Psalm 63, I'm taking the title
for the message from what is said in verse three. Psalm 63,
verse three, David said, thy loving kindness. is better than
life. You think about that statement
for a minute. The loving kindness of the Lord.
And that word loving kindness is also the same word that God
is merciful. God is merciful. God is mercy. His mercy is better than life.
It's of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed. Thy loving
kindness is better. Christ is better. Christ is the
best. He's most excellent in His person,
most excellent in His work. So Christ is better, better than
life. That's the testimony of every
believer. We can say Christ is better. He's better than everything,
anything. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
the most important thing in my life. You get hold of that? Preacher, what are you talking
about? The Lord Jesus Christ is not the most important thing
in my life. Oh, no. He is my life. He is my life. He is my salvation. As Paul said, Christ is all and
in all. To every believer, the Lord Jesus
Christ is just not something. He's everything. The very reason
of our existence is to praise and honor God our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's look at verse one and
we'll work our way down through these verses here. I love the
way he starts. He starts where everything starts,
oh God. In the beginning, Genesis 1.1,
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. has its first cause and last
end in God who is God. I love what it says in Isaiah
so many times. He said, I am God, beside me
there is no other. There is no other. He has no
rival. God is God. The Mokai God, the
true and living God. Beside Him there is no other.
But watch this. O God, Thou art my God. My God. He's saying here, David
is expressing his total confidence in everything, in every blessing
in God, my Savior. Oh God, thou art my God, my strength,
my salvation, my all in all. Early or earnestly, earnestly
will I seek thee. Those who seek the Lord will
be blessed. Our Lord said, you seek me with
all your heart and you'll find me. Seek the Lord. Seek him where
he's found. Where's the Lord Jesus Christ
found? Where is mercy found? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Earnestly,
sincerely will I seek thee. He's my God. He's my help, my
hope, my salvation. And then he says, my soul, my
soul, thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a thirsty
or in a weary land where is no water. Now this is not something
that we naturally desire. The carnal mind receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Those who have a desire to seek
the Lord and the thirst after the Lord and longeth after the
Lord are those who have God's mercy given to them in our blessed
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to Psalm 27. Let me
show you a couple verses here in Psalm 27. The Lord, verse
1, Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall
I fear? David has a Has a one-string
song, doesn't he? The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. He's my life. He's the strength
of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Now,
what I want us to see is this. Verse 7, Psalm 27, verse 7, Hear,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me, and
answer me. When thou saidest, Seek ye my
face, my heart said, Unto thee thy face, Lord, will I seek. When God says, Seek the Lord,
The response of a believing heart is, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. The glory of God shines where? In the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hide not Thy face far from me. Put not Thy servant away in anger. Thou has been my help. Believe
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. You see that? Moses sang the same song, didn't
he? Don't turn back, but let me just
read it to you. That song of Moses after the
deliverance of the Red Sea. The Lord is my strength and song.
He has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare
Him a habitation. He is my God. The Lord is my
light and my salvation. What do weary, weary sinners
need? The Lord Jesus Christ, He satisfies
our every desire. We studied recently, you remember
Psalm 42, as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth
my soul after thee. Psalm 42 verse 1, my soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before my God? So that desire that God puts
in our heart to seek the Lord, It's only there by His grace. I found this statement, My God,
where it says, My God, I found that statement given 138 times
in Scripture. 138 times in the Scripture we
read, Thou art my God. My God. God who is God is my
God. My Lord, my Savior. You remember
the Apostle Thomas, When the risen Lord appeared to the disciples,
and Thomas wasn't there, and they expressed to Thomas, we've
seen the Lord! We've seen the risen Lord! Thomas
said, I don't believe you. I won't believe you until I see
Him myself, and touch Him, and see those nail prints in His
hand. And when the Lord appeared to him, And the others, the second
time, you remember what Thomas said, my Lord and my God, my
Lord and my God. The apostle Paul in Philippians
chapter four said, my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. My God
shall supply everything this poor sinner needs. He's my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Earnestly and
early will I seek Thee. And this is only something that
happens by the grace of God. Look at verse 2. And here's what
we long, here's what we seek for, here's what we thirst after,
here's what we long for. To see Thy power. See the power
of God. Where's the power of God demonstrated? in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We see the power of salvation
through Christ and Him crucified. To see thy power, to see thy
glory. So as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary, where is David's hope? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Where
is the power of God revealed in salvation? In Christ. You remember Romans chapter one,
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For it is the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew and
also to the Gentile. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, to see thy power, to see
thy glory. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The glory of God shines where? In the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where we see the glory
of His mercy, the glory of His love, the glory of His grace,
Shines where? In the face of Jesus Christ.
