As we look at Psalm 53, consider these questions:

1. How does the concept of original sin manifest in the world today, and what are some examples of it?

2. In the passage, the psalmist discusses the denial of God by those who do not fear His judgment. How can this denial of God's judgment be understood in the context of the Christian doctrine of salvation?

3. We see hope of salvation in verse 6. How does the psalmist's hope relate to the Christian understanding of salvation through Jesus Christ?

Transcript:

There is a spiritual and theological truth that is very easy to objectively verify. That truth is the doctrine of original sin. You see it everywhere when you observe the world around you. Sin and depravity are everywhere. You can observe it in the big problems of the world when we see moral decay all over the place. You can see it in the issues that happen closer to home as well with a plethora of examples we could list of things that show us the world is broken. We can see it in our homes when we have struggles and conflict within our own families but at the end of the day, we must also acknowledge that the greatest proof of this depravity is the sin that we know is in our own hearts.

‌Now, there is the idea that original sin isn’t the problem. What we see in the world is because of a climate or culture that causes people to be this way. The idea is that we are born pure and the world corrupts us. We are inherently good and so what needs to happen to correct the ills of this world is to change the system around us and then we will be on the fast track to utopia. We’re smarter and better than those who came before us and we have knowledge that the failures before us didn’t have. We’ll straighten this out and everything will be wonderful. The idea is essentially a social evolution that has us moving toward a world where the problems are society are in the rear view mirror.

‌What I find interesting about this is how even in the secular realm there is an acknowledgment of how this is a fantasy. Some of the most popular books and movies from the past several decades are dystopian fiction. In these books society has taken steps to fix the stuff that is wrong with the world but it always ends up with the people at the top oppressing the people at the bottom. While these authors more than likely don’t have a Christian worldview they do understand this theological truth of total depravity. Humanity is not a tweak here or there away from perfection and moving to a societal evolutionary peak. Humanity is not just broken and in need of a fix. Scripture is clear. We are dead in sin and we are unable to save ourselves. Whether that is salvation from sin, death, and hell or salvation from the ills of the world, our rescue needs to come from somewhere other than ourselves.

‌As we sit down to dig into this text we find a rather well known phrase in verse one.

‌‌This statement is actually a word for word restating of Psalm 14:1 and you probably also know that it is alluded to in chapter three of Romans as well.

‌‌But before we get to the statement about the lack of human righteousness we need to take a look at this first statement.

‌‌The fool says in his heart, there is no God. This is a powerful statement and we like this one. We read this and we feel the confirmation in our minds that we have of the foolishness of atheism. This is understandable because we stop and observe the world around us and we are confused by those who so adamantly state that they believe that there is no God. Our observation of the material world around us has us wondering how anyone could believe that time, chance, and random processes could possibly collide in such a way to bring about not only the material things that we see but also amazing necessity of design in stuff that we cannot see. We look the beauty of the world around us. A tree. A sunset. Or the smile on the face of a young child and as believers it screams out to us design and not only design but purpose.

‌And we go to Romans 1 to build up our feelings along this line as well, right?

‌This statement from the apostle Paul sums up so much of what we feel in regards to the rejection of God as creator. But, let me say that this all goes beyond our observations of the material world. There is more to the design of God than just the physical stuff that we see. A denial of God has to explain away more than just how life came from non-life. There needs to be more than just an explanation of creatures clawed themselves out of the primordial ooze. There also needs to be an explanation for things like intellect. How do chance random processes create intellect? And there are other immaterial things that need explanation. Where does something like love come from? I could go on, but this is a sermon, not a polemic against materialistic atheism and I think I’ve driven my point home.

‌The fool has said in his heart, there is no God and it is a foolish thing to deny your creator. By his creation of us, he has divine right to us and we should humble ourselves before him.

‌‌And while what I have been talking about most assuredly applies to this statement of there is no God and atheism, it is so important that we note the context in which this is being said.

‌In the time this was written there would not have been anyone that would be like the atheism we see in our time. You were either monotheistic like the Hebrews of David’s time or you were pantheistic pagans. Now, I’m painting with a pretty broad brush there, I know, but that’s basically the way it was.

‌And so, the denial of God this Psalm is pointing to is the way in which the people would have not worried about God judging them for the sinful things that they would do. They lived there lives as though they didn’t believe they would be held to account for what they were doing.

‌Now, it’s easy for us to look at this and point a finger but each of us in our sin has done this. We have knowingly and willfully done something knowing that it was wrong and the last thing on our mind was whether we would be held accountable for our actions. It isn’t just the materialistic atheists who sin and don’t think God will judge. It is all of us.

‌And really, as I pointed out as I started, that’s kind of the point of this passage. The point is that none of us have clean hands. We have all said in our heart “God won’t judge me” as we willfully went forward with our sinful intentions.

‌And this is why the passage here paints with a broad brush too. They are corrupt doing abominable iniquity. There is none who does good.

‌That’s a painful assessment of the facts but it’s the truth. We know this from looking at the world and the psalmist continues with the straight facts in verses 2 and 3.

