Psalms 14 and 19 in Preaching the Gospel

 How could someone read Psalm 14 and think that salvation is by works?  Read verses 1-4:

1 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. 2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

I ask you to consider how conclusive these verses are.  They are speaking about everyone, anyone who has ever lived.  The LORD is looking down from heaven, and He doesn't miss anything.  He says that every person is corrupt, has done abominable works, does not good, does not seek God, has gone aside, and is filthy.  He does all these things and then he does not call upon the name of the Lord.  He is helpless to live a righteous life and yet he still does not call upon the name of the Lord, whom he needs so that he can be righteous.  He's not depending on God, because he's proud.

Men can't save themselves.  It's not just that they're sinners, but they could never sustain a righteous life by doing good works.  They do not do good works.  This is reality for mankind.  God knows this better than anyone.  Whatever a man may say about himself, these verses are the truth.  A person is lying to himself if he thinks he can be saved by works.  He'll never succeed, because this psalm is who he is.

The Apostle Paul refers to this psalm in Romans 3 with his treatise on sinfulness of man.  Many of you reading know that it says this in verses 10-12:

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 

Then you also know that he writes the following in verse 23:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

And from that a man should conclude according to verse 28:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

The point of that argument by Paul is so that men will submit to justification by faith alone and not by works.  If you can't do good works and you aren't righteous, then you can't be saved by works.  You should conclude that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works.  You should believe in Jesus Christ to receive His righteousness by faith, which is to have His righteousness imputed to you and the forgiveness of your sins.

Psalm 14 is quite a psalm to be singing.  This is a song to be sung to God expressing the truth of man's sinfulness.  God wants to hear that men agree.  He's praised by this truth.  It assumes that men need God.

The Old Testament doesn't teach salvation by works.  It teaches that men are sinners and they need God for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.

What about Psalm 19?  It says that from God's creation alone men know God.  These are statements of reality.  God knows.  He says:

Verse 1a:  The heavens declare the glory of God.

Verse 1b:  The firmament showeth his handiwork.

Verse 2a:  Day unto day uttereth speech.

Verse 2b:  Night unto night sheweth knowledge.

Verse 3:  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

Verse 4:  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

All of these are sheer statements of fact.  They also state the truth of what man knows.  From the standpoint of knowledge, he is without excuse.  Everyone living in this world knows God through the declaration of the heavens -- the handiwork of the firmament, the speech uttered by the day, and the knowledge shown through the night.  The day speaks through the sun, as seen in verses 4-6:

4 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 

"Them" in verse 4 refers to "heavens" in verse 1.  The word "their" all the way through (vv. 3, 4) refers to "heavens."  Poetic language describes how the heavens talk, specifically through the sun.  The heavens during the day are a tabernacle for the sun, which shows itself in all the helpful, beautiful, and awesome ways explained.

A beauty of the revelation of the heavens is that it transcends a particular speech.  It can be heard in every speech, every language.  An Italian, Russian, Hispanic, or English person hears the voice of the heavens from God without exception of place.  This speech goes out to the whole earth and to the end of the world.

When we evangelize, we should learn to use and then use creation as a basis of introducing the God of the Bible to an unbeliever.  He already knows.  This revelation has reached him.  We should assume that.  People that haven't even read the Bible, which are more than ever, still know God and through His creation, the heavens.

Furthermore, scripture, also the revelation of God, called "the law of the LORD," "converts the soul" (verse 7).  For salvation, the soul needs to be converted.  It is stained and corrupted by sin.

James 1:25 calls the law, "the perfect law."  The idea of "perfect" isn't contrasting with "imperfect," but with "incompletion."  The law of the LORD is complete or sufficient.  It lacks nothing, it has everything in it that anyone would need.  Conversion of the soul is the total transformation of it.

The first designation of the Word of God in Psalm 19 is the law of the LORD.  The usage of that term refers to all of the Word of God, not just the first five books of the Bible or just the parts that are laws.  The Hebrew word for "law, torah, means instruction, direction, or doctrine.  It reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:15, which says that the "holy scriptures," referring to the Old Testament, are able to make a child wise unto salvation.

The LORD's law instructs man sufficiently for his soul to be converted, which is to be restored.  It has been ruined by sin and it can be restored to moral rightness before God.  It makes sense that the "law of the LORD" isn't just the Mosaic law, which in itself wouldn't convert the soul, even though it has an important part according to the Apostle Paul, who in Galatians (3:24-25) says it is a schoolmaster to bring someone to faith in Christ.  The instruction of the LORD, which is His Word, is powerful to save, specifically the Gospel (Romans 1:16).

Psalm 19 says that salvation is the conversion of the soul.  In the Old Testament, the soul is nephesh and in the New Testament, psuche.  Jesus said (Luke 9:24) that to save one's life (psuche, soul), someone must lose his life (psuche, soul).  He's got to give up his soul.  He gives it to God and God restores it using scripture.  This is the sanctification of the truth, the Word of God, that God uses in salvation.  The conversion of the soul is the transformation of a life, where the person becomes a "new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Peter calls this the knowledge of Jesus Christ through which someone becomes a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:2-4).  After the conversion of the soul, the sinner has a new nature, a divine nature, and is returned morally to the image in which God created him.  He now has the ability not to sin.

Someone might consider the teachings of Psalms 14 and 19 to be New Testament concepts.  No, they are biblical concepts of salvation, which is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New.  They can be used in preaching the gospel.