All Have Sinned

Psalm 14: 1 - 3 (NIV): 1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

    You have to be a fool to believe there is no God. You have to go against the instinct that God has placed in every person, and you have to go against the logic of creation. Saying there is no God is like saying a tin can evolved into a smart phone with no intelligent intervention -- oh and the tin can itself just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Only a fool would believe that.

    Maybe the reason someone would say there is no God is because he wants to do what he wants to do. He doesn't want to be told what to do. He wants to live his life as he pleases and does not want to live under God's rules. (God's rules, by the way, which he gave to keep us healthy, safe and happy.) David, who wrote this psalm, seems to say this.

    But before you get smug because you do believe in God, David has something to say to all of us: we are all sinners. There is none who does good, not even one. Isaiah 53 says we all like sheep have gone astray. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. None of us is good enough to be friends with God. None of us is good enough to get into God's heaven.

    God is looking for people who understand this, who realize they need him. God is looking for people who seek him, which means we want to get to know him.

    The end of this Psalm says, "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!" We need a Savior. We need help to be friends with God the creator. Jesus provided a way at Calvary. David was made right with God because he believed it would happen, our righteousness comes from believing it did.