the kingdom of God. Read with me the last verse, Vs. 7.

The Coming Kingdom (7)

Psalm 14:7 ESV

7 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 last verse, is David expressing longing for the coming kingdom of God. There’s a great day coming in which God will restore his people.

David focuses particularly on the salvation of Israel coming out of Zion. Zion is another name for Jerusalem.

David expresses confidence that the salvation of Israel would come out of Jerusalem, and during this time God will restore or bring his people back to their former glory.

There’s reason then for Jacob and Israel to rejoice and be glad because of the coming great day of the LORD.

David doesn’t go into too much detail about what this coming day of the LORD will be like, but it’s clear that there’s a contrast here between what life was currently like with the Israelites facing the wickedness of those who refuse God and what will become.

Currently, those that believe are being persecuted and afflicted by those that don’t believe.

There’s a significant contrast between what David calls the fool in vs. 1 and whom he’s referring to as the righteous in vss. 5-7.

The wicked, the fools that David is referring to feel that they are in complete control—they think that they can do whatever they want, take advantage of whomever they want, and hurt those they disagree with.

The righteous and the poor who are being afflicted and persecuted might feel alone, they might feel desperate, they might feel like they don’t have any control.

But the reality is that those who are wicked have judgment coming and those who are righteous are in the presence of the LORD (they see his face) and can take refuge in him.

Because God restores the fortune of his people.

That last phrase, “Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad” can really say “let all God’s people rejoice and be glad.

In this specific scenario, those that genuinely believe in God are being persecuted and harmed by those who don’t believe, who have foolishly said “there is no God.”

And again, like I previously mentioned, we don’t face the same sort of persecution and harm that David is referring to; he’s very much talking about the real threat of death, the taking of personal property, the loss of family, and the intentional harm done against them.

But our brothers and sisters in other countries do face this sort of persecution and harm. And while we don’t suffer the same sort of harm and persecution we can relate to this passage based on their suffering. Our brothers and sisters in other countries that are suffering because of their faith can rejoice and be glad, they can have hope because they are in the presence of God and he is their refuge.

When we do face situations that are filled with our limited amount of persecution and suffering, we can rejoice and be glad, we can have hope because if we genuinely believer, we’re in the presence of God and he is our refuge.

The idea of rejoicing and being glad is to praise God, it is to give thanks despite all that you might be facing even if it includes being physically harmed and persecuted.

It is to focus on what God has promised despite what might be terrible situations and exalting him, worshiping him, and thanking him for what he has done.

In light of Psalm 14, it means that despite the persecution, the struggle, the hardship in life, you choose to focus on what you know to be true about God rather than the present difficulty.

Understanding what God has promised and who God is will allow you to live just like Paul lived in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Or in other words, if you understand who God is and what God has promised, this present life and its hardships and its sufferings aren’t worth dwelling on because who God is and what he has promised is so much greater than anything that we could struggle with.

In that light, we can look at Psalm 14 and come to the same realizations that David does—the world is filled with corruption, with those who are fools rejecting God and doing abominable deeds. We can see that no one does good and that the evildoers reject God, hurt Christians, and afflict the poor and needy.

And instead of being driven to great despair because of these truths, we can be led to great praise as we rejoice and as we’re glad for who God is and what he has promised.

We can pray similar prayers that David does in which we acknowledge the truth that there is great pain and suffering even at the hands of unbelievers, but we serve a good and great God who is with us and who is our refuge.

Allen Ross makes this statement about Psalm 14 in his commentary, “The impact of reading Psalm 14 is staggering: there is none righteous, no not one. The whole race has become corrupt and dangerous because it chooses to live in defiance of God. If people ignore God, or the idea of God, then they naturally ignore God’s distinctions between good and evil. It is foolish to pervert life and become loathsome to God, for God will judge the wicked and bring relief and restoration to the righteous.”

We live in a world in which there is all manner of unrighteousness and wickedness, in which the wicked always seem to prosper and have all the power and control. We live in a world in which is may seem as if doing the right thing always leads to a worse position than where we started. And yet, there is still great reason to rejoice and be glad. Which leads us in our last few minutes to our application.

Application

An Assessment of Mankind (1-3)—in the first three verses, we see David giving a pointed description of what mankind was like and quite frankly is like. And it’s important to realize that he’s speaking of people who have rejected God and refuse to listen to God and he’s very blunt in what he says. He calls them fools that are corrupt and that do abominable deeds. He says that none of them do good things, none of them seek God, and none of them care to understand the things of God. My first application is this:

Understand that this is the status of all people who don’t believe. Everyone prior to salvation is foolish, corrupt, doing abominable deeds, lacking in understanding, and refusing God. All people prior to salvation is in the state of absolute corruption, we call this the total depravity of man.

Recognize that this describes everyone who doesn’t believe—and recognize that to expect someone that doesn’t believe to act good, to do good, and to behave like a Christian simply won’t work.

You can convince someone to conform his actions to a certain way or lifestyle but you won’t be able to lead them to salvation by changing their outward behavior. In fact, you should expect their outward behavior to reflect the condition of their heart.

If their heart isn’t regenerate then don’t be surprised when they act like an unbeliever—in fact, it would be more surprising if they acted like a regenerate believer if they claim to not believe. Don’t expect an unbeliever to act like a believer.

Expect them to be corrupt, expect them to do abominable deeds, expect them to do wrong. Even expect them to persecute you and harm you. Remember Jesus himself says “if the world hates you its because it hated him first.”

But also recognize that this was your state before believing in Jesus. You also were foolish in rejecting God, you were corrupt, you were doing abominable deeds, you were persecuting and harming Christians.

