Series: Psalms
Title: The Fool and the Wise
Text: Psalm 14: 1-7
Date: March 17, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
The subject of Psalm 14 is of utmost
importance. The message here is
recorded, almost in the same words, 3 other times in scripture: here, then in
Psalm 53 (which is almost a repeat of this Psalm), and then Paul quotes a great
deal of it in Romans 3, applying it to all men, both to Jew and Gentile. The same truth is repeated throughout the
scripture in different words.
Therefore, the best thing for each of us here
right now is to give our full attention and to heed what we will hear the LORD
speak in this Psalm. David wrote it, but God gave him the words.
Our title will be our divisions: The Fool and the Wise
Psalm 14: 1: «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.»
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have
done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2: The LORD looked down
from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand,
and seek God. 3: They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
I. THE FOOL—Psalm 14: 1: The fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God.
The name God gives to each one who rejects
his Son is, “The fool…” The word means simply “stupid.” The root word signifies “a withered piece of
grass or a carcass”, which means he is a man who has no root, no sap, no
life.
John Trapp, “That sapless fellow, that carcass of a man, that walking
sepulcher of himself, in whom all religion and right reason is withered and
wasted, dried up and decayed.”
A natural man does not have Christ the Root
within; he is unconnected to Christ the Vine. Therefore, he has no sap, no
life, no wisdom of God. It why God says,
Isaiah 40: 6:…all flesh is grass and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field: 7: The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is
grass.
Application: Is
this what we will write on your gravestone, “Here lies the fool?” If a man dies, having rejected Christ, free
justification through faith in his blood and eternal life in Christ, there is
nothing else that could more accurately describe him than to write, “Here lays
the fool.”
The source of the fool’s rebellion is his own
heart as we see in verse 1, “The fool
hath said in his heart.” The heart of every person by our first birth is
enmity against God.
Genesis 8: 21:…the imagination of man’s heart is evil
from his youth;
Ecclesiastes 9:3…the heart of the sons of men is full of
evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to
the dead….
Jeremiah 17:9 The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Here is the answer of the fool to the word of
God, “No, God.” The words “there is” have been supplied
by the translators. Remove them to get the true meaning. The fool does not say, “There is no
God”. It is not that he denies the
existence of God. If that were the
meaning then the name used would be capital LORD—Jehovah—meaning “the existing
one.” Instead, the name used is
Elohim—which is God’s name as the sovereign, ruling, governing, saving God. It is not the existence of Jehovah but God’s
Authority as ruler, as lawgiver, as sovereign Savior, which the fool says no
to. The fools reply to every command of God is, “No, God, I will not have you
reign over me.”
Illustration: Let’s say there is a man who has one supply of daily food
and that from a certain king. This man commits a crime against that
very king who supplies him his daily bread. But the king sends his ambassador
to this man with the good news that the king has chosen a certain number of men
in the land to whom he will show mercy.
The king has found a way he can so so and remain just. The King will
send his own Son to take his place so that those the king shows mercy to can go
free and yet the king remains just. But the man must obey the king’s command:
he must publicly confess his sin, he must honor the King’s Son by trusting him
to save him, else the man will surely be condemned to death. But knowing the king is his provider of daily
bread, knowing the king shall show mercy to some men in the land, knowing the
yoke of the King is light and easy which he has commanded, upon hearing the
kings terms the man says to the king, “No, King! I will not have you to reign over me!” What else could you call that man but a
fool!
Application:
Sinner, that is exactly what you are doing. You have committed high treason
against the very God in whom you live and move and have your being. The very God you must face in judgment has
sent you the good news that God has a chosen number of sinners that he shall
show mercy unto. God has found a way—by sending
his own Son to die in the place of his elect—so God can be both a just God and
a Savior. You might be one of those chosen men. Yet, knowing all this still you
say “No, God! I will not have you to
reign over me! I believe I can work out my own salvation!”
