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[ Music ] I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys. I thank Him for the stones He brought me through. Or if I'd never had a problem, I wouldn't know that He could solve it.

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I'd never know what faith in God is. ♪ Do it all ♪ ♪ Do it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to trust in Jesus ♪

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♪ I've learned to trust in God ♪ ♪ Do it all ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I'm learning to live ♪

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♪ In the love He's worth ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to trust in Jesus ♪

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♪ I've learned to trust in God ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ Through it all ♪ ♪ I've learned to believe in the one he's worth ♪

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[choir singing] Amen. We continue our sermon series based on the book of Psalms, the Hebrew Psalter, the hymn book of the Bible, by considering the 14th number of the Psalms.

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"The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, There is none that does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.

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The seventh verse, "Oh, that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion. When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice.

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Israel shall be glad. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." The subject of the message, "Faith's Answer for the Fool's Folly." Faith's answer for the fool's folly.

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Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. The 14th Psalm is concerned with the fool's folly. It is a part of what we have preserved for us in the Psalter, which constitutes the major portion of the wisdom literature of the Bible.

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the sages of antiquity were quite concerned about the contrast between wisdom and foolishness. The psalmist here would have us consider the meditations of a fool. The fool hath said his heart, there is no God. We are invited to scrutinize the musing confusions of a simple Simon. Every society has the wise and the foolish, the smart and the simpleton. The

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The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about fools. There are six different words for a fool which may be arranged in an ascending scale of foolishness. A pethic is a silly ass.

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A kessel is a stupid person. The ewel is an idiot. The hollow is the complete fool. The Nabhel is one who is actually impious.

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And the Letz is the sneerer, the arrogant thinker. Now, the psalmist feels that it is not necessary to go beyond the fifth category, that individual which is classified as being actually impious,

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that person who has no sense of reverence. There are many people who are frivolous, who always act silly. But here is one who is an individual who does not

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have a sense of reverence. there is no awe, there is no appreciation whatsoever for the sacred. He not only fails in that regard, but he denies the existence of God and conducts himself as if God does not exist.

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So the psalmist regards such an individual as the epitome of imbecility. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." A fool is a simpleton, one who has no sense, whose existence is without meaning. You remember the nursery rhyme, "Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair, said Simple

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Simon to the pieman, 'Let me taste your ware.' He said, 'The pieman to Simple Simon, first show me your penny.' And said Simple Simon to the pieman, 'Indeed, I haven't any.'" Simple to him.

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really to make any sense out of life, whose existence has no meaning. You see, the fool is like a withered leaf. He has lost the fiber of his being. He is cut off from his roots.

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His existence is empty. The foolish man is a hollow man. There is nothing to him. He's empty.

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He's without knowledge. When I was a boy, I had a schoolteacher who would often say that an empty wagon makes a lot of noise. who were acting as if they had no sense and always talking and making a lot of noise,

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she classified as an empty wagon. And she would constantly remind us that an empty wagon makes a lot of noise. It may attract a lot of attention, but the life of the person who denies the existence of the eternal is a life that has no significance, it has no meaning, it has no purpose.

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It's like a withered leaf, for such a man has lost his free moral determination and forfeited the divine spark within him. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." Since there is no God, the fool says there are no rules, no rules.

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And since there are no rules, everything is permitted. There is no such thing as good and bad. There's no morality. It's whatever you want it to be.

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There is no God. Nothing matters. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." The fool says that I am the ground and goal of all of my striving.

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There is no God. The fool says that there is nothing beyond myself that is worthy of my supreme allegiance. There is no God. There is no eternal companion who journeys with us on the lonely road of life.

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The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. That there is no liberating Lord of history who sets the captive free. There is no God. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

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For you see, the fool is absorbed in his own foolishness. He thinks that he alone can phantom the mysteries of human existence. The fool fails to recognize the eternal mystery. He does not recognize the presence of the eternal and has reached the tragic conclusion

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that there is no God. And if there is no God, there is no Christ of Christmas. Christmas then is only a pagan celebration, a commercial campaign conducted by merchants of this world.

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There is no Christ. There is no safe and secure guide, no God, no light to shine upon our path to give direction for the weary pilgrim.

