Bible Passage: Psalm 46
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: October 31, 2021

Bulletin October 31, 2021

Psalm 46

For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah.
According to alamoth. A song.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who can always be found in times of trouble.
² That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves
and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea.
³ Its waters roar and foam.
The mountains quake when it rises. Interlude

⁴ There is a river—its streams bring joy to the city of God,
to the holy dwelling of the Most High.
⁵ God is in her. She will not fall.
God will help her at daybreak.
⁶ Nations are in turmoil. Kingdoms fall.
God raises his voice. The earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of Armies is with us.
The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude
⁸ Come, look at the works of the Lord.
What a wasteland he has made of the earth!
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.
He shatters the bow. He cuts up the spear.
He burns the carts with fire.
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted on the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord of Armies is with us.
The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude

A Strong Refuge in an Unstable World

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ our Lord,

This Psalm sets before our eyes two contrasting images. The one image is a world in utter turmoil, a world with nations that rise and fall, a world with mountains that shake and tumble and disappear, swallowed up by the turbulent sea. But then the other image is a tranquil image, a peaceful image, the image of a single safe haven that rests undisturbed by the trouble and the terror all around. In the midst of a turbulent world, one solitary fortress stands firm. One strong refuge endures, unchanged and unchanging. And behind the solid bulwarks of this one strong refuge lies a city whose inhabitants enjoy perfect peace.

But outside of this strong refuge, is a world with no peace, a world with no foundation that will endure. Men may build and men may strive, but it will all one day fall. And that is the world in which Martin Luther lived. As a young man, Luther was building a foundation for his future that many would have seen as a very good foundation. He was studying to become a lawyer, and if Luther became a lawyer, many doors would be open for him, doors to wealth and prestige and worldly influence. But Martin Luther recognized that he needed something more than this. Even if you have a good job and you earn a good income, it will not do you any good if you end up in hell. Luther needed peace for his troubled conscience. He needed the assurance that all was right between him and God. He could hear the drums of judgment signaling a dreadful day to come, a day when this world and all that men have built will all be utterly undone, a day when all flesh will stand before the judgment seat and all will give an account before the almighty.

What plea could Luther make in the judgment? He had no enduring foundation to stand on. So he set out to build one. He left school, he said goodbye to his friends, he sold his possessions, and he joined a monastery. There Luther spent his days in a painstaking attempt to purge his soul of evil and to strive after righteousness. But the more Luther tried, the more he found himself failing. Maybe your experience has been similar that the more you try to do good, the more evil you find in yourself. Luther gained no comfort from his monastic life. He still dreaded the thought of God’s judgment, and he still had no peace for his terrified conscience until he found the river.

“There is a river—its streams bring joy to the city of God, to the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in her. She will not fall. God will help her at daybreak,” [4-5]. Now, we’re going to consider that river in just a moment, but when the psalm speaks about the “holy dwelling of the Most High,” it is using temple language. In the Old Testament times, it was in the temple, and specifically in the Holy of Holies in the temple, that the Most High God dwelled in the presence of his people. Yet, from eternity, the LORD of Armies planned to dwell with us not merely in a house constructed of cedar wood and gold. He planned to dwell with us, and he came to dwell with us in a temple of human flesh and blood. He became one of us. In the person of Jesus, God dwells in our midst. He is true God, and he is true man; that is why he is called Immanuel, which means, “God with us.”

Now, it just so happens that this Immanuel made us a promise having to do with a river of water. The apostle John records that one day as Jesus stood in the temple, he called out with a loud voice, and he said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me,” [John 7:37,38]. John then goes on to tell us that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit.

That living water that Jesus promised is the Holy Spirit. He is the water that brings joy to the city of God. Still today, the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word, and the Holy Spirit works within us through the Word. When you open up the Bible, you are opening the fount of the water of life. The Holy Spirit is here in the words of this book. He brings us to faith in Jesus as our Savior. He fills us with the joy of salvation, and that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit did to Martin Luther.

