Jonah Albrecht

Pentecost 14

August 25th, 2024

Psalm 14

The Reality of Sin and Our Need for Redemption

To the choirmaster. Of David. 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.

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus, whose salvation has transformed us from fools to wise, dear fellow redeemed:

In 1989, two scientists from Harvard discovered a “Great Wall” of galaxies.  The wall was 500 million light years long, 200 million light years wide, and 15 million light years thick.  One light year = six trillion miles. Three months later, astronomers discovered more than a dozen clumps of galaxies that dwarf the “Great Wall.”  Today, both discoveries are outdated and obsolete.

In 2011, scientists said that all the data in the world could all be contained in just 4 grams of DNA. “Everything from Plato, through the complete works of Shakespeare, to Beyoncé’s latest album, to every photo ever posted on Facebook and Instagram would fit in a teaspoonful of DNA.”

Two extremes, one that is incomprehensibly large and the other that is incomprehensibly small – fill us with awe over our Creator.  Is any problem too large for Him?  Is any personal matter too small for His attention? Psalm 14 teaches us multiple lessons. It shows how an abundance of evidence in nature point to the existence of God; making it so only a fool would say there is no God. And it teaches us the two things God cares about most: Righteousness and Salvation.

In the first place, Psalm 14 teaches us about the righteousness God desires. 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.

There is one question that seems to come up from time to time that greatly perplexes the mind: Are people, by nature, good? There are varying answers to this question ranging from: 1. Yes, people are naturally inclined to do good things. 2. People are not good outside of the rules of society which they need to curb the bad into something good. It is agreeable that people can do nice things. We see it on a daily basis: holding the door open for someone, returning a lost item, or simply helping out where it is needed. These are all good things, but they don’t make a person’s nature “good”.

According to the Psalmist there is something God cares about very highly: His standard of righteousness and the perfection of His Law. Proverbs 6 puts it this way: There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers (Prov. 6:16-19).

God abhors evil because it goes completely against who He is. And He cares enough to scour the earth in search of any who abhor evil the way He does. See if there are any who have not succumbed to the corruption of sin. What does He find? There is none who does good, not even one. Sure, people do good deeds all the time, called civic righteousness but that does not make their nature good. That comes from the Law of God that was written on each one of our hearts. The natural law tells us what is wrong and right, it is called your conscience.

That, however, is not what God looks at. He sees past the “righteous” acts of mankind and looks into the heart. There He finds the true nature of this world: Nothing but pure evil. To answer the question, “are people naturally good?” we need to look at it from the eyes of the One who never stopped being good and perfect. God and His angels were the only ones not touched or influenced by the fall into sin. God alone has the right to set the standard of what is good and what is evil.

In short, that answer is found in the 10 commandments. 1. Recognizing God as the only true God. 2. Honoring God’s name in all you do. 3. Learning from God in His Word. 4. Giving honor and respect to those God has placed over you. 5. No hatred or murdering of your brother or your enemy. 6. No lust or sexual immorality. 7. No taking what doesn’t belong to you. 8. No gossip or lying about your fellow-man. 9. No having a desire to gain what does not belong to you.

This is the standard by which God searches the earth to find any who align with His righteousness. To no ones surprise, He finds none. Yes, there are those who do what is right in the eyes of society, but they fall terribly short of God’s standard. Even those who claim to have kept God’s standard of righteousness fail because of the sinfulness of their heart.

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 15, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. It is not just what we see people do when we walk outside. It is a matter of the heart.

This is where we recognize that yes, even we ourselves ought to be numbered among the none who do good. By nature, you and I fall into the same sins as all those who have gone before us. Sins that have entered the dark, secretive corners of our heart and mind and so, before we know it, our hearts have failed God’s standard of perfection. We are no better than the fool who says in his heart there is no God.

That is the depravity of our sinful nature, the reality of our sin. It is an abomination to the LORD God and it deserves nothing but eternal punishment in hell.

And yet, despite the total depravity of our nature, the Psalmist sees a ray of hope, a glimpse of a path to God’s righteousness: There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 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.

In the second place, we learn of the righteousness God provides. For God to create the vastness of the universe with all its galaxies, or the intricacy of a few grams of DNA, that was an easy thing for Him. He simply spoke and it came to be. The path to salvation was not so easy. What God created was perfect. Our salvation, was about purifying a world with no good left whatsoever. God’s plan of salvation included much more than just a word being spoken; it meant death. Not just any death, but the death of One who was righteous in the place of the unrighteous.

Did this salvation come to pass? Did God provide a way of righteousness for an unrighteous people like you and me? Yes He did! Paul describes this in Romans 5, 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  And again later in the same chapter, 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is the salvation that is procured for you by the same God who created the vast galaxies of the earth, who literally fashioned and made your DNA. Great are God’s acts of power. Great acts that you can read about in the Bible. But the greatest act the Lord your God did, is doing, and will continue to do, is love you. It was to send His Son Jesus to this earth to be that one who alone is righteous.

Jesus to abide by the Law of God and remain the perfect substitute for sinners of all walks of life. Jesus to die on the cross in your place absorbing your sin and granting you His sinlessness. Jesus to rise from the dead so that you can be sure that God accepted His payment for your sins and mine. Jesus to ascend to the right hand of power were He remains your refuge from the evils of this world, He remains your deliverer; and faithful companion who, when you or I fall back into our sinful ways, calls us back to His side, reminding us always of the forgiveness that you can find under His cross.

The fool says in his heart there is no God. What a contrast it is for those who have received the salvation of the LORD! No longer are we fools, consumed by the corruption of our sin. Instead we are righteous sons and daughters of God, born again through water and the Word to live in eternal glory with Him.

What, then, will you do now? Will you follow along with the world, ignoring the reality of your sin and foolishly hiding from God? Or will you let that love God had for you shine forth everywhere you go. Will you do what the Psalmist proclaims, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad,?

If you were to see your neighbor jumping and shouting with great joy on their face, you can’t help but wonder, and possibly even ask, what is the cause of their joy. What greater reason do we need to exhibit that same joy when it comes to our Savior’s death and resurrection for you! You have the number 1 reason to rejoice and be glad: God loves you and did not let you perish, but has given you new life in His name. Let the world see the God whom you worship, whom you love, that they too might see there is a God who cares. 1. See He cares about the depravity of their sin and 2. See how He cared for you when He died to give you life. Amen.