The God Kind of Love in the Righteousness of Christ

“You who love Jehovah, hate evil; He keeps the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Psalms 97:10)

The actual author of Psalms 97 is unknown although some have attributed it to David. In this Scripture we find a command to hate evil. “You who love Jehovah, hate evil.

We must first be lovers of the Lord. When Jesus was questioned about how to inherit eternal life. “He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And answering, he said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And He said to him, You have answered right; do this and you shall live.” (Luke 10:26-28) The lawyer that asked Jesus already knew what the Law said but was wanting to tempt Jesus. In the Law was provision for eternal life by loving the Lord with all your soul (mind, will, emotions) and all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Not only are we to love the Lord with all of our being, we are to love the Lord more than our family. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37) And we are to love the Lord more than we love ourselves. “And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life shall lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39) We are to deny ourselves. “And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) Notice the word daily. This is something we must do daily because surely this flesh will forget the next day and want to do its own thing. It’s an intentional denying every day. Another indication that we love the Lord is that we obey Him. “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words, and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” (John14:21-24)

We can love the Lord, but how will we know if we hate evil. The culture of the world then and now so permeates all of society that today there are laws protecting the wicked; laws to protect them from judgement, that allow the perverted to marry, to adopt, etc... We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. This prohibits us from any word or action that is not given in love. But if we share the Truth of the Gospel to free them from eternal judgement and destruction, it’s considered hate speech. Our hearts must be completely free of any animosity and blameless before God in order to share the Truth of the Gospel with the wicked. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to everlasting life. But pity some, making distinction. But save others with fear, snatching them out of the fire; hating even the garment having been stained from the flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23)

If we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, He has given us His righteousness. We stand clean and righteous before the Father covered in the righteousness of Jesus. This keeps us in the love of God. It’s not our effort, but the work of the Lord in us that keeps us in His love so we can express that love outward, not only to the brethren, but the wicked who is depending on this perishing world. Our God like love will transcend our fear and reluctance to share the life-giving Truth with those who are dying.

We are to be followers of Jesus. Jesus loved enough to speak the Truth to the wicked, even if they didn’t receive it. He hated evil and called it out to the religious leaders, to the Samaritan woman and the rich young ruler. We are to do the same. Jesus was harsh with the religious rulers because they should have known better and maybe they did, but they didn’t want to change things. He was gentle but firm with the Samaritan woman and the rich young ruler. Pray for discernment. The Holy Spirit will lead us in what to say and how to say it. Love enough. And hate evil enough to call it out like Jesus did.

We didn’t cover the remaining two phrases of this verse. There is enough Truth in the first phrase of that verse on which to meditate. If we love the Lord, we will hate evil. The Lord has given us His righteousness. In His righteousness there is a God kind of love for all which will cause us to act in love.