Okay, this evening, we're gonna
take a brief look at Psalm 63. Psalm 63, I'm entitling the message
from what is found in verse three. Psalm 63, verse three. I'm entitling the message, Christ
is better than life, taken from the words in verse three. Because
thy loving kindness is better. better than life. Christ is better
than anything. Christ is the best. He is superior
to all things. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
the most important thing in a believer's life. He's not the most important
thing in the believer's life. He is my life. He's not the important
thing. He is my life. He is my salvation. As Paul said, Christ is all and
in all. He's half the son, half life. So I say that he's not the most
important thing, he's everything, everything in a believer's life. He's my salvation, he's my redemption,
he is my pardon from all sin, Christ is all and in all. We read in Colossians chapter
one, Christ is all and in all. Now let's go back to verse one
and we'll look down through these 11 verses here. I like the way
it starts, O God. That's how the whole Bible starts.
In the beginning, God. He's the Alpha, He's the Omega.
O God, Thou art my God. I like that. Early will I seek
Thee. Boy, that's a blessing to seek
the Lord. in the days of your youth. Early will I seek thee.
My soul thirsteth for thee. Thou art my God, O God, God who
is God, for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and weary land. There's no water, there's no
life in this weary land because life is in a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh God, thou art my God. This is every believer's testimony. Every believer's testimony can
harmonize with David. Oh God, thou art, he's my God,
he's my God. The true and living God, the
God who is God. We read that God is love, God
is light, God is holy, God is good. But think about this, God
is God. He's God, absolute, holy, sovereign. He said, beside me, there is
no other. God who was God in all things, all things are of
God. All things in creation, made
all things by the word of his power. All things in providence,
everything that comes to pass in time, God Almighty decreed
from eternity. And certainly He is the God of
salvation. He's a God of salvation. Look
right over at Psalm 68 verse 19. Psalm 68 verse 19. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He
that is our God, Verse 20, Psalm 68, is a God of salvation. Isn't that good news? Salvation
is of the Lord. He that is our God is a God of
salvation. And unto God, the Lord, belongeth
the issues from death. He's the only one that can deliver
us from death. God is God. He's a God of my
salvation. Now, if you look across the page
at Psalm 62, David said in another Psalm, the Lord is my light and
my salvation. And here in Psalm 62 verse six,
he only is my rock. Now I'm emphasizing those two.
Those two letters, my rock, that little word, he's my rock. He's
my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be moved. And God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. He's all mine. Everything I need
is found in God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this statement
is made at least 138 times in scripture. My God, my God. Let me show you
one. Turn back to Exodus 15, when
they came through the Red Sea on dry ground. Verse one of Exodus
15, then sang Moses, And the children of Israel this song
unto the Lord and spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord for
he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has
thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare
him a habitation, my father's God. I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is his name, but he is my God. That's good news, is it
not? You remember the confession of
the Apostle Thomas in John chapter 20, when the risen Lord appeared
to him, he said, my Lord and my God, he's my savior and he's
my God. And then the Apostle Paul, we're
going to see this in a few weeks in Philippians chapter four,
Verse 19, what says, my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
every believer's testimony. He's my God. He's my Savior. Now, because that's so, by his
grace, early will I seek thee. Early will I seek thee. When
God makes himself known to us, we do earnestly seek the Lord
for all of salvation. I will seek thee early, and my
soul thirsteth for thee. Even my flesh longeth for thee
in this dry and weary land where there's no water. You see what
he's saying here? His whole hope, David's hope,
and every believer's hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Early will I seek thee. You remember from our study a
few weeks back, Psalm 42. As the heart panteth after the
water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth
for thee, the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? That's a miracle of God's grace.
