11 Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners, or take his place in the way of evil-doers, or in the seat of those who do not give honour to the Lord. 2 But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and whose mind is on his law day and night. 3 He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time, whose leaves will ever be green; and he will do well in all his undertakings.
4 The evil-doers are not so; but are like the dust from the grain, which the wind takes away. 5 For this cause there will be no mercy for sinners when they are judged, and the evil-doers will have no place among the upright, 6 Because the Lord sees the way of the upright, but the end of the sinner is destruction.
21 Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish? 2 The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying, 3 Let their chains be broken, and their cords taken from off us. 4 Then he whose seat is in the heavens will be laughing: the Lord will make sport of them. 5 Then will his angry words come to their ears, and by his wrath they will be troubled: 6 But I have put my king on my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will make clear the Lord's decision: he has said to me, You are my son, this day have I given you being. 8 Make your request to me, and I will give you the nations for your heritage, and the farthest limits of the earth will be under your hand. 9 They will be ruled by you with a rod of iron; they will be broken like a potter's vessel.
10 So now be wise, you kings: take his teaching, you judges of the earth. 11 Give worship to the Lord with fear, kissing his feet and giving him honour, 12 For fear that he may be angry, causing destruction to come on you, because he is quickly moved to wrath. Happy are all those who put their faith in him.
31 Lord, how greatly are they increased who make attacks on me! in great numbers they come against me. 2 Unnumbered are those who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. (Selah.) 3 But your strength, O Lord, is round me, you are my glory and the lifter up of my head.
4 I send up a cry to the Lord with my voice, and he gives me an answer from his holy hill. (Selah.) 5 I took my rest in sleep, and then again I was awake; for the Lord was my support. 6 I will have no fear, though ten thousand have come round me, putting themselves against me. 7 Come to me, Lord; keep me safe, O my God; for you have given all my haters blows on their face-bones; the teeth of the evil-doers have been broken by you. 8 Salvation comes from the Lord; your blessing is on your people. (Selah.)
171 Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews: 2 And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings, 3 Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ. 4 And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women. 5 But the Jews, being moved with envy, took with them certain low persons from among the common people, and getting together a great number of people, made an outcry in the town, attacking the house of Jason with the purpose of taking them out to the people. 6 And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here; 7 Whom Jason has taken into his house: and they are acting against the orders of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. 8 And hearing these things the people and the rulers of the town were troubled. 9 And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go.
10 And the brothers straight away sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea: and they, when they came there, went to the Synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so. 12 And a number of them had faith, and no small number of the Greek women of high position and of the men. 13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had news that Paul was preaching the word at Beroea, they came there, troubling the people and working them up. 14 So the brothers sent Paul straight away to the sea: but Silas and Timothy kept there still. 15 But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.
(Read Acts 17:1-9)
The drift and scope of Paul's preaching and arguing, was to prove that Jesus is the Christ. He must needs suffer for us, because he could not otherwise purchase our redemption for us; and he must needs have risen again, because he could not otherwise apply the redemption to us. We are to preach concerning Jesus that he is Christ; therefore we may hope to be saved by him, and are bound to be ruled by him. The unbelieving Jews were angry, because the apostles preached to the Gentiles, that they might be saved. How strange it is, that men should grudge others the privileges they will not themselves accept! Neither rulers nor people need be troubled at the increase of real Christians, even though turbulent spirits should make religion the pretext for evil designs. Of such let us beware, from such let us withdraw, that we may show a desire to act aright in society, while we claim our right to worship God according to our consciences.
(Read Acts 17:10-15)
The Jews in Berea applied seriously to the study of the word preached unto them. They not only heard Paul preach on the sabbath, but daily searched the Scriptures, and compared what they read with the facts related to them. The doctrine of Christ does not fear inquiry; advocates for his cause desire no more than that people will fully and fairly examine whether things are so or not. Those are truly noble, and likely to be more and more so, who make the Scriptures their rule, and consult them accordingly. May all the hearers of the gospel become like those of Berea, receiving the word with readiness of mind, and searching the Scriptures daily, whether the things preached to them are so.
