Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Folly of Denying God and the Certainty of Judgment (Psalm 53) | Charles Spurgeon

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The Folly of Denying God and the Certainty of Judgment (Psalm 53) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. This is the deep dive.
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  This is where we take the source material that you send in and
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  well, we just drill down into it.
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  We try to get to the core of the ideas to get you well informed
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  and fast, and today we're looking at something that gets
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  right to the heart of our understanding of, well, the
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  nature of man. It's a serious 1.
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  Today we're drawing on the classic theological writings of
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  Charles Spurgeon. Specifically, his notes on Psalm
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  53. They're found in his work, The
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  Treasury of David. Right.
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  And Psalm 53 is just so interesting because it's a
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  repeat. It's almost a word for word copy
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  of Psalm 14. You could easily just skip over
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  it. But Spurgeon says no, you
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  absolutely cannot do that. He sees it as and I'm quoting
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  here another edition by the same author, emphasized in certain
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  parts and rewritten for another purpose.
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  That repetition, that's the whole key here.
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  So I think our mission for this deep dive is to use Spurgeon's
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  analysis of this Psalm to really grasp what the source material
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  is saying about human depravity. Yes, what he calls that mortal,
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  hereditary taint of sin. We want to see how this version
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  of the Psalm, the second edition, addresses practical
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  atheism. And why the only hope against
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  this this overwhelming corruption is framed as divine
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  deliverance. It really sets a sober tone from
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  the very beginning it. Does, I mean, think about it.
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  David lived a long life. He saw empires come and go.
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  He dealt with humanity at its absolute best and its worst.
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  And at the end of all that, he felt the need to rewrite this
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  exact message. That says something, doesn't it?
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  Something about how stubborn we are, How forgetful.
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  Spurgeon hits on that. He says the repetition is
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  necessary because we are slow to learn and need line upon line.
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  So. David, after all he's seen,
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  concludes that men left to their own devices are morally no
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  better at the end of his life than they were when he was just
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  a kid. And that initial context is so,
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  so vital. It really pushes back against
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  the common idea that humanity is sort of, you know, generally
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  improving on its own. The idea that education or time
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  or evolution will fix our moral problems.
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  Right, this material says the opposite.
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  It says if you really observe the world over a long period,
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  you find no inherent moral progress in mankind.
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  And that view, well, it sets the stage for a proper estimation of
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  grace. Doesn't.
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  It it has to. We need this lesson hammered
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  home constantly because our default setting is always to
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  downplay the severity of that universal hereditary corruption.
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  We forget how bad the disease really is.
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  So let's start with that disease.
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  Let's move right into the title of Psalm 53 itself.
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  Compared to Psalm 14, this version has two editions in the
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  superscription that Spurgeon spends a lot of time on.
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  Mahalath and Mashil. What are these telling us right
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  from the start? Well, they're not just, you
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  know, little footnotes from music historians.
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  Spurgeon sees them as instructions on how to read this
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  and really how to feel about it. OK, so let's take the first one,
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  Mahalath. According to the notes, it's
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  probably a musical direction. It's calling for a mournfully
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  solemn air, or maybe for a certain instrument to be
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  prominent, to create a specific mood.
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  But the word itself has a meaning, and it's the
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  fascinating 1. Mahalath, the source tells us,
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  is a term that means disease. Exactly.
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  The musical instruction is directly connected to the
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  content of the Psalm. It's a lament.
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  It's a solemn recognition of a profound sickness.
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  Which is why Spurgeon gives it his own subtitle.
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  He does. He calls it the song of man's
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  disease, the mortal hereditary taint of sin.
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  So the diagnosis sets the melody before you even read a single
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  word about the fool or the wicked, you're meant to
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  understand the subject here is a deep seated universal sickness
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  affecting the entire human race. And then you get the second
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  instruction muscle. This one is described as a
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  direction calling for double attention.
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  Double attention to this most instructive song.
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  So this isn't a casual read. The text itself is telling you
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  to lean in to focus, because this is a critical lesson.
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  That instruction alone really reinforces the need for the
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  repetition, doesn't it? It does.