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No God, no healing for the wounded. No God, no help for the helpless. No God, no teacher to show us the upward way. No God, no savior, no redeemer, no God.

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The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And strangely as it seems, there has been a wave of popularity.

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We call it atheism, no God. Some have gone so far as to call it Christian atheism. No, God. Young Paul saw it in his Song of Nothingness,

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says, "Christ, have we no Father? "Are we all offerings? "Is the throne in heaven vacant?" And there comes back no answer.

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There's silence. In his Song of Nothingness, there is only doldreb nothingness. No God. But this is the testimony of a fool. This is the testimony of one whose life is empty. This is the testimony of a withered leaf.

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This, this, yes, this is the testimony of one whose existence has no meaning. The meditations of a fool. But faith, faith has an answer. In fact, faith has the answer for the fool's folly. Sure, there are those who today would ridicule those who would get up and attend service Sunday after Sunday. There are those who would ridicule, those who would spend

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hour after hour meditating upon the words of the Holy Scripture and who find themselves practicing periods of prayer. There are those who say all of this is foolishness, foolishness. But faith has the answer for the fool's folly. Listen to what the psalmist says in the language of faith. The heavenly throne is not vacant now. God is on

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his throne. He looks down from heaven. That's what the psalmist says. He looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any that act wisely that seek after God. That's interesting. Father Full says in his meditations that there is no God. Faith answers that yes, there is. For God is on his throne in heaven. That means

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that you see the the person of faith is able to see God in the midst of all of the corruption, midst of all of the confusion, in the midst of all of the clamoring of the fools of this earth, the person of faith is able to look through the eyes of faith and see God in his heaven, seated on his throne. That means God is above us.

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I lifted up, he's on his throne, and God has control. And you see this in faith. Faith. You have to be able to see God through faith.

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You must believe in faith. Committing yourself that in the midst of all that may be happening in the midst of all the starving babies that we see on television in our world today and the fool cries out

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there is no God, but somehow in faith we cry out yes there is. God is in heaven and God is sitting on his throne and God high and lifted up transcending over all of this world and he looks down and he sees all of the corruption that occurs in the lives of his children.

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He sees, he not only sees, but he cares. He's concerned about human affairs. He's not an absentee landlord. He's involved in the human struggle.

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What does God see when he looks down? He sees corruption. He sees all of the wrongdoing that occurs because of lack of knowledge. He sees that his people are devoured.

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It is man's inhumanity to man. It is the failure to recognize God as Lord of life, as sovereign of the universe. What people need is knowledge. Oh, not some scientific study that we can pursue with the intellect.

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We're very good at that. Our society, in fact, excels at that. We are known as a scientific technological society. We are able to fly faster than sound.

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We're able to take trips to the moon. Oh, we're good when it comes to scientific study and pursuing matters with the intellect, But that's not what we need. We need a different kind of knowledge that involves awareness, the knowledge of the Spirit

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and the awareness of the workings of God through fellowship with us. We need to know that. You need to know that somehow God is at work because God works in your life. That's the kind of knowledge every person needs, and not only to know that God is at

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work in our lives, but to know that God is at work in the lives of others. That we don't have a monopoly on God. That God works with all, and somehow if our lives and our hearts are open to Him, that we can have a wonderful experience with Him.

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The fool does not know that he does not know. That's what makes a fool. He doesn't know and doesn't know that he doesn't know. There's a saying that he who knows not and knows not

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that he knows not is a fool. Shun him. And he who knows not and knows that he knows not is ignorant. Teach him.

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But he who knows and knows that he knows His wise follow Him. But here is the fool's folly. He does not know God.

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That's the folly of the fool. That's tragic. Not to know the one who is our creator. Not to know the one who is our master.

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Not to know the one who is the very foundation of our existence. Not to know the one who controls and who determines our destiny.

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not to know that one is tragic indeed. That's the fool's folly. He does not know God. And oh, oh, what fools we mortals be when we think that we can eliminate God. When we think that He doesn't exist just because we say so. Oh, what fools we mortals be when we think that when we think that we can ultimately have evil to triumph over goodness.

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Oh, what fools we mortals be when we think we can keep the children of God in bondage forever. Oh, what fools we mortals be when we think that we can eternalize our existence. That's the tragedy of human experience, not knowing God.

