May 29, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Thou hatest wickedness." — Psalm 45:7 · KJV

"Be ye angry, and sin not." There can hardly be goodness in a person who is not angry at sin; whoever loves truth must hate every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when temptation came! Three times it assaulted Him in different forms, and every time He met it with, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He hated it in others too, no less intensely because He showed His hatred more often in tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could be sterner or more prophet-like than His words, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer." He hated wickedness so much that He gave Himself up to wound it at the heart; He died so that it might die; He was buried so that He might bury it in His tomb; and He rose so that He might trample it under His feet forever. Christ is in the gospel, and that gospel is opposed to wickedness in every shape it takes. Wickedness dresses itself in fine clothes and imitates the language of holiness; but the teaching of Jesus, like His famous whip of small cords, drives it out of the temple and will not tolerate it in the Church. It is the same in the heart where Jesus reigns: what war goes on there between Christ and every rival! And when our Redeemer comes as our Judge, those thundering words, "Depart, ye cursed," which are really only a continuation of His lifelong teaching about sin, will reveal how deeply He loathes evil. As warm as His love for sinners is, so hot is His hatred of sin; as perfect as His righteousness is, so complete will be the destruction of every form of wickedness. O glorious champion of right and destroyer of wrong, for this reason God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.