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53 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
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.
Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?
There they are, in great terror,
where there is no terror!
For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
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.
(ESV)
When God looks down from heaven at humanity, He’s not looking at innocent people. He’s looking at guilty people who love evil. People love their sin. This is why the sin problem had no solution before Jesus came. Israel lived in constant turmoil because of their continual wayward heart even after God delivered them over and over. It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but we are no different from them.
God looks down from heaven at people to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him. 3 But they have all turned away; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.
Psalms 53:2-3 GNB
Now, it seems that the skeptic would say, just don’t tell anyone about Jesus because that person can play the ignorant card. But consider this – no one will be able to say upon death, “I never knew God existed.”
Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all! 21 They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.
Romans 1:20-21 GNB
Furthermore, God is light; God is truth, and God is love. When people love their sin more than God, they suppress the truth, the light, and the love and trade the eternal Creator for a lackluster imitation. Thus, they become fools.
Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.” They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.
Psalms 53:1 GNB
Here is my main point. As beings who rebel against God at every turn, it’s not enough to simply remove Hell and death from our lives. Jesus most certainly did accomplish that at the cross. But, His desire is to both remove Hell from our future as well as take Hell out of our spirits. This is why we don’t immediately go to Heaven after we’re saved. There is still work to be done. We have lots of rough edges and there are many more souls to win.
There are some today who have accepted Jesus only because they are scared of Hell. There are others who have done it to add some positive aspects to their life. Those in Heaven will love being there because they love God. He’s saved them and changed their hearts. They have cooperated with the Spirit in emptying their lives of all things unrighteous. Those who simply want a “get out of Hell free” card may be surprised at judgment day.
The point is, we must not be like the fools described in this chapter. Spiritually-speaking, there’s not much difference between someone who denies the existence of God and someone who only accepts Jesus because he doesn’t want to go to Hell. It’s kind of like forcing you to marry someone you don’t love – it’s never going to work. But praise be to God who changes the hearts of those who repent and come to Him in humility. Thank you, Jesus, for challenging us to grow in our heart and attitude!