You love righteousness, but you hate what? Wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, your Father has anointed you with the all of gladness more than your companions. Can we not see just in the bare essentials, number one, that our King, that our King does what? He loves righteousness, but he hates wickedness. His love loves righteousness and hates wickedness. His wisdom loves righteousness and hates wickedness. His grace loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Why? They're all part of who he is. And no part of him can ever, ever love that which he doesn't love. No part of it whatsoever. So any kind of loving that ain't righteous, that's not pure, that's not holy, is not the love that comes from God. That's a love that is rooted out of us that is foul and deceitful and full of error and wrong. But that's part of the flesh. He came, took upon flesh as our king, laid his life down, shed his blood to rescue us from us so that we would look and lean upon him so that we would know how to love, that we would know how to walk in wisdom, and that we would know and experience the grace of God that teaches us to say no to everything that he's opposed to and to say yes to him, amen? That's part of the good news of the grace of the Lord Jesus, amen. And that's why in Thessalonica, what did they do? They turned to him. And when they turned to him, they repented, had a changed mind, and turned from what they once clung to, and God began to radically transform their wisdom, their love, and who they loved, and the grace of God was actively at work in their life, teaching them to say no to lawlessness and to say yes to their king, amen? So these things help me. They help me. You know what they do? They give clarity in my journey. So when I hear somebody say, love wins, but that love is rooted in wickedness, I know God's not in that. When they say, this is wise to do this and live this away, but it's not in righteousness, I know my God's not in that, amen. And when they tell me they're experiencing the grace of God, but that they're experiencing that grace is just letting them do what they wanna do, I know God's not in that. Why? Because of the plainness and the clarity of God's word helps me. As Revelation closed out, him that is unclean, let him remain unclean. Him that is filthy, let him remain filthy. He who is righteous, let him be righteous. He who is holy, let him be holy. That is saying let people be who they are manifested that they are. Now we don't have to leave them there. That's where we start interceding and praying that this person still has a misunderstanding of the grace of God. This person has a misunderstanding of the king of grace. This person has a misunderstanding of what love is. This person still misunderstands what wisdom is, and therefore we need Jesus to do a work in their life, amen? And do I need him to constantly continue to still do a work in me? Of course, because if his grace is at work, it's gonna teach me the right way to say no and the right way to say yes, and to recognize what his love is, what his wisdom is, and what my King rejoices in, amen? It's clarity. It's clarity. So let's turn back to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. Chapter one, we just talked about a few things this morning that we see how this church was established. God was all over it like he is any establishment that his hands are upon. And we picked up on as we watched through the scriptures how Paul, what did he say? That he reasoned with them from a source, and that source was the scriptures. And that's where we want to base everything we do off of. because faith is the only way to please the Lord, and faith comes from the word of God. So we have to build on God's message, and therefore he reasoned from the scriptures, he then expounded, or he opened up, that is he taught. He taught about this Christ, who he was, so he opened up the word, and he opened up, what, his life. He threw his life alongside the message, and as a result, God used it to establish that work there in Thessalonica. And the scripture goes on to say that there was a great number of Jews and devout women and Gentiles, leaders that believed and they were persuaded that Jesus was the Christ. They were persuaded. that he was the Christ. That is saying that they trusted, they were convinced, and they believed that Jesus was that Messiah, that anointed one that was promised and who accomplished what they couldn't accomplish on their own. But there was also a great number that was not persuaded. And as a result, they found Jason in them and went to take hold of Paul in them, and they were able to get out of there before they did. But their description was that they had turned the world upside down, that they had brought this teaching and this message that there was another king other than Caesar. And because when you trust Jesus, I mean, these are brand new believers. When you trust Jesus, you are entrusting yourself to a new king. You've given your life and allegiance to someone else, and therefore that is the testimony that the world hears around us, that hey, they serving another king. They loving another king, and he is king. and he will be king over everybody, but praise God, we can bow the knee to him currently, right now. So, then we see, as we mentioned this morning, as I applied that in verse number five of 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verse five, where he says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power. And how we personalize that, I love how he does that. Our gospel, it becomes our word. I mentioned a passage this morning, Acts chapter five and verse 20. Y'all turn to Acts five and let's just look at it for just a moment because we're gonna look at a couple of things tonight that I really been wanting to bring up for a bit now and I mentioned a couple of them this morning but I think we're gonna kind of dive off