In the face of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alone. For the kingdom of God is not
in word only, but in power. We read Sunday morning from 1
Thessalonians, where Paul said, Brethren, we give thanks to God
for you knowing your election of God, for our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but in power, and the Holy Ghost, and
much assurance. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the Word." Having received the
Word. Believed the Word. Now look at
verse 3. Oh, we long to see His power.
We long to see His glory. We long to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in the beauty of the sanctuary. He is altogether lovely. Because
thy love and kindness is better than life. His mercies to us
are better than life. Or people think, well, it doesn't
get any, you remember seeing those commercials and I can't
remember what they were advertising, something that said, it doesn't
get any better than this. Oh, my friend, it get much better
than this. Thy love and kindness is better,
better, better. My lips shall praise thee, because
Christ is better. The love and kindness of our
blessed Savior is better than life itself, because He is. He is our life. This is the record
God has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
It doesn't get any better than that. He is our salvation. He is all of our spiritual life. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed. David prayed in Psalm 51, have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercy, blot out my sin. Christ
is better, is He not? You remember our study in the
book of Hebrews? You remember I told you what the key word
was in the book of Hebrews? You remember? better, superior. Christ is better, superior, more
excellent than anything. In the book of Hebrews, Christ
is better than the angels. He didn't ever say to any angel,
sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
But that's what he said to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's better
than any angel or a multitude of angels. He's better than any
Old Testament high priest. There were many priests under
the law, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the better priest after the
order of Melchizedek. He's the everlasting great high
priest that we need. Who didn't bring the animal sacrifice,
the typical animal sacrifice. He brought his own blood. He
entered into the holy place and he obtained eternal redemption
for us with his own blood. He's the better high priest,
is He not? With a better sacrifice. The
blood of bulls and goats cannot put away sin, but the Lord Jesus
Christ appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. He's the better sacrifice, is
He not? How about the covenant? He's the surety of a better covenant.
The everlasting covenant of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
surety. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead that Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
and sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant we
have in Christ. That's better, isn't it? You
see, everything we have as believers is better. Better. Because of
our loving kindness is better than life. And because that's
so, my lips, my lips, shall praise thee out of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth speaketh." Those who have been made new
creatures in Christ, when they speak about salvation, they don't
say, well, look what I've done for Jesus. No, they talk about
what He's done for us. He's performed all things for
us. We praise him and we give him praises worship. Praises
worship, as David said in another Psalm, bless the Lord, oh my
soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. My lips
shall praise thee and bless him. Verse four. Thus will I bless thee, while
I live, while I have any being, I'll bless the Lord. I'll own
Him as everything. We bless God who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
We studied that Sunday morning. Thus will I bless thee while
I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name. I'll lift up my hands. I'll say
of the Lord, He's all my salvation. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. God has given him that
name of salvation. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. We lift up our hands to that
name, don't we? We point to Him and say, look
what He's done for us. I lift up my hands in Thy name.
In Thy name, verse 5. My soul, my soul, verse five,
my soul shall be satisfied, satisfied as with marrow, as with fatness. My mouth shall praise thee with
joyful lips. How many times have we studied
through the Psalms and David just constantly says, I'll praise
the Lord. I'll bless the Lord. I'll own
the Lord. I'll lift up my hand to the Lord.
