WWUTT 1044 There is None Who Does Good?

In case you haven't noticed, mankind is wicked. There will be strangers who hate us and we'll even have friends who will turn on us. Our trust must be in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will never leave us nor forsake us when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Psalm 53 and the Universal Corruption of Mankind

Thank you, Becky. Well, in our Old Testament Study, we've been in the Psalms and should knock out a few more Psalms today. Last couple of weeks, we've just done one Psalm a Thursday. Two weeks ago, it was Psalm 51.

Last week, it was Psalm 52. This week, we're up to Psalm 53. It's just six verses long, so I'll start out reading the whole thing. To the choir master, according to Mahalath, a mascal of David, the fool says in his heart, there is no God.

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity. There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away.

Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God? There they are in great terror, where there is no terror, for God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you.

You put them to shame, for God has rejected them. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion, when God restores the fortunes of his people. Let Jacob rejoice. Let Israel be glad. There's some familiar things going on here in this Psalm, right?

Some of it, you may have identified right away, comes from Romans 3. There is none who does good. There is none who understand. They have all fallen away. Together they have become corrupt. That we've definitely seen in Romans 3, describing the depravity of man, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We have that stated here, even in Psalm 53. But I don't mean to limit this just to Romans 3, that reference to Romans 3, but also to Psalm 14. That's where else we see this. Now, what would be the difference between these two Psalms?

Because Psalm 14 begins exactly the same, and it also is a short Psalm, seven verses long. It says, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.

That's pretty close. Psalm 53 says they are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity. There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

Yeah, that's the same as the second refrain in Psalm 53. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. Also very similar to Psalm 53, 3. Well, here's Psalm 14, 4.

They have no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord. That's also like Psalm 53, 4. Verse 5, there they are in great terror for God is with the generation of the righteous.

Ah, things are changing here. You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. 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. So the endings are the same. There's a part there about two-thirds of the way through in both psalms that's a little bit different. Psalm 14 is meant to be a congregational psalm.

Psalm 53 is meant to be an individual psalm. That's really the main difference between the two. Now how would this then be used as a congregational psalm, given that Psalm 53 is more focused on what an individual would pray?

It would be an individual who is being persecuted. An individual who pursues righteousness who is being persecuted by someone who is evil. So then how would that translate as a congregational psalm? Well, the congregation would sing it on behalf of an individual who would therefore be persecuted.

So one way that might work out for us as a church today, we could pray or sing or recite Psalm 53 together on behalf of those Christians who are being persecuted by those who mean evil against them. But salvation does come for us and has come out of Zion, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And he has delivered us up from the evil man. There is a promise for us in God's kingdom forever where evil cannot touch us, whereas those who do evil, God will scatter their bones. Scatter the bones of him who encamps against you.

See, as we're praying for the individual who is being persecuted, who has wrong being levied at them by those who do wrong, God will scatter the bones of him who encamps against you. That's what we would be praying on their behalf.

That's what we would be praying as supplication. You put them to shame for God has rejected them. So that's the main difference between Psalm 53 and Psalm 14. But many of the same themes there also appear in Romans three.

Of course, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. There is no one who seeks after God, but it is the Lord who seeks after us and praise God for that. We who know God are never far from God. He is there with us and he will deliver us.

If you're going through a situation where you may feel persecuted by someone else, pray unto the Lord, ask for deliverance and pray humbly before God. If there is any wicked way in you that still needs to be sought out, ask for that.

Make sure that as you come to him with a humble heart, that it's not just you saying, hey, this person's annoying me. So God can take care of him, right? We want the repentance of the individual that would come against you.

And at the same time, we need to know that we have a pure heart when we come before God. Let it not be in pride. Let it not be the sort of a thing where we're thumping our chest going, hey, I'm doing everything right.

This guy is the one who's bothering me. But may we come before the Lord asking that he might search out our hearts and convict us of our wrongs so that we might be right before him. We've looked at that previously also.