in it this evening just to follow in suit with the work that God did there in Thessalonica, how he reasoned from the scriptures. And we're gonna look at the scriptures and see a few things that the Bible's pretty clear on for us so that we can be clear on it. And as I mentioned this morning, I wanna make it clear as I can possibly make it so that the Spirit can make it clear and dear to you. I want these things to be dear to your heart. And I can't do that, but the Spirit can. And that's where we want the Spirit to do this work in our life. But Acts chapter five, Acts chapter five in verse number 20. He says, for an example, he told them, verse 19, the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, That's one thing about the disciples. They're always going, right? If Jesus is always working and we're always following, we're always going because we're always going where he's leading. So he said, go take a stand in the temple. That's where the people were gonna be. That's why he sent them there. It's always gonna involve what? People and a place. People in a place. We read this morning where Paul said he was what, in Acts 26, that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but he started what? In Damascus. Why? That's where he was at. What was in Damascus? People. Who were these people? The people he went to persecute. He is now joined and now he's teaching and preaching the good news. So he said, go stand in the temple and speak. to the people all the words of this life. See, you can take that. We looked at this before, and we paralleled 2 Corinthians 5, 21, where the scripture says, God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we who knew no righteousness might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's the words of this life, and it's the gospel. And this is what this is talking about. Acts 5 20, go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. This life that we live has words that define it, describe it, declare it, defend it, demonstrate it. You got words that you can cling to, that you can build everything on and around And without that word, you don't have any legitimacy or authenticity to say that this is of God. Because it has to have what? God's words that surround it, that are establishing it, that it's built upon. And that's why it's important for us to know God's word. What he says, what did he say about life? What has he said about love? What has he said about wisdom? What has he said about, Everything in life, as Jesus would say, man is not to live on what, bread alone, but every that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. That is what we live by, and that living has an established set of words that we can live by. that describe the life we are to live and then we can personalize it as they did with the church at Thessalonica and said our gospel. This is ours. Why? Because this is our life. You can't separate us from this. You can't go on the job and somebody tell you, well, you can't communicate these things. No, this is our life. I can't help but communicate these things. I can't help but teach these things. Somebody says, well, you can't mention the name of Jesus. Well, Jesus is my King. I cannot help but tell you who I am and who I live for and why I live. Now, I don't have to beat you over the head with it, but I sure can't hide it. I sure can't contain it. When Jesus is in the house, people are gonna know he's there, amen? And it's just inevitable. So, to me, this little phrase right here, I've got a work that I've worked on through the years that I call This Particular Life, and it's based on this passage right here, specifically the words of Jesus. of life, and I had put it together to go share with a church in Philadelphia a few months back, and I was gonna print it out, and when I went to print it out, Janet, it was right at 40 pages. And I said, how in the world am I gonna get that done in one service? It ain't gonna happen. So I didn't even print it out, and we just focused on a few of those, but I've been building on it, and building on it, and building on it, all about this particular life that we have, that really, the words of this life, I mean, this whole word here is what is our life, amen? Of who we trust in the Lord and what he says about a thing, this is what we lean on. This is what we look to and listen for to do life. So in light of that and in light of what we're looking at in 1 Thessalonians right now, if you go back to it, this is why Paul would say this. Look in chapter number two, chapter number two. Remember, he wasn't with them very long, was he? A very short period of time. But who was still with these people? God's Spirit was still with them. God was with them. The gospel had become theirs. How do I know that? I said chapter two, but look in verse eight of chapter one again, and notice how we can say that this word had become their word, just like it was Paul's word. Why? Because that's the kind of work that Christ does. Verse eight says, from you, the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Everywhere they go, they have heard of what God had done with the people in Thessalonica. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. We don't have to tell everybody that God has done something with you. They already know God's done something with you because your testimony and your witness has already spread abroad of the powerful work that God has done among you. Verse nine. For they, the witnesses themselves, declare concerning us what manner of entry or you can just say what degree of effect. that we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even or specifically Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. And all God's people said, that's the effects of the gospel. That's what the gospel does. You turn to God. When you turn to him, you turn from. serving yourself, self-centered living and serving idols, and you start serving the living and true God, and Jesus becomes the center of what you preach, what you do, and who you're waiting for. And while you're waiting for him, what do you do? You're working for him. You're working for him. So we see that. Then chapter number two, he says this, for you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, it wasn't empty. That's obvious, everything he's already said and what's been demonstrated. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, remember how they were put in jail? And at midnight they were singing. We mentioned that this morning, right? Paul brings that up. Everybody knew that they just left jail. And when they realized that what God had done for them and that they were Roman citizens, Paul was a Roman citizen, they wanted to let him go, but they wanted him to go away secretly. But Paul was saying, no, look, you've done this publicly. You need to acknowledge why. What did that do? Just opened another door for them to share the gospel of what they had been doing. He says, we treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much affliction. Now he'd just been to prison. He was just beaten, he still has the scars and the fresh wounds upon his life. And when they go to Thessalonica, you know what they know that is eventually gonna happen, they're gonna be persecuted there. But you know, the chains and the whippings and the discouragement from the crowds didn't, didn't silence them, but they come with great boldness and confidence and preach the gospel that can change lives, just like it changed the jailer before they left, amen? Verse number three, for our exhortation, our teaching, did not come from, number one, error. Number two, uncleanness. Number three, it wasn't from deceit. Wasn't in error, didn't come from error. Remember, he reasoned from what? The scriptures and the scriptures are what? Truth, right? They're the way of God. There's no error in the word of God. They didn't come from uncleanness. that it would be an unclean way to put your confidence or trust in the Lord, or in the sense that they didn't come to them with an alternative motive, and he's gonna bring that out in a moment, nor deceitfully, but as we have been approved by God, verse four, to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who what? test our hearts. So if he went to please men, number one, he wouldn't have been persecuted there in Philippi. They wouldn't have been bold in the faith in proclaiming the gospel. And if they were there to please men, you know what they would have been? They would have been an error. They would have been unclean and they would have been deceitful. If anything we do attempts to feed the flesh of mankind or fuel their folly or pat them on the back in doing things that are contrary to the revealed will of God, we're in error. We're unclean and we're being deceitful, amen. Because the truth of God is to confront those things, to deal with those things, and call people out of those things. Call them out of deceit, call them out of uncleanness, and call them out of error. And you can't be a men pleaser in desiring to please people and do it faithfully, justly, and righteously. We have to be true to the good news of the calling upon our life. So what is he saying there? Had I done what I'd done not to be approved by God, I would have been in error. I would have been deceitful and unclean. Why? I'm doing what I'm doing because God's anointed me to do it. And he's approved me to do it and he tests everything that I say and do. Amen? So notice verse five. For neither at any time, this is coming from the, if you was gonna be in error, this is what you would have done. This is what they would have done. For neither at any time did we use what? Flattering words. That is basically saying we didn't try to butter you up. We didn't try to butter you up and make you think you was better than what you are. That's not what we come to do. As you know, nor a cloak for covetousness. We didn't try to bait you to get you hooked in so that you can give us something. Covetousness wasn't in our heart. We were coming to help you, to turn you, to bless you with the good news of the gospel. We didn't want anything you have. So we didn't try to bait you. And then he says that God is his witness, verse number six, nor did we seek, what? Glory from men, either from you or from others when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. He's basically saying we didn't come in as big shots. wanting men to praise us for what we're doing. And I want to tell you, in a society that we live in today, we see them buttering them up, we see them baiting them in, and we see them wanting to be big shots. And I want to tell you, that's not what God set us apart to do, amen? We don't want to butter people with flattering words, we don't want to fuel them in their folly, we don't want to feed their flesh, we just don't want to do that. Because what happens when people flatter you, And people bait you in, and when people want to be big shots, they're going to forsake you in your failure. They'll leave you hanging in your failure. And God's never going to leave you hanging. He's going to come in. Why? Because He's come to deliver you. Amen. He's come to set you free, and the truth, not any truth sets you free. His truth sets you free. I hear that often. That's one of those I'm hearing more and more. You ever heard that? People in conversations, or you see them talking on something, and they were honest with somebody, and they say, you know, the truth will set you free. Well, that's not the truth that we're talking about. The truth that has set you free is Jesus's truth that he said in John chapter eight, when those people believed him, and he said, how you wanna know you're my disciple? And he said, if you continue in my word, for you shall, the truth shall set you free. And they said, we've never been in bondage before. And Jesus