The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalms 53:1)

Truly it is self evident that any man who says that there is no God is a Great fool.  To say that there is no God is to deny all human reason and conscience that are natural to man.  The existence of God is clearly seen by the creation that surrounds us.  No man is so foolish as to think that something ever came from nothing for this type of thinking defies all reason and experience.  (Romans 1:17-23)  Isaac Newton the great scientist had a model made of our solar system so that when the handle was turned the planets moved around the sun in their order.  When his atheist friend saw it he was amazed and asked Mr. Newton “who made this marvelous machine?”  Newton replied “nobody.”  After awhile of Mr. Newton giving the same answer to his question the man became upset and said, “Isaac this marvelous machine must have been made by someone.”  Newton replied “Isn’t it amazing I tell you that nobody made this simple toy and you don’t believe me.  Yet you gaze into the solar system and dare say to me that no one made that: I don’t believe it!”

But what is more foolish than an atheist is a self righteous legalistic man  who denies God’s Word regarding His Salvation. In the text the words “there is” are in italics, which indicates that they are not in the original.  Our text should read “The fool hath said in his heart NO God!”   God declares verse 2-3 that there is none righteous no not one. God says all men by nature are dead in trespasses and sins.(Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1)  All men are wicked and have a corrupt heart that is full of sin with no desire or ability to please God. (Romans 8:7-8; 1 Corinthians 2:14)

This text declares that salvation must come from God. (v6)  The Word of God says that God the Father has chosen an elect people before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:3- 6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:2)  The Father in a covenant of grace gave them to His Son to save them. (John 6:39-40; John 10:26-29)  Jesus Christ the Son of God was manifest in the flesh.  He obeyed the law of God as a man and offered himself once to redeem all of those the Father gave him. (John 10:11; Hebrews 1:3; 10:14) And now God has raised him from the dead and has set Him to rule and over rule all things for the salvation of His people.(John 17;1-3)  God the Holy Spirit is sent into the world to call out those elect people by name and everyone of them shall come to Jesus Christ by faith. (John 10:16; John 3:7-8; 6:37, 44)  They come as sinners and rest all their salvation on the person and work of Jesus Christ alone and not one of them shall ever be lost. (John 10:16; John 3:7-8; 6:37, 44)

But the fool says to this gospel: “NO GOD!  I’m not absolutely depraved.” The Fool says “I can and I will please you by my works.” NO God! I am not dead in my sins and I will come to you by my free will.  The fool says in his heart NO God, there are no elect people because Jesus loves and died for all men without exception.  NO God!  I will have my part in my salvation!  These man is the GREATER FOOLS than the atheist.  Those who believe the gospel of Free will works religion are greater fools because they “have a form of godliness by they deny the power thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:5) They are the greatest fools because they refuse to believe that Salvation is ALL of God and all of Grace.

-Fred Evans

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

 It is only the believing sinner that has an interest in sovereign mercy. Those who imagine themselves to be righteous within themselves find the infinite mercy of our sovereign God to be quite offensive. But the child of God has been made to know by the grace of God that he is in desperate need of the mercy of God all the time. We understand that if God, for one split second, ceased to be merciful, we would perish without his Son and without recovery. I will be merciful is the ETERNAL WORD OF GOD! This declaration is more than prophetic.

God is declaring that he will be FOREVER MERCIFUL! God must be merciful, because mercy is his very nature—He has declared it. God has chosen, by necessity of his character, to manifest his mercy for sinful man in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in the eternal Son of God, who was manifest as the eternal Son of Man, that we poor sinners are objects of infinite mercy. I will be merciful was not God’s declaration made first in time, but in eternity. This is his oath made to his Son in the eternal covenant of grace before the world was and repeated unto Moses for the assurance and comfort of all the elect of God. There is no mercy for fallen creatures apart from the person and work of God’s appointed substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our MERCY SEAT!

