Let us turn to God's Word again,
turning to Psalm 55, and taking for our text the words
that we find here at the end of the 19th verse. We have the Selah there in the
middle of verse 19, and then, Because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God. The Sila seems to have something
to do with the way in which the Psalms were to be sung in the
worship of God in the tabernacle, in the temple. Certainly, it's reckoned that
the words marks a significant pause in the Psalm Maybe there's
a certain emphasis being placed upon what is being said in this
verse. So I wanted to take these words
that follow the Silah, because they have no changes, therefore
they fear not God. Of course, as we have experienced
the change of the year, moving out of 2018 into 2019 we're very
much reminded of changes in fact we see change all around us we
experience the changes of the various seasons as the year progresses
and the hymn writer says change and decay in all around
I see, or thou who changest not abides with me." And sometimes
we sing that paraphrase of the 34th Psalm, through all the changing
scenes of life, in trouble and in joy, the praises of my God
shall still my heart and tongue employ. And so, this morning
I want to take up that subject of changes. But to take it up
in terms of what is being stated here in the psalm, and in particular
these words at the end of verse 19, because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God. Seems to emphasize that it is
those God-fearers who know such changes as others have no experience
of at all and yet surely all men, all women know what it is
to experience the changing seasons and the turn of the year and
so really the subject matter is more particularly those spiritual
changes those spiritual changes that are the lot of the fearers
of God. But before we come to those changes,
those spiritual changes, I want to say something with regards
to the unchanging state of the unbeliever, or more particularly
the unchanging state of those who are hypocrites. Because it
seems to be the context of our text this morning. It follows
in verse 20, "...he hath put forth his hands against such
as be at peace with him. He hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother
than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer
than oil, yet were they drawn swords." What we have described
there surely is hypocritical behavior, a life that is a pretext. It seems to be one thing. and
yet in reality is quite another thing. And so, to begin with
the unchanging state of the hypocrite and to consider the solemn matter
in a threefold sense, historically, prophetically and then spiritually. First of all, then, historically,
and by that I want to try to set the psalm in its context. There is, of course, a history
behind the psalm. We're not told specifically with
regards to this particular psalm, but other psalms, often in the
title, tell us something of the circumstances in which David
was moved to address his prayer unto God, for example in the
previous Psalm. We're told it's a Psalm of David
when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide
himself with us? And you'll see that that is the
case previously in Psalm 52 and also the well-known Psalm 51. Sometimes then we're told in
the title exactly what it was that occurred to cause David
to write. Writing, of course, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but not just having words dictated
to him, also moved to write out of the fullness of his own heart
and those things that he is experiencing of the ways and the dealings
of God. Well, we're not favored with an explanation here in Psalm
55. But when we look at the content
of the psalm, we can, I believe, ascertain as to just what the
historic circumstances were. And it would seem that this psalm
was written at the time of David's son Absalom's terrible rebellion
against his father. In verse 9 he says, Destroy,
O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and
strife in the city. Day and night they go about it,
upon the walls thereof. Mischief also and sorrow are
in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof.
Deceit and guile depart not from her streets. And if you read
the account that we have there in 2 Samuel 15, You'll see that
such was the situation in the holy city of Jerusalem, David's
city, that he has to flee for his very life. There was a terrible
rebellion and it was his own son, his favorite son Absalom,
who was at the head of that revolt. And not only Absalom, but also
Ahithophel, who was David's counselor. He was in that conspiracy. David
says in verse 12, "...it was not an enemy that reproached
me, then I could have borne it, neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself
from him, but he was there, a man mine equal, my guides and mine
acquaintance." Maybe the reference is to Absalom, a man mine equal. as the margin says, equal according
to rank, his own son. But maybe it was Ahithophel who
was David's counsellor. And we see quite clearly in that
15th chapter of 2 Samuel how that this man, whose counsel
was as the very oracle of God, was very much involved in all
that was or transpiring, or he was supposedly David's friend. Or he says here in verse 14,
we took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of
God's encompassment, a so-called friend of David Ahithophel, and
yet at heart really an enemy. His whole life was a pretence. His life was one of hypocrisy. As verse 20, David says, he had
put forth his hands against such as be of peace with him. He hath
broken his covenant, his covenant of friendship. The words of his
mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His
words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. Here then we see something of
the situation that had arisen, the circumstance that this gracious
man, King David, the man after God's own heart, found himself
as he is having to flee from his very city and his only hope
now is in God, for he cries out, give ear to my prayer O God,
hide not thyself from my supplication. Again at verse 16, as for me,
I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me, says David. But we're not only to think of
the historical context. Isn't this psalm also prophetic? It is a messianic psalm. Yes, it's David who is the penman
of the psalm, But David is the penman speaking really of his
greatest son, speaking even of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalm
is Messianic. It doesn't just speak to us of
David, of Absalom, of Ahithophel, but principally we see Christ.
