Psalm 53

Welcome, my name's Mark.

I'm one of the leaders here at the church.

Hopefully, you can see me as we maintain just a little bit of distance.

It is important that we acknowledge today that this is Denise's Last Sunday.

The reason why this is Denise's Last Sunday is because we are sending her as a church family to be part of the launch team of a new church called Christchurch North Dublin that is currently meeting as a launch team up in Sutton.

David Martin is the church punter and he's the director of Irish Church Missions, of which we are a part.

And during lockdown, one of the things that we did is we had David come to uh share in one of our prayer times about Christchurch North Dublin.

And in that time, I think this is right, the the Lord laid on your heart the uh the call to consider, the call to consider to go uh to be part of Christchurch North Dublin, and we agreed that we would pray about it together, and we talked to David about it, and we think that the Lord is in this and that it is time for him to move you on to a new season.

Uh, Denisa uh has been so faithful uh to us at City Church over these last five years.

Uh, one of our longest serving members, and uh she is like those godly women of uh of the New Testament, like Lydia and Phoebe, that are a blessing uh to the saints.

And so it would be uh remiss of us not to acknowledge uh your service and to say how much we love you.

We are committed to planting churches and seeing churches planted, and that means pain for us in the short term, uh, but blessing uh as folks go out, and so we are excited for you, uh, and we're excited for Christ Church North Dublin.

So we want to pray, uh pray for you and commend you uh to the Lord's grace.

Can we do that?

Can we pray for Denisa?

Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of the family of faith.

Thank you that you bring people into uh our lives, people uh into our path who uh enrich us uh in ways that uh that we hadn't uh considered before.

Thank you so much for our sister Denizia, thank you for her love for you, thank you for saving her, thank you for pouring out your spirit into her life, and thank you for this call on her now to go and to be part of this new church family, to be part of Christ Church North Dublin.

Father, we commend her to your grace.

We pray that she would uh enrich and serve that body like she has served and enriched ours.

And we pray that that church family would uh would grow and expand, that as she go joins them on mission, that those who don't know you would be uh brought under the sound of the gospel and that you would have mercy on people through that church.

And we pray for David and for the for the leadership as they lead people forward to their uh to their launch time.

So, Father, we praise you for all that you have wrought in Denise's life and for all that she has done among us.

And uh we send her out now with love, knowing that you are sovereign and that you are good.

And so we praise you that you have brought us to this day, as painful as it is for us to say goodbye.

We rejoice that she goes on uh to be a uh a herald of the gospel, a disciple of Jesus in this new context, this new chapter.

And so we praise you in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So if you're in the room, take a moment to uh bid Denisa farewell after the service, or if you're watching, you can send her a WhatsApp or something.

Uh we are going to be looking at Psalm 53.

So, can I encourage you either to pull that up on your phone or if you have a Bible with you to be watching along uh or to be reading along with us.

Uh, here now we conclude our summer series in the Psalms, because uh I don't know if you've realized that summer's over.

It's cold now.

Um the heat went on this week in our house, so we know that summer's over.

And uh next week we'll be moving into a short series looking at our uh our gospel DNA as a church, the kind of things that we value that matter to us.

So that'll be a three-week series, and then we'll be looking at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount uh going up to Christmas.

Psalm 53, as you may have noted from uh from Denise's reading of it, it's quite a heavy Psalm.

Uh, and so let's pray for God's help as we look at it.

Our Father, we acknowledge that uh soft words often produce hard hearts, and that hard words produce soft hearts, produce soft hearts in us by your spirit this morning.

We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Over the last three uh Psalms that we've been looking at, all written uh by uh King David, uh he has woven together a kind of theme.

Psalm 51, that we looked at a couple of weeks ago, is uh an individual who is dealing with sin and confessing that.

Psalm 52, again, another individual who in his arrogance lives without reference to God.

But now in Psalm 53, it's as though we're not looking at individuals anymore, it's as though the camera zooms out and God surveys and speaks to all of humanity, he diagnoses uh the human condition, as it were.

The words uh of the Psalm, when applied to all of humanity, are undoubtedly hard to hear.

Let me, by way of preface, say why we need to hear them.

We need to hear them because we will never see the goodness of Jesus.

We will never see why it is that he came, why it is that he died and rose again, why it is that we need him if we do not see our own sin.

Moreover, we will never fully understand what God is like until we see ourselves in relation to him.

And so Psalm 53 shows us a number of things that we're going to look at together.

I'm gonna jump right in.

Psalm 53, if you're taking notes, shows us first the heart of the fool, second, the result of their folly, third, their identity, fourth, their destiny, and finally it hints at a cure.