-Tommy Robins

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  (Revelation  19:7-8) 

O beloved, when you come to think of it, to be married to Him, to be one with Him, to have no thought, no object, no desire, no glory but that which dwells in Him that liveth and was dead—will not this be heaven indeed, where the Lamb is the light thereof? For ever to contemplate and adore Him Who offered up Himself without spot unto God, as our sacrifice and propitiation;1 this shall be an endless feast of grateful love. We shall never weary of this subject…

Do you trust the Lamb? I warn you, if you have a religion that has no blood of Christ in it, it is not worth a thought: you had better be rid of it. It will be of no use to you. I warn you, also, that unless you love the Lamb, you cannot be married to the Lamb; for He will never be married to those who have no love to Him. You must take Jesus as a sacrifice or not at all. It is useless to say, “I will follow Christ’s example.” You will not do anything of the sort. It is idle to say, “He shall be my teacher.” He will not own you for a disciple unless you will own Him as a sacrifice. You must take Him as the Lamb or have done with Him. If you do despite to the blood of Christ, you do despite to the whole person of Christ. Christ is nothing to you if He is not your atonement. As many of you as hope to be saved by the works of the Law or by anything else apart from His blood and righteousness, you have un-Christianized yourselves; you have no part in Jesus here, and you shall have no part in Him hereafter, when He shall take to Himself His own redeemed Church to be His spouse forever and ever. God bless you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

-C.H Spurgeon

Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. (Lamentations 3:51)

Every believer in Jesus Christ is constantly afflicted and effected by what we see with our eyes in this present world.  We live in such a wicked and adulterous generation.  We are surrounded by a godless and God hating people who (if they could) would with their own two hands strip the crown from the head of God and anoint themselves to be the divine monarch of their own destiny.

The Word of God asks  “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3)

This is clearly seen in the government and religious rulers of our nation.  These godless fools shake their fists at the God of Heaven and say “You do not exist! I believe the universe made itself and I am the god of my own life and you will not rule over me!”

The false religious world puts on their vain show of religion.  They bow down to crosses, and statues of saints.  Their churches are filled with music, pageants and programs.  They profess to believe on Jesus Christ but preach a gospel of self-help, self righteousness and free will works religion which is nothing less then the doctrine of devils.

And surely these two groups are not opposed but joined together in defying the Living God.  The false church and the world walk hand in hand saying “we will not have This Man (Jesus Christ) to rule over us.”

Believer, this world and its false religious rulers have never and will never have any pleasure in the gospel of Salvation by the Sovereign Free Grace of God, which is the only true gospel.

Therefore, we who believe on Jesus Christ and are saved by the Grace of God hold fast the truth that all men are by nature depraved and dead in sins.(Romans 5:12; 8:7; John 6:44)

We hold fast that God before the world began Sovereignly Loved and chose some of Adam’s fallen race to be Saved by Jesus Christ His Son. (Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:9)

We hold fast the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh to be the representative man of the elect of the Father.  And that Jesus, who was the surety of the elect, came and obtained eternal righteousness for them alone. (Isaiah 46:13;Jeremiah 23:6)  Jesus was crucified and suffered under the wrath of God for the sins of the elect and redeemed them forever by His one offering. (Hebrews 9:26-28; 10:12-14)

We  boldly declare that God the Holy Spirit shall come to every elect sinner, even in the midst of his depravity and the deadness of his nature and He will perform His irresistible work of Grace.  And we declare that the means of the Holy Spirit to apply life and faith to the sinner is only by the preaching of this gospel. (1 Corinthians 1:17-18; Romans 10:13-17)

Therefore Anyone who preaches another gospel then that we have preached then let him be accursed!  (Galatians 1:6-9)

Surely every believer is affected and grieves in our hearts because of these who reject this gospel of Jesus Christ, but be assured that God is not affected!  Take comfort believer that our Lord Jesus Christ is not hindered by these fools who will not believe.  “The God of Heaven shall Laugh and have them in derision.” (Psalm 2:4)

Believers let not what we see affect us in our hearts, for God has set Jesus Christ His King on His throne.  Our King shall soon come and wipe away all tears from our afflicted eyes.  Then shall we see things, not as they appear in the flesh, but how things really are!

