I enjoyed Psalm 62 so much last
Wednesday night, I thought, well, let me just read Psalm 63. And verse 3 got me. It says, because thy lovingkindness
is better than life. My lips shall praise thee. Could anything be better than
life? Could anything be better than
life? Yes. The loving kindness of the Lord
our God is better than life. Do you believe that? You know,
you say that. All right, that that statement
has just been made. Do you believe that? The loving
kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ is better than life. Better than life itself. It's
better than breathing air. Do you believe that? You have a choice set before
you right now, Christ, the loving kindness of Christ or air, which
one do you pick? Which one would a child of God
pick? It's better than a continued
heartbeat. Christ or a continued heartbeat,
which one? Honestly, which one? It's better than anywhere you
could go, anything you could do, any place you could see.
The loving kindness of Jesus Christ is better than life itself. It is better than life itself. Loving kindness means merciful
favor. Merciful grace. That's what it
means, merciful grace. Verse three says, because thy
merciful grace is better than life, My lips shall praise thee. Let's look at some scriptures
that talk about our Lord's loving kindness. Turn with me to Psalm
51. Psalm 51, verse one. says, have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy loving kindness. Well, what do you mean, David?
What do you mean by that? What are you asking the Lord
to do? He went on to say, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. That's what I'm asking you to
do. I believe if we really think about it, If we really think
about it, having our transgressions blotted out, removed, erased,
covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is better
than life. If we really think about it,
that is better than life. Better than life itself. The
removing of all guilt. Anybody in here have any guilt? Does anybody have any guilt?
Have you ever done anything that you feel guilty about? What if all your guilt could
be removed from you? Total removal of all shame. You feel shame over anything? Complete removal of all regret. All regret that has come to us
as the result of our own sin. I'm telling you, that is better
than anything we have ever experienced in this life. You know, by faith
We have that removal. It's still in our flesh but by
faith we see that removal and we experience that removal and
we know it is removed right now in Christ. The sin is removed
in Christ and the guilt has already been removed in Christ and the
shame has already been removed and the regret has already been
removed. He bore it on the cross. Acts 8 says, in his humility,
in his humbleness, in everything that we are, he bore it. And
we know that in Christ it's removed right now. And by faith, we know
it's going to be removed the minute we leave this life. And knowing that and believing
that and hoping in that and waiting for that and looking to that,
that experience is better than anything that we have ever experienced
in this life. That's the greatest experience
we could know. Complete removal of sin, guilt,
shame, regret. Look with me at Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse one says, bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness. and tender mercies
who satisfy thy mouth with good so that thy youth is renewed
like the eagles. You know what that sounds like?
Better than life. Better than life. Life as we
know it on this earth is filled with nothing but sin and disease
and destruction. That's what it is. Sin, disease,
and destruction. But life as we know it and as
God's people have it in Christ is better. It is far better. Far better. Look at Psalm 107.
Psalm 107 verse 41. It says, Yet setteth he the poor
on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous shall see it and
rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise
and will observe these things, even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. Whosoever the Lord makes wise
and causes them to understand what his mercy really means for
sinners. You know, everybody in the South
knows the phrase because they've heard who knows how many people
say, Lord, have mercy, like that's a shocking response to whatever
dramatic situation is going on. Lord, have mercy. And. No idea what what the mercy of
God Almighty really means for sinners. Whoever God makes wise,
makes them wise and causes them to truly understand what God's
mercy really means for sinners and God's grace really means
for sinners. Full redemption. Complete restoration. Everything that that Adam had
in the garden and lost. Completely reinstated. Total
forgiveness. That's what God's grace and God's
mercy will do for a sinner. Total forgiveness. Finished salvation. The man or woman that God makes
wise and causes them to understand that, that's the man or woman
that has learned something and understands something of the
loving kindness of the Lord. And when we do come to learn
something and understand something of the loving kindness of the
Lord, we learn and understand that all of that loving kindness
is found in Christ. It's all in Christ. All of God's
mercy is in Christ. Do you need mercy? Run to Christ. All of God's grace is found in
Christ. All of God's love, all of his
favor is found in Christ. Every good and perfect gift from
above is found in Christ. Every spiritual blessing, it's
all in Christ. What that means is, in Christ
is better. Being in Christ is better than
life itself. Better than life itself. Being
in Christ is life more abundant. Turn with me to Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah 9, verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me. That I am the Lord, which
exercise loving kindness, Judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. He said, these are the things
I delight in. Loving kindness. What good news that is. Merciful
grace. I delight to show mercy. I delight
to show grace. But only by way of showing judgment
and righteousness. We say, we've made the statement
many times that mercy is, you know, like we talk about mercy.