So, what's that?

How many points is that?

Five.

Let's see how we go.

So, first of all, the heart of the fool.

And there in verse one, the fool says in his heart, there is no God.

The fool says in his heart, there is no God.

We read that, and I imagine that most of us uh here in the room or watching this immediately think of uh of someone who is uh an atheist.

Uh that's someone who says that there is no God, they do not believe that there is a God, that there's any evidence for him.

And that would be an interesting conversation for another sermon.

We could talk about things like the uh the uh the cosmological argument for God.

Wouldn't that be interesting, or is that just me?

Uh so everything in this world that you perceive has a cause, and so uh there must be a first cause who is himself uncaused.

We can talk about that, but that's a rational argument for the existence of God.

But that's not what this Psalm is getting at.

Because to the ancient mind, the there were no atheists.

Uh this theoretical atheist like Dawkins or Hitchens or Sam Harris, they're they're they're quite new in the philosophical mind.

They've really only arisen in the last 200 uh or so years.

No, what the psalmist has in mind is something different.

Uh, it's a different sort of atheist.

It's the practical atheist.

So you have the theoretical atheist like Harrison, Dawkins, and Hitchens, but much more broad is the practical atheist.

That is, the person who might even profess to believe in God, right?

In some sort of higher power, might even come to church.

But in terms of how they live, in terms of how they act, they act as though there is no God.

The fool says, in his heart, not in his brain, in his heart, what drives him, there is no God.

His actions arise out of this belief that there is no God.

Paul talks about these sorts of people in his letter to Titus when he talks about uh folks in Crete.

I don't know if you've ever been to Crete on holiday, don't tell the Cretians this.

Uh, but he says that they profess to know God but deny him by their works.

That is, they profess, they say the creed, they pray the prayers, but in terms of their actions, they live as if there is no God.

It's the person who is willing to take the moral gamble that they will not be held accountable for their thoughts or actions.

Uh Phil Philippa, my wife and I, we like to watch the TV series Haunted on Channel 4.

And I commend it to you on 4OD if you've never uh if you've never seen it.

It's quite stressful at various points.

But the premise is that uh about a dozen or so pairs, uh or six pairs, rather, a dozen or so people, six pairs are uh are set free in some location in the UK and they have to evade the hunters for uh for 28 days, right?

And the hunters are hot on their tail, and it's amazing how close they get to catching them because they're able to use things like surveillance, they're able to use number plate recognition, and it's just amazing seeing how surveilled the UK is.

And you think, well, why do we even have surveillance?

Well, we have surveillance because, on one level, uh we believe that people cannot be trusted to act rightly when no one's looking.

That's why that exists.

And yet most people live like there isn't a God who sees.

And so it doesn't matter how you live.

It doesn't matter what you do in private because there is no God who sees.

That sort of person.

And I hope you're making the connection that that's the sort of person we all are from time to time.

That's that sort of person that the Sam calls a fool.

It is foolish to live in this practical atheist way, as though there is no accountability, as though there is no God who is there.

That is the heart of the fool.

The person who might profess a belief in God, though in their actions, particularly in their private actions, they betray that they really don't believe that God will hold them to account.

That's the heart of the fool.

Second, the result of their folly, well, it's on there in verse 1, that's where I still am.

They are corrupt doing abominable iniquity.

There is none who does good.

Or, cast your eye down to verse four.

Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God.

Verse 1 continues that our practical atheism, that is, living like there is no God, leads to uh to further uh corruption.

Or the word iniquity also means to be distorted, to not uh think or feel or act rightly.

That they distort what is right, they celebrate what is wrong.

That's what Paul says in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Celebrate the things that are wrong and celebrate those who practice them.

That is where our folly leads us.

And one of the things that we should recognize here is that rejecting God, living as though there is no God, is not a morally neutral standpoint.

It is corrupting, it is abominable.

Moreover, this folly doesn't just affect the person, it affects other people.

That's what verse four is getting at.

That is, sinful, corrupt, self-seeking acts go unchecked, the people that they harm are those around them.

We see that, don't we?

People perpetuate injustice, and who are the people who suffer?

It's the most defenseless among us, isn't it?

And so the result of this folly, this foolishness of living without reference to God is that you harm yourself and you harm others.

What then is the identity of these fools?

These five points, we're removing it a clip, right?

Third, the identity of the fools.

Let's have a look at verses two and three.

God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

They have all fallen away.

Together they have become corrupt.

There is none who does good, not even one.

Here we have the image of uh of God surveying humanity at all times and in all places, and he's not looking for perfection.

Do you notice that?

