The Fool Says, 'There Is No God' — Shane Idleman

The Fool’s Denial of God

The fool says there is no God and I'll be in Psalm 14 and God-willing Psalm 15. Psalm 14 says, the fool says in his heart there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.

Now this word fool is interesting because it doesn't mean what a lot of us think it means. I mean I guess it could as far as it's really not stupid. What it is, it's ignorant or naive. A person who is ignorant, they would say there is no God and you can even look how the body was made.

Look at the universe. Just look around us clearly. Clearly, something did this. So the fool, the ignorant person says there is no God and the majority of the time when they say that it's because they don't want there to be a God.

They don't want to give up their habits or their lifestyle or their rebellion against God or they're mad at God and so they say there is no God. And what happens, removing God leads to godlessness in all areas.

Moral Desensitization and Cultural Drift

I'm shocked when I read about America, for example, a hundred years ago and how far we have drifted from what was, you know, they had their problems back then. Don't get me wrong, but what they would not allow now entertains us and what would make people blush is now on the evening news or in the movies and without God there's a godlessness that comes in and the enemy desensitizes us to what God is doing around us.

And what I mean by that is God's doing tremendous things around us, but the enemy will desensitize us through what we watch, what we view, our lifestyle. And before we know it, before we know it, we've drifted very far off course.

I'll give you an example of this. We took my one-year-old into the swimming pool and it was cold. But as I held her, every few minutes I would drop her down just a little bit. Drop her down just a little bit.

Drop her down just a little bit. Drop her down. And before you know it, something she initially didn't even want to put her feet in, she was taking her feet out. Now she's almost swimming around in what was initially shocking to her.

See, that's how desensitization works. We're bombarded with images. We're bombarded with perversion. And we begin to enjoy it and we become desensitized to what is really happening in our lives. So this is a call maybe to wake up, take a look in the mirror and say, Lord, am I on the right path?

Am I doing the right things? Do I need to come back to you and remove these things out of my life? And desensitization begins often in our mind. So look at what you're watching. Look at what you're viewing.

And it's really shaping your mind. Many people who are fearful and they don't want to leave the house, it's because they're shaping their mind. They're becoming desensitized by the media and the fear frenzy that is being created.

Rebellion Behind the Denial of God

And then verse 2, but it's interesting though, there is no God. Well, if there's no God, why are most atheists mad at God? If there's no God, why do they hate Christianity so much? If there's no God, how can they explain?

How do they explain life? How can they explain all these? They can't explain those things. So really, there is no God comes out of a rebellious, angry heart that wants to have nothing to do with God. They say, there is no God.

I am the captain of my own ship. I am the master of my own destiny. I'll do what I want to do when I want to do it. There's no God lording over me. And they say that in their heart and then they live it out.

And then the result is, if you get too many of these people in positions of authority, in government office, in the universities, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, you get all these, in academia, in all these areas, then you start to form and produce a godless society.

And it's a plan, I believe, by the enemy to get all kinds of these people on our school boards. And do you know you couldn't even run for office when America was first born, unless you professed a faith in God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?

And there was a God-fearing, that's why I said a God-fearing nation. Yes, we've got so many mistakes that have happened and transpired. But overall, overall, America used to fear God a lot more than it does now.

God’s Search for Those Who Understand

And then in verse 2, the Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understands. So God looks down, is there any who understands? Is there any who seeks after me? They have all turned aside together.

They have all become corrupt. There is none who does good, no, not even one. Now, some have said this passage refers to, obviously, the context of verse 1, that the fool has said in his heart. And so foolish people have turned aside together.

But the problem with that is Paul quotes it later on, proving, again, that wonderful Martin Luther phrase, justification by faith alone in Christ alone, and that we're justified by having faith in God, that there are none that are good on their own.

We're all been corrupted. We need to look to God to save us. They have all turned aside together. They have become corrupt. There is none who does good, no, not even one. So left to ourselves, we would decay.

And that's what happens. You see, don't you see this? I mean, young adults in their 20s, and by the time they're in their 50s, and they've rejected God, it's just a mess. Their life is a mess. God gives them warnings.