And here we see Judas Iscariot, that disciple, that apostle who
betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. The character of Judas surely
is seen in this man Ahithophel. Was Ahithophel David's counsellor? Well, as I said, Judas, Judas
Iscariot, was also one of the Twelve. And remember what the
Lord says concerning that one? The Lord knew, all the Lord knew,
even before the betrayal. Have not I chosen you twelve,
says Christ, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being
one of the twelve." And how did he betray the Lord Jesus Christ?
We are told in the Gospel that he had given a sign. unto those
who had come with him from the Jewish council, gone into the
garden. The Lord, of course, after resorted
to the garden of Gethsemane, Judas knew where he could be
found. He'd given that sign to those who were with him. He would
go up to the Lord Jesus Christ and kiss him, and that was the
one they were to take. O Judas, betray us out of the
Son of Man with a kiss. Look at the language here in
the psalm. Verse 21, the words of his mouth were smoother than
butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil,
yet were they drawn swords. Isn't this a prophetic word?
Does it not speak to us then of Judas Iscariot, so like David's
friend and counselor Ahithophel? And we see that with regard to
each of them, their end was the same, They were men who destroyed
themselves. They were guilty in that sense
of self-murder. There in 2 Samuel 17.23, when Ahithophel
saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his house,
and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, and put
his household in order, and hanged himself. and died, and was buried
in the sepulchre of his father. And so David ultimately, under
the good hand of God, is restored in spite of all the machinations
of Ahithophel and Absalom. All the sad, sad end of Ahithophel. And of course, as you are aware,
I'm sure, it's the same that we read concerning Judas Iscariot. there in in Matthew 27 at verse
3 the following then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw
that he was condemned repented himself and brought again the
30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying I have
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood And they said,
What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and
went, and hanged himself. Here is the end of these men.
As Job said, The hypocrites' hope shall perish, because they
have no changes. Therefore they fear not God. or we can understand then the
words of the text historically and prophetically, but also there
is a more personal application. Can we not, as we come to this
scripture, also understand it spiritually? Are we not to see
that it is a word that speaks to us, it instructs us? What
is the great spiritual truth that is said before us? It is
that great danger of hypocrisy. Oh, what an awful thing. Here
in verse 11 we read of deceit and guile. Blatant hypocrites. They have no challenges. They know nothing of real conversion. There are those that we read
of in the Scripture. who evidently made a profession
of faith, a remarkable profession of faith. And you know the portion
I'm thinking of, it's those words of the Apostle when he writes
in Hebrews chapter 6. And there at verse 4, it is impossible,
says Paul. It is impossible. for those who
were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they
shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him
to an open shame." All the impossibility, they have no changes. And yet
the language that is employed here And Paul, of course, writing
under the inspiration of the Spirit, enlightened, tasting
the heavenly gift, partakers of the Holy Ghost. In every sense
they seem to be those who are genuine converts. Why are these things left upon
record? Are not all these things here
for our learning? Or the great danger of a religion
that is nothing more than pretense. solemn as it is. Here we see
it with regards to these characters. The sinner must be converted
and the conversion must be a real conversion. The Lord says verily
except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall in
no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. What do we see here? Here in verse 15 it says, wickedness
is in their dwellings and among them. And interesting that expression
that we have at the end, among them, literally means in their
inward paths. Or there is no change. There's
no new spiritual life. There's no real grace of God. Remember how man looks on the
outward appearance, the Lord looketh upon the heart. Men see us and they may come
