None Good

“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. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.” Psalm 14:1-5 

The first thing that we have to admit in order to be saved is that we are sinners. The book of Romans tells us that all have sinned, but this is not just a New Testament idea. Psalm 14 was penned by David, and it begins with the declaration that those who do not believe in God are foolish. When we sin against God, it is as if we did not believe that He existed; because if we acknowledge His existence and focus on His holiness, the fear of God would keep us from sin. This psalm states emphatically two times, “there is none that doeth good.” If we can truly understand the depths of our sin, then we can see the hopelessness of our condition. No amount of good works will ever erase the sins that we have committed or eradicate the nature from which they sprang. Our only hope of righteousness is the righteousness that we receive through faith in Christ. He died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. The only way that we can ever hope to be good is through His work in us.