Introduction

This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at U.S.C. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For 20 years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever had really gone against him (you'll see what I mean later). Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!" In 20 years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up. Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his processor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major and he was afraid. But for 3 months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally the day came. The professor said, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, "You FOOL!! If God existed he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of his power through Jesus.

This Psalm is ventrally identical to Psalm 14 and I was going to pass it by; but, one thing caught my attention and that was the word fool.

What does the word fool mean?

My Computer gives these definitions

A person who lacks good judgment

A person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of

Then I thought about the proverbs we have been looking at in our Sunday School Class

And so Let’s begin to look at Psalm 53:1 - 3 and the other references in Scripture to define a fool

Body

What is a fool?

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good. {2} God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. {3} Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

We can start with the statement that the fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

That seems like a good place to start

These quotations will sound familiar to those who are familiar with the doctrine of humanism:

I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

They come from a poem entitled "Invictus" (meaning "unconquered"), by William Ernest Henley, an eighteenth century English poet.

Now here is the poem:

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charted with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

-- William Henley

Stephen Brown in his book, If God Is In Charge, adds, "It is no accident that the life of William Henley ended in suicide."

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

An atheist complained to a friend because Christians had their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, and Jews celebrate their national holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur. "But we atheists," he said, "have no recognized national holidays. It's unfair discrimination."

His friend replied, "Why don't you celebrate April first?"

This doctrine of there being no God is what you might call practical Atheism

One thing about the fool, the practical atheist is the fact that their lives reflect their belief

If there is no one to ultimately answer to, why worry about morals, generosity, humanitarianism, and a whole bunch of other things that might detract from self

What does the First verse of our Psalm go on to say?

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

Now Ryrie points out this one thing, notice how doctrine (no God) affects conduct (Corrupt).

Now, the word translated fool in our King James, New King James, and New International Versions of the Bible is the Hebrew word, nabal, and it means stupid, fool, wicked and a vile person.

The atheist fool, it seems, from our Psalm, live out their atheistic beliefs

Lets turn to Psalm 92, another Psalm that speaks of a fool and lets look at the first six verses

The fool does not understand

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; {2} To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, {3} On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. {4} For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. {5} O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. {6} A senseless man does not know, Nor does a fool understand this.

The Psalm begins with the words "It is good to give thanks to the Lord.

The Psalmist goes on to declare the lovingkindness and faithfulness of God

In verse 5 the writer praises God’s works and asserts the depths of God’s thoughts

Then he says that a fool does not understand this

The atheist cannot even begin to understand those things in which he does not believe

If we turn to 1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

And turn to 1 Corinthians 2:9 - 10

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." {10} But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

The thing to grasp here is that the unsaved, the non-believer is incapable of understanding spiritual things

It has been said that a person with the intellect of an Einstein without the Holy Spirit is unable to grasp even the simplest of spiritual truths

And yet, those who have the Holy Spirit are able to discern the deepest of spiritual matters

Even those who may have the intellect of a moron are able to grasp those truths because of the presence of the Holy Spirit

I am reminded of Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan

Both of these individuals had earned their PH.D. in science

Asimov had his degree in biology

Sagan had his degree in astronomy

Both of these individuals were intellectual giants

I was looking at the Carl Sagan web site. There I found his ideas on logic and common fallacies in various arguments

The work is brilliant

That’s I can say, brilliant

I also remember reading a short article by Asimov that pointed out the fallacies in modern astrology

This article included humor, logic, and scientific evidence to produce a most compelling argument for the illogic of astrology

Both these men were, in human terms, brilliant, engaging individuals, humorous and fools

I say this because both of these men, who were will educated, logical, geniuses who ascribed to the idea that there is no God.

Both men ascribed to Occam’s Razor

Occam’s Razor - If there are two hypophysis that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.

And yet, when applying their intellect to creation, they apply the most complex theory possible - that of evolution

Rather than that of the creation by an intelligent being

Our Psalm says, in verse 1,

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

Well, if they are corrupt, what do they do?

Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool.

To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has wisdom

Well, that’s pretty plain

Spreads slander

Does evil like a sport

Kevin was football

Cody was pretty good in track

The fool is pretty good in doing evil

Well, lets look at just two more verses before we change gears

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, But a fool lays open his folly.