What is mercy? We say mercy is not getting what
we deserve. That's what we say. Mercy is
not getting what we deserve. That's true as it applies directly
to us. But that's not a fully accurate
description of God's mercy. As we said this morning, God
cannot just Not give us what we deserve. You know, Lord, just be merciful
to me. Okay, I'm just going to not give you what you deserve.
God can't do that. His holy justice and judgment
and righteousness will not allow that. God's mercy was his compassionate
pity toward us by transferring everything that we are to Christ
and then giving Christ what we deserve. That was his mercy.
Christ himself was the grace, the gift. The suffering of Christ
in our stead was the mercy. Turn over to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 1. At the same time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they
shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness. Even Israel, when I went to cause
him to rest. If any soul rests in Christ,
that's how it happens. God causes that soul to rest
and causes that soul to believe and trust. Verse three says,
the Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with loving kindness. Have I drawn thee? Again, I will
build thee and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel. Thou shalt again be adorned with
thy tabrets and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make
merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon
the mountains of Samaria. The planter shall plant and shall
eat them as common things. And I was gonna read more of
this chapter. I'm not gonna do it because I'm not gonna do it. But it's really good. He says
a lot of good things. I'm going to leave this chapter
on this note. Look at verse six. For there shall come a day. That
the watchman upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry. Arise ye. And let us go up to Zion. Unto
the Lord our God, the day is coming. There's coming a day. It's going to be amazing, wonderful,
shocking. It's going to come as a thief
in the night. We talk about this. The world is going to be the
world and do worldly things and marry and give in marriage and
all of that stuff. And there's going to come a day
when God's watchers are going to say it's time. It's time,
let's go. It's time to start marching to
Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion, the
beautiful city of God. And that's going to be better
when that happens, we're going to experience better because
that loving kindness is better than life. Because the mercy
and grace of God is better than life. Because Christ is better
than life. Because Christ is better than
everything. And he is. He's better than everything.
Hebrews 1 says he's better than the angels. Hebrews 7 says he
is a better hope. Hebrews 8 says he is the mediator
of a better covenant. You want a covenant based on
do this and live. Don't do this and die. You want
a covenant based on the law. He's a better covenant. Established
on better promises. Hebrews 9 says he is a better
sacrifice. You want the blood of bulls and
goats. He's a better sacrifice. Hebrews
10 says he's a better inheritance. Hebrews 11 says, he is a better
resurrection unto a better city. Because he is better, because
his loving kindness is better than life itself, our lips will
spend eternity praising him. That's what Psalm 63 is all about. That's what David is doing in
Psalm 63, praising him for who and what he is. Now I'll be very
quick about this, but go to Psalm 63. Psalm 63 verse 1 says, O God,
thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Thee, thee, thee. It's all about you. My soul thirsts
for you. Without you, my flesh is dry,
parched, dead, empty. It's a desert. We had a message
from this years ago called dehydrated and bankrupt. Dry, thirsty, empty. No refreshing here, there's no
refreshing without you, there's no satisfaction without you.
