Podcast: Gospel: The Fool’s Heart

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The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
-Psalm 14:1-2

I have to admit something. I don’t understand it. I don’t. I’ve tried to think about this, and it’s just not connecting in my brain. I’m talking about people who don’t seem to care at all about God. I just don’t understand them. And I was one of them for the longest time, but I still don’t understand.

It really does seem to be most of us. Most of us go about our day-to-day lives without giving Him a thought.

Some go farther than that and just declare that God doesn’t exist. The Bible calls people who say this “fools.” The reason it does is because it is a moronic statement. You know, I haven’t even driven on most streets in my hometown, much visited most places on earth. And earth is only one tiny dot in a vast universe. And yet people who have just as little experience as I do are making declarations that there’s no God, anywhere. It’s like saying that there’s not a needle in a massive haystack when you haven’t even looked.

Such bold assumptions are foolish. You can say that you don’t know whether there is one or not. You can say that you don’t think so. You can say that you haven’t seen any evidence. But if you say there isn’t one, you’re either claiming to be omniscient, which is an attribute of God, or you’re just being a moron.

And some of these fools actually evangelize a lack of faith. They try to convert people into atheism with speeches and books and debates. Why? Does that make sense at all? Look, if the atheist is right, and he and I die, we’ll both go to the same place. That is, into the ground as worm food. What possible advantage is it to believe that? It doesn’t get me into a heaven; it’s no advantage in life. It’s like they’re doing it just so they can be proven right.

And then you have people going about their business, believing in God, but not really thinking much more about it. If you ask them about heaven, they can tell you that they are going, but if you question them about it, they’ll only vaguely say that they are good people, or that God is loving and so He’ll let them in.

All this is silliness. It’s silliness. And I say that because, if there is a God, then this is the most important question out there. If there is a God, then I don’t give a flip what YOU think will get me to heaven. I want to know what HE says about it. If there is a God, then your vague notion that you are a good person doesn’t mean squat unless God thinks so too.

If you believe there is a God, then why in the world would you not be seeking Him with your every breath? We don’t have long on this earth. We may not have a tomorrow to figure this out. Why would you go about your life with just vague notions of who He is? If you believe in God, then you better make sure you have it right with Him, because nothing else could possibly matter as much.

And if you don’t, you better make sure. You better make absolutely sure, because getting this question wrong could cost you your life. If I am right, and there is a God, then nothing else matters. If there isn’t, then nothing matters, because it will all be gone in death.

This series, called “Gospel,” is going to talk about this question. We’re going to talk about who God is and what He wants. This is the question of the age.

I hope you’ll keep listening, but I’m going to jump to the end in case you don’t, because this is just too important to put it off for another week. There is a God, and we’re not good enough. God is just and holy, and He is so perfect and good that we cannot stand before Him. The reason we can’t is because of sin. You have sinned, just like me. Just like everyone else. That lie you told the other day was one. When you stole something, that is another. When you lust after someone, or when you get jealous over something a friend bought. Your greed is an abomination to Him. Your pride is wickedness. Your selfishness is abhorrent. These are things God hates, and you cannot stand in His presence with these things in your heart.

When you deny Him, that is another. You are denying the One who created you, who gave you life. We cannot get to heaven with these sins.

But God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to earth to save us. We deserve death because of our sins, but Jesus died in our place. He paid the price we should have paid. That is the love that God has for us.

Because of Jesus, we can find eternal life. If we repent of our wicked ways and believe in Jesus, we will be saved. That is His promise. We don’t have to earn it. We couldn’t earn it. God has everything; what could we give Him? Instead, we can take His gift of life by repenting and believing, or we can refuse it.

Don’t be foolish. The fool thinks he knows everything. The fool goes his own way and assumes he’s doing fine. You’re not. You need Jesus as much as I do.