He's not even looking for absolute moral blamelessness here in this.

Is there anybody who is wise?

Is there even a modicon of wisdom in in one person?

And what does he see?

Nothing.

Nothing.

No one.

Nada.

All have become corrupted.

This is sobering, is it not?

But it's really important.

Let me give you one reason why this is so important.

It means that when it comes to humanity, there's no such thing as them and us.

There's no such thing as those people out there who are really bad, and me over here that's really good.

And that would have been so tempting in the Old Testament mind because David is the king.

David's the king of who?

Of God's chosen people.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to say, oh, me and my people, we're really morally upright.

Those guys over there, they suck.

They're detestable.

Nobody understands.

None of them.

Those guys out there.

And isn't our world just full of perpetuating them and us narratives?

Just look at you, just look at your news feed.

Just look at America right now.

There's them and there's us.

Them bad, us good.

Not when it comes to the Bible.

There's no them and us.

It's all of us, all of humanity together.

We're all indicted.

We're all on the hook.

It's what the Jews of Jesus' day thought.

And Jesus' teachings are corrective to that.

Back to what God is saying in places like Psalm 53.

Does not Jesus reinforce these ideas when he says that, no, out of our hearts, Mark chapter 7, spring iniquity and sinful thoughts, that all of our hearts are in are inclined away from God and towards self.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

That we all by nature want to live without reference to him.

Do we even know that that's true?

Even as we bristle listening to this Psalm.

How I've bristled at preparing Psalm 53 this week because there's something in me that still wants to run my own existence.

There's a quiet, still, not so still, but certainly a quiet, determined voice that says in each of us, I will be God.

I will be the master of my own destiny.

How dare he say these things to me?

And so the awful reality hints that when it comes to finding the fool, the fool of this sound, I don't need to look very far.

I just need to get up in the morning and look in the mirror.

No.

I imagine that perhaps some of you either here in the room or watching this online, read this passage as I did this week and bump up against something.

There's a repeated phrase, it's there in verse 1 and verse 3.

So the very end of verse 1 says, There is none who does good.

Verse uh, or verse 3, again at the end, there is none who does good.

Not even one.

How can this be?

Because on one level, we all know good people who don't believe the Bible, who aren't Christians.

The world is full of brave non-Christian firemen and women who dash into burning buildings without regard to themselves.

There are millions of generous non Christians, countless, caring non Christian spouses who look after their husband or wife who is debilitatingly ill with dementia or cancer.

And to say nothing of the people who just live quiet, unassuming, nice lives.

How can David say that those people don't do good?

I look at non-Christians who I'm friendly with, and I'm like, they're good.

They do, well, let me rephrase it, they do good things, at least it looks like they do.

And the thing is, Psalm 53 is not alone.

It's quoted and reinforced in Romans 3.

And later on in the book of Romans, it's strengthened even more.

Where Paul says in Romans chapter 14, listen to this.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Whatever does not come from faith is sin.

Whatever does not come from faith is sin.

What are we to make of this?

Again, it tells us something very important.

It tells us something very important about God.

That is, God is not just interested in your moral obedience.

That is to say that there is a sense here in Psalm 53 and in Romans 14 where somebody could live a very morally upright life.

But if their hearts are not inclined toward God, then those actions are not good.

Why?

Because God just isn't, God isn't just interested in your moral obedience.

God doesn't try again.

God doesn't just want your actions.

He wants your heart.

Do you see?

He wants your heart, not your outward assent, not your outward obedience merely.

He wants to captivate your heart.

He wants obedience to spring from a heart that is inclined towards him.

He doesn't just want your duty, he wants your love-motivated, joyful obedience.

So, what about the good things that non-Christians do?

Are they good at all?

This illustration comes from an old theologian called Jonathan Edwards, who's long since gone to glory, but I find it helpful this week.

He gives us illustration of imagine, imagine a set of notes played on a piano, right?

A set of notes that are played on a piano that by themselves they accord with one another, they harmonize, and they sound beautiful.

Okay?

Now imagine that you took those same notes and you set them in the context of a symphony that is set in a different key.

What happens to those notes that on their own sounded beautiful?

They now sound in the wider context discordant and unpleasant.

They sound not good.

So the non-Christian might do something that is good, that is, the localized notes, they sound beautiful in a limited way, even while they are internally tainted by mixed or ulterior motives and other calculations.

It is only when heart and actions are aligned that they harmonize with the moral symphony of the universe.

So God looks down from heaven and sees that by nature none of us harmonize with that symphony.

None of us, by nature, do good.

Because good in the Bible's mind is defined as heart and action in alignment.