So here
is what God says about all the works fools imagine to be so pleasing to God,
verse 1, “They…” Notice, “the fool”
is singular but “they” is plural. The first fool was our father Adam. Adam said
in his heart, “No, God, I will eat the fruit you forbid.” According to God’s definition, that made Adam
“the fool.” Therefore, since “the fool hath said in his heart, “No God” all his
children are corrupt by nature. Verse 1
says, “They are corrupt, they have done
abominable works.” The word means not only is the sin-nature corruption
itself, but by trying to clean self, the sinner actively makes self more corrupt.
Every work is abhorred, hated, by God.
Application: Sinner, unbelief is not neutral; its active. Every
moment you refuse to believe God, you are saying in your heart, “No, God!” God
has sent the truth to you right here, right now. Every second you refuse to
believe the record he has given of his Son, though you may be doing wonderful
works to try to save yourself, you are actively calling God a liar.
1 John 5:10: He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
Illustration: Imagine you are guilty in an earthly court. Your lawyer tells you, “The judge says you
are guilty, the more you try to plead innocence the more corrupt you become. But
here’s what the judge says,
“If you
plead guilty he will drop all charges; but if you try to save your life he will
sentence you to death.” Yet, in hardness of heart you stubbornly say, “No, I’ll
save my life.” Christ clearly said, “whosoever
will save his life shall lose it” (Mt 16: 25)—you are corrupt, trying to save
your life only corrupts you more—but still you will go on trying it anyway?—that
is God’s definition of the fool. The
Lord says in verse 1, “there is none
that doeth good.”
Illustration: When I was in Australia, I met a very nice lady who
owned a jewelry store in Sydney. She asked me to tell her the gospel. During
our conversation, I quoted this verse. She named medical discoveries, benevolent
deeds, other things men have done in history and said, “See, men do good. How
can you say, ‘There is none that doeth good?’” I said, “It is God that says
‘There is none that doeth good.’” She
very kindly replied, “No. I just don’t believe that.” She didn’t realize it but
she said, “No, God. I believe there are
some that do good, that I do good.” That’s calling God a liar.
With
mankind there are varying degrees of sinners. So we call those not as wicked,
good. But the only reason some do not sin as much outwardly is God’s
restraining hand. Still, the outward
wickedness of the worst man is the heart of the best man. God is perfection; we must be as perfect as
God. He is the standard of purity, the judge of what constitutes a good work—filth
beside filthy is filth.
Now, the
exalter of man’s free will explains the doctrine of election this way, “From
eternity God looked down through time and saw those who would believe on his
Son therefore God chose them.” Our text
says the LORD did, indeed, look down upon all men, verse 2, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if
there were any that did understand, and seek God.”
Spurgeon drew this
picture, “Behold the eyes of Omniscience ransacking the
globe, and prying among every people and nation.”
The
boaster says that God saw that some would believe. But let’s hear God tell us
is what God saw, verse 3, “They are all
gone aside, [Ps 53 says: everyone of them is gone back]” Not only did God
not find any person seeking him, he found us all going away from him. He says in verse 3, “they are all together become filthy.” It means all together are a
putrid stench like a rotting corpse.
Illustration: The astronauts who came back after spending a year in
the space lab said the first thing they were amazed at was how bad earth stank.
We don’t smell us because we live every day with our offensive odor. God says
that we smell putrid. Out of the billions throughout all time, God says, “all,
altogether, none, no, not one” did he find doing good. That is the doctrine of
depravity.
God
defines depravity in Ephesians 4: 18 as “being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart”
II. THE WISE
Opposite the fool is
Christ Jesus the Wise. God in human flesh is the wise One. The name God gives the first Adam and all who are in him is “the
fool”, the name God gives the last Adam and all who are in him is Wisdom.
Proverbs 8: 12: I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find
out knowledge of witty inventions. 14
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I
have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and
princes decree justice. 16 By me princes
rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek
me early shall find me. 18 Riches and
honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold,
yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the
midst of the paths of judgment: 21 That
I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their
treasures.