We shall see  that ALL THINGS are moving after the counsel of God’s Sovereign will for the salvation of all God’s elect.  And there is nothing these rulers and false religious men can do to hinder Him in His work.

-Fred Evans

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. (Jeremiah 30:7-9)

This chapter 30 in Jeremiah begins with such words of Grace and Mercy.  God tells His people who are under the yoke of Babylon that He has purposed to deliver them from their captivity.  God promises that He will raise up David their King unto them which is His promise of the Lord Jesus Christ David’s Son and David’s Lord!

It is in this blessed chapter that God reveals to Israel that our sins are incurable.  We have sinned against God and there is nothing that we are able to do to cure ourselves!  Our sins are innumerable and are only increasing every moment!

Are not our sins like clouds?  Can you count the clouds?  As clouds stack up upon one another even so are our sins without measure and without number.  If we were to start to walk from the east coast to the west and confessed our sins with every step we take we would not have enough steps to confess them all.  And yet how many sins have we committed that we don’t even know about? Yet God says to Israel… To Us who are His elect people: verse 17: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.(Jeremiah 30:17)

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.(Isaiah 44:22)

Believer is this not what Jesus Christ has done for us?  Yes! He has by His one offering forever put away all our sins.  He took our incurable and innumerable sins in His own body on the tree  and it was there that God punished them all!  It was there that we were Justified!

-Fred Evans

A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. (Psalms 28:1)

There is nothing more disturbing to the Heart of God’s child then the silence of God.  It was by His voice we were raised from the dead. (John 5:25) It was by His voice we were exposed of our sins. (Deuteronomy 4:36) It was by His voice we heard of the blood of Christ that was once offered to put away sin. (1 Peter 1:18-25)  It was by His voice we heard our sweet shepherd call our name and we followed Him and a strangers voice we will not follow. (John 10:4-11)

It is the voice of Christ that soothes our doubts and calms our fears.  It is by His Holy Word that is preached, read and studied we are assured of the promises of God. But either because of our flesh, our sin or the circumstances of this world, we are at times not able to hear His voice nor feel His presence. Then our hearts fail within us.  All becomes dark and despair fills our souls.

Are you dear saint in such a sad state as this?  Are your overwhelmed because you do not hear your Beloved’s voice? It is then we must fall on our knees and cry unto the Lord Our Rock!  Believer the Lord Jesus Christ is our Rock.

1. He is the foundation Stone of God’s church upon which our souls and salvation are built. (Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 16:18)
2. The Lord Jesus is our Rock of refuge upon whom all the fires of God’s Holy Justice have been forever quenched by His precious blood. (Isaiah 53:11; Hebrews 10:14) Cry out believer to Jesus Christ our Rock, for in Him God looks upon us with eyes of love and grace. (Psalm 17:8)
3. The Lord Jesus is our Rock of Refreshment out of which flow the water of life for the assurance of our souls. (Psalm 114:8; 1Corinthians 10:4) Our souls were as the desolate wasteland, but now Christ has made them as the Garden of Eden. We are fenced city in Christ and He has inhabited us with His Holy Spirit. (Ezekiel 36:35)
4. The Lord is our Rock of Protection from all our foes so that not one arrow of accusation shall fly over Him who is a wall of fire about us. (2 Kings 19:32; Zechariah 2:5)

Oh believer if such a Rock as Christ is OUR Rock; a supporting rock and sure foundation for our souls; a Sheltering Rock that has quenched the justice of God for our sins and protects us from all our foes; A Refreshing Rock that provides a never ceasing river of Grace.  Whom then shall we fear? If Christ is such a rock for us, who then will be able to stand against us? (Romans 8:31)  Speak to Christ thy rock and fortress and He will hear you!  Christ is our strength and salvation.  He will save His people.  He will Bless His inheritance.  HE will feed and lift us up in due time.  Wait on Him believer and He will not remain silent for Christ is our Rock! (Psalm 28:8-9)

-Fred Evans

Dear child of God are you in any trouble?  Are you under the weight of grief and despair?  Then avail your soul to God’s unfailing changeless word. (Isaiah 55:11) Set all your faith and affection toward the promises of God who cannot fail to accomplish His Sovereign Will.