By nature, man drinks iniquity like the water. It's only by
the grace of God that we desire to drink of him, to thirst after
him, to seek him. My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee. I was reading through the book
of Amos recently this week and I ran into this scripture and
I wrote it down. Seek ye the Lord, and you shall
live. Seek you the Lord and you shall
live. Now these desires to seek after
the true and living God are not in us by nature, are they? Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. We love by nature, we love
darkness, not light. The carnal mind receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. If any man truly seeks the Lord
and says in his heart and longs for Him, to know Him, to love
Him, to be one with Him, it's because the Lord first sought
him out. It's only by His grace that we
seek Him and call upon Him. I remember reading, this may
sound strange to some of you, But when I came here in 1994,
that summer I moved here, I remember either the first or second or
third day I was sitting at that time downstairs in my study,
I was looking at Psalm 27, and I'll never forget reading this
verse. Thou saidest, seek my face, When
thou saidest, seek my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. When he said, seek the Lord,
my face, my heart said unto thee, I'm gonna seek the Lord. I'm
gonna seek the Lord. My soul longeth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee, my soul thirsteth for thee in this weary
land. There's no life, salvation in
this weary land. That's why the Lord said, seek
him, come to me, come to me, I'll give you life. It reminds
me that verse in Matthew 11, 28, all you who are laboring
and heavy laden, Come unto me and I'll give you rest. I'll
give you rest. Now, we seek him and we thirst
for him and long for him. Look at verse two. To see thy power. To see thy power. thy glory,
so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." What do we long to
see? Every believer desires to see
the power of God. The power of God. Look back across
the page at Psalm 62, verse 11. God has spoken once, twice have
I heard this, that power belongs unto the Lord. unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth
mercy, for thou rendest every man according to his work." Power
and mercy. That's sovereign mercy. That's
glorious mercy. That's saving mercy. Power and
mercy. I long to see thy power. I long
to see thy glory. God's power to save us is in
the gospel of Christ. We studied this in 1 Corinthians.
For the kingdom of God is not in word only, but in power. In power. In power. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth. When the gospel comes to the
elect of God, He doesn't come just in word only, He comes in
power. Comes in power, the Holy Spirit
that quickens us and teaches us. And then we long to see His
saving power, His saving mercy in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has power over all flesh to
save those people given to Him and to see His glory. Where does
the glory of God shine? In the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses asked the Lord, show me
your glory. You remember what the Lord answered?
I'll cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I'll be
merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. That's goodness personified is the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we, by his grace, because
God is our God, We seek Him, we thirst after Him, we long
for Him to see His power. and to see his glory, as I have
seen thee in the sanctuary, in the place where God is worshiped,
in the place where the gospel is preached. When the gospel
is preached, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, we see God and we see the Lord Jesus
Christ and the glory of God that shines in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary, that is a place where God dwells. The fullness of God
dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ because it pleased God to do
so. Look at verse three, because thy loving kindness, thy loving
kindness is better. It's better than life. Now, We
see a lot of commercials and the commercial said, it doesn't
get any better than this. Talking about enjoyments of this
creature comforts in this life. Well, my friend, it does get
much better than this, thank God. Because of thy loving kindness,
thy loving kindness is better than life. And because it is,
my lips shall praise thee. My lips shall honor thee. The
loving kindness of our blessed God and Savior is better than
life itself. You know why? Because he is life. You remember he said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. We read a moment ago, he that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Whatever else you have if you
don't have Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith, you don't have
anything else in this life worth two cents. Christ is all and
in all. Now notice this word here, better.
Better. Christ is better. You remember
the theme of the whole book of Hebrews is the word better. Remember? We studied also the
book of Hebrews two or three times, and we run into this word
better. Christ is better than the angels.
He has received a more excellent name than they. Christ is a better
great high priest. After the order of Melchizedek,
he's the eternal priest who didn't bring the blood of bulls and
goats, but obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood. Christ
is better. He's a better sacrifice, is he
not? He redeemed us with his precious blood, and he's a surety
of a better covenant, the covenant of grace, the God of peace who
brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. That covenant's a better covenant, isn't it? The covenant
of grace. It's an everlasting covenant. Now this word here, lovingkindness,
the Lord draws us to himself with his lovingkindness. You
remember Jeremiah 31 says, I've loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness, I'll draw thee to myself. Now this word, loving kindness,
is found 127 times in the book of Psalms. Just in the book of Psalms, 127
times. Many times the same word that's
rendered loving-kindness is rendered mercy. Mercy. Let me show an
example of that. Turn back to Psalm 44. Psalm
44, the last verse in Psalm 44, verse 26. Arise for our help
and redeem us for thy loving-kindness sake. Mercies. It's the same
word. In the original, it's the same
word. Loving kindness. It is mercy toward us. His mercy
toward us. I'll show you another example
of that. Psalm 57. Psalm 57 verse 3. He shall send from heaven
and save me from the reproach of him that will swallow me up.
God shall send forth his mercy. Loving kindness. Same word. and
his truth. Remember, it's of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion, they
do not fail. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saves us. Oh, that's good news, is it not?
Because of thy loving kindness. Thy loving kindness is better
than life. My lips shall praise thee, honor thee, worship thee. Look at verse four, thus will
I bless thee while I live. While I have any being, while
I have any breath, I'll bless thee, I'll praise thee, I'll
worship thee, and I'll lift up my hands to honor thee. I lift up my hands in thy name.
