THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

LIII: Responding Productively To Relentlessly Spiritually Blind, Destructive People

(Psalm 53:1-6)

I. Introduction

A. In today's world, one atrocity seems to chase after another, deeds being committed by relentlessly spiritually blind, destructive people, and the problem seems to be on the increase in fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

B. Psalm 53:1-6 provides edifying insight on how to respond productively to this matter (as follows):

II. Responding Productively To Relentlessly Spiritually Blind, Destructive People, Psalm 53:1-6.

A. The introductory remarks in the English Bible comprise the first verse in the Hebrew text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1020), so we stay with the verse numbering layout of the English Bible for clarity with this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 53:1-6 as follows:

1. "The the morally insensitive and impious (nabal, B. K. C., O. T., p. 802) says in his heart, 'There is no Elohim.' They are corrupt; they commit abhorrent injustice, there is no one who does good," Psalm 53:1.

2. "Elohim from the heavens looks down upon the sons of men to see if there are any who act with insight (sakal, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 968), who seek, resort to God," Psalm 53:2.

3. "They have all turned aside, they have together become sour [like sour milk], morally corrupt ('alah, Ibid., p. 47); there is no one who practices good -- there is not even one," Psalm 53:3.

4. "Will all workers of iniquity never learn, those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on Jahweh?" (Psalm 53:4)

5. "There they are, those who are in dread of dread, when there existed nothing to dread, for Elohim scattered the bones of those who encamped against you; you put them to shame, for Elohim despised them," v. 5.

6. "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion, when Elohim restores the fortunes of His people; let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" (Psalm 53:6)

C. We note significant observations and applications of this psalm (as follows):

1. Those who commit atrocities are morally insensitive and impious, for they lack any sense of accountability to Scripture's God and are corrupted by amoral, profane ideology to commit abhorrent injustices, Ps. 53:1.

2. What has led to this condition is the initial failure of such men to act with insight because they do not resort to God and His truth that is revealed in His Word, Psalm 53:2 with Isaiah 8:19-22.

3. Such a departure from the God of truth has not only led men to turn away from God and His righteousness, but to cause each wayward sinner to corrupt each other wayward sinner in a mutually souring of morals so that not even one person practices what is good, Psalm 53:3. Note how Psalm 53:3b and 53:1b coincide with the theology of Romans 3:23 that claims all have sinned and come short of the glory of God!

4. Thus, the correction of such a state is for man to return to heeding Scripture, for apart from this, man has not even the hope of gaining the dawn of God's insight of truth that produces correct living, cf. Isaiah 8:20.

5. [In reality, man cannot himself return to Scripture in his life without a change in heart and empowerment by the Holy Spirit, necessitating the salvation of Christ by faith in the Gospel of Christ, Romans 7:24-8:4.]

6. If men continue to resist Christ's salvation and God's written Scriptures, they will continue to abuse the godly (Psalm 53:4), leading to God's judging them severely to their great shame, Psalm 53:5.

7. The Psalmist anticipated the coming establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth as the ultimate solution to this problem of worldwide wickedness and destruction, Psalm 53:6. This is a key focus the upright need to take when they witness great atrocities -- looking for and working toward God's Kingdom.

8. Meanwhile, the upright should stay focused on a steady intake of written Scripture to gain the insight necessary to continue to act prudently in an abundantly godless era, Psalm 53:2.

Lesson: Morally insensitive and impious men lack a sense of accountability to God, so they commit abhorrent atrocities, for they do not have the needed Biblical insight since they do not seek after God in His Word. Only God can and will fully judge this evil in establishing His Kingdom, so the upright need to trust in Him, heed His Word and live and work toward the establishment of that Kingdom in responding productively to such evil atrocities.

Application: (1) When wicked men commit atrocities, we must first check our OWN standing with God and adjust to avoid His coming judgment on such sin! (2) As believers, may we (a) react to such ongoing atrocities by always focusing on God's Word to purge our minds of ideological error (b) and look for and work toward God's Kingdom.