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  The inspired writer is essentially telling the reader
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  stop. I know you read Psalm 14, but
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  you clearly didn't grasp the gravity of the message.
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  So this second edition, this rewrite, demands you pay double
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  attention because the instruction here, the depth of
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  human sin, is absolutely essential to get right.
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  Which brings us back to the duplication itself.
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  Why would the Holy Spirit preserve 2 versions of basically
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  the same message if we believe Scripture does nothing without a
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  reason? There has to be a theological
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  purpose for having two versions of this indictment.
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  And the sources offer some pretty robust analysis on that.
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  Ryland, for instance. He has a hypothesis.
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  He does. He suggests the two Psalms might
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  refer to different periods or maybe different aspects of God's
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  dealings with humanity. He points out that Psalm 14
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  focuses heavily on judgement. And he uses the name Jehovah.
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  Right. And in that context, Jehovah
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  refers to the covenant God, the self existent one, who enters
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  into a specific relationship with his people Israel, and
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  judges them based on the terms of that covenant.
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  So it puts a focus on Israel's immediate moral failure against
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  their specific God. Yes, but then Psalm 53 changes
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  the name. It does, and that's a huge
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  shift. A huge shift.
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  Psalm 53 changes the focus to deliverance and God being in the
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  midst of His people, and this is signaled by the repeated use of
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  the name Elohim. Wordsworth points out that
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  Elohim appears seven times in Psalm 53.
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  Seven times. That slight change in name
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  carries immense weight. It moves the perspective away
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  from the specific covenant context of Jehovah to the
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  broader, more universal perspective of God as the
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  providential judge and the source of all Might for all the
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  redeemed. So it's a shift in scope.
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  It is so while the core description of human depravity
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  stays identical, the people are still rotten, still foolish.
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  The perspective changes. It's now about how God, the
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  Elohim of the whole universe and His redeemed children, is
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  sovereignly dealing with this problem.
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  It's about God's power to overcome the disease, not just
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  the diagnosis of the disease itself.
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  You could almost say Psalm 14 is the diagnosis under the law and
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  Psalm 53 is the diagnosis under the promise of a rescue.
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  Alexander's hypothesis really supports that idea of a
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  refinement. He suggested David deliberately
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  rewrote it to strengthen certain points.
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  To make the variations stronger, bolder, really emphasizing the
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  gravity of the original indictment.
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  And then Bonar gives us the final sweeping theological
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  reason for this repetition. That's line upon line.
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  He says the goal is to impress upon us the enormous guilt, the
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  inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking atheism of
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  this fallen province of God's dominion.
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  That phrase, fallen province of God's dominion, is so powerful
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  it frames humanity's condition not just as a series of personal
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  failures, but as a crisis of governance in God's own
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  creation. And Bonar says it is good to
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  return now and then to that loathsome degradation where we
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  were all found. Why is that good?
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  That sounds unpleasant. Because it relates directly to
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  the core of our faith, the absolute reality of total
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  inability. We need constant, sharp
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  reminders of the full extent of our corruption so that we never,
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  even for a second, mistake ourselves as being neutral.
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  Or capable of contributing something good toward our own
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  rescue. Never.
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  The two Psalms together serve as dual mirrors.
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  One shows the universal sin, the other emphasizes the particular
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  divine solution, grace. OK, so the structure seems
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  pretty clear. Then first you have to
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  acknowledge the disease. That's Mahalaf.
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  Second, you have to pay attention to the instruction.
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  That's Michelle. And third, you see the
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  comprehensive scope of God's solution symbolized by the name
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  Elohim. If this repetition is so
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  necessary to hammer home this doctrine of our universal
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  corruption, let's see who the prime example of that corruption
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  is. Let's start with verse one, The
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  fool. Verse one really delivers the
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  core indictment. The fool hath said in his heart
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  there is no God. And Spurgeon immediately defines
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  this fool in the strongest possible terms.
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  He's not just, you know, intellectually confused.
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  No, the notes are very clear. It's a comprehensive deficiency.