I'll look to the Lord Jesus Christ for all things. But here in verse
five, he said, I'll be satisfied. I'll be satisfied. Believers
are satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he enough? Is he enough? If he's all you got, that's everything
in salvation. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. We're satisfied with the Lord
Jesus Christ. But more importantly, God is
satisfied. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. I'm satisfied. Satisfied. My soul shall be satisfied. I'm
completely, totally, as much as I can in this flesh, I'm satisfied
with the person and work, the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not looking for anything
else. I found Him who is life, who is salvation. I only found Him because He sought
me out. And I praise the Lord with my
mouth, with joyful, joyful lips. It's not a burden. It's not a
burden to praise the Lord. It's not a burden to praise the
Lord Jesus Christ. I shall be satisfied. Look across
the page here, Psalm 65, 65 verse 4. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causeth to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied. with the
goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple." Satisfied. Satisfied
with Christ. Nothing need be added to Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are complete. Complete in Him. Before God,
we stand complete. Completely redeemed. Completely
sanctified. Completely justified. completely
made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 6. When I remember, when I remember, when I remember
Thee upon my bed and meditate on Thee in the night
watches, because Thou has been my help, Therefore, in the shadow
of thy wings, he gets right back to this rejoicing. Rejoicing. When I remember thee upon my
bed, what a blessing the Lord has given to his people. I know
we don't have a mind that can retain things. As we get older,
we let things, they kind of run out and they leak out on us,
don't they? It's a blessed thing to have a mind to think upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, to remember His mercies. When I remember
Thee upon my bed and when I meditate upon Thee, because Thou hast
been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we lay down at night and
try to rest, We meditate upon the Lord's mercies unto us that
day. And then even when we wake up,
we wake up in the middle of the night, and sometimes we wake
up with strange thoughts on our mind, don't we? But sometimes
we're blessed to wake thinking upon the Lord, thinking upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I remember thee upon my
bed, What a blessing to have the mind to think upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, to think upon His great mercies unto us. That's
comfort unto us. And we remember Him as we meditate
upon His Word. The Word of God is our comfort.
The Word of God is our comfort. We meditate upon those Scriptures
that the Lord has used over the years to teach us and to comfort
us with the Word of Truth. Because thou has been my help.
Thou has been my help. Hold your place there and let's
turn back to that Psalm 46. Thou has been my help, my helper. Psalm 46 verse one. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Have you ever been in trouble?
I've been in trouble. I seem like I stay in trouble.
But the Lord is a very present help in my trouble. Man that's
born a few days, full of trouble. Man that's born a woman a few
days, and trouble, trouble. But as a believer, and being
a believer, we're not exempt from trouble. Being a believer,
we're not exempt from heartache. The Lord sends trials to us.
The Lord sends trials to us. They're called precious trials.
But He doesn't leave us to ourselves in our trials. He's our very
present help in the time of trouble. Remember, Paul the Apostle had
that thorn in the flesh, and he asked the Lord not once, not
twice, but three times, Lord, would you remove this thorn?
Remember what the Lord said to him? My grace is sufficient for
thee. When you're weak, when you're
whipped, that's when you're strong. When you have no strength in
the flesh and you shut up to God's mercy, that's when we're
strong. When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate upon
thee in the night watches, thou hast been my help. Therefore,
in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. He is our helper. He will continue to be our help.
in saving mercy all our life. He said, I'll never leave thee.
I'll never forsake you, Lord. Lord, I'm with you always. I'm with you always. In the shadow of thy wings will
I rejoice. Turn back to Psalm 57, I think. Yeah, Psalm 57. And this has
to have a reference to the mercy seat, those winged creatures
over the mercy seat. Psalm 57, verse one. Be merciful
unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee. In the shadow of thy wings will
I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will
cry unto God, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that
performeth all things for me. He shall stand from heaven and
save me from the approach of him that will swallow me up That
word Selah, I've just come to realize after all these years,
to me that means Amen. Amen. God shall send forth His
mercy and His truth. That's our hope, that's our help,
is it not? We do rejoice in the Lord. Now
look at verse 8. My soul, it goes right back to
My soul longeth for Thee. I will seek Thee. My flesh longeth
for Thee. My soul followeth hard after
Thee, and Thy right hand upholds me. You remember the Lord said
of His sheep, His sheep hear His voice. He knows them. He
loves them. And what do they do? They follow
Him. But this word here on verse 8,
This word here on verse 8, followeth hard. I looked that up. And then in the Hebrew, it's
one word. And if you reference that one
word, it goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 2, I think
it's verse 24, where the Lord performed that marriage ceremony
between Adam and Eve. and said, a man will leave his
father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall
be one flesh. My soul cleaves unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that word cleave there is
the death grip. We lay hold upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. We hug up to the Lord Jesus Christ. We lay hold upon Him and will
not let Him go. And you know why? He won't let
us go. He will not let us go. Remember
that covenant language in Jeremiah, I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I will not leave them and they
will not depart from me. My soul followeth hard after
thee. The right hand, his right hand
upholds me. That's the right hand of power. The right hand of power. Didn't
Moses and the people sing about the right hand of the Lord had
done gloriously? The right hand of the Lord is
the Lord Jesus Christ. His right hand is the hand and
arm that no man can stay or no man can stop, who does all of
his pleasure, all of his will. And his right hand upholds me. We're held by the power of God.
