“Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us, only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there’s no countries – It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too.” That’s what John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote in 1971, and that’s the philosophy that increasing numbers of Americans are embracing. It’s the same sort of opinion that David described in Psalm 14: a belief that “There is no God” (verse 1).

And what is the result of such faith? Lennon and Ono thought that, if they could just cast off the bonds of religion and the belief in heaven and hell, “all the people” would live life in peace. Instead, the last 50 years have confirmed what David wrote in another song some 3000 years ago: those who deny the existence of God have become corrupt, doing abominable deeds, working wickedness and consuming one another (verses 1 and 4).

Is that really true? Well, the hippies who joined Lennon and Ono in imagining a world without God embraced what they called free love, while they smoked pot and dropped acid. But their abandonment of marriage bonds has led not to peace but to poverty, illiteracy and delinquency for generations of children. Their demand for street drugs has spawned gang violence not seen since the days of Al Capone, turning our largest cities into war zones. The culture that tried to imagine God out of existence has indeed become corrupt, just as David predicted.

But lest we Christians become too smug, David reminds us that there is actually no one who does good, (verses 1 and 3), and that all the sons of men have turned aside from God (verses 2 and 3). And Paul agrees, quoting these same verses to indict all human beings, convicting all of us of sin, of breaking God’s perfect law of love (Romans 3:10-12). No, whether our sins are shamelessly public or hypocritically private, none of us have any reason to boast. For whenever we commit sin of any kind, we are acting as if God doesn’t exist. We are thus acting like fools (Psalm 14:1).

So, what is the answer to our cultural crisis and to our individual folly? In verse 7, David prayed that God would send salvation to Israel out of Zion, the city of Jerusalem. And as Paul points out in Romans chapter 3, God has done just that. Because Jesus died to pay the penalty that all our sins deserve, God is able to be perfectly just and at the same time to justify those who trust in Christ, declaring us not guilty of all our selfish, foolish crimes against Him (Romans 3:21-26).

And what is the result of the salvation for which David prayed? Paul explains: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). And being restored to a right relationship with God means we can be sure that God is with us, and that He will be our refuge from all the wickedness and violence around us (Psalm 14:6).

In short, it is Christ – not sex, drugs or rock-and-roll – Who is the only Way that all the people can live our lives in peace. Imagine that!

Psalm 14 (NASB)

For the choir director. A Psalm of David . The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Do all the workers of wickedness not know, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon the Lord?
5 There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation.
6 You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the LORD is his refuge.
7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.