Audio:
2007-10-24 PM In Twighlight Remember Dawn.mp3

In Twilight Remember Dawn

Psalm 14

I. Twilight Announces Night

A. The godless think there is nothing higher than they are. “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” (Psalm 14:1)

1. The universality of evil and the disregard for evil’s consequences sometimes shakes even the most substantial believers. “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Psalm 73:3)

2. Right understanding of God is the foundation for all knowledge; fools despise the fundamental realities of life. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

B. While fools do not see God, He sees them in detail. “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.” (Psalm 14:2)

1. When people do not comprehend their situation, they do not seek a genuine way to resolve their problems. “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:11)

2. People have many novel solutions to their problems, fears, and dreams, but they are worse than pointless; turning to the revelation of God is the only way out of the human dilemma. “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:19-20)

C. The All-Seeing-Eye finds nothing good in unbelievers. “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3)

II. Night and Day Cannot Live in Peace

A. Evil people who prey on God’s people are ignorant of reality and express their ignorance through iniquity. “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.” (Psalm 14:4)

B. People who live by taking advantage of other people inherently live with fear; predators fear other predators. “There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.” (Psalm 14:5) Ignorance, Iniquity, Persecution, Prayerlessness

1. Egypt, with all the world’s power, froze in fear when God delivered His people. “Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.” (Exodus 15:16)

2. The Bible devotes an entire book to God’s deliverance of His people from fools. “Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.” (Esther 8:7)

C. The wicked who make provisions to protect themselves look down on the helpless because they cannot see that God is the defender of those who cannot defend themselves. “Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.” (Psalm 14:6)

D. The wicked mocked Jesus Himself with disrespect for the government of God. “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:41-43)

III. God’s Day Comes

A. David, looking into the future, argued that Israel’s restoration from captivity should comfort all people who trust in God. “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” (Psalm 14:7)

B. Grace comes to the gracious. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10)

C. When the human disaster starts to overwhelm, call out to God; He hears His people. “I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.” (Psalm 3:4)

D. Fools and scoffers may say what they want, but God remains in charge of all things. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:22)

E. Two paths lead in different directions. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:18-19)