The source of the fool’s rebellion is his own
heart as we saw in verse 1, “The fool
hath said in his heart, No God.”—but Christ said, “I delight to do thy
will, O my God: yea, thy law is
within my heart. (Ps 40: 8)
John 4:34 Jesus
saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work.
John 6: 37 All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out. 38 For I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Hebrews 10: 6: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
thou hast had no pleasure. 7: Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the
book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Of
fools we saw in verse 1, “They are
corrupt, they have done abominable works there is none that doeth good.”
But Christ’s heart was pure, not corrupt.
Luke 1:35: And the angel answered and said unto her, The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God.
And
because Christ’s heart was pure, his works are perfect. Christ Jesus is THE ONE
who doeth good.
Isaiah 42:21: The LORD is well pleased for
his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.
He
healed sick sinners, he still heals sinners sick in sin; clothes sinners in his
perfect righteousness. Even his enemies
bore witness to his works,
Mark 6:2..he began to teach in the synagogue: and many
hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things?
and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works
are wrought by his hands?
Of
fools we read in verse 2, “The LORD
looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that
did understand, and seek God.” Fools have no understanding, but of Christ’s
understanding we read,
Isaiah 11: 2: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon
him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3: And shall make him of
quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the
sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4: But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of
the earth:
He is
the Wisdom of God—how God can be just and the Justifier of all who believe. Of
God is he made unto his people—Wisdom—the fool has no understanding, but those
born anew of his Spirit, have the mind of Christ. He’s give his people knowledge.
2 Peter 1:3: According as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Fool’s
do not seek the LORD, but not only did Christ always seek the Father, in great
grace, “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk
19: 10)
John 6: 39 And
this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
He not
only seeks his lost sheep, he finds them and keeps them:
John 10: 27 My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Of
fools we read in verse 2, “The LORD
looked down from heaven upon the children of men,…3 They are all gone aside, they are all
together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” But God
looked down upon this One, and
Matthew 17:5…behold a voice out of the cloud, which said,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Yet, we
said, “No, God.” He gave himself into
our hands and we took him and hung him on a tree. There, on the cross, for
vile, base, corrupt sinners which the Father gave to him from eternity—for
fools who said, “No God!”—he bore what we are—until he bore it away and cried,
“It is finished!”
He
suffered to make his people the opposite of all these awful things we see here.
Instead of corruption, he makes his people perfection. Instead of rebel lawbreakers, he makes his
people perfectly righteous. He does it
because he satisfied justice for his people and put away our sin completely.
God the
Father declared once more that the Wise One is well-pleasing. His offering is
well-pleasing. He has made complete satisfaction for the sin of his people. God
declared it by raising him from the dead.
Leaving our body of sin dead and buried in the grave never again to be
remembered!
Application: Now sinner—this is the King’s Son, Christ Jesus our God
and Savior—the only Wise One! He says to
to you today—“I have reserved mercy for thousands! I have put away all their
iniquity, their righteousness is of me.”
Now,
God says you are guilty! But are you one
for whom he died? Will you prove that
his Holy Spirit, has washed you in regeneration, that he has made you new, that
he has done all: from choosing you, to redeeming you, to calling you to him by
his effectual grace. Will you prove it
by smiting upon your breast, saying, ‘Yes Lord, I am the fool. I am corrupt. Woe is me I am undone. I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Oh, have mercy on
me the sinner!” I tell you, on the Authority of my Lord and my Master, like the
publican, you will go down to your house today, justified from all your sins.
Or will
you this day look Mercy and Righteousness in the face and say to him, again,
“No, God! I’d rather perish in my sins!” If so, you prove you are only the fool.
We will write on your gravestone, ‘Here lays the fool?” or will we write, “Here
lays one who our All-Wise God made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus?” (2 Tim 3: 15)
Harden
not your heart. Get alone with God and get this matter settled today
Psalm 107:43 Whoso
is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the
lovingkindness of the LORD.
Hosea 14:9 Who is
wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?
for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the
transgressors shall fall therein.
Isaiah 35: 8 And
an HighWay shall be there, and a Way, and [he] shall be called The Way of
holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not…9…but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall
return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Amen!