We were in Psalm 51. Let's go on now to Psalm 54. Also a short psalm. I'll read all seven verses. To the choir master with stringed instruments, a mascal of David. When the Ziphites went and told Saul, is not David hiding among us?

Psalm 54 and Praying for Vindication Against Enemies

Oh God, save me by your name and vindicate me by your might. Oh God, hear my prayer. Give ear to the words of my mouth for strangers have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my life. They do not set God before themselves.

Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies. In your faithfulness, put an end to them. With a freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, oh Lord, for it is good.

For he has delivered me from every trouble and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. Last week we looked at Psalm 52 and it was a psalm that David had written and prayed unto the Lord when Doeg the Edomite had come and told Saul, David has come to the house of Ahimelech and because of what Doeg the Edomite said, the house of Ahimelech was struck down and there were all the priests who lost their lives and their families lost their lives as well.

David in mourning lifts up this prayer to God asking that his justice would come down on those who do evil. Likewise, we have a very similar thing going on here in Psalm 54. It was when the Ziphites had come against David and reported to Saul, hey, here's where you can find David so that you can go and capture him.

It says in verse 1, oh God, save me by your name and vindicate me by your might. It was just what last week I guess it was, we were in Acts chapter 3 when Peter and John had healed the lame man who was asking for alms by the beautiful gate and when the people had asked how they were able to do this miracle, Peter and John said, it's not by our power or our piety that this man has been made well, but it is by the name of Jesus Christ.

And so we have David here praying, oh God, save me by your name. The appeal to God's name is an appeal to his character. It's everything that that name represents, that God is holy, he is good, he is righteous, he is justice.

All his ways are justice, as it says in Deuteronomy. So an appeal to his name in this particular case would be that the righteousness and the justice of God would save those who are right and would judge those who have done evil.

Vindicate me by your might. Just as John and Peter had said that this man was healed by the power of God, so David is asking that he would be delivered by the power of God. Oh God, hear my prayer, give ear to the words of my mouth for strangers have risen against me.

Ruthless men seek my life. They do not set God before themselves, say la. So there we have a moment of pause to reflect upon what has been prayed thus far in the psalm. David here says strangers have risen against me.

Before in Psalm 52, it was somebody that he knew that had risen against me. In this case, it's no one who even knows him. They don't even know his character. So they're not even making a prejudice judgment against the character of David.

They're just evil for the sake of being evil. Verse four, behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.

So we notice something about the prayer here. When you consider that Psalm 54 is in two parts. The first part is verses one through three. The second part is verses four through seven. It pauses at the say la, and then you have the second part of the prayer.

The first part is lifting a voice unto God and first of all, praising him by his name. Oh God, save me by your name. Similar to what we see in the Lord's prayer, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your name is holy. So it is a praise to God unto his name. And then David states the problem. Oh God, hear my prayer. Give ear to the words of my mouth for strangers have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my life.

They do not set God before themselves. But then David shifts gears and he puts the focus upon the Lord. The focus is not on his problem. Ultimately, David wants his heart to be after God. If the heart was after his problem, he would go mad.

He would go crazy just thinking about the thing that is plaguing him. So it would cause him distress. He would, he would fall into deep, dark depression, but he knows God is his deliverer. And so if his mind is stayed on God, it lifts him up out of the mental pit of anguish that he has fallen into.

Not that it's like a cure-all, but it certainly doesn't help him to dwell on the situation, to dwell on the problem. We find resolution. We find hope and peace when our mind is fixed upon God, when it is fixed upon Christ.

You fix yourself upon the problem. I mean, what all kinds of stuff can result from that? Bitterness, anger, depression, distress, hopelessness. But you focus upon God and he is your hope. You trust in him and he lifts you up out of your despair.

Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies. In your faithfulness, put an end to them. Even if we do not see that kind of solution happen in this lifetime, it will certainly be the case in the next.

