Psalm 14
I would imagine that when we read our bibles, we spend most of our time reading in the New Testament. There are great stories in the Old Testament and we love the historical sections, but we get bogged down in the law and the prophets and then escape to the New Testament.
When the first followers of Jesus read their bibles, what did they read? Sometimes, to our surprise, we realize that they did not have the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They did not have Acts or the New Testament letters. The Old Testament was not the Old Testament to them, it was simply the Bible.
There were sayings of Jesus that were circulated, but when they wanted to read about Jesus in the Bible, they turned overwhelmingly to the psalms and prophets. Of the direct Old Testament quotes found in the New Testament, 68 come from the Psalms, 55 from Isaiah, 44 from Deuteronomy, 35 from Genesis, 31 from Exodus, 13 from Leviticus, 8 from Proverbs, 7 from Zechariah, 5 from Jeremiah, 5 from Hosea, and others from Micah, Malachi, Joel, Job, Amos, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and I Samuel.
The psalms lead this list and so this summer we are looking at psalms quoted in the New Testament. Last week I preached from Psalm 2 which was seen as a psalm speaking of Jesus the Messiah. Today we are looking at Psalm 14 which was quoted by Paul as he wrote his letter to the church in Rome.
We will take a look at Psalm 14 and then talk about Paul’s use of Psalm 14 in his letter to the church in Rome.
Psalm 14 begins with a well known verse:
The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
The word translated as “fool” is not a gentle word. The Bible does not view the conclusion, “There is no God,” as a sincere but misguided conviction. In our tolerant societies we hold back judgment about the religious beliefs of others. Each person is free to believe what they want to believe.
But the Bible is not tolerant about those who deny the existence of God as revealed in the Bible. To deny God is to put self above God or anyone else. We are masters of the universe, not subject to any greater power. Our pride does not allow for submission to someone other than ourselves. We see this in Psalm 10:4
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Those who do not make room for God in their lives are considered wicked. Their pride and arrogance leave no place for someone greater than themselves.
Job, in his misery, looked around at those who grew old and increased in power. (Job 21:7)
Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?
They had children, their homes were safe and free from fear, their cattle thrived, they sang and danced, they lived prosperous lives and died in peace. And then Job comments, (Job 21:14–15)
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
These people are viewed as wicked.
There is absolutely nothing gentle about Paul’s judgment of society that does not seek God. (Romans 1:18–25)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
To say there is no God is viewed by Paul as moral and intellectual suicide. To say, “There is no God,” is viewed in the Bible as an irresponsible act of defiance. It pushes away God’s divine authority and puts the self in control.
The first three verses of Psalm 14 are a judgment of the world that rejects God. God’s law and God’s wisdom are pushed aside. The people he created to live at peace with each other in his kingdom pursue their own selfish interests.
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
The second half of Psalm 14 speaks of the consequences of the rejection of God. The first consequence is the oppression of God’s people.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the Lord.
These people who reject God use and abuse people without any regard for what they do. They destroy the lives of people as casually as someone sitting down at a meal and eating bread. They are like the adulterous woman in Proverbs 30:20
She eats and wipes her mouth
and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
The second consequence is that there is a judgment coming.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
God who is rejected is present in the company of the righteous and he is a refuge for the poor who are oppressed.
How did Paul use Psalm 14 when he wrote his letter to the church in Rome? Paul had established Antioch as his base so he could take the gospel to modern day Greece and Turkey. From Antioch he set out on three missionary journeys, planting churches and encouraging those he had already planted. Now he wanted to establish Rome as his base so he could take the gospel to the Iberian Peninsula, what is modern day Spain and Portugal. Whether he actually made it to the Iberian Peninsula is debated, but we are grateful for his vision because in the process we received the book of Romans. This is the book of the Bible that has kept the theology of the church over the ages from drifting away from orthodox Christian belief.
When Paul sat down to write his letter to the church in Rome, he wanted to let them know who he was and what he believed. There were stories about him that circulated and he wanted them to hear directly from him about what he believed. So the first half of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, eight chapters, sets down his theology of the church.
As Paul began, before he could share the good news of Jesus, the bad news had to be presented. And the bad news is that all of us, every one of us, deserves the wrath of God. Depraved, non-religious society deserves the wrath of God. Critical moralizers who think they are basically good people, better than those around them deserve the wrath of God. Self-righteous, religious people who think because of their religion and behavior they are good deserve the wrath of God. And finally Paul summarizes by saying that if you thought you escaped one of the previous categories, the whole human race is sick and deserves the wrath of God.
