The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.Psalm 14:1
...This is a continuation of the last post which is some commentary from Stephen Charnock on Psalm 14:1. He continues...
"The psalmist first declares the corruption of the faculties of the soul, 'the fool has said in his heart'; secondly, the streams issuing from thence, 'they are corrupt, &c.: the first in atheistical principles, the other in unworthy practice; and lays all evil, tryanny, lust, and persecutions by men, (as if the world were only for their sake)upon the neglect of God [meaning their neglect of God, not God's neglect of them], and the atheism cherished in their hearts."
To break this down a little. First Charnock points out how the psalmist is declaring the corruption of the soul. This is a principle. It is the fundamental law in our hearts that determines all others. When we believe there is no God, or deny His rule over our lives, this is a principle governing everything else in our lives. It will determine everything else we do. It will be like blinking, you won't notice it determining for you, but it will. And the psalmist goes on to describe the effects...they are corrupt, etc... This is the fruit, the practice, of living without acknowledging God and God's rule over your life.
Charnock then shows how this passage explains why their is evil, tryanny, lust, and persecution of every kind. People live as if this world were for their sake. They neglect God and opt for self as king. They try as hard as they can not to think about God or "religous" issues or they seek every single alternative that sounds good enough...even if it makes no sense at all. When you say there is no God, their are consequences to that. Ideas have consequences. If their is no moral map then their really is not right or wrong. This is the spirit of lawlessness that must come before the return of Christ. It is in the world. And the world will fall for it. Now is the time to repent of all of this and fight for the souls of others. I close with 2 Thessalonians 2 below...it describes the end of this movement...
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12--Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