We are kept by the power of God through faith. You remember 1
Peter 1, verse 5, we're kept by the power
of God. Verse 9 and 10, but those that
seek my soul to destroy it shall go to the lower parts of the
earth, back to the dust. Dust thou art, dust that shalt
return. They shall fall by the sword,
the sword of the Lord, justice, and they shall be the portion
for the foxes. They eat up their flesh. Although
David followed hard after the Lord, seeking the Lord, being
satisfied with him, remembering him, meditating upon him, rejoicing
in him, worshiping him. David yet had many enemies, didn't
he? even of his own household. Remember,
he said in his last days, God had made with me an everlasting
covenant. Although it be not so with my
house, God had made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. His own father-in-law sought
to kill him, King Saul. His own son, kicked him off the
throne and ran him out of town. David here, when he writes these
words, is running for his life. He said, there's a step between
me and death. But David was confident that
the Lord would take care of him. David reigned in Israel for 40
years. What happened to Absalom, David's
son? You remember, he was killed. David wept when he heard the
news that Absalom was dead. Oh, he said, oh Absalom, Absalom
my son, would God I died for thee. The Lord took care of his
enemy, didn't he? What happened to King Saul? God
took him off his throne, put him out to pasture. David didn't
rejoice in the fall of his enemies, but he knew the Lord would take
care of his enemies. You remember our Lord Jesus Christ
said, don't be surprised when they hate you. They hated me
before they hated you. Paul said, am I therefore become
your enemy because I tell you the truth? Don't be surprised
when you take a public stand for the gospel of God's sovereign
saving grace that those you once thought were your friends Even
your family will turn on you and be against you because of
the gospel that you believe, the uncompromising stand for
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did turn on all
the prophets of God, didn't they? They were persecuted, all the
prophets of God. How about the apostles? They didn't have it on easy street,
did they? Hunted, hounded, beaten, stoned, martyred, killed, crucified. The enemies of the Lord Jesus
Christ came upon him with vicious attacks. And the Lord said, if
they hated me, they'll hate you too. Don't be surprised. When you take a public stand
now for the gospel of God's sovereign, saving mercy in Christ Jesus,
and say, this is how God saves sinners, by His grace and His
grace alone, His mercy and His mercy alone, you take a public
stand for that, and you'll hear from your so-called friends. They say, well, that's not what
I thought. That's not what Mama said. What does God say? We take an unflinching stand
on the gospel, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. They shall fall by the sword
of His holy justice and the sword of His mighty word. In due time,
you remember, their foot will slide in due time. In due time! God will take care of our enemies. He's taken care of our sin, hasn't
He? Our sin that was against us. He's put away our sin. He's taken care of the adversary,
the archenemy, Satan himself, defeated. He crushed his hand,
his dominion, his power. They shall fall by the sword.
They shall be a portion for the foxes of the hour. But,
verse 11, but the king, The king shall rejoice in God. The king shall rejoice. Now David,
although he's out in the wilderness, he's the anointed of God. He's
the anointed king of God. And yet he's on the run for his
own life. But yet look what he says. The
king shall rejoice in God. If you look, I had a message
on the radio Sunday about when Paul writes back to the Philippians. And Paul is in jail when he writes
back to the believers at Philippi. And one of the recurring words
in that epistle is, you remember? Rejoice. Rejoice. We are the
true Israel to worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We have no confidence in the
flesh. And then he says in chapter 4, Rejoice in the Lord always,
and again I say rejoice. In that radio message, I gave
seven reasons that believers have to rejoice in. Go back and
listen to it sometime, or if you'd like a copy, you can listen
to it on Sermon Audio. I posted it on Sermon Audio,
and you can go and listen to it there. But the king shall
rejoice in God. Everyone that swears by him shall
glory. We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? God forbid we should glory. God
forbid we should glory in anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We glory in Him, His person, His work. His salvation, but
the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Shall be stopped. The mouth of
them that speak lies shall rejoice. Believers will rejoice now, and
they will rejoice forever, will they not? In glory, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive all power, honor, glory, and
blessings. One old preacher said this, and
I'll close with this. See the difference between the
mouth that praises God and the mouth that forges lies. The first
shall never be stopped, but shall sing on forever. The second shall
be made speechless at the bar of God. And the reference there,
notice the reference on that last statement in verse 11. You
see the reference there? Romans 3.19. You remember that? You do remember that. Let every
mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty, guilty,
guilty before God. He'll stop their mouth in due
time. He's going to shut up