said, oh, yeah, you have. You've been in bondage, you've been, they said, we've never sinned before. You see, the truth that he's talking about is setting you free from what? Sin and sin is missing the mark so you can be honest with people in your honesty and still be wrong And they'd be wrong in their honesty with you and ain't no freedom in that are you with me? You may be free with men, but you ain't free with God and only his truth will set you free. And that's where I wanna take a look at just a couple thoughts that the Older Testament as well as the New would give us insight on a few essentials that we must have to walk with the Lord and what it says in particular about what these things of God, what they rejoice in and what they don't rejoice in. I mentioned a couple this morning, like love for an example. Let's look at that, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Look in 1 Corinthians 13. And I mentioned it in light of how they labored in love, how they worked in faith, and they endured with patience. But 1 Corinthians 13. And I pray fully this will help us. Because not all love is equal. Not all love is equal. She's reading to you, Miss Stephanie. Not all love is equal. Remember that. Not all love is equal. Not all love endures. We live in a society that will tell you love wins, and love does not always win. The right kind of love never fails, but the wrong kind of love will have a deep consequence for them. So he says this. Of course, we know this description there in 1 Corinthians 13 when he speaks of this particular kind of love that we're talking about, that if he had everything but he didn't have this kind of love, no matter what he had would what? Be nothing. For an example, let's just look. I'm just gonna start in verse one. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become what? sounding brass or a clinging cymbal. That is, it's just noise. There's no melody, there's nothing recognizable other than noise in it. But remember, he's gonna define for us the love that he's referring to. This is not every kind of love. This is a particular kind of love that he's referring to. Verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am what? Nothing. Okay, now we know Paul's talking hypothetically here because number one, no man can have all knowledge. No man will know all mysteries. No one particular man would have the capacity to know all prophetic words. It's impossible. And no man would have all faith. That's just not the case. He's talking about a faith that would be flawless faith. Now, Jesus lived with all knowledge, with all love, and with all faith, but we won't live. He lived that on our behalf. So, hypothetically, he's saying, if I had it all, but I had not love, what I have would be what? Okay, so if I have a love that's not this kind of love and I had that different kind of love in a way that was extraordinary, it would still come to what? Nothing if it's not rooted in this kind of love that he's referring to. Verse number three. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it will profit me nothing. Love suffers long, and while love suffers, it is what? It is kind. Love does not, number one, envy. Love does not, number two, parade itself, that is, boast itself. It's not proud. Number three, it is not puffed up. Number four, it does not behave rudely. Number five, it does not seek its own. It is not provoked, and love thinks what? No evil. Now, this is not definitions that we define. These are things that God defines for us. Are you with me? It's important for us to determine then, well, what in the world is evil then? Evil is anything God's not in. Evil is a product of ungodliness, and ungodliness is things that God's not in, and evil has no eternal value to it. It's not long-term. It has no value heavenly. And the kind of love that we're talking about here, Brittany, is the kind of love that thinks no kind of evil. Number six, verse six. This kind of love does not rejoice in what? Unrighteousness or iniquity or that which is wicked has the motive in it that is bent towards self. But what does love rejoice in? It rejoices in the truth. We gotta figure out, none of these words do we have the right to interpret on our own. Like the word iniquity, for an example. I gotta know what that means from God's perspective. Remember, man's not to live on bread alone, but what? Every word. So how would God define iniquity? How would God define truth then? I need to know how he defines truth, not the truth that I think is true, but based on, am I putting faith in his truth that he says is true? And when I start doing that, I start realizing that a lot of things that I've been told that is true, a lot of things that I've been told that are not wicked, a lot of things that I've been told that are not filled with iniquity, God's word would tell me otherwise, to see things totally different. And see, I've gotta see them from his perspective. That takes what? that takes discernment, that takes a supernatural work of God at work through me to see things how he sees them, and I'm putting faith in these things. So think about that for a moment. Love is essential, and all God's people said. But not just any kind of love, we're talking about the right kind of love that is centered in God, that is manifested through Christ, that this kind of love is the kind of love that the brethren have for one another. This is the kind of love that you lay your life down to reach people with. And this kind of love, verse eight would tell us that it what? Never, ever, ever what? It never fails. So if we base off the philosophy of a world we live in, who says love always wins, no matter the circumstances, as long as love is involved, meaning affections and feelings that are rooted in for people or things, however they wanna look at it, that would mean there would then be no reason for Jesus to ever lay his life down upon the cross for, right? If