God gives them opportunity. God convicts them. And as they get older, you start to see this hardness. You start to see this mental issues, and physical issues, and addiction, and alcoholism, and all these things begin to take over, because left to ourselves without God, we will decay spiritually.

We will get worse. We will get more depraved, not better. People usually, when they reject God as they live and they get older, they get more depraved, and more perverted in many areas. And then verse 4, have they no knowledge?

All the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat up bread, and do not call upon the Lord. So God is saying, all these people that are coming against my children, they have no knowledge. There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.

God as Refuge for the Oppressed

And it does ask, beg the question tonight, is God really on your side? Is God going to bat for you? Is God going to see you through? You have to get your heart right to make sure that you know the God of the Bible.

And then verse 6, you would shame the plans of the poor, talking to the wicked men, but the Lord is his refuge. So the poor, those who are oppressed, those who are ridiculed, and even what we're going to see now, more Christians being marginalized here in America, but the Lord is our refuge.

We run to him, and the Bible talks about God being a refuge, which is a place of safety. They talk about God being a strong tower that we run into for help and support, and we have this refuge and safety in God.

Oh, that salvation for Israel will come out of Zion, when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people. Let Jacob rejoice. Let Israel be glad. And this really jumped out at me this week. It's almost like God's saying, even in the midst of this, let God's people rejoice.

Let God's people shout and be glad. That's how you get through a pandemic, is you look at God and what God has been doing, and you focus your thoughts back on thankfulness and gratitude, and thanking God for what he has done for us.

Fellowship with God on His Holy Hill

And that transitions right into chapter 15, and the heading is, Who dwell? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? And it reminds me of the other verse that talks about, He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor has he sworn deceitful, he will stand in the presence of Almighty God.

So, but we have to remember this going into this passage. Good is never good enough. Good is never good enough. So when God says, who is going to dwell on my holy hill? There's an invitation for fellowship.

There's an invitation for coming together and having that relationship with God. And there is a criteria. God looks at clean vessels. God looks at broken vessels. God wants humble vessels. So he says here, oh Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Which means, I mean you have to think of the Middle East back then. The tents were out in the desert, and he's asking the question, Lord, who's going to come into your tent? Who's going to be close to you?

Who's going to have intimacy with you? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? In other words, not everyone is given permission to go and have this relationship with God, but it talks about his powerful presence, and it asks the question, oh Lord, who can stand before you?

Who can dwell with you? Who can have intimacy with you? Who can know you? He says, here's who. He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart. So again, these things don't save a person.

These things are reflection of a heart that wants to honor and obey God. And when we start to do these things, repent of sin, repent of bitterness, repent of a critical heart, repent of arrogance, repent of compromise, and we get our hearts right.

He says, if you walk blameless and you do what is right, and you speak the truth in your heart. God loves truth tellers. God loves people to speak the truth. Paul said, speak the truth in love. So we are called, as a pastor, I'm called.

Speaking Truth in Love

I'm going to get people not liking what I just said at the beginning of this sermon about what's going on with COVID and the government and different things because, oh, just concentrate on the gospel.

No, we're supposed to be watchmen. We're supposed to share the truth in all areas of life that helps people in all areas of life. Speak the truth in love. So God says, that person, I'm looking at that.

You know those people. They tell you what you want to hear, or they'll just outright lie, or they'll just joke about things, and they don't want to be confrontational. God says, I want a person who will speak the truth to others because he loves them.

Because he speaks the truth, he wants to help them. There are so many people, even right now, I can think of a half dozen people I would love to talk with, or talk to and speak the truth to them. Speak the truth to them.

About what they're doing to their families. About their hard hearts. But the sad fact is, many people are not open for constructive criticism. But God loves the person who speaks the truth in his heart.

Integrity, Slander, and the Test of Character

And who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend. In other words, he's not a backbiter. He's not a slanderer. He's not a gossip.