The fool cannot see that he is headed for disaster

But, he opens his mouth and condemns himself

I love the articles in the paper about criminals who catch themselves

Like the one in Florida that got stuck in a chimney one night and had to wait until morning for the fire department to get him out, only to find the police waiting for him, because he had left his bag of loot there on the roof a bag of loot stolen from other places before he got stuck

Or the fellow who was bragging to his new friend in a bar about the heist he had just pulled off, only to find out that his new friend was a policeman

The Proverbs have one more verse about a fool that every person should take to heart

Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

I hope you understand that being a fool has absolutely nothing to do with human intellect

Being a fool has everything to do with the lack of spiritual discernment

If we turn to

We will find that wisdom, has nothing to do with human intellect and everything to do with spiritual discernment

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

The first thing to take note of is the word simple.

The Word means Silly, foolish, or simple

The testimony of the Lord, the gospel message can make a fool wise

Isn’t that what the Psalm says?

So wisdom comes from the taking in of God’s Word, the precious gospel message

Going back to Proverbs 12:15, it says

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.

But Proverbs 3:7 says

Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.

The counter action for foolishness is

To realize that our own wisdom is foolishness to God

But, also to realize that reverencing the Lord and turning from evil is the way to being wise

But, looking at the next verse we see a personal benefit

It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

Reverencing the Lord, doing good, and turning from evil all attributes of Godly wisdom will promote a sense of well being and vigor

It will not necessarily be physical but mental and spiritual

An enthusiastic believer in Christ, Dan Richardson, lost his battle with cancer. But his life demonstrated that even though the physical body may be destroyed by disease, the spirit can remain triumphant. This poem was distributed at his memorial service:

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love,

It cannot shatter hope,

It cannot corrode faith,

It cannot eat away peace,

It cannot destroy confidence,

It cannot kill friendship,

It cannot shut out memories,

It cannot silence courage,

It cannot invade the soul,

It cannot reduce eternal life,

It cannot quench the Spirit,

It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Now that is a healthy outlook

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness";

Lets turn back to Psalm 37:30

The characteristics of wisdom

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice.

If we go to Proverbs 12:18 we read this

There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.

My point here is that the mouth of the righteous speaks wisely and of justice and the tongue of the wise promotes health

In other words, righteousness and wisdom, and kind healing words go together

Proverbs

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

When I look at the poem I read a few minutes ago, I can see the truth in this Proverb

Cancer cannot lessen the power of the resurrection

Well, we could add heart disease

Diabetes

Stroke

Arthritis

And so on

Two boys on the school playground were discussing a classmate. One of them remarked, "He's no good at sports." The other quickly responded, "Yes, but he always plays fair." The critical one added, "He isn't very smart in school either." His friend answered, "That may be true, but he studies hard." The boy with the mean tongue was becoming exasperated with the attitude of the other. "Well," he sneered, "did you ever notice how ragged his clothes are?" The other boy kindly replied, "Yes, but did you ever notice, they're always clean!" Every negative observation was countered by a positive one.

Ephesians 4:31 & 32 say

Ephesians 4:31-32 (NKJV)

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. {32} And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Conclusion

We started off with a description of a fool

A fool says in his heart there is no God

And this belief leads to conduct that exemplifies the idea that there will be no judgement in the end, corruption

A fool does not and cannot understand the simplest of spiritual truths

Being a fool has nothing to do with human intellect

It has everything to do with spiritual discernment

Then we covered just a couple of things dealing with being wise

The wise reverence God and turning from evil

Wisdom promoted good heath

And wisdom speaks pleasant words which promotes good health in others

But I would be remiss if I left out one very important idea

We find in Psalm 111:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Each of us has a choice

We have the Holy Spirit

We can choose to be instructed in Godly wisdom and knowledge

Or we can choose to Be the fool despising wisdom and instruction

Challenge

This become a challenge for every Christian

Proverbs 2:2 - 6

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; {3} Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, {4} If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; {5} Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. {6} For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

One of the things I have found is that I have to approach the Bible with an open mind

Accepting the Word as truth

But, not accepting Someone else’s dogma

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.