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  He is a fool in the heart as well as in the head, a fool in
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  morals as well as in philosophy. So this is a moral problem 1st,
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  and an intellectual problem second.
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  The atheist, in this sense, is willfully lacking wisdom.
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  And the source material warns us that this denial isn't some
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  quiet, static opinion he keeps to himself.
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  Not at all. The fool's progress is described
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  with a string of really intense adjectives.
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  Rapid, riotous, raving, ruinous. The idea being that starting
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  within piety with the denial of God just prepares the way for
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  anything and everything else that is wicked.
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  It's the first domino to fall. If the first principle of your
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  life is the denial of the Creator, then logically every
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  subsequent choice just flows downhill from there.
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  So what does the phrase There is no God, when interpreted in
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  Spurgeon's context, actually mean for society?
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  What are the implications it? Means the entire moral structure
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  collapses. The denial of a sovereign God is
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  interpreted as meaning no law, no order, no restraint to lust,
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  no limit to passion. If there is no ultimate
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  authority, well then there is no ultimate boundary.
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  And the text asks who but a fool would want that kind of anarchy?
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  Right, The notes project this idea forward.
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  If this principle were applied globally, the world would become
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  a bedlam, A madhouse, or even worse, what the source calls an
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  A seldama. A field of blood.
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  A field of blood. The stakes here are truly
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  existential. The very fabric of society,
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  however imperfectly it works, rests on some acknowledgement of
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  law and order. Which has to come from a belief
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  in a higher authority. It has to to remove the ultimate
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  authority is to invite social ruin and wholesale murder.
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  And this brings us to a really crucial distinction that the
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  material makes. This isn't just about the person
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  who officially calls themselves an atheist.
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  No, this is much broader. Spurgeon states that every
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  natural man is more or less a denier of God.
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  Practical atheism is the religion of the race.
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  That is the essential insight, isn't it?
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  Practical atheism, living as if God did not exist.
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  Regardless of what you might say you believe or what church you
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  attend on Sunday, it's self-sufficiency, self
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  determination, and the assumption that you are the
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  ultimate authority in your own life.
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  So if we were to update this definition for today, the Fool
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  isn't necessarily the philosophical skeptic debating
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  online. It's simply the the person who
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  lives without reference to God. The person who acts as if the
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  rules don't apply to them, prioritizing their own comfort
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  and desire above any divine mandate.
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  That's the practical atheist. And the sources go deep into
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  analyzing the source of this denial.
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  Is it an inflectual problem or a heart problem?
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  Francis Bacon provides A striking observation here.
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  He says it is absolutely a heart problem.
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  The fool doesn't think there is no God in some cold, detached
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  process of judgement. He says it in his heart.
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  He says it in his heart, and that's a huge difference.
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  He says it because he wants it to be true.
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  He has a goodwill to be of that belief, as Bacon puts it.
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  Precisely because he recognizes that the existence of a holy,
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  sovereign God makes not for him a just God is inconvenient, His
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  demands get in the way of a person's desire for unrestrained
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  passion and self rule. So the internal desire dictates
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  the conclusion. It's a willful moral denial, not
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  a logical error. And Robert Murray McShane
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  provides this truly visceral illustration of just how intense
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  this internal rebellion, this hatred for God.
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  Really. Is a shocking quote.
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  It is Machine says, that the denial of God is the secret
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  desire of every unconverted bosom, and to stress the extent
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  of this hatred, he says that if the breast of God were within
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  the reach of men, it would be stabbed a million of times in
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  one moment. That language is just it's
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  designed to shock you, but it forces you to face the reality
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  of the malice that's hidden in the human heart.
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  It's a hatred that wishes for the non existence of God because
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  God represents absolute holiness and justice, the two things the
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  fool cannot stand. And Spurgeon connects that
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  malice directly to history. He says we saw that murderous
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  hatred demonstrated perfectly when God was manifest in the
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  flesh. Christ, who is altogether lovely
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  and holy, was taken by men and hung on a tree.
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  Machine argues that's exactly what men would do to God again,
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  if they have the chance. Which is why the material
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  rejects what it calls Bainty dealing with the wicked.
