Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 14:1-7

The majority of Americans have a wrong view of human nature.

A survey by Barna and the Cultural Research Center (CRC) of AZ Christian University in 2020 indicated that most Americans (7 of 10) believe mankind is “basically good” – and this percentage was the same even among those who identified as evangelical Christians.

The CRC noted that responses were likely based more on personal feelings than on facts, noting that people having a biblical worldview were more likely to disagree with the statement, viewing mankind as basically bad instead.

What about you?

Do you believe people are basically good but make mistakes sometimes?

Or do you believe people are basically bad and need God to rescue them?

From this psalm, we will gain God’s perspective about the condition of mankind.

We will affirm that though all people turn away from God by nature, those who trust in him can have hope about the future.

To the lead musician, from David.

This opening line describes this psalm as a song for the music leader to include in regular worship of God at the Temple.

It also identifies King David as the person who wrote it.

Beyond this, we know nothing else about when or why it was written.

People do bad things because they believe wrong things about God.

(Psa 14:1)

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

they behave corruptly and perform abominable acts;

there is none who does good.

What is denial?

A river in Egypt!

That’s a pretty bad joke, right?

Well, what is denial?

It’s refusing to accept a plainly obvious truth.

This psalm speaks about the denial of one plainly obvious truth – the existence and authority of God.

Technically, this psalm doesn't call out atheism - the denial of any god - but rather calls out the denial of the one, true God.

I say this because the correction of this psalm calls out those who worship other gods as well, not just those who worship no god at all.

This point is important since it would only be useful in response to outright atheism otherwise, but the audience for this psalm is much wider.

David expresses amazement that anyone would deny the existence of the one, true God.

By calling such persons a fool, he suggests in very straightforward and undiplomatic terms that to deny this basic, crucial reality (that the one true God exists, and we must answer to him) is senseless and stupid.

Denying the existence and authority of the one true God makes as much sense as:

Denying the Earth is round.

Denying the moon exists (claiming it’s merely a hologram).

Denying the Holocaust happened.

By abandoning God in his heart, such a person abandons even the most basic form of common sense, for there is no other reasonable, plausible explanation not only for how our universe and everything in it came into being, but how it continues to exist both in such intricate detail and on such a massive scale.

In another psalm, David observes this reality from the natural world (Psa 19:1-3):

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Paul makes a similar observation (Rom 1:19-20):

What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

This psalm does not portray people as being helplessly ignorant or naïve, as people who don’t know important things because they’re not aware of them.

No, this psalm portrays people as being deliberately and willingly ignorant, choosing to deny what is blatantly obvious – that God exists and that we must answer to him.

Everyone knows this, whether they exist in civilized society or in the remotest jungles and islands.

Next David points out that this internal belief (or lack of belief) manifests itself through a person’s outward actions and behavior – such persons do things they would never do had they believed in the existence and reality of God.

Zoo animals in the open behave differently than those behind one-way glass.

Undisciplined children behave differently based on whether their parents are nearby.

Students behave differently depending on whether their teacher is in the classroom.

People drive differently due to whether a police officer or video camera is in the vicinity.

That’s what David means.

When people deny the existence of God – the one, true God who made us and to whom we must answer – we behave in destructive, repulsive ways.

This reminds me of that basic principle of human behavior, that a person will act out the thoughts she thinks.

“As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7).

As human beings, our actions reveal what we think about God.

In that sense, our behavior reveals our true theology.

In other words, our behavior is a more accurate reflection of what we believe about God than any amount of words in a written doctrinal statement, than any number of books we may sing, or than whichever church of which we choose to be a member.

You can say you love your family, but if you don’t spend time with them or treat your family members with love and respect, then you don’t love your family as much as you claim.

This dynamic applies to many other situations in life in which our actions don’t line up with our words.

We say we believe one thing, but our actions disagree.

So yes – our actions speak louder (or more accurately) than our words.

Do your daily actions, choices, and habits reveal a strong belief that God exists and that you must answer to him, or do they reveal that you don’t take God’s existence and authority very seriously at all? Are you living as though God is not really there?

Now, the remarkable thing here is not only that anyone would deny the reality of God but that everyone– by nature – does just that.

It’s not just a select group of people who reject him, a small percentage of Earth’s population, it’s everyone.

Everyone, by nature, denies the existence of the one, true God.

For that reason, this psalm describes us as being senseless, stupid, and severely lacking in understanding.

That’s what being a fool means.

From God’s perspective, everyone rejects him completely.

(Psa 14:2-3)

Yahweh from the heavens looks down on the children of mankind,

to see if there is any who understands –

who seeks a relationship with God.

Here the psalm shifts perspective from surveying people horizontally on Earth to God looking down on people from the heavens.

God is looking down on all people, both actually looking down at them and figuratively “looking down” on them.

Ironic, right?

When God looks down at people, he sees them looking down on him when they should be looking up for him.

The psalm also shifts from a more general reference to God (Elohim) to a personal reference (Yahweh), revealing that something more specific than the rejection of any god is in view.

This is a psalm about mankind’s very personal and specific rejection of the one, true God who created all things in the beginning, who governs all things in the present, and who will judge and restore all things in the end.

This psalm envisions God as looking or searching for people “who understand,” much like a biologist searches for subatomic elements in a microscope or when an astronomer searches for new stars and galaxies through a telescope.

When I attend a MLB game or watch one online, I look for people in the stadium who are wearing New York Mets gear and they are frequently there.

When I lived in Queens, I could go to a Lids® hat store and choose from many styles of Mets caps, but when I search for a Mets cap at Scheels or the Lids store in the West Acres Mall, there are either no or almost no Mets hats for sale.

Similarly, when God pans the people of this world – whom he has made – he is looking for people “in the crowd” who “understand.”

To understand here means to be paying close attention to the world around you and arriving at the very obvious conclusion not only that God exists but that you should be seeking seriously to have a close relationship with him.

After all, God has made us, and he has made the awesome and intricate world in which we live.

But are people looking for God like he is looking for them?

They all go astray, altogether they are corrupt;

there is none who does good – not even one.

When God looks for people who are searching for him, does he find any mutual interest in him?

Not only does he see that no one is looking for him or wanting to have a relationship with him, but they are deliberately trying to avoid having any relationship with him at all.

They are changing directions from him, going off in a different direction because they want to abandon the idea of God entirely.

This is a very sad picture, indeed.

The psalm tells us how – or in what way – people turn away from God.

They do so not by walking or running away from him with their feet, hiding behind objects, or wearing costumes or camouflage to disguise their appearance.

They turn away through immoral behavior, making choices which directly contradict the greatness and goodness of God.

God created us to work and reap the rewards of our labor, but we’re lazy and steal.

God created us to speak the truth, but we tell lies instead.

God created us to say good, helpful, encouraging things, but we say hurtful things.

God created us to make honorable, useful things, but we invent crude, destructive things.

God created us to form close family relationships, but we reject family values by disrespecting parents, experimenting with inappropriate relationships, and neglecting our children.

We abandon God by doing the opposite of what he made us to do, twisting the good he called us to do into mangled, twisted forms that show that we do not take him seriously.