In Ezekiel 36 we read no less than fourteen times “Thus saith the Lord.”  We know that whatsoever God has said that He will do for His glory is subject to its accomplishment.  Therefore the word of God tells us that all the promises of God are “yea and amen in Christ.”  So then behold what the Lord has said in this chapter to His people.

For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

(Ezekiel 36:9-11)

1. I am for you. Believer our God has been for us from all eternity.  He has loved us with an everlasting, infinite, and measureless love.  He loved us according to His own sovereign will and has by grace decreed to make us holy and sinless sons.  Therefore as Paul reminds us “if God be for us who then can be against us?”
2. I will turn unto you. We being born dead in sins were by nature as all Adam’s race haters of God.  We were worthy only of God’s strict Justice but God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us” God turned to us by sending His Son to obtain for us eternal righteousness and redemption by His one offering for sin.  Then in the providence of God at His appointed time He turned to us by His Holy Spirit in regeneration and quickened our dead soul to life and faith in Christ.
3. Ye Shall be tilled and sown. Behold the Word of the Lord tells us that He will by His Holy Spirit till up the clods of our hard heart by trials and afflictions.  This is the Work of God the Holy Spirit to expose our sins and break our hearts to cause us turn to Christ in faith and repentance.  It is then the Word of God is sown in our hearts and God’s promise is that He will bring forth fruits of the Spirit in our hearts.
4. I will Multiply Men. This is the Word of God concerning all Israel; that they all shall be saved.  May God comfort our hearts with this seeing that the remnant in our day seems small, but none of those for whom Christ has died shall not fail to come by faith to Him.  Jesus said “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  This is the Will of the Father that sent me that of all those He has given me I should lose NOTHING but raise them up at the last day.”  (John6:36-39)
5. I will do you better than at your beginning. Believer there is a day coming that all will be better than it is now.  Now we suffer and weep and die, but one day God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and he shall for ever remove sin and death.  In that day God will dwell with us and we shall see our Lord Jesus face to face.

-Fred Evans

 “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” Genesis 22:14

The truth contained in this name of God, Jehovah-jireh, ruled Abraham’s heart even before he uttered it and established it as a memorial in the place where God provided a substitute for Isaac. It was faith in Jehovah-jireh that sustained the old patriarch’s heart throughout this ordeal. Faith in Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who will provide, enabled Abraham to render the prompt and unswerving obedience that is recorded in this chapter. Many things must have crossed Abraham’s mind which might have caused him to disobey his God. As he took that painful journey to Moriah, he must have had many perplexing questions about Sarah, his relationship with her, the promises of God that were wrapped up in Isaac, Isaac himself, and the response of his friends and neighbors to his act of slaying his son in the name of God. Yet, the old man strengthened his heart, as he went up to Moriah. Determined to obey God, regardless of cost or consequence, Abraham said to himself, “The Lord will see and the Lord will provide. He will not break his promise. He will not alter his word. Perhaps he will raise Isaac from the dead. But even if he is not pleased to do so, by one means or another, my God will justify my obedience and vindicate his command. His name is Jehovah-jireh.” This name of God, Jehovah-jireh, silenced every unbelieving thought and carnal objection.

Do not miss the practical application of this to your own heart. If you believe God, if you follow the Lord’s bidding, he will see to it that you will not be ashamed or confounded (Rom. 10:11). If you come into great need by following his command, the Lord will see to it that you lose nothing by your obedience. If difficulties rise like mountains before you, so that your way seems to be completely blocked up, your God will see to it that the way is cleared. Walk in the way of obedience and, as you walk, every obstacle will fall before you. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5). Confer not with flesh and blood, and the Lord will make a way for you to do his will (Gal. 1:16). The Lord will see us through the way of faith and obedience, if we are willing to walk in it. He will see to our way, if we dare to walk in his way (Pro. 3:5-6).

-Don Fortner

   God takes great care to comfort his people in their many trials and sorrows in this world. One of the goals which he commands his preachers to have is the comfort of his people. He says, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” Here are three things described in the Word of God that should be of great comfort to every believer.