Now consider what changed you. What convinced you to believe in Jesus and to repent of your sins?

Because those around you that are described in these first three verses need Jesus and they need to repent.

And for most people, being treated poorly, being attacked, being talked down on, being treated hypocritically isn’t what led them to believe and repent.

For most of us, we came to know Jesus because someone faithful in our lives kept prodding us toward the truth in a loving way—a pastor, a friend, or a family member kept teaching us about Jesus until one day it just clicked.

Do you realize that you’re that family member, you’re that friend that could help someone else come to know Jesus Christ?

That you’re the only spiritual and godly influence in their life and despite their current state of corruption, they’re watching you to see how you respond.

You might be listening and thinking, what is he getting at with all this? And it’s quite simple:

Remember that you were once wicked too; don’t look down on others because they have yet to repent.

Don’t expect them to act like a Christian should act if they aren’t truly a believer.

Instead, keep praying for them and keep pointing them to Jesus.

Recognize that unbelievers aren’t genuinely good, they’re foolish, corrupt, and wicked. Expect them to be, but continuously point them to Jesus.

The Punishment of the Wicked (4-6)—in the middle section of the text, we see the impending judgment coming for those that do evil. That God will soon enact punishment against them, but those that genuinely believe don’t have need of worry or concern because God is with his people and he is their refuge.

As we worked through this section, I spent a lot of time talking about the wicked persecuting and harming those that believe and I mentioned that we don’t exactly face persecution in the same sense that David is speaking of in Psalm 14; that he really has in mind the sort of persecution in which your very life is at stake.

And yet, despite the fact that our lives might not be at stake, we could face prejudices against our beliefs, and there are definitely people who will oppose us because of our faith.

The question of “what should we do in those situations” might be brought up and David really gives a good application for this issue in Psalm 14.

Genuine persecution is a real thing; David never denies this, but the response that he gives in Psalm 14 might be different than how you would anticipate responding to persecution.

He doesn’t fight back and he doesn’t run away; nor does he encourage anyone else to do the same.

When he speaks of the evildoers “[eating] up [his] people” and “[shaming] the plans of the poor” he very plainly counters those issues with what the believers have.

Genuine believers are in the presence of God and they can go to him as their refuge—they can seek shelter in God himself, he protects his people.

Understand that there will be people who do wicked things to you, but God has promised that the wicked will face judgment for their evil and that you can run to him for protection, for refuge, and to simply be in his presence.

The Coming Kingdom (7)—the Last verse points at Jacob and Israel being able to rejoice and be glad because salvation is coming for Israel out of Zion. Salvation did surely come out of Jerusalem but not just for Israel and Judah, Jesus provided salvation for all mankind, which alone should cause rejoicing and gladness. But just like the Israelites, we ought to look at this with the future in mind; that Jesus will return and in this return he will remove sin, do away with Satan, and the culmination of the Kingdom would occur.

Allen Ross, “David yearned for the establishment of the Lord’s kingdom. The Lord when He delivers his nation Israel from the presence of the wicked, will bring great joy to His people. The psalmist was clearly longing for the establishment of God’s righteous rule from Zion and for the destruction of the wicked who persist in ungodliness.”

I’ve mentioned before this concept of the already, but not yet. Jesus is already reigning, but the Kingdom has yet to be consummated.

Or in other words, this world is not our home; Jesus has assured us of a far better place to be in which we get to literally be in his presence physically and enjoy eternity with him.

Jesus has promised a great return in which he will judge the wicked and reward the righteous, and Paul writes about how that future is so great that there’s no point in dwelling on the sufferings of this present world.

If you think that this is your best life, you’re surely mistaken if you’re a believer, because believers have a far better life to come. One in which there is restoration and life.

Our last application is simple: keep an eternal perspective, remember that this life is only temporary, and rejoice and be glad in God because he has promised salvation to those who genuinely believe.

Put simply, Psalm 14 is a potent psalm against wickedness and against evildoers, it teaches us that (1) prior to salvation, all mankind is genuinely corrupt and evil, we should expect unbelievers to be corrupt and evil, but we should also be willing to point them to Jesus; (2) because mankind is genuinely corrupt and evil, there will be times in which you will have sinful things done against you and towards you, in these situations, run to God through Jesus and stay in his presence; and lastly, (3) always keep in mind that this life is temporary and the next life will be so much greater because we’ll be in the very presence of God.

Expect wickedness and corruption from unbelievers, but remember that you can and should always run to God as your refuge, and keep in mind an eternal perspective that should cause you to rejoice and be glad.

Prayer Requests

This is this week’s prayer list:

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Deane Herbst is home from the hospital. He’s still recovering from the affects of COVID, so please continue to pray for him.

Lee, Carrie, and Liam Miller are moving from the Washington DC area to rural Kentucky to help with a church revitalization effort. They’re moving this Saturday, but they still don’t have housing ironed out, so pray that they can get the housing situation figured out as quickly as possible.

Our missionary friends, The Dunlops sent our an update a few weeks ago. They plan on returning to full-time deputation travel mid-January and hope to be in France during the month of June to visit with missionaries already in France.

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we’re currently $4,800 short of completing all the projects. Continue praying for the LORD’s provision for these projects. I recently heard from a church that might help us with the remaining cost, but they don’t know for sure that they can yet.

Pray for our church, in particular, concerning consistent attendance and increased attendance.

Continue praying for Philipsburg and the surrounding areas; that we can be utilized by God to continue making mature believers of Jesus Christ.