Jump Start # 1927

Psalms 14:1 “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds. There is no one who does good.”

The fool has said. The fool declares. The fool is wrong. What an interesting and revealing statement, ’The fool has said in his heart…” The word “Fool” is one of the strongest and most condemnable words God uses towards a person. We remember in Luke’s Gospel, the farmer who was going to tear down his barns and build larger ones. He died that night. God declared, ‘You fool. This very night your soul is required of you.” You fool. Here in our verse today, the word ‘fool’ comes from the Hebrew word Nabal, the name of the man who was married to Abigail. She called her husband a worthless man. He was a man of folly.

There are some things for us to note about the fool who declares that there is no God.

• The fool who says this is ignoring evidence all around him. His eyes are closed. There are questions he cannot answer. The heavens declare the handiwork of God. The gentiles were said to be “without excuse” for not knowing God through his creative world. Paul said that these things were “clearly seen.” More than that, how does the fool explain the Bible. A product of man? Really? Legends and stories that have been edited and strung together. Really? Where’s that proof? Why have people died believing this book? Why has this book so shaped the thinking of man, governments, the arts, music, literature as no other book has? How does the fool explain fulfilled prophecy? How does the fool explain the references to things in the natural world that were not known until modern times? The fool declares his ignorance.

• The fool isn’t dumb. It’s easy to put the two together. But the fool who declares that there is no God may well have several academic degrees. He may have authored books. He may lecture at prominent universities. He may be well known. He may have a following. He may be on TV often. His name may be a household name. Yet, he is still a fool because he declares there is no God. All his learning has not helped him to know the Lord. He has mastered in the very things that destroy faith.

• This fool most times influences others, especially if he is a professor at a university. His closed eyes have led others to closing their eyes. His misunderstanding of the Bible has led him to conclude that God does not exist, because if He did, the world would be a better place. He doesn’t understand sin. He doesn’t understand the consequences of sin. He doesn’t understand that he is part of the problem in all of this. He proudly believes that matter is eternal, even though there is no proof of that. Without any explanation, he believes things started moving and all the elements were lined up at the right moment for a big bang to take place that started all of the evolutionary models. What he can’t answer is “Who was the big banger?” How did these things just get lined up and started? Like the ole’ pied piper, thousands dance to the song that the fool plays.

• The theology of the fool is do whatever makes you happy. Transgender, same-sex marriage, abortion, suicide, all of these fit easily into the thinking of someone who has no responsibility to anyone else. If there is no God then ultimately there are no rules. Do what you want. Nothing is ever wrong. Truth is never absolute. This sounds awesome for a world that leans toward the selfish side of life. Drink it if you want. Smoke it if you want. Do whatever you want. Get all you can get and do all you can do. In the theology of a fool, we are not much different than a dog and when we die, that’s it.

For the Hollywood set and the elite, that flourishes in riches, this foolish gospel is what they live for. But for everyone else, it is a life of misery. This is as good as it gets? We struggle. We suffer. What is there to hope for? What is there to live for? The life of the common fool is long, hard and without much to look forward to. It ends in a nursing home and a few friends that show up at the funeral and that’s it. What’s the point? What’s the purpose? The fool doesn’t know.

• The fool will find out five minutes after he has died that he was truly a fool. He will know that Jesus was right. He will know that the Bible spoke the truth. He will know that eternity is real and it’s so different than here. And, he will know that he is responsible for where he is. It will be too late for the fool to change. The footprints that he has left will lead others to follow in his same foolish ways. Too proud to admit he was wrong. Too smart to need God. Too intellectual for the Bible. After he dies, he will see what a fool he has been. What a mistake he made. What a wasted life he lived. He didn’t have to die like a fool. He didn’t have to be cast away from God forever. But his hard heart and closed ears refused to consider anything else. He lived thinking he was on top of the world. He lived mocking those who believed in God. He loved to point out the failures of Christians. He loved to discredit the Bible. Now, he would take it all back. Too late. Too late to warn others. Too late to save himself. What a fool he was.

• Because the fool says, does not mean that he is right. He is not right. The evidence against him is huge. Not only is he not right, because the fool says, does not mean we need to give him a listening ear. The fool will use social media to proclaim his foolishness. He will line up friends to stack the deck against the believer. He will find safety in numbers. The fool isn’t right and the fool doesn’t need to be listened to.

Life without God seems like freedom for many people. But “no God,” means we are on our own. It means there is nothing beyond us to help us. It means this is it. Life without God is sad. There is no one to pray to. There is nothing beyond the grave to hope for. It is a long struggle that ends in nothingness.

I like the story of a guy who went to the funeral of an atheist. He looked in the casket and said, “He’s all dressed up with no place to go.” That’s the thinking of the fool. But the Bible says otherwise. Believe it or not, death isn’t the end. There are things much worse than dying and that’s being thrown into eternity without God. No prayers. No comfort. No hope. Nothing but punishment.

The fool has said. Maybe it’s time for the fool to stop talking and do some listening. Maybe it’s time for the fool to ask some real questions. Maybe it’s time for the fool to look into the Bible and think for himself. It’s time for the fool to declare that the Lord is God. Then and only then, will he stop being a fool.

Roger