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  Right. I wanted to ask about that
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  phrase. The source rejects dainty
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  dealing and insists the wicked are rotten.
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  That's extreme language for a theological document.
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  How does Spurgeon justify that kind of severity?
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  Because the denial of God is not a neutral state.
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  The source doesn't praise them as sincere doubters or amiable
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  thinkers. No, they are described as
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  corrupt, Are they? They are rotten.
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  It's an offensive, putrid sin. The word corruption here means
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  decay. Their moral nature is fouled.
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  It's putrefying because they've removed the anchor of existence,
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  which is God himself. And this internal corruption
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  inevitably translates into external action.
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  It's a direct cause and effect relationship that the psalmist
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  is highlighting. Yes, bad principles soon lead to
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  bad lives. Those who have practically
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  denied their maker will, as the source says, act abominably when
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  it serves their turn. So the denial and forgetfulness
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  of God are identified as the essential source of the
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  unrighteousness and crime we see in the world.
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  Left to itself, this no God spirit would produce nothing but
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  the most loathsome actions. Which leads to that
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  comprehensive universal indictment that closes the
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  verse. There is none that doeth good,
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  and the source makes a point to say this accusation is made by
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  one who knows what is in man. It's essential to emphasize that
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  the verdict is sweeping, and it's without exception if anyone
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  tries to argue that there are, you know, pockets of innate
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  virtue left untouched by the fall.
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  Islands of moral excellence somewhere.
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  The text rejects that claim immediately.
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  The one typical fool described in verse one is reproduced
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  throughout the entire human race without divine intervention.
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  Every single person, every single nation has forgotten the
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  right way. So we have the diagonal
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  hypnosis, the disease of practical atheism, and the
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  symptom universal corruption. Now verse 2 gives us the
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  objective context for this verdict, God's direct
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  observation. Yes, God looked down from heaven
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  upon the children of men, and the source is clear.
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  This isn't a quick passive glance.
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  No, the notes describe it as a steadfast gaze from his all
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  surveying observatory. It's the full, comprehensive
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  nature of omniscience focused entirely on humanity.
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  It's an. Audit an audit.
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  I like that. So what exactly was he looking
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  for during this audit? Well, what's so striking is that
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  the standard he was looking for was remarkably basic.
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  He wasn't looking for perfected holiness.
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  Not at all. Or profound theological insight.
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  He was looking for anyone who did understand that did seek
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  God. Just simple sincerity, a right
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  desire, the very first steps toward recovery from the
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  disease. And the result of this divine
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  survey, this all seen gaze that takes in all nations, all
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  individuals, all hearts, and all the motives within those hearts.
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  The result is exactly the same as in verse 1.
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  He found neither a clear head nor a clean heart among them
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  all. The search yields nothing
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  positive. Nothing.
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  And the source material is quick to dispense with all human
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  speculation about virtue. Here.
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  Oh, absolutely. That's where we get that sharp
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  dismissal of the supposed pure heathens and admirable savages.
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  Spurgeon says they do not appear to have been visible to the eye
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  of omniscience. He says they exist only in the
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  realm of fiction, and this is a direct, necessary rejection of
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  any philosophical system that says man, if just left
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  uncorrupted by modern society, could achieve inherent virtue on
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  his own. The divine X-ray sees through
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  that facade. It does.
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  If God's all seeing eye see no favorable sign, then we can be
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  absolutely certain there's none to be found.
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  That's the weight of the divine verdict on humanity's potential.
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  Then verse 3 seems to intensify the indictment, especially in
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  how it describes the retreat from God.
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  In Psalm 14 they turn aside, but here the language is stronger.
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  Much stronger. Every one of them has gone back.
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  And that's a crucial refinement David makes in this new edition.
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  It is turning aside. Could suggest you just wandered
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  off the path by mistake. Going back implies A definitive
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  conscious retreat. You're running in a
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  diametrically opposite direction.
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  So it highlights that the unregenerate life isn't just
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  negligent toward God's law. No, it's in direct defiance of
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  the law of God. It's actively opposed to it.
