“The Fool Has SAid In his heart…”
Presented by
Blake Brown
More than 3,000 years ago, God’s prophet Moses, armed with impressive divine credentials, walked calmly into the presence of the pharaoh of Egypt and said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go!’” But Pharaoh’s response was, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1-2).
Today there are numerous deluded souls who are the spiritual descendants of that ancient pagan king. As far as they are concerned, belief in God is something that is like a fairy-tale, a myth, or a silly superstition. These people are proud of their unbelief, and they are anxious to spread it to as many other people as possible.
Have you ever a met a person who does not believe in God? If you haven’t, the likelihood is that one day you will. Unbelief comes in several different forms. The atheist, for example, boldly affirms that God does not exist. The agnostic, on the other hand, says that it is impossible for anyone to know if God exists because there is not enough evidence to reach a conclusion one way or another. The skeptic says that he doubts that God exists. And the infidel not only doesn’t believe in God, but also does not want anyone else to believe in God either.
First, there are some people who were reared by parents who did not believe in God. Those parents never attended church, never went to Sunday school, never read the Bible, and never taught their children to do any of those things. Therefore, the children in such households grew up not believing in God. This, however, is exactly the opposite of what God wants. In Deuteronomy 6:4-7 God told His people:
“Hear, O
Israel: The Lord is our God, and the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these
words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you
are at home, when you are away, when you lie down, and when you arise.”
When parents fail to teach their children about God, His Word, and His Son’s church, those children often grow up to be unbelievers such as atheists, agnostics, or infidels. How sad is that?!
Second, some people—just like pharaoh—are too stubborn, have
too much pride, or think that they are “too intelligent” to believe in God. In
1 Corinthians 1:26 the apostle Paul spoke of such people when he said, “Not
many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.”
These individuals have misplaced priorities, and have forgotten that “the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, while fools despise wisdom and
instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). As the psalmist said in Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his
heart, ‘There is no God.’” If a
person thinks that he is too smart to need God, he has become too smart for his
own good.
Third,
some people choose not to believe in God because they want to “do their
own thing,” and if they believe in God, they cannot do that. They want to use illegal
drugs, smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, and other immoral things. And they do not
want God telling them they cannot participate in such activities. Thus, they
choose not to believe in God so that they can do such things without feeling
guilty. But in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Paul wrote, “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” In Galatians 5:19-23, after Paul had given
a long list of “works of the flesh,” he then said, “Those who practice such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Refusing to believe in God so you
can “do your own thing” comes with a steep price tag, doesn’t it? As Paul put
it in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”
Fourth, a person may have been taught in school that
evolution is true and that belief in God is no longer necessary since “nature”
can account for everything. For these people, belief in evolution has taken the
place of belief in God. Paul discussed this type of thing in Romans 1:25 when
he spoke of those who had “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator.” But Paul went even farther when he said,
“Ever since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine nature,
invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things He
has made. So they are without excuse.” It has been said that when people
stop believing in God, they do not believe in nothing; rather, they believe in anything! The fact that people can believe that the intricate
design of the human body “just happened by accident” is proof of such a
statement, is it not? As for me, I cannot help but wonder if the unbeliever cannot find God for
the same reason the thief cannot find the policeman!
God created each one of us with freedom of choice. As
Joshua told the Israelites in Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day whom you will
serve….” People can choose not to believe in God if they want. But one day
those individuals will learn just how wrong they were, as Paul made clear when
he said in Romans 4:11, “‘As
I live,’ says the Lord, ‘Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
Which of the following two options would be better? Would it be better to choose to believe in God now on your own, and have an opportunity to go to heaven? Or would it be better to be forced on the Day of Judgment to admit that God exists—only to hear Him say, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23)? To ask is to answer, is it not?