The Atheist in the Foxhole
Introduction: The Lie in the Heart
We live in an age that prides itself on its sophisticated unbelief. Men puff out their chests and declare their intellectual independence from God, as though they have reasoned their way to a superior vantage point. They write books, they give lectures, they congratulate one another on their bravery for staring into the meaningless void. But the Bible cuts through all this posturing with a diagnosis that is as sharp as it is unwelcome. The problem is not in the head; it is in the heart. The problem is not a lack of evidence; it is a profound moral corruption.
Psalm 53, which is a very close cousin to Psalm 14, confronts us with the root of all human rebellion. It is a declaration of what we call the doctrine of total depravity. This is not to say that every man is as wicked as he could possibly be. By God's common grace, men are restrained. Unbelievers can still build bridges that stand and compose music that is beautiful. But total depravity means that sin has affected every part of our being. Our minds, our wills, our affections, our desires, they are all twisted and bent away from God. There is no island of righteousness within us that is untouched by the fall. From the root to the fruit, we are corrupt.
This psalm diagnoses the disease in three stages. First, it identifies the foundational lie, the functional atheism that every sinner embraces. Second, it shows the universal fruit of that lie, which is corrupt and abominable behavior. And third, it gives us God's own verdict from Heaven, His divine inspection of the entire human race. And the conclusion is stark. Apart from Christ, there is no one who does good, not even one.
This is not a message designed to flatter us. It is designed to flatten us. It is meant to demolish every last shack of self-righteousness we might try to hide in, so that we might flee for refuge to the only righteous one, Jesus Christ. You will never understand the breathtaking glory of grace until you first understand the suffocating reality of your own sin.
The Text
The wicked fool says in his heart, "There is no God,"
They act corruptly, and commit abominable injustice;
There is no one who does good.
God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is anyone who has insight,
Anyone who seeks after God.
Every one of them has turned back; together they have become worthless;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
(Psalm 53:1-3 LSB)
The Fool's Creed (v. 1)
We begin with the foundational confession of every fallen man.
"The wicked fool says in his heart, 'There is no God,' They act corruptly, and commit abominable injustice; There is no one who does good." (Psalm 53:1)
The Bible's definition of a fool is not a person with a low IQ. The fool here is not an intellectual lightweight. He is a moral rebel. The word for fool is nabal, which signifies a person who is morally senseless, spiritually perverse. Think of Nabal in the story of David, whose name was folly and who acted the part perfectly (1 Sam. 25). Biblical foolishness is a settled disposition of the heart against the wisdom of God.
And what is the creed of this fool? He says "in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Notice where this atheism is located. It is not primarily a conclusion of the intellect, but a desire of the heart. The text does not say, "The fool has reasoned his way through the cosmological and teleological arguments and found them wanting." It says he says this in his heart. This is a gut-level, practical atheism. It is a commitment. He doesn't want there to be a God. Why? Because the existence of God would interfere with his plans. If there is a God, then there is a moral law. If there is a law, there is a judgment. If there is a judgment, then I am accountable. And the fool wants to be accountable to no one but himself.
This is why we speak of "functional atheism." A man can fill out a survey and check the "Christian" box, he can sit in a pew every Sunday, but if he goes out on Monday and lies in his business dealings, or secretly nurses a pornography addiction, or harbors bitterness against his brother, he is saying in his heart, at that moment, "There is no God." He is acting as though God does not see, or if He sees, He does not care, or if He cares, He will not act. That is the lie of the fool. "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it" (Ps. 10:11).
And look at the immediate consequence. The thought is directly connected to the action. "They act corruptly, and commit abominable injustice." Bad theology, which always begins with a bad heart, inevitably leads to a corrupt life. Once you remove God from the equation, you have removed the foundation for all objective morality. If there is no God, then good and evil are just matters of personal taste or social convention. Injustice becomes a tool for the powerful, and corruption is just the way of the world. The psalmist concludes the verse with a sweeping summary: "There is no one who does good." This is the natural harvest that grows from the seed of practical atheism.