‌There is a God and he looks down from heaven. No matter how much we deny it. No matter how much humanity hopes there is not a God who judges the actions of man, the truth is that God is in heaven and he looks down. He is above all and he is able to assess the state of affairs.

‌And as he looks, he is looking to see if there are any who understand and any that seek after God. This is something important that we understand as we consider the nature of God and the nature of man. When we talk about our fallenness we need to know what it has done to us. It has not only made us sinners but it has corrupted our nature to the point that we are no longer in communion and fellowship with our creator. Our sin separates us from God and makes it so that on our own we don’t seek after him. In our sin, we are wandering around in the dark and we will not find God. We won’t even bump into him on accident.

‌We see this as the Psalmist says that there is no one who does good. Not even one.

‌Now, this doesn’t mean that no one ever does any good. People will do nice things for each other. The point here is that there is no one who will always do good who will always seek righteousness with the right motives and live there live solely to the glory and honor of God.

‌And this is the problem isn’t it? We have been separated from God and our wills have been bound and we are bent towards selfishness and sin. We can’t be perfectly righteous. We have been separated from a holy God and no amount of good acts is ever going to merit us perfect righteousness before a holy God.

‌We like to think we can stack our works up and reach God by them but the truth is that our works are tainted by sin. If we believe that what we do is going to help us climb the ladder to God, we are delusional. If we are doing good works for those reasons we aren’t doing good things for the right reason. We are doing them for a selfish reason: trying to earn points with God.

‌This is why the Psalmist speaks so confidently about humanity. Our fallen state has corrupted us absolutely.

‌And lets stop for a second and acknowledge that this is awful news for us. In the eyes of a holy God we are corrupt. Not a one of us is going to be righteous before him on our own. In fact, we see with the next verse that we are at war with God, don’t we?

‌‌The psalmist says something that is kind of confusing here. He says there they are in great terror where there is no terror.

‌The idea here is that God judges them even though they have no fear of him. They deny that he will judge, but he does judge.

‌No amount of denial about God changes that fact that as Lord of heaven and earth is judge.

‌And the imagery used here is even worse than just terror. The image put out for us is that he scatters their bones. In other words, he is completely victorious over them in their battle against him. The enemies of God do not fair well in their war against him. He sits over the earth. He is in control. He is judge.

‌Once again, this is very bad news for those who are in rebellion against a holy God. There is nothing that we can do. We are corrupt. There is no one who does good. Even if we think we have no reason to be in terror over the judgment of God, the judgment will come, and his judgment is absolute.

‌So, what do we do. What is the answer to this bad news? Do we continue to live in denial and think that we are OK. Do we deny the terror? Do we say “there is no God” and go on with the folly of our lives?

‌The call of the Psalmist in verse 6 answers these questions for us as we close up and consider the good news of the gospel and see how the Lord Jesus Christ unlocks this Psalm for us.

‌‌There is none that does good but the psalmist prays for salvation. That among the people of the earth who live in rebellion of God the psalmist hopes that Israel will be spared. That from mount Zion salvation would come to the people of God. That he would restore the fortunes of his people.

‌The psalmist has clearly spelled out the bad news of human sin and depravity for us but yet, the psalmist has hope. That hope is that God will be merciful. That he will do something to bring salvation to his people.

‌As you and I read this psalm we can look at the bad news in the first five verses and despair in our sin but verse six brings us the ultimate hope. We know that salvation has come out of Zion and has been given to us in Christ.

‌God looked down on the people of earth and in their sin, there was no one righteous, not even one. The fellowship between God and man was not going to be repaired by the working of humanity and so, God himself came to earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was righteous. He was perfect. He did seek after God. We rightly abundantly speak of Jesus dying for us but we quickly forget that he lived for us as well. He was perfectly righteous and he did it for you because you and I are dead in our trespasses and sin.

‌Jesus unlocks this Psalm for us because he, himself is the salvation that came out of Zion and he restored the fortune of the people that he brings to himself. The Psalmist has hope in the mercy of God and you and I, as those who have been united to Christ and received his perfect righteousness as a gift can have confidence in his mercy.

‌This is the gospel that despite our sin and depravity God came near to us for our salvation and brought us to himself that we might be saved.

‌In light of the words of this Psalm it is important that we ask ourselves a question. Do you have a confidence that you have received the salvation that the psalmist hoped for? Do you trust that salvation has come out of Zion for you in the person of Jesus Christ? Have you abandoned all hope of attaining righteousness before God on your own or are you still foolishly hoping you can merit righteousness before a holy God by your own works. Are you trusting in the mercy of God or are you trusting in your ability? As this psalm makes abundantly clear, you have no ability to merit righteousness before God on your own. The only way to have confidence in your salvation is to abandon your own ability and trust in the finished work of Jesus for you.

‌While this Psalm starts out with words of hopelessness it finishes with words of hope and for us as believers in the Lord Jesus it ends with the sweet words of the gospel.

‌And as we see in the final line of this Psalm this leads us to praise. Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. These words tell us that the people of God rejoice in the salvation they have received. They rejoice in the mercy of God.

‌May our lives daily be filled with not only confidence in what Jesus has done to save us but may this lead us to praise God for being the one who rescues his people.