that kind of love is legit, there would have been no need for his love to be manifested for us to lay his life down because our love that we could produce would be sufficient to be celebrated before the throne of God. And my friends, it's not. It's not. So the kind of love that we're talking about, verse six again, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. This kind of love will bear all, that is protect all, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and you can't take Christ away from any of that. He's gotta be founded in it, Brother Shannon. You remove Jesus from it, you take God out of the picture. You remove grace from it, you take God out of the picture, right? So all that has to be centered in that. So this kind of love that never fails is a kind of love that doesn't rejoice in evil or iniquity, but only rejoices in the truth, amen? Okay. We're gonna take it a step further now and recognize, okay, to have this kind of love, that means I gotta have wisdom to be able to recognize this kind of love. Well, what does the Bible say about wisdom? Go to Proverbs chapter eight. Proverbs chapter eight. And let's see what he says. Proverbs eight. Let's just start in verse number six. Proverbs 8, six. What I'm looking at is how God describes these fundamentals that must be active in my life because if this love is not active, and a motivation of how I'm walking and living, the things I'm doing have no value to them, right? Isn't that what he said? I can do all this, but I don't have this. What I do is nothing. So we're gonna look at it from this perspective of wisdom. Verse six. Listen, for I will speak. What will wisdom speak? What will it speak? Excellent things. What's some of the other translations say? Noble. It's just important, Brittany? Important? Important, noble, excellent. From the opening of my lips will come what? Right things. So when wisdom speaks, it's noble, important, and excellent. and it's always right. It's always right. It can't be wrong. It's right. Wisdom from God never gets it wrong. Verse seven, for my mouth will speak what? Okay, what does love rejoice in? Love rejoices in the truth, that's right. It cannot rejoice in iniquity, nor does it think evil, because love and wisdom are intimately tied together. Why? Because they are divine characteristics of God himself that he imparts to us. So he says here, for my mouth will speak truth. Wickedness, iniquity, wrongness is an abomination to what? See, love does not rejoice in iniquity and wickedness is an abomination to wisdom. You follow with me. You can't take what everybody tells you of what is what and what is this and what is not. That's why you have to know what the word of God teaches because God tells us the fundamentals of wisdom, which teaches us how to what? Take God at his word, tells us that wisdom does not rejoice in wickedness, it's an abomination to him. Verse number eight. All the words of my mouth are with righteousness and nothing crooked or perverse is in them. They are all plain to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge. Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold for wisdom is better than rubies and all the things one might desire cannot compare to her. I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion for the fear of the Lord is the hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth wisdom what? Hates. Can you see? Both love and wisdom. Both despise and cannot stand iniquity and wickedness. They're an abomination to them. Both of them. So everything you hear that somebody says about love or what somebody says about wisdom can't be from God, for if it was from God, it cannot rejoice in that which is wrong. Are you with me? All right, let's look at another one for an example. Go to Titus, go to Titus, Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three. My pages and Titus stick together. Gotta be careful with them, they're gonna wanna tear and rip and pull apart. Titus, Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two. We looked at love, what does love not rejoice in? evil, only rejoices in that which is good, that which is right, that is true. What about wisdom? Is evil and wickedness an abomination to evil? Okay, let's talk about the grace of God. God's grace, God's grace, verse 11. And there is no salvation apart from the grace of God, right? Verse 11, for the grace of God that bring salvation has appeared unto all men. Obviously, that can't talk about every single soul because every single soul wasn't even alive then and it was still limited to a certain area. It's saying that it's appeared to every kind of men, both Jew and Gentile, white and black, you name it. There's no bias to the word of God or the grace of God. It appears to everybody because everybody needs to be saved. What does grace teach us? Verse 12. Grace teaches us that what? Denying and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, when? Right now. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who, the personification of grace, he's the one who brought this, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from what? Every lawless deed or iniquity that love hates and wisdom hates. Are you with me? And purify for himself his own special people who were zealous for what? Can you see? What is, if wisdom hates iniquity, love does not rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth and has no evil in it. And the grace of God, if it teaches us anything, is teaching us to say no to ungodliness, which is wickedness, and worldly lust, which is being led by the flesh. and to say yes to what? Righteousness, what does it say to yes to? To say yes to what? Righteousness, to live soberly, righteously, and what? Godly. And that tells us right there that the grace of God despises what? Iniquity. The grace of God despises lawlessness. But it's through the grace of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid his life down to what? Rescue us from lawlessness or iniquity. Can you see what I'm talking about? So the main coup de gras of our teaching, preaching, and living as believers to live in the love of God and walk by the wisdom of God and serve the grace of God, all these things put a kibbush on lawlessness and evil and iniquity and teaches us not all love is standing on the same level ground. It can't be, right? It can't be. Well, I'm gonna give you one more before we close out. Psalm 45, Psalm 45. Yeah, Psalm 45. Now we could pile these things up, but we're looking at this, the essence of what is most important. We can take faith for an example. Faith only comes by what? And it only comes by hearing what? The Word, not iniquity, not wickedness, not things from the world, but only that which is what? Right, only that which wisdom speaks. And wisdom, remember, wisdom sees wickedness as an abomination, right? So we're talking about the root essentials of what it means to be a believer. Psalm 45. That's why the folks in Thessalonica did what? They turned. And they threw their lives upon the Lord. And they turned from serving everything that was an abomination to him. And they looked unto the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, why? Because he redeemed them from lawlessness and iniquity and purified for himself his own special people. who think differently, who walk differently, who love differently, who have a whole, and we're not flawless, amen, that's a given. We still got an old fleshly nature about us, right? But we battle with that, don't we? So Psalm 45, Psalm 45. This Psalm we just looked at recently about overflowing with a great thing. Verse number one, my heart is overflowing with a good thing. What is that thing? I'll recite it. My composition concerning who? The king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. I'm ready to talk about my king. I'm ready to praise him. He says about his king, now we know who this king is. We're gonna discover in a moment. For you are fairer than all the sons of men. There's nobody like you. Grace is poured upon what? You gotta remember, the scripture tells us in John, Jesus was filled with what? Grace and truth. Grace and truth. Therefore God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory and your majesty, and in your majesty, ride prosperously because of what? Truth. Remember, that's what love rejoices in, right? truth, humility, and righteousness, and your right hand shall teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. The peoples fall under you." Now watch what verse six says. This is his throne. Your throne, oh God, is for how long? Unchanging. So today, God's throne is as it was from the beginning. God does not change. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of what? Your kingdom. That is, he rules in what? Righteousness. And remember, wickedness is not celebrated by love, wisdom, or grace. And you're gonna find out it's not celebrated by its king either. Verse seven. You, O God, love righteousness, and what do you hate? Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with all the oil of gladness more than your companions, and your garments are scented with myrrh and aloe and cassia out of the ivory palaces by which they have made you glad. Notice that. Let's read that verse seven again. You love, Righteousness. But you hate what? Wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, your Father has anointed you with the all of gladness more than your companions. Can we not see just in the bare essentials, number one, that our King that our King does what? He loves righteousness, but he hates wickedness. His love loves righteousness and hates wickedness. His wisdom loves righteousness and hates wickedness. His grace loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Why? They're all part of who he is. And no part of him can ever, ever love that which he doesn't love. No part of it whatsoever. So any kind of Loving that ain't righteous, that's not pure, that's not holy, is not the love that comes from God. That's a love that is rooted out of us that is foul and deceitful and full of error and wrong. But that's part of the flesh. He came, took upon flesh as our king, laid his life down, shed his blood to rescue us from us. so that we would look and lean upon him so that we would know how to love, that we would know how to walk in wisdom, and that we would know and experience the grace of God that teaches us to say no to everything that he's opposed to and to say yes to him, amen? That's part of the good news of the grace of the Lord Jesus, amen? And that's why in Thessalonica, what did they do? They turned to him. And when they turned to him, they repented, had a changed mind, and turned from what they once clung to, and God began to radically transform their wisdom, their love, and who they loved, and the grace of God was actively at work in their life, teaching them to say no to lawlessness, and to say yes to their King, amen? So these things help me. They help me. You know what they do? They give clarity in my journey. So when I hear somebody say, love wins, but that love is rooted in wickedness, I know God's not in that. When they say, this is wise to do this and live this away, but it's not in righteousness, I know my God's not in that, amen. And when they tell me they're experiencing the grace of God, but that, their experience in that grace is just letting them do what they wanna do. I know God's not in that. Why? Because of the plainness and the clarity of God's word helps me. Now, as Revelation closed out, him that is unclean, let him remain unclean. Him that is filthy, let him remain filthy. He who is righteous, let him be righteous. He who is holy, let him be holy. That is saying let people be who they are manifested that they are. Now we don't have to leave them there. That's where we start interceding and praying that this person still