Trust The Lord As The Wicked Embrace Corruption And Bring Persecution (Psalm 14)
We do not know the circumstances that surrounded the writing of this Psalm. Of course, there are guesses. But we have seen the situation before. It is one that has taken place over and over in the history of the world and will continue to take place until the Lord returns.
In past sermons I have lamented the way that our society treats the Church. But we have also said that it is much, much worse in certain parts of the world. Here is the truth of the matter. As wickedness grows in a society, the wicked will bring terror to the righteous. And when that occurs, God’s people must trust that the Lord is on their side and in the end He will be a refuge for His people.
We are to trust the Lord as the wicked embrace corruption and persecute God’s people.
The Fool Rejects The Lord (Genesis 14:1)
This verse is often quoted by Christians in a rather cheeky way to poke fun at atheists on April Fool’s Day. I don’t necessarily think that is a wrong interpretation of this verse, but I do believe that it is not a full interpretation of this verse.
As we read the rest of this psalm it is obvious that this is about people who behave as if God did not exist. In other words, they do whatever they want whenever they want and do not consider whether God approves of their behavior. The fool is the person who lives their life in rejection to God and His Word.
There are a lot more people in this life that believe in God and act like He does not exist than there are people who do not believe that God exists. There are a good number of people who name the name of Christ but live as if God doesn’t exist.
Both people are fools. An atheist is a fool and so is the person who lives as if God does not exist. The person in clerical garb leading a pride parade is a fool. The professing Christian who gets drunk every week is a fool. The transgender who defines their own reality and rejects God wholesale or the homosexual who rejects God’s view of marriage is a fool. And the adulterer who does whatever they want is a fool.
We need to be people who live wisely. We must live our lives in dependence upon the Lord and submission to Him. We need to have families who live in submission to God’s Word. And we do all of these things in the face of a culture that grows more and more foolish.
All People Are Corrupt, The Wicked Embrace It (Psalm 14:2-4)
If there were any question for us as to how this text should be interpreted, Paul cleared all of it up for us in Romans 3:9-12. Every person, everywhere is corrupt.
“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12 ESV)
So, in this text we have God looking down upon people and finding some things that are true of all people. No one seeks after Him. No one is uncorrupted. And no one does good.
Now, when we say that no one does good, we do not mean that people always do evil. We are saying that every single person is corrupted by sin. Every action is tainted by sin.
I like to illustrate this with an expensive bottle of water. Let’s say it’s Fiji water. If I handed you a bottle of Fiji water and said to you, “It’s almost all Fiji water but I did add one drop of sewer water a few minutes ago.” Would you drink it?
Of course not. Whatever was living in that sewer water now lives in the water in that bottle and you wouldn’t drink it. The whole thing is corrupted by sin.
Or, what if you were offered an extremely cheap ride in a boat to the location of your choosing. The promise is that the ride will be wonderful, but it will only make it 90% of the way. Would you go? Of course not.
That is us. Though we do many good things in our lives, we are corrupted by sin.
There is, however, a difference between the righteous and the wicked at this point. The corruption is embraced by the wicked (Genesis 14:4). They “eat up” God’s people. The wicked devour them. They embrace their wickedness and “do not call upon the LORD”.
No one escapes from the taint of sin. All people everywhere have rebelled against God. We have all turned aside. “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory”. This is true of all of us. But it is the fool who embraces this rebellion.
And so, we look at our culture’s embrace of foolishness and we understand that this will lead to a hatred and mistreatment of those who love righteousness. Why do we see a dislike of Christians in our day? Though it can sometimes be said that a believer doesn’t treat people well and has brought this on their self, for the most part we see and understand that wickedness hates righteousness.
We don’t get to choose what era we live in or raise a family in, but this one is ours. It is to this era that we are called to be faithful, and it may be a difficult one. The growing clouds of unrighteousness swelling above our heads call us to stand firm amid whatever may come next.
God Is On Our Side (Psalm 14:5-6)
Though they do not believe it to be the case terror will one day fall upon them (Psalm 14:5). Things will not always be the way they are right now. But they sure behave as if they will. They believe that they are harming the poor, and they are but it will not always be this way. Recompense will come and God will avenge His people.
It is obvious to me, and probably anyone else reading what I’m writing here, that the secularists in our day think that they have the church on the ropes and are about to finish them off. News article after news article seems to come forth celebrating the shrinking of conservative Bible-believing churches. As sinful lifestyle and behaviors become defended by our country’s laws the celebration seems to be growing.
But the celebration is very premature. If they understood what was actually coming they would be terrified. God is with His people. God is with those people they are ridiculing. And we find our refuge in the Lord.
Pray For Deliverance (Psalm 14:7)
The psalm ends with a sigh. A deep prayer for salvation. And this is the response that we should have when the hard times come. As wickedness grows and persecutions come to us, we pray.
It’s not just that we pray, as if we are reciting something that may or may not work. We pray assured that there is coming a day when God will answer our prayers. As Christians, we live assured that it will one day take place. God will one day make things right.
As Christians we know where to go when the troubles come. God is on our side. He loves us and cares for us. And even when things seem as if they could not every get better, we have a stubborn hope and trust in the Lord. So, we go to Him for deliverance.
And, do you know what else we do? We trust that He will deliver us one day because we are assured that this will happen.
No, things will not always work out as we hoped they would. But we trust the Lord who “restores the fortunes of His people” (Psalm 14:7 ESV).
Conclusion
We live in a day that lives in complete rebellion to the Lord and His ways. As this rebellion increases, we can expect the animosity toward the church to rise. But we are the people of God. God is on our side.
We are to trust the Lord as the wicked embrace corruption and persecute God’s people.
R. Dwain Minor