hang all the law and the prophets. Can you live up to all this perfectly? No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. So far our confessional reading, we'll be looking especially at question and answer five this evening. Let us turn our scripture reading Psalm chapter 14, or the 14th Psalm, 14th Psalm, page 575 in most of the Pew Bibles. It is very similar to the 53rd Psalm. Really only a couple verses are different and a few words here and there. Perhaps a song that the people sang together then, lamenting the sinfulness of man, Psalm 14, to the choir master of David, let us hear the word of God. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. 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, They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? 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. So far, the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades. The word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, why do we speak about God's grace and human sinfulness so much? Why don't we ever take a break from the preaching of God's word to, we might say, talk about something not very serious as some sadly have done, or we might think of something that's You know, a little more serious than fixing a motorcycle. That was one thing I heard one time, a sermon about how to fix a motorcycle. Well, okay, that's trivial. We wouldn't ever do that. But what about something a little more serious than that? What about a seminar on being healthy or an update on the wars and rumors of wars in the world? Isn't that important? If World War III was coming, that's something that we should talk about, isn't it? It would be right to think about if a war was coming, but that's not the gospel. That's not what we gather together to hear from God's word. That's not the good news. Martin Lloyd-Jones lived through the first two world wars. He knew it was important to think about, to talk about things like war and nuclear warfare and the possibility of coming destruction. But Lloyd-Jones knew that the question of our relationship with God was always more important. if anything, the importance of who God is and who we are in relationship to God, of God's grace and man's sinfulness, if anything, that only increases in importance when war and destruction is imminent. And so he said it this way, whether there is war or not, your relationship to God still remains. Even though there be no war, I know that my life in this world is limited and I still have to face this question. And indeed, should war come, and should we find hell let loose again upon the face of the earth, then I think it is clear that there will be nothing more important at that moment than our relationship with God. Our relationship with God, God's grace, man's sinfulness, the gospel, the good news, these are essential things. And we see our theme this morning, this evening, that we are to trust in God alone. The nature of mankind is not good. And Psalm 14 lays that out so clearly. We'll first see that man forgets God. We'll then see that man neglects man. And then we'll see that man needs God. So first, that man forgets God. And let us begin with the opening words of the psalm. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Now, when the scriptures say this, the Holy Spirit is not inspiring David to some kind of name calling. This is not just an exchange of insult for insult. Oh, you fool. No, it's not calling the unbeliever just plain dumb or something like that. The point is that the unbeliever has departed from the only starting point for true wisdom and understanding as soon as they deny God. Unbelievers can be very intelligent. They can use the brains that God has given them to accomplish great things in that sense, but without God there can be no understanding. Without God, there can be no foundation, there can be no glorification to the very One who made them in order to worship Him and serve Him with that brain they've been given. So when the unbeliever says, there is no God, he's denying the very Maker who gave him the ability to reason and say such a thing. One illustration of this is that to say, I do not believe in you, God. I deny your very existence, is to be like a child who can't even crawl up onto the lap of a father. But they're still at the point where they can kind of give a little bit of a punch, a little bit of a slap. And so this very small child is picked up by the father. The father takes the child into his arms, and the child slaps the father in the face. A child who couldn't even get there, who couldn't even come up to the father if the father had not picked him up off the ground and taken him into his hands. That is what the unbeliever is doing when he says there is no God. He couldn't even say that if God had not made him and given him a mind to think and say things. But he is before the face of God. And he slaps God and says, no, I say no God. And that's literally the abrupt way that we could translate Psalm 14. The fool says in his heart, no God. Now Psalm 14 one is not just speaking about atheists and agnostics. This does not only apply to those who try to deny the existence of God entirely in those ways, and it is an attempt. They cannot really do it. Romans 1 makes that clear. Psalm 14 1 also applies to anyone who does not pay attention to God. It applies to anyone who does not pay attention to God. William Van Gemeren, retired professor from Trinity Divinity School not too far from here. He said it this way once, that when God, quote, God is not important in his life, he shuts off the affairs of this world from divine intervention. He denies any personal accountability to God for his actions. It is also for that kind of person, that's on fourteen one applies it's not only the atheist who says there's no God is the person who functionally lives like there's no God he thinks that he's not accountable to God he pretends that he can live in this world as though God will not see him. Indeed, to just turn back to Psalm 10, that is how the wicked are described. The wicked are those who say this in Psalm 10, verse 11. He says in his heart, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it. That also is the fool. One who does not deny God completely, but one who pretends that he can live life without paying any attention to God and pretends that God will not pay any attention to him and what he does. Surely God does not forget. Surely we must all repent and believe, not only acknowledge that God exists, but live for him, live as his repentant servants to worship Him and love Him. All of this is what we all must do then to just believe that God exists is not enough. We all must repent and believe. And the problem of being a fool then we can now clearly see is a problem for everyone It is, by nature, a problem that we all have. We have all fallen. We are all in complete dependence upon God. The language of the psalm is so encompassing. Everyone is sinful. The language at the end of verse