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

Scripture Reading: Psalm 53:1

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.”

Main idea: Here is David’s assessment of the human race.

The fool does not mean a person of mental incompetence, but a person of moral insensitivity and spiritual ignorance. He rejects and ignores God and says, there is no God. The problem lies deep within his heart. He is a practical atheist, not necessarily an intellectual one. He lives as if there were no God with whom he has to deal. He orders his life as if there is no heaven, no hell, no final judgment, no eternal punishment.

“They are corrupt”
The result of this rejection of God is a corrupt life. The refusal of God always leads to the corruption of a person’s life; the two are inseparably bound together. Lumping together all unbelievers, David declared that they all are corrupt in their inner person or essential being.

“There is none who does good”
No one apart from God’s grace practices what is pleasing to the Lord. All their deeds are displeasing to God, even their best efforts to do good works. All their righteous deeds are as “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6).

Nabal is the Hebrew word for fool
Nabal is the Hebrew word for fool, so that David literally opens his psalm by writing, “Nabal says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 53:1). This stingy man Nabal (1 Samuel 25:1-38) showed his practical atheism by refusing to deal generously with David. He was so opposed to God that the report of his wife’s wise and charitable dealings with David caused him to die of a frustration‑induced heart attack.

Application
D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, was preaching to a large gathering of people, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the crowd that day was an atheist who decided to disrupt the meeting. This unbeliever wrote down one word on a piece of paper—Fool—folded it and handed it to the usher, saying he had an urgent message to be delivered to Moody. The usher carried it to the platform in the middle of the sermon and placed it on the pulpit. Assuming an emergency, Moody stopped his message and read the note. There it was, one word—Fool. He looked and saw the atheist waving at him. Without missing a beat, Moody announced, “A most remarkable thing has just occurred. Many times I have received a letter in which the sender has forgotten to sign his name. But this is the first time anyone has signed his name but forgotten to write the letter.”

The word fool is also God’s appraisal of anyone who tries to live without him. The person who spurns the truth of his Word, God says, is a fool. This was David’s appraisal of the entire human race apart from the grace of God. Unbelief makes a person a fool. “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God;” but the wise man says that there is a God, and that “he is the Rewarder of all who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

It has been said that “the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.” So it is. Man’s problems are not external, such as a need to change his environment. The point at issue is internal; the problem is his heart. This is why all people must be born again. They need a new heart, a new nature that loves God and seeks to pursue holiness.

I leave you today with this verse taken from Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

Let’s pray together
Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are the same yesterday, today and forever. Thank you for the salvation You given to us through Your Son Jesus Christ. You made us a people when we were not a people, adopting us into your family by the blood of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Name Amen.