After several years in the monastery, Luther’s superior Johann von Staupitz appointed him to serve as a professor and to lecture on the Scriptures at the University of Wittenberg. As Luther studied diligently in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit worked diligently in Luther. Finally, Luther found the peace and the security that he had never been able to manufacture for himself. No sinner can make himself acceptable to God. No sinner will be found righteous because of his own efforts. Instead, as Luther discovered in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, “The righteous will live by faith,” [1:17].

By faith we stand on a foundation not of our own making. We stand on the only foundation that will endure, the foundation of Jesus Christ. By faith, we trust not in our own attempts to be righteous. We trust in the perfect righteousness of Jesus, who lived a righteous life to be our righteousness, as the Prophet Jeremiah calls him [33:16]. By faith we depend not on our efforts to purge away sin. We depend on the sacrifice of atonement that was set forth on the cross of Jesus.

There, on the cross on that hill called Golgotha, the LORD of Armies stretched out his arms, to shield us from the wrath that we were due. By faith, we take refuge in Jesus under his outstretched arms. In him alone, we have security from all the troubles of this life. In him alone, we have peace in view of the Judgement Day to come. In Jesus, “the LORD of armies is with us,” and “the God of Jacob is a fortress for us,” [7].

He is that strong refuge, the only refuge that stands unshaken in this unstable world. That city, the blessed city he protects is his Holy Christian Church, the congregation of all who trust in him. By faith in Christ, we belong to that city too. We have tasted the living water, just like Luther tasted the living water from the Scriptures. Once Luther drank from that river, there was no going back. The sludge of papal pronouncements would not do. The polluted muck of scholastic sophistry would not do. Luther was pleased to draw all of his teaching from the pure fountain of Israel, the Holy Scriptures. From the Scriptures, he had the assurance that he stood justified by faith in Christ. From the Scriptures, he had peace in his conscience that nothing else in the world could give him. He finally stood in the city, sheltered by Christ, his Mighty Fortress. No threat from any man or any devil would move him from his refuge.

We can have the same unyielding confidence. The LORD is our protector. He is the one who fights for us. Even when Christ’s Church is threatened, those who attack the Church will come to nothing. The Psalm says, “Come, look at the works of the LORD. What a wasteland he has made of the earth! He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow. He cuts up the spear. He burns the carts with fire,” [8-9].

On at least two occasions in the Old Testament, the LORD saved his people by single-handedly destroying an entire army of a major world power overnight. When Pharaoh’s army pursued the Israelites through the Red Sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea down on top of the Egyptians. In the morning, the people of Israel saw them dead on the seashore. On the other occasion, when the Assyrian army threatened to besiege Jerusalem, the angel of the LORD struck down 185,000 Assyrians in a single night. In the morning, they were all dead bodies.

It does not end well for those who insist on fighting against the LORD. Many have tried to destroy the Church, but the LORD has powerfully thwarted all of their efforts. The river of living water will never stop flowing, and the city that lives from that water will never be destroyed. Christ has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church [Matthew 16:18]. Even if his people are assaulted and killed, Christ will raise them to glory just as he rose to glory himself.

The battle is his. The victory is his. He holds the field forever. So he speaks at the end of the psalm, and this is what the LORD, our strong refuge, says: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth,” [10]. These words are at the same time both a warning and an encouragement. They are a warning to all who are enemies of Christ and the gospel. Don’t make war on the LORD of Armies who melts the earth with his voice and who burns up the carts with fire. Don’t think that you’re going to fight against him with weapons that are flammable.

At the same time, the LORD’s Words are an encouragement to his people. Be still, and know that he is God. The battle is his. The fight is his. The salvation is his. He’s got it under control. Don’t think that you have to save yourself. He does the saving, and he gets the glory. Trust him, and worship him.

So as you look around and see a world in turmoil on all sides, do not despair, and do not put you hope in things that can rust or melt or decay or fall into the heart of the sea. Trust in the God of Jacob. Hope in the Most High. Believe in Jesus Christ, the only strong refuge, and cling to his Word. You are in the city that will not fall, and the LORD of Armies is with you.

Amen.

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