to certain conclusions, deduce certain things from what they
witness, but the Lord alone sees us as we truly are. We are told
how God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil,
continuous. All the heart, the heart of man, Isn't this what David warns against
here in the psalm? That religion that is nothing
more than pretence, the heart of man deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked, who can know it? And how the Lord Jesus
himself in the course of his ministry is ever always exposing
that religion of the Pharisees. How they consider themselves,
you see, to be such spiritually minded men. They were looked
to by the Jews as being great authorities with regards to the
Word of God and the ways of God. But those words that Christ speaks
to them at the end of John chapter 9, if you were blind He says
you should have no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. So sure, so certain of themselves
they were. And yet they knew nothing of
any real changes. They were just as these that
David is describing in the text. Because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God. There must then be that place
for us to look to ourselves and examine ourselves. You come with
David as he prays there at the end of the 139th Psalm. Search me, O God, he says, and
know my ways. Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting. Now we have to be exposed to
God's all-seeing and all-searching eyes. This is how we come under
the Word of God. Oh, we want God to try us and
to test us thoroughly. We want to know that what we
have in our souls is something that is real. It's that work
of God. Paul says, examine yourselves. Where do you be in the faith?
Prove your own selves. Know you're not your own selves.
How that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate. Do we heed these words, these
solemn words, those words that we referred to just now in Hebrews
chapter 6, these things that are left upon record for our
instruction? All the kingdom of God, says
the Lord Jesus Christ, is within you, it's in the heart. And here
we read of those who have no changes. They are what they are. There's been nothing of that
real work of grace accomplished in their souls. Here we might
say then is that negative aspect of the text. And let us not shy
away from negatives. People say we should be more
positive. But we can only be truly positive in a biblical
sense except first of all we address a negative the Lord Jesus
Christ himself says that he came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance and don't we have to examine ourselves
with regards to the matter of sin if we're going to know anything
of the reality of salvation and all the subtleties of Satan and
the ways of Satan and the ways of sin. Let us turn now, having
said something with regards to the hypocrite who has no changes
at all, let us turn to consider those changes that are experienced
by the election of Christ. Are they no changes? and there are two particular
changes that I want us to consider from the text first of all there
is that great change that change that we call conversion when
a man's life is so changed and then secondly I want us to
consider what follows that change the good fight of faith that
daily conflict with sin and Satan and self but first of all to
say something with regards to that that really marks the commencement
of the life of God in the soul of the sinner that change that
we call conversion Paul says therefore if any man be in Christ
he is a new creature or a new creation all things are passed
away behold all things are become new and what a change is that, what
a work is that it's a great work of God, it's
a mighty work of God you know in the preface to his hymn book that preface that Joseph Hart
wrote really it's an account of his own experience and certain
lessons that he draws from that experience and he says some remarkable
things and amongst them he makes his statement only he that made
the world can make a Christian only he that made the world can
make a Christian what a work is creation that God should create
all things out of nothing. A great demonstration of the
power and the majesty of God and it's that same majesty, that
same power that must come into the soul of the sinner. It's God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shining in our hearts to give that light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
Oh, God says, let there be light. And there at the beginning, light
is created, simply by the Word, the Feet of God. And so too when
He comes to God's dealings with the sinner, when God changes
a man. God says, let there be light.