God will deliver us from our enemies and justice will come upon them. Or, praise God, if the person who is causing us problems repents and comes to the Lord, guess what? Justice has been done there as well.

Justice was done at the cross. Jesus died for you. When you had done wickedness against God, he died for you, that you might hear the gospel and repent of your sin and be saved. His blood covers over your sins.

His blood can cover over the sins of your enemies as well. Wouldn't it be a gracious thing to see those who previously were against you instead be a friend who could hug you? The person who was once your enemy becomes a person who sits at your table and you can break bread with and fellowship together?

Wouldn't that be a much better resolution? Then that person have to perish in judgment. Wouldn't it be great to see that God's justice would even be done in the sense that your enemy's sins were paid for by Christ as well?

I think that is a wonderful way to pray for our enemies also, that they might come to know the Lord. David goes on here in verse six and seven, with a freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.

For he has delivered me from every trouble and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. Even when a person who has previously been your antagonist becomes your friend, your eye can still look in triumph because the enemy was not them.

The enemy was Satan. The snare that this person was in, a snare that was set by the devil. And that's what we have in second Timothy two twenty five. We must correct opponents with gentleness for God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth and they may escape from a snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.

As Paul points out in Ephesians chapter six, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of evil in the spiritual places. We go on next to Psalm fifty five. This is twenty three verses and I'll read through the whole thing to the choir master with stringed instruments, a masculine of David.

Betrayal by a Familiar Friend and Casting Burdens on the Lord

Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy. Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint and I moan because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they drop trouble upon me and in anger they bear a grudge against me. My heart is in anguish within me. The terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me and horror overwhelms me.

And I say, oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest. Yes, I would wander far away. I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.

Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues. For I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around it on its walls and iniquity and trouble are within it. Ruin is in its midst. Oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

For it is not an enemy who taunts me, then I could bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me, then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.

We used to take sweet counsel together. Within God's house we walked in the throng. Let death steal over them. Let them go down to Sheol alive. For evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart. But I call to God and the Lord will save me.

Evening and morning and at noon, I utter my complaint and moan and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage. For many are arrayed against me. God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and they do not fear God.

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends. He violated his covenant. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction. Men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.

My friends, unfortunately, there are times when even friends will betray us, as David is praying about here in Psalm 55. But we must entrust ourselves to God. For though mankind will fail us, and it's not to say that we shouldn't trust man, please don't let that be the message that you take away.

When we think that, or we understand that even friends can betray us, we can become so hard-hearted that we wouldn't want to trust anybody. Man is always going to fail me. Man is untrustworthy. Hey, Jesus had the same thing happen to him.

Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him, all the rest of the disciples ran away, and yet he had mercy on those disciples that repented. Paul, the apostle Paul, had friends desert him. He says so at the end of 2 Timothy, everyone has deserted me.

Luke alone is with me. Demas deserted me and went back to Thessalonica because he was too in love with this world. The apostle Paul put trust in friends that would betray him. So we can't not have friends.

It is necessary to have friends because we edify one another and we sanctify each other. As Tim Challies has said, sanctification is a community project. So we need one another to grow in love and fellowship, and there are friends that will stick close to you as a brother, as it says in the book of Proverbs.

But there will be times when people will betray you as well. Our trust must not be in man. Our trust must be first and foremost in the Lord. He is the one who saves us. He is the one who will sustain us.

He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Trust in God. He is a friend to you. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you that though we had once betrayed you, you looked past our faults and you sent your son Jesus to die for our sins so that all who believe in him will be forgiven their sins and will have everlasting life.

If none of us can accuse anybody of anything that we haven't been, we have been a traitor against God, but you are merciful and gracious to us. And so I pray that you would keep us steadfast. We cast our burdens upon you.

You will sustain us. You will not permit the righteous to be moved. We will be steadfast in your love and kept by your counsel. Let us pay heed to the words of God, listen to them and obey them. Work out our salvation that we may have fear and trembling before the God who judges and who rescues.

And we pray this in Jesus name, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.