This is where Paul quotes Psalm 14, along with other psalms and Isaiah. (Romans 3:9–18)
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
(Psalm 14) “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 (Psalm 5) “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
(Psalm 140) “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 (Psalm 10) “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 (Isaiah 59) “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 (Psalm 36) “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
I like quoting the Bible when I preach. Paul loved the Bible and quoted it to make his points as well. We view Paul’s letters as God’s word to us but when Paul was writing his letters, he did not know they would be part of a new Bible, the New Testament. So Paul quoted scripture, the Old Testament, to validate what he was saying.
What do you think about that message? Are you worthless? Are you not good? Last week we prayed in the Puritan prayer:
O fountain of all good,
destroy in me every lofty thought,
break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds,
annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,
implant in me true lowliness of spirit,
abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
open in me a fount of penitential tears,
break me, then bind me up;
Self-loathing and self-abhorrence, isn’t that a bit strong?
This is the problem. We want to think of ourselves as good people. This is reinforced by society which wants to promote self-esteem and help each person to feel valued and have worth. So when we pray to God to abase us to “self-loathing and self-abhorrence,” it grates against us.
In Job 25 (Job 25:4–6) Job reflects on the condition of man and says,
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—
a human being, who is only a worm!”
Am I a maggot? Am I a worm?
When we sing Amazing Grace we sing
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
People like the theme of the song but some have a difficult time singing “a wretch like me,” so the lyric is changed to “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a soul like me,” or “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved and strengthened me.” Who wants to be a wretch?
Let me walk us through this and help us to see why awareness of our sinfulness is a positive and not a negative in our lives.
1. We are made in the image of God.
In the creation poem in Genesis, God created the world in six days. In the first five days God creates and then declares that what he created was good. Then on the sixth day, (Genesis 1:27–31)
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
God looked at his creation of mankind, male and female, and declared this was more than good. This was very good.
David writes in Psalm 139:13–14
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God and designed to live with him in relationship as God lives in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. We are created in the image of God but we are corrupted by sin.
Lucifer was an archangel along with Gabriel and Michael. What caused Lucifer to rebel and be cast out of heaven? Lucifer thought more of himself than he did of God and rebelled against God’s plan to create humans in his image. This is sin, preoccupation with self, which is why pride is such a dangerous sin.
This is original sin, our preference for self over God. And we can see this even in the best of us. If I show you a photograph of you with a group of other people, where does your eye go first? You look first at yourself and then the others in the photo. If I show you five photographs of that group, how do you decide which of those photos is the best one? Regardless of how good everyone else looks, if you are squinting, you say that is not a good one. You pick the photo that makes you look the best. This is instinctive in us.
What is the big deal about selfies? I go to Le Jardin Exotique on the road between Sale and Kenitra and it is a beautiful place to visit. But when I go and there are young people, I see them go from place to place and instead of taking pictures of the plants, they take pictures of themselves. At every turn they take pictures again of themselves. They can’t seem to get enough pictures of themselves. Annie and I were in Turkey visiting some ancient stadiums and in the midst of this archeological wonder saw people sitting taking pictures of themselves.
Our preoccupation with self leads to behavior that is condemned. Just before Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, etc.) he lists acts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:19–21)
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
Take time to reflect on this list and the other New Testament lists of negative behaviors and you will see the root of our selfish human nature in each behavior in the list.
The fallen world corrupts who we are created to be as we are born with physical and mental birth defects. The world wounds and disfigures who we are created to be as we suffer from the racism, discrimination, and abuse of those in the world. Imperfect people create new imperfection in their children. Our own human nature leads us to make choices that are destructive to us. The end result is that we are not who we were created to be. We have been corrupted by sin.
3. God is working to bring us back to who he created us to be.
When we reach out and grab hold of the hand of Jesus that stretches to rescue us, we are brought into the family of God and God sees us through the perfection of Jesus. And then begins the lifelong process of working with the Holy Spirit to be transformed into who God created us to be. The creative power of the Spirit who hovered over the waters in the creation poem in Genesis and then created the splendor of diversity and color we see in our world is using his creative power to transform us.
We were created by God in his image, distorted by sin, and now we are being healed and built up so we will once again be the created being God intended us to be.