has a misunderstanding of the grace of God. This person has a misunderstanding of the king of grace. This person has a misunderstanding of what love is. This person still misunderstands what wisdom is, and therefore we need Jesus to do a work in their life, amen? And do I need him to constantly continue to still do a work in me? Of course, because if his grace is at work, it's gonna teach me the right way to say no and the right way to say yes, and to recognize what his love is, what his wisdom is, and what my King rejoices in, amen? It's clarity, it's clarity. And that's what we get to do from day to day. I read something by a preacher by the name of John Piper and he wrote something down and I kind of used a little bit of it and kind of built on it and it goes like this. For an example, for us today, very important for us to note, the Spirit and the scriptures are fundamentally essential and inseparable in God's work in our lives. Without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot see, we cannot embrace, we cannot experience and properly comprehend the love of God in Christ. Takes God's Spirit at work in us. But when the Holy Spirit invades our life, he, through faith, awakens us to the reality of God's love and his truth. How does teaching and preaching fit into this? Because we're all teachers and preachers, right? Every one of us, it fits in from faith to faith. As Paul, we've seen him what? Open his mouth, open the scriptures, and open his life. He said he reasoned from the scriptures. Faith starts in the scriptures. Faith runs through the Scriptures, and faith is gonna finish with the Scriptures. If it ain't the Scriptures, it ain't a faith. So from faith to faith. But preaching through the Spirit, you learn about God's love and truth from God's message and messenger. But by the Holy Spirit within, you experience his love from God's message to be God's messenger. The Spirit is the one, you can learn it, but you can only experience it by way of the Spirit. I can teach it, but you'll never experience it without the Spirit at work in you, amen? That's gotta happen. The preacher calling and gifting is to effectively describe and demonstrate the love of God to you from God's message. The Spirit's calling and gifting is to pour it out and fill up your hearts to be a living message of God's love and his grace. God's preachers will make his love plain, but God's Spirit will make his love precious. I can make it plain, like we tried to do tonight, but it will only become precious to you when the Spirit does that within you, amen? May our spirit-filled teaching and preaching make the need and the assignment ever clear, and may the spirit within the brethren we serve make the mission and message ever so dear. The Spirit-filled preacher and teacher is gifted to make it clear, but it's the Spirit's gifts that will make it dear in your life. And that's where we want it. When we hear and read these words and God illuminates them, the Spirit is the one who does something in us that we realize the value and the cost and the the preciousness of this message, and it becomes our message. Say, this is what I'm gonna live, this is what I'm gonna teach, this is what I'm gonna preach, and when I mess it up, I'm gonna just keep getting up and doing it again, amen? I'm gonna do it again and again and again. So look, we can't do this without the Spirit, amen? And we'll never do it without the Scriptures. We need both, so I encourage you to just keep going. Open your mouths, open the Scriptures, open your life up to people and let God use you to touch people's lives. Amen? They got to be changed. Because do we live up in a jacked up world? Do they have a jacked up love? Yeah. Do they have a jacked up way of living? They do. They can't help it. They inherited it. It's just part of their DNA. And until they be made a new creature in Christ Jesus, they'll keep doing what they've always done. And even us who are new creatures in Christ have a tendency to still wanna do things that are contrary to the love and the wisdom and the grace of God, amen? So that's for what? We're in a battle. Stephanie, you've been teaching the kids back there what? The armor of God, putting on the full armor of God. Why do we need it? Because we live in a world that sees marriage different than what Jesus sees it. sees work different than that, sees everything different than that. So we need the honor of God to see it how he sees it, so that we can walk in it his way. Because our king doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, does he? He doesn't at all. And we wanna be approved workmen that need not be ashamed when we do his work. So to him be the glory. Anybody wanna add anything before we go? You're going to school in the morning. Going to school in the morning. Well, to God be the glory. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we bless you. We praise you. We thank you. We ask you to help us with these things that we can be a help to others. This is by no means and no way do we want to just put ourselves in a position where We think we know more, know better. We want to be in a position where we, like you, lay our life down to rescue those that still can't see what we have been privileged, and our eyes have been opened to see. As we learned tonight, love does not behave rudely. It's not crude, and it's not rude. It lays its life down to rescue. redeem and rescue. So thank you. Thank you for your word that does give us such clarity. It helps us see what we would never be able to see apart from you. So with your spirit, with your presence in our life, we can be those servants who make a difference. not only in our lives and our homes and our families' lives, but those around us and those we have contact with from day to day. So we thank you, we bless you, and we just ask you to use us to be a blessing to others. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.