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  And this act of opposition results in that pervasive,
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  undeniable moral pollution. They are all together become
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  filthy. We should probably pause on this
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  imagery because the language used in the notes is it's
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  visceral. It's meant to be.
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  It's designed to shock any lingering sentimentality right
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  out of us. It feels like it.
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  The imagery is one of decay and disgust, Adam Clark, one of the
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  commentators, notes. The original Hebrew signifies
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  they've become sour and rancid. Like milk that's gone bad.
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  Exactly a metaphor for something that has fermented and turned
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  worthless. It's spoiled, useless, even
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  harmful. And Morrison, another
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  commentator, strengthens this, suggesting the word could even
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  be read as rotten or putrid. So the entire mass of humanity
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  is described as, and I'm quoting, soured with an evil
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  Levin, fouled with an all pervading pollution, made rank
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  with general future faction. Why is it so crucial for the
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  language to be this repulsive? Because it forces you to
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  confront the nature of sin, not just as a list of rules you
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  broke, but as a total state of being.
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  It's a rottenness that permeates everything.
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  It confirms that man's atheistic nature is not the mild error
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  that we think it to. Be no, it's an abominable evil.
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  The world might look fair and decent to humanize, but to the
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  all seeing Elohim, it is defined by this pervasive rot.
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  This is the heart of the doctrine of total inability, the
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  understanding that all our faculties, our desires, our
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  entire being are tainted by sin. And the conclusion is confirmed
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  yet again. Just to drive the point home,
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  there is none that do with good. No, not one.
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  This is the theological capstone, isn't it?
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  It's necessary for understanding redemption.
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  It is, it emphasizes, that the fallen race, if it's left to its
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  own energy, has not produced and will not ever produce a single
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  lover of God or doer of holiness.
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  The evidence from the divine survey is complete.
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  And the necessary intervention is clear.
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  Grace must interpose without sovereign divine action.
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  No specimen of humanity will ever pursue what is good and
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  true on their own. This leads to the necessity of
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  seeking God, which Peter Martyr addresses even while recognizing
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  that God is everywhere. I mean, why must God be sought
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  if he's already everywhere? That's a great question, and
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  Martyr explains that it's because the darkness which
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  compasses our minds through original sin hinders us.
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  The corruption acts as a shroud. So we're blinded.
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  We're blinded, he says. The flesh, the senses and
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  earthly affections do hinder us from knowing of Him.
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  Yeah, though He be present, the moral rot blinds us to the one
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  thing we need most. Our natural state prevents us
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  from even apprehending God as our highest good.
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  And Tholuk provides a kind of systematic progression of how
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  this works in practice. Yes, Tholuk shows the chain
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  reaction of depravity. The lack of understanding the
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  unclear head inevitably leads to not seeking God because only
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  those with clear insight recognize Him as their highest
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  possession. And not seeking leads to
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  estrangement. To being gone aside, which then
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  results in the individual becoming filthy or worthless.
• 19:23
  This whole cycle just confirms the principle that virtue only
• 19:26
  flows from communion with God. Without that initial desire,
• 19:30
  that first moment of understanding the decay is
• 19:33
  inevitable and total. We have established the disease
• 19:36
  and the total corruption. Now we get into verse 4, which
• 19:39
  details the symptom in action, the sheer, the logical cruelty
• 19:42
  of the wicked. The psalmist asked this
• 19:44
  question. Have the workers of iniquity no
• 19:47
  knowledge. It's a rhetorical question, of
• 19:48
  course. Right, they like wisdom, but
• 19:50
  shouldn't even common knowledge, common sense, restrain them from
• 19:54
  certain actions? The question is highlighting the
• 19:56
  sheer folly and the self destructiveness of sin.
• 19:59
  I mean even basic worldly knowledge to teach them that sin
• 20:02
  is an evil thing and that persecution historically usually
• 20:05
  recoils upon a man's own head. But they're so far gone in their
• 20:09
  delusion they don't even know they are their own enemies and
• 20:12
  are ruining themselves. Their foolishness is total, and
• 20:15
  this lack of fundamental wisdom immediately manifests in their
• 20:18
  actions against God's people. Who eat up my people as they eat
• 20:21
  bread? This is one of the most chilling
• 20:23
  images in the entire Psalm. It's describing casual cruelty.