4. We see we are sinners not by comparing ourselves to each other but by comparing ourselves to God.
When we look around the world and see all the evil that is done, it is not difficult to see that we are better than many other people. We do not murder. We do not steal. We do not commit adultery. We are not pedophiles.
Relative to other people we are good. But our goodness is determined by who we are in relationship to God because to enter into his kingdom, we have to be good as he is good.
5. We see our sinfulness more clearly as we grow in our relationship with God.
It is like being outdoors on a summer evening. In the twilight it is difficult to see what color your shirt is. But as you walk slowly to the house where there is a light, as you walk closer to the light you see more clearly what color your shirt is.
In the same way, as we grow closer in our relationship with Jesus we see more clearly that we are sinful human beings.
There is some dispute about when Paul wrote the letters that are in our New Testament, but if you follow the general time-line of his letters you see an interesting progression. One of his first letters was Galatians. When you read his introduction you can feel the sense of importance he had about himself. (Galatians 1:1)
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father,
Paul makes a big deal in this letter that he got his information straight from Jesus, not from others. (Galatians 1:12)
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Paul is dismissive of the other disciples of Jesus who he visited in Jerusalem. (Galatians 2:6)
As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message.
Paul takes on Peter, the leader of the disciples, and tells how he rebuked Peter in the church in Antioch. Paul is brash and confident in this letter.
But some time later when Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, there is a bit of a shift that tells me Paul has matured as a Christian. (I Corinthians 15:9)
For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Do you hear the humility in Paul that was missing in his letter to the Galatians?
Then at the end of his life he wrote to the Ephesians and to Timothy and in these letters we see the progression of Paul, the spiritual maturity of Paul, the process of sanctification at work in Paul’s life. (Ephesians 3:8)
Although I am less than the least of all God’s people
(I Timothy 1:15)
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
Paul moved from “an apostle sent not from men nor by man,” to “the least of the apostles” and to “the greatest of all sinners
This is a mark of spiritual maturity, an awareness of sin that comes from a deeper intimacy with Jesus.
6. Apart from an experience and awareness of the love of God, looking at our sinfulness is destructive behavior.
In my early years as follower of Jesus, I talked with a man who was part of a Christian cult that was destroying him. The leaders of this Christian cult would gather people in a room and then go around the room with each person being told by the other people how he or she was sinful. This was an enormously cruel, destructive process.
When Peter said to Jesus, (Luke 5:8) “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” he said this after seeing the divinity of Jesus when his nets were filled with fish.
When Isaiah said, (Isaiah 6:5)
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
he said this after a great vision of God in the temple with God on his throne and seraphim calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
If you are being pulled down because of a preoccupation with your sin, spend time in worship. Sing songs of praise. Focus on the love of Jesus who thinks you are worthy of his sacrifice for you. And then, when you know you are loved by God, then you can reflect on your sin and see how desperately you need a savior. When you see how little you deserve the love of Jesus and see how powerfully you are loved by Jesus, this will lead to even greater praise.
OK, that is six and since I talked earlier about the poem of creation in Genesis, on the seventh we will rest.
John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace had no difficulty writing “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” He had been captain of a slave ship. He was under no illusion that he was a good person.
I am also under no illusion that I am a good person. I stole money from my mother’s purse. I won every game of Monopoly with my younger sister because I was the banker and kept helping myself to extra money as the game went on. But the first time I played Monopoly with her after I became a follower of Jesus, I was again the banker but this time I lost because I was living with a different standard.
But there are others who never cheated at games when they were growing up; never stole from stores, never did the bad things other people do. For these people it is more difficult to understand that they are sinners in need of God.
For these people it is more of a journey, but it is a journey worth taking. Jesus came to the home of Simon the Pharisee and while eating, a woman who led a sinful life came. She washed his feet with her tears and then dried them with her hair. She anointed his feet with expensive perfume. Simon objected to Jesus allowing a sinful woman to touch him and Jesus told him a little story. (Luke 7:40–47)
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
If, on our journey, we discover how great God is, how loving he is, how patient and forgiving he is, we will begin to see how far short we fall of his perfection. As we are given the gift of seeing our sin, we will reach out in gratitude to the loving hand of Jesus reaching down to save us. We will cling to Jesus who alone gives us hope for our future.
“Good people” find Jesus helpful in life. Sinful people cling to Jesus in desperation. I pray that you will be given the gift of knowing you are deeply loved, the gift of seeing the darkness of your soul, and the gift of holding on to Jesus who loves you and will take you safely into his eternal kingdom.
