“Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” (Psalm 14:7)

Zion represents the church. The salvation comes out of Zion. Why is it important that the truth be believed by all believers? Because when God brings back the captivity of His people, we must all rejoice. From verse 7, it seems that salvation is very easy. But the Bible tells us very clearly: Jesus says, Enter by the narrow gate. Walk by the narrow way. You need to go if you want eternal life. Jesus describes it as a difficult way. Psalm 14 describes why being saved is difficult.

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” (Psalm 14:1)

The reason why being saved is difficult is because there are foolish people around us. What is a fool? One who is morally insensitive. They are impious, not reverent towards God. They are like an atheist, even if they believe in God with their mouths, for they live life as if there is no God. They have been separated from the wisdom revealed in God’s words—the wisdom from God. So therefore, you can see that they live their own lives; they neither take reference from nor obey God’s law. Now, the problem is this. If a person sins but does not obey God, you may say, Oh, yeah, that person will perish. Is it true? That only that person will perish? No. If you look at Achan, his family also died with him. Sin spreads.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12)

We can observe that if a person is not godly, that person will affect his family’s faith. It is like if one person in the family does not take faith or church seriously, it affects the whole seriously. A friend who is not serious about his faith affects other friends. What they say would be ungodly. Their standard of holiness is lowered. Therefore, it affects everyone. I still remember a prodigal son that came back to church. He became holy because he became serious about his faith. Some people who did not come back to church, do you know what they said? They started to say to the prodigal son, Oh, you’ve become more holy. They said so in a way that was like mockery. Why? Because the other person has turned back to God, but they have not. That is why it is so hard to be saved, because there are fools around. What do foolish people say?

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”” (Psalm 14:1a)

We may say, if a fool says it in his heart, how does it harm anyone else? If they say aloud, there is no God, we can see more clearly that something is not right with this person. But what did Jesus say?

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:19-20)

Even if a fool does not say aloud, “Ah, there is no God,” their actions tell us what is in their hearts—they do not believe in God. So we can find that this is important for us to understand.

“They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” (Psalm 14:1b)

“The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.” (Psalm 10:4)

What do his thoughts say? That there is no God. When a person is a fool, actually, they are also full of pride. They are proud and they believe that they do not need to come to God.

“And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches.” (Psalm 73:11-12)

When you see people who do not believe in God, or they believe that God exists but they do not believe that God knows everything that they do, we find that they do whatever they desire. That is why they are always at ease, doing whatever they want. And also, they increase in riches! Now, if you observe life and you compare their life with yours, you can see that, possibly, we can have a bit of jealousy. We may want to be like them! We may be like the Psalmist in Psalm 73, thinking that we are wasting our time. Look at those people—they enjoy life! I am suffering, always repenting. That is why salvation is not so easy, because we may be tempted.

You see—these foolish people mimic the sounds of faith. Everyone says Hallelujah, they say Hallelujah. Everyone prays, they too pray. They know how to say the right things and what people want to hear. But in their hearts, it is different.

“He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Mark 7:6-7)

Salvation comes out of Zion. But foolish people can lead us away from God.

“The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. “ (Psalm 14:2)

Here, it talks about how the Lord looks down from heaven. What does God see? When God looks into our church, what does He see? There was one time where the speaker was with two youth workers, we were praying together. Before we knelt down to pray, the speaker said that, “In your prayer, want you to take a survey of the whole church and see what you think.” We prayed for one hour. After praying for one hour, they said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

When God looks down from heaven at our church, what does He see? When God looks down in our families, what does He see? When God looks at our marriage, what does He see? When God looks at our hearts, what does He see?

Brothers and sisters, if we are not fools, we should care about what God sees, isn’t it? Psalm 14 tells us that God wants “to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” When God looks into our hearts, does He see us seeking after Him? When God looks at our family, does He see us worshiping sincerely together? When He sees our marriage, does He see husband and wife reminding each other about the commandments of God? God looks down from heaven. Those who are not fools will care about what God sees.

“They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.” (Psalm 14:3)

You would have thought that the fool is the one who is an unbeliever—one who has never believed in God. But if you look at verse 3, the fool is a person who has turned aside from the right path. That means that he knew the right thing and he knew the truth, but he departed from the truth.

“From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;” (Proverbs 2:13)

The writer of Proverbs tells us that we can be affected by those who leave the paths of uprightness. We could be influenced by those who walk in the ways of darkness. Who are those who will be protected from being negatively influenced?

“When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things, From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;” (Proverbs 2:10-13)

That means that if you are a person who keeps an eye on your faith, making sure you are following the word of God, then if someone departs from the truth, you will not follow them. But if normally, you don’t even read the Bible, or normally when you listen to the sermon, you fall asleep and do not care, then of course you will be misled. Why? Because you have nothing in your heart! You’ve got no truth. You’ve got no standards. Then of course, you cannot be protected. You just want an easy life and you do not want to think so much.

Psalm 14:3 tells us about those who have turned aside from the right way. What kind of people are they?

“Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise?” Psalm 94:8

The English Bible uses the term “senseless”. What does this mean? Would you put your hand in the fire? If the kettle finishes boiling, would you put both hands together and give the kettle a cuddle or a kiss? You won’t! Because it is senseless. If you do it, you have something wrong with your head. What does this mean? If you know how God is going to judge us, and you still do the wrong thing, would you not be judged? If you know you are going to be judged and yet you still do it, is this not senseless?

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)

Today, we know how God is going to judge. We know the righteous judgment of God. Let us not become senseless. If you do it, you’ll be judged! Sometimes, you see some brothers and sisters who sin and they ask the preacher, “Preacher, what should I do?” But we say, “We told you, before, we told the whole class, that God will judge. Why did you do it?” It is senseless.

“He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? “ (Psalm 94:9)

It is God who made the eyes and the ears, so God can hear and see us. From now on, every time you clean your ears, remember that God hears whatever you say. Do you know, even if you do not open your mouth, God hears your heart? When Jesus was in this world, and Jesus performed a miracle, and then the pharisees and the Scribes were muttering but they did not say it aloud. Yet Jesus knew what they were thinking. Therefore, today when we have ears, don’t forget that God made our ears and God can hear. God made our eyes and God can see. Don’t think that we can hide things from God. God knows everything.

“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.” (Psalm 94:11)

That is why it is not easy to be saved. Because when people turn away from obeying, we also are tempted to follow.

“that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:20)

Here it talks about the principles for kings. They need to lead God’s people to obey God’s principles. If the majority of people are not willing and they turn to the left or turn to the right, they do not want to follow God, and they are not interested in holiness, they have no desire for a spiritual life, what would you do? They are turning aside from the truth. Would you do the same? Would you feel pressured not to be the odd one out? When one person turns to the left or to the right, most of the time people want to use the example to comfort themselves. “Ah, it is okay, he is like that, and I can be like that too. We are all like that, it’s okay.” Even though salvation comes out of Zion, but we need to get into Zion. That is why we need to choose the correct path.

You may say that if a person does not have the knowledge of the truth, they die by themselves. Why would they bother us? The Bible says that a person without the knowledge of the truth will devour others.

“Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord?” (Psalm 14:4)

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:29-30)

When people do not have the knowledge of the truth, they will devour the people of God. How does this happen? They will mislead others. When brothers and sisters are doing wrong, they would say, “It’s okay, it’s alright.” That means that the believers do not have a chance to repent. If a worker of God has the truth, and they see you that you are doing wrong but they do not remind you, do they have the truth or do they not? They seem to have the truth, but they don’t remind you when you do wrong. Isn’t that very strange? The Bible tells us very clearly that salvation is not easy because we must be willing to receive the truth.

“There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous.” (Psalms 14:5)

Here there are two groups of people. The first group of people have great fear. Why is it that the first group has great fear? Because when judgment comes upon them, they will have great fear.

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31)

Here it says that when a person has departed from the truth, they only have a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Brothers and sisters, we don’t want to find ourselves in this group. The Bible tells us clearly. People will try to tempt us. We must keep the truth. How do we become the second group of people in Psalm 14:5? This verse tells us that the second group of people are “the generation of the righteous” and God is with them. Who are the righteous?

In our observations, we see that maybe the first generation was very zealous. The second generation may be zealous—still a little bit. But how about the third generation, the fourth generation? How do we know that we belong to the righteous generation? You will know right now whether you belong to the righteous generation.

“But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” (1 Timothy 6:11)

Righteousness does not just happen automatically. Righteousness is not for the lazy. Righteousness is for those who are willing to pursue it. Brothers and sisters, since there are two groups of people, and we do not want to be the fools, that means we need to pursue righteousness. We need to choose. We need action—to pursue righteousness. If we choose the path of righteousness, then we will be saved in Christ.

You may choose the right path and keep the principles of God. You may not be willing to be tempted nor to depart from the truth.

“You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge.” (Psalms 14:6)

Again, there are two groups of people here. The first is those who shame the counsel of the poor—spiritual bullies and discouragers. These are the first group of people. So if you are zealous for God, you are serious for God, you are striving for God, you have a challenge. Because there will be people who will try to put you off.

“Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.”” (Psalm 3:2)

“How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness And seek falsehood?” (Psalm 4:2)

“All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”” (Psalm 22:7-8)

If you pursue faith and a good conscience, people will laugh at you in their hearts: “So honest! So foolish.” You will be laughed at. These people reject faith and a good conscience. They just care about what people see. They don’t think about faith and a good conscience before God. So how can we survive being bombarded by these negative comments?

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

We need to learn from Jesus. We need to focus on the joy that is set before us. Endure the cross. Despise the shame. Despise how people will make us feel. Just endure it. Despise it. Then you will not be tempted to fall and compromise.

“Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” (Psalm 14:7)

The most important today is that we find people in our church who are wanting to be serious about obeying and being saved. We need that. Good spiritual brothers. Good spiritual sisters. Willing to keep the truth. Then salvation would come out of Zion. And then we can rejoice.