Cornerstone Church of Knoxville

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.

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

3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

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

5 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.

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.

In reading these divinely inspired words, the words of God in fact, I felt a giant finger pointing towards me. I am that man described in the first 4 verses. And to be bluntly honest...it's you too.

We inherit the sinful nature of our forefather, Adam. He is our type, or representative, and through him, we are credited with lawlessness. And see the language of this psalm. It is not a mere dislike of God, or a tendency to turn from Him, it is outright rebellion and active war against our creator!

When we encounter this stinging truth, it should leave us humbled, realzing that we deserve the righteous wrath of God for our sin against Him principally. It should leave us broken, we have no defence or recourse to explain or justify our nature.

So how can David turn in Verses 5 & 6 to denouncing the evil? How can he not include himself in the judgments that he pronounces are coming for the wicked? How can he think that he will inherit the blessings of God's chosen portion?

The amazing truth is, that God, apart from any good or desireable thing in us, chose to place His sinless Son in the place of sinners. So that, He might be just to accept repentant sinners, whom He would call by name to trust in Christ's sacrifice for their sins, in His sinless life as credited to themselves through faith, and in His resurrection, proclaiming victory over the penalty of sin and the satisfaction of the Father's justice.

Sinners can be forgiven, the rebels turned to worshipers and children accepted and pleasing to God, through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Read verse 6 again with new eyes...salvation has come, in the form of God the Son, to the praise of His grace! Let us be glad that the "bad" news of the Bible is redeemed by God in Christ, that we can boast in nothing but God. Glory to Him!