The Berean Pursuit
For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the LORD, who sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
I love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
so shall I be saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
The cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From His temple He heard my voice,
and my cry for His help reached His ears.
Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains trembled;
they were shaken because He burned with anger.
Smoke rose from His nostrils,
and consuming fire came from His mouth;
glowing coals blazed forth.
He parted the heavens and came down
with dark clouds beneath His feet.
He mounted a cherub and flew;
He soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness His hiding place,
and storm clouds a canopy around Him.
From the brightness of His presence
His clouds advanced-
hailstones and coals of fire.
The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded-
hailstones and coals of fire.
He shot His arrows and scattered the foes;
He hurled lightning and routed them.
The channels of the sea appeared,
and the foundations of the world were exposed,
at Your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from foes too mighty for me.
They confronted me in my day of calamity,
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into the open;
He rescued me because He delighted in me.
The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all His ordinances are before me;
I have not disregarded His statutes.
And I have been blameless before Him
and kept myself from iniquity.
So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
To the faithful You show Yourself faithful,
to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
to the pure You show Yourself pure,
but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.
For You save an afflicted people,
but You humble those with haughty eyes.
For You, O LORD, light my lamp;
my God lights up my darkness.
For in You I can charge an army,
and with my God I can scale a wall.
As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way clear.
He makes my feet like those of a deer
and stations me upon the heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me Your shield of salvation;
Your right hand upholds me,
and Your gentleness exalts me.
You broaden the path beneath me
so that my ankles do not give way.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back until they were consumed.
I crushed them so they could not rise;
they have fallen under my feet.
You have armed me with strength for battle;
You have subdued my foes beneath me.
You have made my enemies retreat before me;
I put an end to those who hated me.
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-
to the LORD, but He did not answer.
I ground them as dust in the face of the wind;
I trampled them like mud in the streets.
You have delivered me from the strife of the people;
You have made me the head of nations;
a people I had not known shall serve me.
When they hear me, they obey me;
foreigners cower before me.
Foreigners lose heart
and come trembling from their strongholds.
The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock!
And may the God of my salvation be exalted-
the God who avenges me
and subdues nations beneath me,
who delivers me from my enemies.
You exalt me above my foes;
You rescue me from violent men.
Therefore I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing praises to Your name.
Great salvation He brings to His king.
He shows loving devotion to His anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.
What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that You may be proved right when You speak
and victorious when You judge."
But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? However, if my falsehood accentuates God's truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, "Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved!
What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. As it is written:
"There is no one righteous,
not even one.
There is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The venom of vipers is on their lips."
"Their mouths are full
of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery lie in their wake,
and the way of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God
before their eyes."
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.