Heart and action in alignment towards God and towards neighbor.

That's our problem.

None of us live like that.

That is, none of us does a good act with perfect motives, perfectly seeking to love God and to love those around us.

And so Jonathan Edwards, just to conclude this, he has this distinction between um between virtue and true virtue.

True virtue is that alignment of heart and action.

That alignment of heart and action.

But he will say that there is a there is a genuine virtue to the uh to the action of the non-Christian.

It's just not true virtue.

That is that alignment of heart and action.

Do you see?

So that's where the Bible's going at when it says things like, no one does good, no one is living that aligned life.

So that is the heart of the fool, the result of their folly, the identity of the fool is us.

We need only look in the mirror.

And fourth, the destiny.

The destiny of the fools, the destiny of those who reject God.

Verse 5.

There they are in great terror when there is no terror.

For God scatters the bones of him who camps against you.

You put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

The ultimate destiny of those who reject God until the end will find themselves rejected by Him.

Those who have said throughout their whole life, I want nothing to do with God, in the end, God will give them the desires of their hearts.

If we live persistently, wanting God to go away and to leave us alone, in the end, he says, Okay.

What a great and dreadful day that will be when God removes his presence to bless from those who have rejected him.

That is the destiny of all of us who by nature are fools.

We have a serious problem.

We do not want God to be Lord over our lives.

And without his action to change our hearts, that desire would simply be confirmed.

And that confirmation for us would be hell.

But marvelously, this Psalm concludes and hints at a cure.

Verse 6.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion when God restores the fortunes of his people.

Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

David longs that salvation would come from Israel, not just from Israel, that it would come out of Zion, that is, from the very epicenter of God's presence, that it would come from God Himself.

And of course, wonderfully we know this to be true, don't we?

There was a time when God looked down from heaven and saw a man, and who, upon looking in his heart, saw that the inclinations of his heart always aligned with his actions.

The inclinations of his heart were always pure, were always perfectly faithful towards God, perfectly loving to his father, perfectly loving towards his neighbor.

That man always sought to honor God, to love others.

Jesus is a remarkable person in many ways, but perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of him is that Jesus never had mixed motives.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be released from mixed motives?

Jesus never had them.

We know that from uh what he says to the Pharisees in John 8.

He uses this oblique phrase.

He says, he says, I know where I'm coming, I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not.

That is his kind of saying, I live as an integrated human being.

Whereas you, Pharisees, or indeed us, we are disintegrated.

We are internally broken off into factions.

Jesus is a fully integrated human being, integrated in both heart, mind, emotional life, psychology, physiology.

There is no mixed motives.

And so when God looked at him and saw him, he spoke from heaven and said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

But although the thoughts, excuse me, excuse me, but although the thoughts and motives and actions of his heart were always perfect, in a way that ours in this life will never be, he stood under the dreadful judgment.

The dreadful judgment articulated in verse five.

For fools like me, for fools like you, he experienced the rejection that I deserve.

And so Jesus now invites us to turn from our folly.

He invites us to trust in his sin-bearing death and in his life-giving resurrection.

And when we do so, something quite remarkable happens.

Our hearts that were darkened by foolishness are now enlightened by Him.

We see and acknowledge willingly, joyfully, the God who is there.

We don't just live for ourselves, but we live for Him and others.

And yes, we will always in this life still struggle with mixed motives.

But here's the encouragement.

Because of faith in Jesus, though your motives are mixed, you can actually please God.

You can really do good and live in a way that allows you to experience his fatherly pleasure.

That is only possible by faith.

And so the encouragement or the challenge of this psalm is one of reflection for us each.

To ask ourselves, though we may be trusting in Jesus, to ask what spheres of our lives are we continuing to live as practical atheists?

That is, continuing to live as though God has no authority over that area, or as though he will not see.

That is folly.

Let us turn from our folly and by faith and repentance to trust again in the perfect human, the God man who lived the life that we could not live, and died the death that we deserve, to liberate us from sin and foolishness, and to give us wisdom and life.

A moment's reflection.

As you consider, perhaps it is that the Spirit of God has laid upon you those areas in which you have not been living with reference to the God who loves you.

Perhaps it is that you have been convicted by your folly, the folly of your faithlessness.

And you need to come to God in faith and repentance.

Give a moment's silence for your own prayers.

If we say that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we confess that we have sinned against you.

In our thoughts, our words, our deeds.

We have not lived that integrated life this week.

Our hearts and our actions have not lined up.

Thank you for sending the Lord Jesus to redeem us from the folly of living without reference to you.

Forgive us all that is past and grant that we may walk in newness of life to your praise and glory.

Amen.