Verse two, verse one, oh God, thou art my God, early will I
seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. And he said,
this is what I'm longing for, to see thy power and thy glory
so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Never do we see Christ
more clearly than when we're all gathered together in assembly
around his word. So often David was exiled, so
often he was running and hiding, and these Psalms were written
with him saying, I just wish I could go gather with the saints. Never do we see Christ more clearly
than when we gather together around his word, preaching his
truth, worshiping him in the way that he said he would meet
with his people. At a time when he said he would
send his spirit, his spirit would be among his people. David said,
Lord, that's how I want to see you. I want to see you in your
power and your glory, the way you reveal yourself in your sanctuary. Verse three. Because thy loving
kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while
I live. Does that mean we'll stop blessing
him and praising him the moment we die? Our Lord said whoever
lives and believes in him will never die. Never die. The moment we leave this world,
that's the moment we truly start living. That's the moment we
really start living. And we'll live with Him for all
of eternity. We'll praise and bless Him for
all of eternity. Verse four, thus will I bless
thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name. Do you know that we have no hands
but His hands? You know that? Unlike the common
phrase, he has no hands but your hands, that's false. The reality
is we have no hands but his hands. We're dead and he's alive. And if anything's going to be
done, he's going to have to do it. His hands are the only hands
we have. If we're going to lift up holy
hands before God, as 1 Timothy 2 says, we're going to have to
lift up Christ's hands. We're going to have to put our
hands in our pockets and lift up Christ's hands. His hands
are the only hands that can accomplish any work. And His hand accomplished
the work that was given to Him. He accomplished the work that
was given to us, counted to us, applied to us. Verse four says,
thus will I bless thee while I live, I will lift up my hands
in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with
joyful lips. He said, I'll be full and joyful. That's the state of our hearts
toward Christ. We feast on fat things, wine
on the leaves that makes the heart glad. Verse five, my soul
shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall
praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my
bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast
been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Don't you love the thought of
the shadow of his wings? David said, my happiness, my
rejoicing will be to just sit there under the shadow and safety
of your wings. I was talking to a brother the
other day who had been mowing grass and weed eating, and it
was about 90 degrees outside. He was hot and sweating and thirsty. And we met each other there and
started talking under this canopy. And talked for, I don't know,
15 minutes, 20 minutes. And he had enough time to cool
off. And about the time our conversation was over, He realized, man, it feels good
out here when you're in the shade. It had been miserable up to that
point. Hot, baking, sweaty, but if you're
standing in the shade, it sure is nice. It may be scorching all around,
but up under the shadow of his wings, it's so nice. It's so comfortable, it's so
safe. Verse 7, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the
shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after
thee. You're all I have. You're all
I need. I must have you. I'm not going
to have anything. Verse eight, my soul followeth
hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me. My entire being
is dependent on Christ to hold me up and keep me going. Verse nine, but those that seek
my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes. What that means is if God be
for me, who can be against me? I can't even be against myself. Who could charge me? It's God
that justified me. Who could condemn me? It's Christ
that died. Verse 10, they shall fall by
the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes, but the king shall
rejoice in God. David speaking of himself as
the physical king of the nation of Israel at that time. But every
sinner who has been made to be a king and a priest by Christ
in his blood, we've been made to be kings and priests. Every
child of God can say that. Verse 11, but the king shall
rejoice in God, everyone that sweareth by him shall glory. But the mouth of them that speak
lies shall be stopped. Every man and woman by nature
speaks lies, including us. And that's why we want our mouths
to be stopped. Can you enter into that with
me? You know what I personally desire for my own self? I want
my mouth to be stopped. Only let the word of God himself
speak on our behalf. Everyone that sweareth by him,
I love how Hebrews 6 says, because Christ could swear by no greater,
he swore by himself. He swore on our behalf. He swore
for us. And everyone that swears by him
shall glory. Shall glory in the Lord, shall
glory in his loving kindness. Because thy loving kindness is
better than life, we'll praise thee. Amen.