The Divine Inspection (v. 2)
Next, the perspective shifts from the fool on earth to the sovereign God in Heaven.
"God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there is anyone who has insight, Anyone who seeks after God." (Psalm 53:2 LSB)
This is a picture of divine scrutiny. God is not an absentee landlord; He is an active and engaged observer of human affairs. He is conducting an investigation. He is looking for two things: spiritual insight and a seeking heart. He is looking for anyone who "has insight," anyone who understands the true state of affairs. And He is looking for anyone who "seeks after God."
This is a crucial point. Man in his natural state is not a seeker of God. This is one of the most persistent lies of sentimental evangelicalism. We picture God hiding and man seeking, like a cosmic game of hide-and-seek. But the Bible reverses the roles entirely. God is the one who seeks, and man is the one who hides. From the moment Adam and Eve hid themselves in the garden, the natural instinct of fallen humanity has been to run from God, to suppress the knowledge of God, and to hide from His presence. As Paul says in Romans, quoting this very psalm, "There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God" (Rom. 3:11).
So when God looks down, what is He looking for? He is looking for the fruit of His own gracious, seeking work. He is looking for anyone in whom He has already begun a work of grace, anyone to whom He has given a new heart and a new spirit. He is looking for the evidence of His own elective grace. Apart from that grace, the search will come up empty every time.
The Universal Verdict (v. 3)
Verse three gives us the results of God's investigation. The verdict is universal and it is damning.
"Every one of them has turned back; together they have become worthless; There is no one who does good, not even one." (Psalm 53:3 LSB)
The language here is absolute. "Every one of them has turned back." This is the opposite of seeking God. It is active apostasy, a turning away from the path of righteousness. It is a universal mutiny. The entire human race, left to itself, has gone over the side. The word for "worthless" or "filthy" in the parallel passage of Psalm 14 has the sense of something that has soured, like milk that has gone bad. It speaks of a corrupt and spoiled nature.
And then the verdict is repeated and intensified for emphasis: "There is no one who does good, not even one." The Apostle Paul picks up this verse, along with a string of other Old Testament indictments, and uses it as a sledgehammer in Romans 3 to demolish any notion of human righteousness. "As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one'" (Rom. 3:10-12).
This includes everyone. It includes the pagan tribes in the jungle and the sophisticated philosophy professors in their ivory towers. It includes the hardened criminal and the sweet-looking grandmother who bakes cookies for the neighbors. In the eyes of a holy God, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Is. 64:6). Without the intervention of divine grace, this is the final report on the human condition. Every one gone back. All together worthless. Not one does good.
The Only Good One
If the psalm ended here, it would be a counsel of despair. If this is the true condition of humanity, then we are all lost, without hope in the world. But this diagnosis is not given to us to drive us to despair, but to drive us to Christ. This utter ruin is the black velvet on which the diamond of God's grace shines most brightly.
The verdict is that there is no one who does good, not even one. But this indictment was written before the coming of the One. There was one man who always did good. There was one man who always sought the Father. There was one man who had perfect insight. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the great exception to this universal rule.
And the good news of the gospel is that God, in His infinite mercy, takes the perfect record of the One who did good and credits it to the account of those who do no good. He takes our filthy, corrupt, worthless record and nails it to the cross of His Son. This is the great exchange. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
So the fool says in his heart, "There is no God," because he wants to be his own god and run his own life. But the gospel comes and says that the only way to have a life worth living is to die to your own foolish attempts at godhood and to be united by faith to the one true God who became man. The only one who can successfully flee from God is the one who flees to God. The only deliverance from this universal corruption is when God in His mercy strikes the blow that slays the dragon of sin in our hearts. That is what we call being crucified with Christ, and when that happens, we are born again. And for the first time, we begin to do good.