The light of the Gospel comes into the soul of that man. You
see by nature we're in that condition where we're dead in trespasses
and sins. You're familiar with the language
of Paul as he addresses the Ephesians there in that second chapter
of the epistle. Uath he quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God. All who are the buts, but
Gods, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace ye are saved." There
is the condition. Oh, that sinner, he is dead.
dead in trespasses and sins. And what will God do? God will
make that man feel what he is. He'll feel the awful reality
of his total depravity. He'll cry out with the Psalmist
in Psalm 88, I am shut up. I cannot come forth. Shut up
to what he is. He cannot deliver himself. He
cannot change himself. Before faith came, Paul says,
we're kept under the law. Shut up to the faith that should
afterward be revealed. Oh, you know where it all begins.
It all begins with that great, that mighty work of God in regeneration. There is the beginning of the
change. Verily, verily, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. And how is he born? Oh, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's of
God, who showeth mercy. Born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's that mighty work, it's that
sovereign work. You know how the Lord Jesus in
John chapter 3 draws that comparison with the circuits of the wind.
and the wind bloweth where it listeth, though hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. The Lord says
ye must be born again. Some people speak of born-again
Christians. And I like to say, well, what
other Christians are there? Are there any Christians who
are not born again? All Christians are born again.
That is the great change. They are dead in trespasses and
sins and God comes into the soul and God works a mighty miracle.
The miracle of grace. The salvation of the sinner.
And where there is that new birth, what is the consequence? There
is faith. There is repentance. It's only after we're born of
the Spirit of God that we can believe. I remember at college we used
to have to present essays in dogmatics. We didn't have exams
at the end of every term, but each term we'd have two or three
assignments that we had to prepare. With other subjects there were
terminal exams, but we'd be given a series of titles, probably
three or four titles, and we had to prepare an essay on a
particular title. And I always remember one. It
was a quotation from Professor John Murray's book on Redemption
Accomplished and Applied. And it was the sentence, God
alone regenerates, we alone believe, discuss. That was the subject
for the essay if you wanted to choose to take that particular
one. God alone regenerates, we alone believe. Now there's a truth in that.
There is a truth in that. God is the one who regenerates. The new birth, it's a mighty
sovereign work of God. And we have no part in that.
It's all together the grace of God. Now when it comes to faith,
we do actually believe we know that faith is the gift of God
and faith comes by the operation of God but there is that exercising
of saving faith there is that exercise of the will as we come
to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ it's all part and parcel of the
great change but it only follows where God has first put that
spiritual seed into the soul of the sinner. And where there
is saving faith, it will be hand in hand with a true evangelical
repentance. And what is that repentance?
Well, that repentance involves a remarkable change. I've said
before that the very word that we have in the New Testament
that's rendered repentance is one of those compound Greek words. It's made up of two words. Principally,
it's the word for the mind, the word nous, but it's added to
another word, meta, which means change. And the two words together,
metanoia, declare change of mind. That's what repentance is, it's
a change of mind. But it's not just an intellectual
thing, it's a such a fundamental change. It's a sort of change
that we have here in the text, where a man's life has been turned
upside down and inside out and turned round about. He's a new
creature now. He knows repentance, he knows
faith. Oh, this is the great change that must come into the
soul of the sinner. When he is born again, born of
the Spirit of God, how the Spirit works that faith and that repentance
in the soul of the sinner. And he is a new creature, a new
creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. But what then? Or what of his
life subsequent to that change? It's a different life. Everything has changed now. But
it's not a life of ease. No, it's a life of spiritual
warfare. The good fight of faith. Daily
conflict with sin and with Satan. Remember the lines of the hymn,
when his pardon is signed, and his peace is procured, from that
moment his conflict begins. And now he has to live, he has
to live a life now, a very different life, a spiritual life. The way Job
knew these things, he says, changes and war are against them. Here is Job, you see, in the
midst of all those mysterious dealings of God with him. That
remarkable book of Job, this man who we're introduced to and
he's a just man. That means he's a justified sinner. Oh, he's a man who knows God.
