2. The Nature of Man’s Disease Psalm 53:1-3

Text: “The fool hath said in his/her heart, There is no God.  Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none the doeth good.”

Psalm 53:1.

Good morning, vexed Christian!  We read in 2 Peter, chapter 2, how Abraham’s nephew, Lot, a man called out, justified, and made righteous by the Lord God, how his soul was sorely ‘vexed with the filthy conversation (entire lifestyle) of the wicked of his day.   From that passage of Scripture, we learn that Lot, ‘...that righteous man dwelling among them (the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah), in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.’  (2 Peter 2:4-8)

How much more are sincere, born again, Bible-believing Christians VEXED in our souls, at what we see happening day and daily on the streets, and in the homes of our sin-sick Nations?  The days of Sodom and Gomorrah are once more upon us today!  Sin, ‘man’s disease’, is once more permitted to run rampant throughout the minds and lives of our societies; and the minds and hearts of our children and our children’s children are being programmed to think such live-styles and behaviour is lawful, and ‘normal’.  Such sickness!  God alone can forgive those that have been used by Satan to make laws, that promote in the media, Sodomy and sin - their end, according to Scriptures, is a terrible doom indeed!

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man (Jesus) be.  For as in the days that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  (Matthew 24:37-39)

“And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the Way of truth (Christ Jesus) shall be evil spoken of.  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgement now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not...God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement.” (2 Peter 2:2-4)

So, what is the nature of ‘man’s disease’?  It’s origins are the Fall from grace of Adam & Eve in Eden’s Garden, and the expulsion from God’s Paradise that followed as a consequence.  But, what is the basic symptom of man’s disease today?  The basic symptom of the presence of depraved sin today is our inherent disobedience to the Supreme authority of God Himself.

Verse 1.  “The fool hath said in his/her heart, ‘There is no God...”  The words ‘there is’ in our King James Version Bible is rightfully written in italics – denoting that they are put there to help us to understand the meaning of the sentence, which was not originally written for the English language.  But in fact, the words ‘there is’ are not words inspired by the Holy Spirit.  The two words can be left out.

Therefore, the inspired Original language of this verse clearly states: “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘NO GOD!’” 

The Folly of a Fool:  The fool says in his/her heart that he/she does not accept that there is a God at all!  The fool is stating that even if there is a God, that fool will be saying, ‘NO God, I will not recognise You; I will not listen to You; I will not obey the Laws you make!  I will refuse to come under Your will, direction, or Laws.  I will not be instructed by You.  I will live my life in total opposition to everything that You are, and all that you have said in your written Word.  I will live in total rebellion to You and to Your Commandments.’

The sickness of sin is a total refusal of God and all His given Laws and Commandments.   Thus, it is a ‘fool’ indeed, that says ‘No, God!, I refuse You!’

“The state of the earth ought to be deeply felt by us.  The world lying in wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts.  The enormous guilt, the inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking atheism of this fallen province of God’s dominion might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning.  To impress it the more on us, therefore, the Psalm repeats what has been already sung in Psalm 14.”  (Andrew A. Bonar, 1859)

One of the reasons that I feel I was led of the Holy Spirit to reintroduce the 21^st Century church worldwide to the great wealth of Scriptural knowledge contained in Spurgeon’s The Treasury of David, (1968), published by David Otis Fuller D.D., and reprinted by Kregel Publications as Psalms – is the fact that sin, ‘Man’s Disease’, is increasingly being either reinterpreted as ‘normal behaviour’ or at worst, being totally accepted and ignored as an offence against our Holy Lord God.

If fallen mankind can successfully ignore, or abolish the concept of SIN – mankind can never come to a realisation of our desperate need of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.  Who will seek to be found, that does not first realise they are LOST in sin?

Matthew Henry’s View of Sin: 

“1. The fact of sin.  God is a witness to it.

2.  The fault of sin.  Its iniquity (verses 1-4)

3.  The fountain of sin. How comes it that men are so bad?

4.  The folly of sin.  He is a fool who harbours such corrupt thoughts.

5. The filthiness of sin.  What neatness soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that wickedness is the greatest nastiness in the world.

6. The fruit of sin.  See to what a degree of barbarity it brings men at last!

7. The fear and shame that attends sin.  (verse 5).”  (Matthew Henry 1662-1714)

Thought:  The healthiest thing we can do is to fully realise that we have a terminal disease called sin.  Only Christ, the great physician, can take our sin away forever.  Call upon Him NOW!