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It's tragic to celebrate Christmas without knowing God, and yet many people do. They think it's just having a few drinks and getting the family together and having what we call a good time. That's a fool's folly.

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For the very heart of our existence is based on the fact that God has invaded this planet For the very heart of our existence is based on the fact that God has invaded this planet, and God somehow has come to be with us, and that God, that God who's high up in the heavens has come down to this earth to walk with us.

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To walk with us, yes, to walk with us through the dark valleys of our existence over the Steve Hills to help us climb. Yet many don't know him. Sweet little Jesus boy, born a long time ago. Sweet little holy child didn't know who you was, just didn't know. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." The tragedy

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of not knowing the foundation of our existence, the strength of our life, that's the fool's He speaks and acts not knowing the God of his existence. He leaves God out of his life. He leaves God out of his thinking, his plans.

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And that's tragic. That's tragic. Jesus lifts it up for us so beautifully in that story when he says, Oh, there was a certain farmer, a rich farmer, whose ground brought forth plentifully.

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He had a bump of crop. And when he was gathering in all of his grain, he said, "What shall I do with all of this? I don't even have any place to put it. I've got so much of it." And then as he meditated within himself, he said, "Oh, I know what I will do.

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do I'll just build some bigger barns and I'll store it all away for me. I will say to myself you know you've got a whole lot stored up for many years take it easy eat drink and be merry. Those are the meditations of a fool. Fool's folly. Left God out. All he was concerned about, me, myself, and I. That's all. That's all he concerned. Fool's folly. But, oh yes,

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but, but God said to him, thou fool. There's always that but, but God. Think we're getting along all right, but God, going on as if God doesn't really matter, but God. Somehow along the way we bump into God. We may be running from him, but we bump into him.

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He has a way of causing us to bump into God. But God said to him, "Thou fool, you fool, leaving me out of your plan. Don't you know that I am the foundation of your existence, that I am the one who made the ground, and I am the one who caused the plants to grow, and I am the one that caused

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you to be thou who this night thy soul required of thee. Faith's answer. What's the faith's answer? Well, faith's answer is, while forefathers understood it clearly long ago, they didn't

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have all this scientific knowledge. Some of them couldn't even read. They were illiterate, but they had a different kind of knowledge that enabled him to cry out in the language of that old black spiritual, "I know the Lord.

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I know the Lord. I know the Lord has laid his hands on me. I know the Lord. Yes, I know the Lord.

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I know the Lord has laid his hands on me." an experiential knowledge comes from experience. I know. That's faith's answer. So you may not trust him. You may not see him in history, but I know. I know where he has found me. I know how he has lifted me. I know how he has wiped the tears

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from my eyes I know how he has lifted my burden that's faith answer I know I trust in God wherever I may be we extend the invitation now invite you to accept the one who is the foundation of our existence the Lord of our life the liberator of humankind. Trust in Him. Don't worry about what somebody else is doing, know

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what you're doing and committing yourself to Him and knowing that God is at work in you and in His world because He watches over you and all of His children. We invite you now to accept Him as your personal Savior, become a member this family seeking to do his will. We invite you to come now.

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I trust in God. wherever I may be. ♪ Upon the land ♪ ♪ On the rolling sea ♪ ♪ Oh, come what may ♪

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♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ My heavenly Father ♪ ♪ Watches over me ♪ ♪ I, I trust in God ♪

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♪ Lord ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ He cares for me ♪ ♪ On mountain bleak ♪

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♪ On the stormy sea ♪ ♪ Oh, billows roll ♪ ♪ He keeps my soul ♪ ♪ My heavenly Father ♪

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♪ What He's done ♪ ♪ He makes the rose ♪ ♪ An object of his care ♪ ♪ He guides the eagle ♪

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♪ Through the pathless desert ♪ ♪ To the pathless air ♪ ♪ And surely he ♪ ♪ Remembers me ♪

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♪ My heavenly father ♪ ♪ Is over me ♪ ♪ Oh, I shall see ♪ ♪ All the ♪

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♪ I know ♪ ♪ Is there for me ♪ ♪ O come, dear Spirit ♪ ♪ O come, Thou Star of Israel ♪

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♪ O come, Thou Son of God ♪ ♪ And reign with us forevermore ♪ [ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]