The Atheist’s Psalm

8-16-04

Title: The Atheist’s Psalm

Text: “…The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)

Bible Reading: Psalm 14:1-7

1 “… The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.

3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not 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 shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.

6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.

7 O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion!

When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

Introduction:

God calls the atheist a fool: The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

In this psalm atheism is traced back to its source in the human soul.

The psalm reveals that atheism is not a mental problem, but a moral problem.

It is not that a person cannot believe in God, but that he won’t believe in God.

He enjoys sin, indulges in it, excuses it, and prefers it more than the knowledge of God.

The very thought of God poses a threat to some; therefore, they want to get rid of God.

The Lord mentions four kinds of people in the 14th psalm; the foolish person, the filthy person, the fearful person and the faithful person.

In my life to this point, I have to admit to having been everyone of these people at one time or another.

I believe that you must have been like me, since no one starts out life by being faithful to God.

Today’s message looks at the four kinds of people.

When we are done, I’ll ask one question: “Which category are you in today, and how can you get where you want to be?

Let’s begin our study with THE FOOLISH MAN.

He is the one we meet right off the bat.

A fool is defined as a stupid person or someone who does a senseless act.

In the Book of Proverbs, "fool" refers to a person who is morally and spiritually defective.

Jesus drew a distinction between wise and foolish persons.

He said, “Persons who keep His sayings are wise; those who do not are foolish.

In the Bible, the most foolish person of all is the one who denies the existence of God the Father.

Within the verses we red we have the confession of a foolish man.

“…The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Whether in Noah’s time, Moses’ time, and David’s time, or our own time, fools have always said that there is no God.

I read about a very intelligent man, who has been extremely successful in dealing with atheists.

He was in a group of men one day when an atheist said, “I don’t believe there is a God. Man doesn’t have a soul, and when he dies, he dies like a dog.”

This man went on raving like a madman.

The believer waited until the group began to break up and then approached this man.

He said, “I understand you said you are an atheist.”

Upon hearing these words, the man launched into another tirade about how there is no God.

The believer said, “I would like to ask you a question. The Bible says, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ The word fool means insane or mad. Either you were not sincere when you talked about God as you did, and you were just talking for the benefit of the crowd or you are a fool and a madman. I would like to know which one it is.”

The man turned and walked away.

Because of all we know about the universe today, only a madman would say there is no God.

We have discovered that the universe works more accurately than any clock or watch ever made.

And there is no watch running around that just happened—some watchmaker made it.

The universe that is timed more accurately than a watch tells us that there is a universe-maker.

There are many people with PhD’s teaching in our universities today.

Many of them are atheists.

I want to say this carefully—the lowest that a man can sink in human depravity is to be an atheist.

That is what the Word of God says.

If you do not believe there is a God, you are a madman; you are crazy.