Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Acts 16:14

Last time we began considering the fact that no one believes unless the Holy Spirit “opens our hearts.” Why is this necessary? Because we are naturally born sinners. Paul made that clear in Romans 3:10-11, when he quoted from Psalm 14.

Psalms 14:1-3 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. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

First, note that the Bible calls natural (unsaved) people “fools.” Foolishness according to the Bible is not an intellectual problem. It is a spiritual problem. What does that problem look like? It denies God.

That doesn’t mean that all are atheists. Far from it. All people have a God-given instinctive knowledge that God exists. Only a minute minority of those who deny God claim to be atheistic. And they do not really disbelieve in God. Rather, they don’t want to answer to Him, so they counsel themselves that He is not there, thinking that will excuse them from answering to Him. When these poor people die, they will find out how wrong they were. Can denying one will die, allow one to live forever? Of course not. Neither will denying the existence of God excuse anyone from standing before Him for ultimate judgment!

More on Psalm 14 next time…