• 20:27
  The French margin note in the source material really clarifies
• 20:30
  this horrific imagery. It says they have no more
• 20:33
  scruple in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.
• 20:36
  It's not some grand ceremonial violence.
• 20:40
  It's the nonchalant, daily, bestial nature of their
• 20:43
  antagonism toward the spiritual seed.
• 20:47
  It is normalized malice. The normalcy of it is what's so
• 20:50
  disturbing. They treat the righteous God's
• 20:53
  chosen people as a mere food source, a daily sustenance, a
• 20:56
  matter of habit and appetite. And the source material
• 20:59
  immediately issues a solemn warning about the consequence of
• 21:02
  this habit. Spurgeon notes that such food
• 21:04
  will be hard to digest. This casual consumption of the
• 21:07
  Saints will bring on a horrible vomit when God deals with them
• 21:10
  injustice. That is a sharp physical
• 21:12
  metaphor for divine judgement, isn't it?
• 21:14
  They may devour the Saints now, assuming they have total ease
• 21:17
  and immunity, but divine judgement ensures that their
• 21:20
  cruelty will lead to a disastrous, painful internal
• 21:23
  reckoning. And this casual destruction is
• 21:25
  often driven by a kind of malicious jealousy.
• 21:27
  Like Ishmael's opposition to Isaac, the natural man envying
• 21:31
  those who obtain mercy through grace.
• 21:34
  Which brings us to the profound paradox that immediately follows
• 21:37
  in the second-half of the verse. They have not called upon God.
• 21:41
  This feels like the peak of their illogical defiance.
• 21:43
  It really is. They will use every earthly
• 21:45
  resource, every conspiracy, every physical means in their
• 21:49
  cruel enterprises to destroy the righteous.
• 21:51
  Every means except the essential one, seeking God's favor or
• 21:55
  mercy. They are perfectly consistent in
• 21:57
  their practical atheism. It's just sheer hypocrisy and
• 22:00
  malice. They actively devour those who
• 22:02
  pray the Saints out of spiritual jealousy, yet they themselves
• 22:05
  refuse to seek the mercy and sustenance that only God can
• 22:09
  provide. It's truly playing the dog in
• 22:11
  the Manger, as the source says, envying others blessing while
• 22:15
  refusing the source of that blessing for themselves.
• 22:17
  And Goodwin offers a powerful explanation for why, if their
• 22:21
  nature is so rotten and their denial so complete, they don't
• 22:24
  simply eat up everyone and everything all the time.
• 22:28
  He introduces the idea of conscience.
• 22:31
  The Garrison planted in a rebellious town.
• 22:34
  What a great phrase. This internal knowledge, however
• 22:37
  suppressed it might be, acts as a check.
• 22:40
  It rules and tames men, overcoming them with a certain
• 22:43
  fear that prevents total, unbridled societal collapse.
• 22:47
  So if they had absolutely no knowledge if that Garrison was
• 22:50
  completely absent. Goodwin argues they would eat up
• 22:53
  one another and the church as bread.
• 22:56
  It is only restraining grace that prevents the full logical
• 22:59
  conclusion of atheism from manifesting everywhere, all the
• 23:02
  time. This verse they have not called
• 23:04
  upon God also allows for a critical digression on this sin
• 23:07
  of omission, which beverage highlights the failure to pray
• 23:11
  isn't just a neutral act. No, it is a serious, damning sin
• 23:14
  in and of itself. And beverage defines this sin in
• 23:17
  two ways. There's neglect, and then
• 23:20
  there's improper practice. Right neglect is failing in
• 23:24
  public prayer, private devotion, or family prayer.
• 23:27
  These are the basic disciplines of just acknowledging God's
• 23:30
  sovereignty. But improper practice is just as
• 23:33
  insidious. Absolutely.