Because Christ is better, because Christ is the alpha and omega
of our salvation, I will bless thee and honor thee. As turned
to Psalm 103, I will bless thee. It means to praise the Lord,
but bless thee. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessing. We bless him who has blessed
us. Psalm 103, verse one. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life
from destruction, who crown thee with loving kindness and tender
mercies. That's good news, is it not?
I will bless thee and honor thee. I'll lift up my hands in thy
name. And you know what I'll do? Psalm
66, turn over there. Psalm 66, verse 16. Now I remember this
verse too. First time I heard this verse
read publicly 40 years ago, I'll never forget it. Verse 16, Psalm
66. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Boy,
I never forgot that. I declare what he hath done for
my soul. I'll lift up my hands in his
name and declare what he hath done for me. Psalm 57 says he
performed all things for us in our salvation. We lift up our
hands. TO HONOR HIM, TO WORSHIP HIM
IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. HE ALONE IS WORTHY OF ALL HONOR,
WORSHIP AND ADORATION AND PRAISE, BOTH NOW AND FOREVER. THUS WILL
I BLESS THEE WHILE I LIVE. WHILE I HAVE ANY BEING, I'LL
WORSHIP HIM AND HONOR HIM, AND I'LL LIFT UP MY HAND IN HIS NAME.
WHATEVER I'LL DO, I'LL DO IT TO HIS GLORY. LOOK AT VERSE 5,
MY SOUL SHALL BE SATISFIED. We are satisfied with the Lord
Jesus Christ, are we not? His person, his work, and as
I've often said to you, it's great for the believer to be
satisfied. But that's not the real critical
issue. That's the real critical issue.
Is God satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ? He speaks from
heaven, said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
In Isaiah 42, 21, he said, the Lord is well pleased for his
righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. God is satisfied, but we're satisfied
with him as well. well satisfied with Him as with
fatness, as with the marrow, the sweetness, and the fatness. We're satisfied with all the
goodness God has given us, the righteousness that God has given
us of His fullness His fatness, have we all received grace for
grace, remember? John 1 16, my soul shall be satisfied
as with morrow and fatness. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we're complete in him. My mouth again
shall praise thee with joyful lips. It's not a burden to honor
the Lord with your lips, with your heart, your mouth, with
joyful lips rejoicing in the Lord always. And again, I say
rejoice in him. The believer is abundantly satisfied
with the Lord Jesus Christ. When we remember him, our thoughts
of him are most sweet. Look at verse six. When I remember
thee upon my bed, Now, I don't know about you, you probably
a whole lot like I am. Many times when I go to bed,
the last thing I think about and think upon is God's mercy
that he's given to me that day. And I often, sometimes I go to
sleep, my wife informs me that sometimes I go to sleep real
quick, two or three minutes, I'm gone, I'm snoring. But oftentimes
I wake up in the middle of the night. You like that? I'll wake
up two or three times in the middle of the night. When I remember
thee upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in the night watches.
And when I wake up again in the middle of the night, Sometimes
it's a struggle to go back to sleep, but one of the things
that gives me great comfort is to think upon His Word, to think
upon His goodness, to cry unto Him, Lord, for help, and to meditate
upon Him, to muse upon Him, to ponder upon Him, to think upon
Him, to think of His goodness, His mercy, His love to us. When
I remember Thee upon my bed, My meditate and meditate on thee
in the night watches because thou has been my help. Therefore
in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice with joyful lips. I do rejoice in the Lord. Remember
that's the key word in the book of flipping didn't it. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. We are
the true Israel which worship God in the spirit rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We do rejoice in
the shadow of thy wings. The shadow of his wings is his
presence. I cast a shadow. You walk outside
on a sunny day and you see a shadow. Well, if you're under the shadow
of a person, you're pretty close to him, aren't you not? We are
in the shadow of his wings, we're under the shelter, the protection,
the glory, the mercy, the provision of his wings. And our thoughts
of him are most sweet and satisfying. Most sweet and most satisfying. Because thou hast been my help,
verse seven, therefore, in the shadow of his protection, in
the shadow of his wings, I will rejoice. God is our help, our
help, a very present help. You remember, turn back to Psalm
46 verse one. Psalm 46 one, God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble, Man that's born
of woman's few days and full of trouble, in this world you
shall have tribulation. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city
of God, the holy place, the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the
midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and
that right soon. He's our help. He's our help,
he's our hope, he's our healer, and he's our salvation. He said, I will never leave thee.
I'll never forsake thee. Therefore, under the safety and
security of the Lord's tender care, we do rejoice. We rejoice in his tender care.