   God has made A BAG FOR OUR SINS. Job said, “My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.” In ancient times when men died at sea their bodies were placed in a weighted bag which was sewn together and sealed. Then they were cast into the depths of the sea. That is what God has done with our sins. They are cast “into the depths of the sea.” When Christ died for our sins which were imputed to him he put them all away. They were buried in the sea of God’s infinite forgiveness, put away never to be brought up again. God almighty will never charge us with sin, impute sin to us, remember our sins against us, or treat us any less graciously because of our sin. That is the forgiveness of God! “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

   The Lord has written A BOOK FOR OUR NAMES. Take heart child of God. Your name is written in the book of God! Before the worlds were made the Lord God inscribed the names of his elect in the Lamb’s book of life. In that book God has recorded, not only the names of the chosen heirs of heaven, but also all things pertaining to them. “In the book all my members were written.” The Lamb’s book of life is the book of God’s eternal purpose of grace, predestination, and election. The fact that our names are written in that book means that our salvation is a matter of absolute certainty and that all things work together for our good by God’s arrangement to secure our predestined end, which is perfect conformity to Christ. When our Lord says, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven,” he is telling us that we have nothing to fear. All is well with those whose names are written in heaven.

   Moreover, the Lord God keeps A BOTTLE FOR OUR TEARS. “Thou tellest all my wonderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?…This I know; for God is for me.” It was customary at ancient Egyptian funerals for mourners to have a small cloth or sponge to wipe away their tears. Then they were squeezed into a small vial, a tear bottle, and placed in the tomb with the dead, symbolizing the care the mourners had for the one who had died. Even so, the Lord our God, our heavenly Father, our almighty Savior, and our holy Comforter tenderly cares for us. In all our afflictions he is afflicted. We are the very apple of his eye.

Could anything be more comforting in this world of sin, sorrow, and death? The Lord our God has put our sins in a bag and buried them, written our names in a book to remember them, and placed our tears in a bottle to show his tender care for us.

—Pastor Don Fortner

I may here remark that there are two things to which almost every fall can be traced. One is spiritual indolence, and the other self-confidence. 

David is an example of one, and Peter of the other. It was the time “when kings go forth to battle”; why then was David tarrying at Jerusalem? a pernicious indolence clogged his footsteps, and you know the consequences. No doubt the palace royal was more congenial to flesh and blood than the battle-field, but tarrying there threw David into temptation he would never have had if with purpose of heart he had been acting as a king. If the Lord has called you to any service and you neglect it, you are sure to get into trouble.  You may shrink from the troubles of faith, but if you shirk them you will have the troubles of sin, which are much worse to bear. If you look back to see where you have dishonored the Lord, I think you will see that it was when you had been neglecting the Word of God and private prayer, and your heart was not going diligently after the things of the Lord.

In Peter we see self-confidence. He loved the Lord, and he was confident in the strength of his love, and he needed to learn what a bruised reed he was. He did learn it, as we know, in a most humiliating way, and bitter was the lesson to his soul. Who can tell what scalding tears coursed down his cheeks! and what bitter self-reproaches he heaped upon himself!

But was he forgotten by the Lord? Nay! Mark 16:7  reveals a precious touch of grace: “tell his disciples and Peter”. Why should Peter be specially mentioned? Would it not have been enough to have said “his disciples?” Ah! Peter might have said, I cannot call myself a disciple any longer. I have denied Him. Such a name is not for me. So it must needs be that Peter has special mention.

If there is a Peter here tonight — one who has failed, and dishonored the Lord — I can tell you that that dishonored Lord loves you still, and it would give His heart great joy to remove the soil from your conscience and to make you happy in His love. Is there a shadow between your heart and Himself? Has something been allowed to get in, so that instead of being happy with the Lord you are ill at ease? You feel that there is a reserve, and you are reluctant to go straight to Him and to have it all out. The Lord would have that reserve to be banished from your heart, and this is the great object of His present dealings with you. He makes you conscious of your sin, but He does not fail to assure your heart of the constancy of His love.

-C.A Coates