• 23:34
  To call upon God requires reverence, understanding,
• 23:37
  submission, believing, faith, and sincerity.
• 23:40
  If a person just goes through the motions of prayer without
• 23:43
  those five elements, they are in effect still refusing to truly
• 23:47
  call upon God. Leverage also stresses the
• 23:49
  necessity of constancy. Always being in a plain frame,
• 23:53
  taking all occasions to pray and letting no day slip without
• 23:56
  prayer. So the failure to pray, whether
• 23:58
  in form or in spirit, demonstrates the deepest
• 24:01
  possible level of practical atheism.
• 24:03
  It's the refusal to acknowledge the need for essential life
• 24:06
  giving communication with the Creator.
• 24:08
  They are consuming the Saints while starving themselves.
• 24:10
  It's the ultimate folly. So we shift.
• 24:12
  Now we've gone through the dark diagnosis of man's depravity and
• 24:16
  cruelty, and now we get to the inevitable conclusion, the
• 24:20
  certainty of God's judgement and the promise of deliverance.
• 24:24
  Verse 5 is David's vision of the end of the ungodly.
• 24:27
  There were they in great fear, where No Fear was.
• 24:30
  The contest is so jarring, the cruel, fearless boasters who are
• 24:34
  casually devouring the Saints are suddenly seized with a
• 24:37
  causeless panic. They tremble like the leaves of
• 24:40
  the Aspen, frightened by nothing external, but by their own
• 24:42
  shadows. And the source material is clear
• 24:45
  that this fear is God's just judgment.
• 24:47
  It is, Givens asks the central question.
• 24:50
  Behold how fearful a hell a wounded conscience is.
• 24:53
  Those who refuse to fear the Lord, who deny His existence and
• 24:56
  authority, are made to stand in fear of things that are justly
• 25:00
  no cause of fear. The internal Garrison of
• 25:03
  conscience turns into a hellish prison.
• 25:05
  And this moment of panic exposes the true nature of infidelity,
• 25:09
  which the notes identify as cowardice.
• 25:11
  So the atheist is, at bottom, a coward.
• 25:13
  That's what the source says. His denial is just whistling in
• 25:17
  the dark to keep his courage up against the overwhelming reality
• 25:20
  of his own guilt. When divine judgement finally
• 25:23
  arrives, that philosophical facade just crumbles instantly
• 25:27
  and the internal reckoning, the wounded conscience is unleashed.
• 25:31
  This panic is rooted in divine contempt and victory.
• 25:35
  The collapse of the wicked is described in these very physical
• 25:38
  terms. For God has scattered the bones
• 25:41
  of him that encampeth against thee.
• 25:43
  The mighty hosts, the armies that set themselves against God
• 25:46
  and His people, are utterly defeated.
• 25:49
  The sight of their unburied carcasses, their scattered
• 25:51
  bones, serves as absolute proof of God's prowess against those
• 25:55
  who dare to deny His being. It's a powerful warning.
• 25:58
  And the defeat isn't just physical destruction, it's
• 26:01
  followed by a deep, searing shame that has put them to shame
• 26:04
  because God has despised them. The persecutors and the deniers
• 26:07
  spent their time scoffing at God's people, assuming they held
• 26:10
  the upper hand. But now God's people may laugh
• 26:12
  them to scorn with far greater justification.
• 26:15
  Because the Lord considers their enemies less than nothing in
• 26:18
  vanity. Their destruction is utterly
• 26:20
  humiliating because it's ratified by divine contempt.
• 26:24
  They weren't even given the dignity of a fight.
• 26:26
  They were simply scorned and scattered.
• 26:28
  The Psalm then closes, finally by turning our eyes away from
• 26:33
  the scene of judgement and toward the future.
• 26:35
  Hope The final petition is so fervent and personal.
• 26:40
  Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion.
• 26:43
  This is the longing for the final total deliverance.
• 26:46
  The end of the long oppression and the full realization of the
• 26:49
  promises made by Elohim. What's interesting is the Hebrew
• 26:52
  word for salvation here is actually in the plural.
• 26:55
  And the source suggests that denotes its greatness.