He builds people up. And that will really tell you. This is really a true indication of where your heart is. How do you talk about others when they're not around? Now, of course, sometimes we need to bring up difficult things.

But I'm talking about a person who really wants to help others, and build them up when they're not around. But the person who begins to pull people down, and begin to talk about people behind their back, the Lord is not pleased with that.

That's why he says, do not slander with your tongue. And then verse four. And whose eyes a vile person is despised. In other words, somebody who loves God is going to hate sin. They're going to hate sin.

They're going to hate what sin does to our children. They're going to hate what sin does to our marriages. They're going to hate what sin does to our families. They hate sin. But this person honors those who fear the Lord, and who swears to his own hurt, and does not change.

Boy, I wish we had more of these people. What does that mean? Blessed is the man who swears to his own hurt, and does not change. It's a person who says something, and they will do it. They don't need a contract.

They don't need an attorney. They say it, and they do it. They don't say, hey, I'm going to get you this vehicle. And then they back out. Or I'm going to give you this. And then they back out. They say what they mean, because they meant what they said.

And God loves a person whose yes is yes. Well, I guess he loves everybody. Don't get me wrong. But he wants that person to have that deeper relationship with him, and dwell with him, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

See, when we don't do these things that I'm talking about, that's when you quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. When you do these things, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. That person can dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.

Honest Money and Justice for the Innocent

And then he talks about, in verse 5, who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent. Now, this is interesting, because back then, they would loan money. Well, not much has changed with credit cards.

But they would loan money. And there was nothing wrong with loaning money. And you got, you know, maybe a little bit back. And what was fair? But they would put this enormous amount of interest, so the person could barely pay it back, if at all.

And they're paying a lot of interest. And they kept paying the interest. And this person was actually, the person that God is rebuking was taking the advantage of other people. And he said, this person should not take a bribe against the innocent.

Now, this happened in the courts all the time, that a judge would be given money, and they would do something illegal. And I believe that's what's happening here with this pandemic. There's a lot of stuff that's fishy going on.

And God says, I see those who are honest and upright. And I also see those who are bribing those against the innocent and hurting. And I believe that that's why God is awakening the church. He's awakening our national spotlight again.

He's putting people in positions of the highest office. Whether they have the godly character or not, they will see His will through. And he says, he who does these things shall never be moved. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Now, this word moved is interesting, because you might think, well, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Well, he who does these things will never be moved. And that word moved can mean proceed or to advance.

So if you follow these things, if you get your heart right before God, you will stand on a sturdy foundation. You will proceed ahead to God. You will advance ahead to God. You will not be moved from the foundation of integrity that you're building in your life.

Clean Hands, Pure Hearts, and Intimacy with God

So the psalmist says, who will ascend into the heel of the Lord? He who has clean hands, a pure heart. His heart is right. He's broken. He's repentant. And that person will know the intimacy of God. That person will have a deep and abiding relationship with God because they have been broken before God in their hearts.

Look at the area it focuses on. It says, his heart is right. He speaks the truth. He doesn't slander others. He's got character. He's got character towards God because he fears God. He hates evil. And he's got good godly character toward money.

Money, that's why the Bible says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Nothing wrong with money in itself. Everyone needs it. We know that. But when money begins to control your life and you begin to make decisions because of the almighty dollar and you begin to make decisions that are not glorifying God and you try to jockey for position and put other people down and manipulate and conspire and all because of money, God says, that is going to lead to all kinds of evil.

So in a nutshell, I believe that is where God has us tonight in Psalm 14, talking and looking at the fool, the foolish person. Maybe I don't know who's going to listen to this, but I want to challenge you.

If you've been saying there's no God or if you've been making God out to whoever you want him to be, I want to encourage you tonight to really look at your heart and pray, God, I want to know who you are.

I don't know who you are. If you're really out there, God, would you show me? And if you are sincere, I believe that God will honor that prayer. God is looking for sincere hearts that want to follow hard after him.

And then once a person makes that decision, they can be filled with the Holy Spirit and not quench and grieve the Holy Spirit by doing the things we just talked about this evening.