And yet, God, in the mystery of his providences,
permits Satan to sorely try and test that man. And Job cries
out, changes and war are against me. And you know, that word,
changes, that we have in Job 10, 17, it's exactly the same
word. as we have in our text this morning,
because they have no changes. I'm not saying we're all going
to have the same sort of changes that Job experienced, but we
know something of that conflict. Changes and war are against me. In fact, the word war in Job
10.17 literally means men of war, an army, a host. Changes and an army. are against
me. Oh look at Job, read through
the book of Job. Job 19.12 he says his troops
come together and raise up their way against me and then camp
round about my tabernacle. He's thinking of his body as
a tabernacle as we see it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. We
that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened says the
Apostle. Oh how Job feels it there in
the flesh. You remember how he was so sorely
afflicted. His whole body from the soles
of his feet to the crown of his head is covered in sores. And he takes that potsherd and
he goes and sits amongst the ashes and he scrapes himself. All his troops come together,
raise up their way against and then camp round about my tabernacle,
he says. Go and look at the language that
we find Job uttering in chapter 6 and verse 4. The arrows of the Almighty are
within me. The poison whereof drinketh up
my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves
in array against me. or what experiences this man
has. This is that good fight. The
good fight of faith, wrestling not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. There is a conflict, friends.
There is a conflict, and it will be no easier in 2019 than it
was in 2018. We are engaged in a warfare.
against all the powers of darkness and yet God is aware of that
and God has provided for us all the armor of our salvation and that mighty weapon of all
prayer oh how Job knew that, how David knows that why the
psalm is a prayer is it not give ear to my prayer oh God I, not
thyself and my supplication, attend unto me and hear me. I
mourn in my complaint and make a noise." Can we relate to these things?
Can we see that this psalm, you see, speaks of the Christian's
experience? Talking recently with some of
the dispensationists, they tell us that the Old Testament has
nothing to do with Believers in the New Testament Church,
it's all for the Jew of the Old Testament. But what of the Book
of Psalms? It's a nonsense interpretation
of the Word of God. It cuts our Bibles in half and
writes off the Old Testament. All changes, you see, they come
into the lives of the people of God. They know this conflict.
and how God's people can feel for one another. I was struck
by a sentence in one of James Bourne's letters when he says
to his correspondents, I can truly enter into your feelings
of continual changes. That's the life of the child
of God. Woe to them that are at ease
in Zion. We don't want to be at ease.
Oh yes, we want to know what it is to be resting and resting
in the Lord Jesus and trusting in the Lord Jesus. but together with that, that
conflict. I change, He changes not, the
Christ can never die. His love not mine, the resting
place, His truth not mine, the time. Ought to rest in Him, to
know Him as that unchanging One. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob, are not consumed. We know changes,
but the Lord is ever the unchanging one. Why is the great I am that
I am is Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. And so whilst we have these changes
yet this is our comfort that the Lord our God is the one who
never changes. Again the hymn writer says, my
soul through many changes goes, his love no variation knows. There's no change in him. He's
always faithful, true, in spite of all that we experience. And
though we see the saints, thinking especially of saints in the Old
Testament, Oh, how they knew these changes, that gracious
man, that godly king, Hezekiah. What does he say in Isaiah 38,
16? O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these things is the life of my Spirit. When we see change and decay
all around us, are we not then cast all together upon the Lord,
brought to understand something of His ways, something of His
dealings? Look at the language that we
find later in the psalm. Verse 22, it says, "...cast a
burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." He shall
never suffer the righteous to be moved. But what is the burden? What is the burden? Well, the
margin tells us Literally, it is the gift, the past life gift,
upon the Lord. All these things, you see, they're
appointed by God, they come from God. All these changes. Nothing comes merely by chance. The fictitious powers of chance
and fortune I define. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye. All this is our comfort. as it
was with David, so it is with us. As for me, I will call upon
God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at
noon will I pray and cry aloud, and ye shall hear my voice. Oh,
the Lord then be that One who moves us amongst all these changes,
to be those who are the more calling upon Him, the more seeking
His face. The Lord then bless this word
to us this morning, because they have no changes, therefore they
fear not God. Amen.