• 26:57
  Its greatness and its comprehensive nature.
• 26:59
  Not just one single deliverance, but a gathering of all the
• 27:03
  benefits of salvation. It's a heartfelt wish for the
• 27:06
  final battle to to be over and for the Lord to avenge and
• 27:09
  restore his elect. And the results of this
• 27:11
  restoration will be universal, complete joy.
• 27:14
  Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
• 27:17
  The happiness of that liberty, of that restoration, will be
• 27:20
  directly proportional to the heaviness of the yoke they bore
• 27:23
  under the persecution of the wicked.
• 27:25
  And Spurgeon, writing from his own historical context, draws
• 27:29
  the line of expectation forward from this.
• 27:31
  He does. He connects this hope
• 27:32
  specifically toward the Second Advent and the restoration of
• 27:36
  Israel. So the entire trajectory of this
• 27:38
  deep dive is complete. We went from the diagnosis of
• 27:41
  the disease, the Mahalath, through the depths of human
• 27:44
  corruption and atheistic malice, only to end with his confident
• 27:48
  expression of future hope in God's intervention.
• 27:51
  Establishing Him as the Redeemer of His people.
• 27:53
  The emphasis from start to finish is entirely on the
• 27:57
  certainty of divine action. This focused analysis of
• 27:59
  Spurgeon's notes on Psalm 53 has certainly reaffirmed a stark,
• 28:03
  uncompromising perspective on human nature, but it also, I
• 28:06
  think, gives us a clear reason for hope.
• 28:08
  It has The study solidified the comprehensive moral corruption
• 28:12
  of man, that mortal taint which requires nothing less than
• 28:15
  sovereign intervention. Grace must interpose.
• 28:18
  It has to, because left to its own energy, humanity only
• 28:22
  produces corruption, rancid thoughts and abominable actions,
• 28:26
  especially cruel persecution. And we clarified that the nature
• 28:30
  of atheism is fundamentally moral.
• 28:32
  It's rooted in the heart's desire to deny God for the sake
• 28:34
  of passion, which leads inevitably to that casual eating
• 28:38
  up of God's people. It's a hatred of the good that
• 28:41
  is both self-destructive and outwardly malicious.
• 28:44
  And finally, the text confirms the certainty of divine
• 28:46
  deliverance. God sees all, He judges the
• 28:50
  ungodly, and he causes the wicked to scatter and terror,
• 28:53
  proving that their denial of Him was the height of folly and
• 28:56
  cowardice. And their eternal shame is
• 28:58
  rooted in his absolute contempt for their rebellion.
• 29:01
  So what does this all mean for us today if the divine verdict
• 29:04
  after that steadfast gaze from heaven remains none that doeth
• 29:07
  good? No, not one.
• 29:08
  What practical daily effect should the knowledge that we are
• 29:11
  only saved and sustained by grace have on our self
• 29:13
  perception and our relationships?
• 29:15
  Well, it raises a really important question that builds
• 29:17
  on the necessity of this repetition if the whole mass of
• 29:20
  humanity, and that includes our own fallen natures, is defined
• 29:24
  by the source material as being filthy, sour and rancid.
• 29:28
  What beverage called the greatest nastiness in the world?
• 29:30
  Yes. How should that understanding
• 29:33
  temper our own pride and our own ambition?
• 29:36
  We are so constantly prone to forgetting the source of any
• 29:40
  goodness in us. So for the listener, what's the
• 29:42
  take away thought? Consider the nature of sin not
• 29:45
  just as transgression, not just as breaking a rule, but as this
• 29:48
  deep, inherent nastiness. And think about how that
• 29:51
  realization should fuel our daily, relentless pursuit of
• 29:55
  true operative holiness, knowing that any perceived good thing we
• 29:58
  accomplish is purely attributable to God's
• 30:00
  restraining and saving grace. That's something essential to
• 30:03
  think on long after this deep dive is complete.
• 30:06
  A compelling and necessary truth to close with.
• 30:09
  Thank you for joining us for the Deep Dive.
• 30:11
  We'll see you next time.