one, there is none who does good. And then in verse Two, is there anyone who understands? And the answer is, all have turned aside. And then at the end of verse three, the words that there is none who does good are repeated. Now there is some contrast. There is some contrast in the Psalm between the righteous and the wicked. So if we only had Psalm 14, we might say, okay, it's this all, it's this everyone, it's this no one language, but there's this contrast between the wicked and the righteous who have a refuge in God. So it's one of the limited alls. It's one of the limited everyones. And we all do that. We all will say something like, everyone does this, and scripture does that sometimes too. And so we might say, well, it's the same with Psalm 14. This isn't saying that we're all evil, that we're all sinful by nature. But Romans 3 removes any doubt. Because it's in Romans 3, after a chapter and a half of working through in Romans 2 into Romans 3, Very clearly, it is not only the Gentiles who are sinners, it is also all Jews. We are all sinners. None of us can come before God on our own. And then what does the apostle do? He quotes from a number of Old Testament passages starting with Psalm 14. There is none who is righteous. If there was any doubt that this is and all that includes every single individual. If there was any doubt, then we would have to turn to Romans 2 and 3 and the doubt would be removed. Surely when the catechism says, can you live up to all this perfectly? The answer is no. I, even I as a believer, am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. You see, it's only when we get to Romans 4 and we can speak of God working righteousness in man, that we can begin to think of man as having any kind of righteousness on our own. We are all the fool. We are all trying to slap God in the face, though it's only by his creative power that we can even live and move and have our being. So it's important to remember Psalm 14 because it really does apply to every one of us. It speaks to the nature of every single one of us. It's also important because this is simply a truth which is so easily forgotten. There's a recent study, July 2020, Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University, 69% of US adults agree with the statement that quote, people are basically good. And then the majority of every single subgroup that they split it into said the same thing, including they have one where it's, they kind of define Christian worldview, which is like not just somebody who goes to church, but they also have to answer a few more questions in order to get into the Christian worldview category. And even like 51% of those people said, people are basically good. Psalm 14 really applies to all of us and it really is a truth that can easily be forgotten. People of God, who is the one sheep that has left the 99 and that goes astray? It's every single one of us. We are all the one that goes astray. We are all sinful by nature. We are all only saved when Jesus Christ goes out and seeks us and finds us and brings us to the full. We forget God. We also neglect our fellow man. We also neglect our fellow man. Notice some of the actions that have a basic description of the actions that go along with the heart that denies God. First, there will be corruption and abominable deeds. We see this in the middle of verse 1. We see this in the middle of verse 3. These are outward sins, such as the various works of the flesh, we might say. These are what we sometimes call sins of commission, doing that, committing that which ought not to be done. Second, there's going to be a general failure to do good. There is none who does good, verse one and verse three end. The person who denies God will not actively be doing good. These are what we sometimes call the sins of omission, omitting or failing to do that which ought to be done. And then third, there is a special kind of oppression, especially against the poor, verse six, and against the righteous. the middle of verse four. And this is the reality. We see it increasing within our own continent, but certainly for Christians around the world, there are many who are persecuted simply because they profess the name of Jesus Christ. China, the Middle East, parts of Africa, the persecution is strong. against the people of God. This is nothing new. This is how the heart against God will go when left on its own. It's even an image of horror. They eat up my people as they eat bread. It's a picture of calloused cruelty. And this is how the wicked will treat those who are calling upon the name of God. Now, does every person who denies God display all of this wickedness to this extent? That's sometimes an objection that's raised against total depravity and even against sinful nature as a whole. Well, you know, there are some unbelievers who are They're kind of nice. They say hello. They're polite. They do their work well. They care for their family as far as I can see. What do we do with this? Excuse me. What do we do with this? Well, first, let us remember there are degrees of evil. there are degrees of evil. God says in Genesis 18 that Sodom and Gomorrah are judged because they were more evil than the other nations, than the other pagan peoples that surrounded them. Matthew chapter 11 then says that those who witnessed the ministry of Jesus Christ and yet did not believe in him were worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. And then there are other passages that speak about people being as evil as Sodom. And so this is even, this is almost a measuring stick at various points in scripture. There are those who are not as evil as Sodom and Gomorrah. Then there's Sodom and Gomorrah and those who are as evil as Sodom and Gomorrah. Then there's those who deny the very ministry and miracles of Jesus Christ and they are even worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. And there are unbelievers who treat persons, especially perhaps their family, with certain measures of care. The apostle Paul says this in 1 Timothy 5 verse 8. 1 Timothy 5 verse 8. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. What is the Apostle saying there? He's saying even many unbelievers do this. Even many unbelievers will care for their family. And so how could anyone who claims to be of the faith not care for their relatives and especially members of their household? Now if mankind was not restrained by the hand of God, We would be falling into all kinds of evils and the world would be ripping itself apart. But God does have a restraining hand and those made in his image will even recognize there are unbelievers who are married for many years and care for their family. And so we're not saying that mankind is always exercising the worst possible kind of evil. But we do say this, people of God, that even when they are not falling into these worst kinds of evil, they are still being very evil. And there are a few ways to illustrate this. Perhaps the best one is to think of a military unit. And here's a military unit, and they're trained by one military force, they're trained in one army. And then this unit totally rebels. And as a group, they leave, they take all of their equipment, they take all of their articles of war and they join the other side and they begin fighting for the other side. And so everything that they have, their training, their equipment, their firepower, they got from those who they're now fighting against. But they begin to fight for the other side that they have deserted to. And as they fight, they fight valiantly. War is a horrible thing, we know, but within the horribleness of war, there can be incredible acts of bravery. laying down their lives for other men, or at least putting their life on the line for other men, fighting with valor, fighting with bravery, fighting with skill in the midst of that horribleness. And so we could say that this is how this unit fights. They fight with valor. They fight for each other. And they're even known for having a kindness to each other. They don't treat each other poorly. They are very kind within their group. They lift one another up. They save one another. Now the war ends. And these men who have valor and who have kindness within their circle, it is shown that they have been fighting for the kingdom of darkness. That they have been fighting for evil. Now, isn't that a description of the unbeliever who is nice and kind and treats his family well? Everything he has, he has from God. Maybe he has a family and he treats his family well. Who instituted marriage? Who gave him his children? who made him in the image of God that he might even know what kindness is and be able to act kindly and bravely and do things well. God made him. And even as he is treating his family well, even as he is a kind man, he's doing it all for the kingdom of darkness because he's not doing it for God. You see, those brave soldiers, those skilled soldiers, they're fighting for evil. And so when the war is done, we do not praise them. When Christ comes, He will not first ask how kind you are. We are to be kind, we know that. And we all are to grow in kindness, we know that. But the first thing God is going to ask is, what kingdom are you fighting for? And there will be those who only bear fruit five-fold. There will be Christians who struggle in this life to bear any fruit, to even show kindness, and to grow in even that fruit of the Spirit at all. but they're fighting for the kingdom of light. They're God's people. And those are the ones who are saved, not those who would fight valiantly for the kingdom of darkness. So it is that Psalm 14 does not describe the depths of evil that every single person descends into. But it is this forgetting of God combined with the general evils that so often come with that. And pulling all of this together, we are completely lost. We are all on the side of darkness, unless, unless there's salvation. for Israel that comes from outside of ourselves. And that's verse seven of the psalm. That is verse seven of the psalm. And what a proper conclusion to a psalm about the widespread, the universal sinfulness of man, that there would be a plea for salvation from the Lord, for salvation from outside of ourselves. And indeed, that's the pattern of not just verse seven, but it was also in verse five, who are the righteous? The righteous are those whom God is with. And then in verse six, The Lord is the one who is the refuge for the poor. And then most clearly and most beautifully in verse 7, it is the Lord who must come to save and restore His people. This is so clearly an Old Testament verse that anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ, is it not? Salvation must come. It must come out of Zion. It is one who is man. He is of the line of David. But it must also be of the Lord. It cannot be from ourselves. And so it must be the God-man, Jesus Christ, Son of David, who is also the only begotten Son of God. This is how salvation can come to sinful mankind, to foolish mankind. Salvation comes in the person. of Jesus Christ. And this is the first problem that must be addressed if there is to be salvation. If we are to simplify and say that there's two major problems in this world, the first is the sinfulness of man, that would be one problem, and then another problem would be the sinfulness of man manifesting itself in all the suffering and all the wars and all the opposition against And so this is a little bit of an oversimplification, but we might say there's the Psalm 2 problem, the nations raging against God and warring against each other, and the Psalm 14 problem, the fact that we are all full of sin. And we needed the solution to Psalm 14 first. This is what we need first because we are all by nature sinners. And so if we think back now to the gospel, so it's been a little bit of time now since we were in Mark, but what's one of the major problems of the people of God that we see in the gospels? That they were looking for the wrong kind of savior. That they wanted the Psalm 2 solution right then and there. They wanted God to come and to conquer the nations that were raging against him. They wanted God to come and sweep in with a mighty sword right away and at His first coming to bring that kind of deliverance. But Jesus Christ is saying, how can you do this? Because Jesus Christ knows that they need Psalm 14 verse 7 before you can have a solution to the raging of the nations. We need salvation from our sin. We need Jesus Christ to come in humility to die for our sins before Jesus can come with the sword because we are all sinners. Let us never forget that Jesus Christ had to come first in humility, first to die on a cross. That had to be the first coming. If it was not, none of us could be saved because we are all sinful by nature. How could they have expected God to come with the sword first? They forgot Psalm 14 and so many other passages. They forgot that the first problem is our own sinfulness. And exactly the same for what we must do. Now we look back and rejoice that the Savior has come. And so it's all made clear. But it's the same. We are all sinful by nature. We all need Jesus on the cross before, before we can say, Lord Jesus, come on the stallion and the war horse with your sword to restore all things. We need to be fixed first, before the world can be fixed. And praise be to God that though the people of Israel did not understand this, that is how God worked. He sent his son first in humility, first to die on the cross, first to solve this problem. That we needed him. And he came to save us. And so now we can say, Lord since you have come, since you have provided the very salvation of our souls, now come again quickly. and bring the sword the second time and fix everything. I praise you that you fixed me first. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we are all sinners. We are inclined by nature to hate you, to be the fool that forgets you. But Lord God, you have saved us.