We can say with David, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters. He feeds me, protects me, guards
me. I will rejoice under his loving
care, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 8. I follow hard, my soul followeth
hard after thee, and thy right hand he upholds me. Now we see two things here in
this verse. We see the scriptural truth of
God's grace. We see the preservation of the
believer. Thy hand upholdeth me. We're kept by the power of God.
We see being preserved, the believer's preserved by the hand of the
Lord. None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
None can pluck us out of his hand. We see the Lord's preservation
of his people. And then we see the believer's
perseverance. Those two things. My soul followeth
hard after thee. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and what do they do? They follow me. They follow me. You remember that covenant language
in Jeremiah 32, 31, 33? I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I will and they shall. We do follow hard after him. because we're his people. We're
the sheep of his hand. And thy right hand, the right
hand of God, not his left hand, his right
hand. Not that his left hand has less
power than his right hand, but normally speaking, the right
hand signifies strength and power. Who is sitting at the right hand
of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. I like that verse. Look at verse
9 and 10. But those that seek my soul to
destroy it. David had a lot of enemies. His
own father-in-law hated him. His own wife despised him. His
own son ran him out of town, kicked him off the throne. But
those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts
of the earth. David submitting his care to
the Lord's good providence, said the Lord's gonna take care of
this. They shall fall by the sword, the sword of the Lord. They shall be a portion for the
wild animals. The foxes gonna take care of
them, their carcass, their dead body. God's not gonna preserve
them. Now watch this. Although David
followed hard after the Lord, seeking the Lord, rejoicing in
the Lord, being satisfied with the Lord, remembering him, meditating
upon him, rejoicing in him and worshiping him, all those things
we've seen in those preceding verses. Yet David had many enemies that
sought to destroy him. But he was most confident, not
in the strength of David, he was most confident that the Lord
would preserve him and take care of his enemies. And I thought
about this, don't be surprised in our day when you take a public
stand for the gospel of God's grace, God's sovereign grace,
an uncompromising public stand for the gospel of God's sovereign
grace, that those you once thought were your friends will turn on
you and become your enemy. We're gonna see in our study
in the book of Galatians in the months to come, in Galatians
chapter four, The Apostle Paul writes from prison, am I therefore,
he's writing to believers, am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? I hope not. The Lord said in
his day, the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ came upon him with
vicious attacks. So the Lord warns us. He says,
if they've hated me, they will also hate you. All the prophets of the past
were hated and despised. All the apostles, including Paul,
died for the gospel. I don't expect to be treated
any better by this world. We shouldn't. They hate me, the
Lord said, and they will hate you because they know not God. That's what he said in John 15.
They'll do that because they do not know God. They shall fall
by the sword, verse 10, the sword of the Lord. The sword of the
Lord is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. You
remember, turn back to Psalm 45. You remember this verse? This is one of my favorite Psalms.
Psalm 45, gird thy sword, verse three, upon that thou almost
mighty, with thy glory and with thy majesty, and then thy majesty
ride prosperously because of truth, meekness, righteousness. Thy right hand shall teach thee
terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy
kingdom is a right scepter. God's gonna deal with his enemies.
He's gonna judge them. God's gonna condemn them. We
don't need to deal with them, God will take care of it in due
time, in due time. But he says, verse 11, in closing,
verse 11, but the king shall rejoice in God. Oh God, thou
art my God, the king, David was the king, God's anointed. Every
believer is made unto our God kings and priests. unto him who
loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood, and made
us unto our God kings and priests. And we rejoice in our God, don't
we? In the God of our salvation,
everyone that sweareth by him or sweareth allegiance to him,
Confederation with him, everyone that sweareth by him shall glory
in him. God forbid, we see glory saved
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this, the king
shall rejoice in him and everyone that swears allegiance to him
shall glory in him, shall rejoice in him, but the mouth of them
that speak lies, they're gonna be stopped. God's gonna stop
them. God's gonna stop their mouth. What a difference between the
mouth of believers that praise the God, that rejoice in him,
and the mouth of liars. The first, those who praise the
Lord, that mouth will never be stopped. We'll praise the Lord
forever and ever and sing on forever and ever. Worthy is the
lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, power, and
blessing both now and forever. The second, those who speak lies
shall be made speechless at the bar of God, at the judgment seat
of Christ. Let every mouth be stopped and
all the world become guilty before God. See the reference there,
Romans 3, 19. Let every mouth be stopped and declare guilty before God. That mouth will be stopped. But
those who praise the Lord and rejoice in him, that mouth will
never be stopped. Those who rejoice in lies and
those who spread lies, their mouths shall be stopped.