"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"

The Fourth sermon in our series: "Summer of Psalms

Scripture: Psalm 46

Dr. Matt Stewart

V.P. of Academic Affairs - Cross Theological Seminary 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Thank you for joining us today. At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus. People need each other. People change the world. And people leave legacies. Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit CrossChurch.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Well, good morning, church family. It's good to be with you. And for those who are joining us online, welcome. Thank you for making it a priority to be with us. It is true, the nerds have invaded. And so if this is your first time with us, sorry. But it really is good to be with you. My name's Matt Stewart. I'm one of your pastors, and I have the privilege of serving at Cross Theological Seminary, overseeing our academic program and uh teaching church history and systematic theology. So if a little of that slides into the message today, just go easy on me, okay? Um, but uh, you know, with today, I'm reminded of what a privilege it is to be a part of this church. Uh, the fact that by the grace of God, we've established a seminary in our church, and that as of this uh coming academic term, we're gonna have nearly 70 students preparing for their calling and full-time ministry, and they're gonna get to do that without paying any tuition because of your sacrificial giving. That's an incredible thing. Uh in some ways, it's it's unprecedented. And so thank you for being a people who caught the vision, who believe in the vision, who are a part of sending men and women to the nations. Uh what an honor it is to be a part of that. And if you're here today and you're wrestling with a call to vocational ministry, I know I'm a little biased because I work there, but I want to encourage you to think about applying. That's not a guarantee that you're going to join, but it's starting a conversation. Uh, one of our staff members would love to talk with you. I'd love to talk with you in the lobby afterward, but take that next step and let us come alongside of you. Maybe you're here and you're saying, you know, I don't feel called a vocational ministry in that sense. I'm I'm serving in my ministry in the public or private sector, at home with my children, but I want to be equipped. Great. We have something called CTS Nights, which is seminary for everyone that takes place on Wednesdays. Our next course is going to uh start September 2nd. Uh we're going to be studying theology together where we're asking the question, what do you believe and why does it matter? And so if you'd like to be a part of that, you can go to crossseminary.com slash CTS Knights, and you can join us starting September 2nd, and we would love for you to be a part of that. Well, with the end of summer, as we turn the corner and we're looking into the fall, there's a lot of wonderful things that happen in the fall, and not least of which is football comes back around. And so we can be grateful for that. But any any hunters in the room? A few? Okay, great. We're a little over a month out from the beginning of deer season, and so we have that to look forward to. Now, it's hard to think about that when it's 100 degrees outside. That would be a miserable experience. But what when I was growing up and learning to hunt, I had some great memories with my dad. And my dad had a process for helping me learn how to hunt by myself. And and usually that started with going with him and sitting where he sat in the woods. And so we're sitting next to each other. You're just learning how to sit still at that point and try to hold up the gun or the bow if you're using that. Over time, he'd set me down in front of a tree and he'd go walk off and sit not too far away. And then that would progress. He would walk away and try to push the deer to where I was sitting. And eventually I graduated to getting to try to sit in the tree stand, which if you don't know what a tree stand is, it's it's a a stand in the tree. So you you're you're sitting above the sight line of the deer, and you've you've got to do that safely. You've got to learn to get up and then pull uh your bow or your gun up, and again, you're learning to sit quietly and still. And and eventually over time, my dad would say, Now you're going to sit there. I'm going to go hunt on the other side of the property, and I'll be back to get you. And so you're learning to do that by yourself. And as a as a young person, that that can be a little intimidating. That can be a little scary. Now, dad was smart. He'd always whistle when he was coming up, so I didn't turn around and shoot or something like that. But there was that one day when finally it was, okay, I'm not going to walk with you to the tree stand. I'm not coming back to get you. You're going to make it back to the truck by yourself. Now, on the outside, I was like, oh, yeah, I got it. Sure. But inside, I'm terrified because I'm going to be alone by myself. I'm going to have to get up into the tree stand, get down without hurting myself, but I'm going to do it. And so that day came and I walked to the tree stand and did all the things that dad taught me to do and saw nothing but squirrels and birds. That's why my dad would call it hunting and not killing. You're anyway. Um, so you sit there for a long time, and finally the light starts to fade. You're out of shooting light now, and you hear the coyotes start to howl, and everything that scurries in the leaves you think is coming to get you, but you can't stay there all night. You got to get back to the truck. And so finally you'd you'd climb down, you'd get out, and I just the sense of relief that would come when you walked across the field and you would see dad's truck sitting there and dad leaning against the truck. When you saw dad, you knew everything was going to be okay at that point. And and that really was what gave me comfort every time I did that. I knew that at some point I'm going to see Dad. Dad's going to come back for me, or I'm going to go see him at the truck. Because otherwise, it can be a very scary and lonely place. And truth be told, with this many people walking in this morning, we'd like to raise our hands, maybe, we'd like to praise the Lord, we'd like to engage in worship. But as we're walking in today, we feel lonely and we feel scared. It feels like no one understands what we're walking through right now. Or maybe it feels like the ground is crumbling beneath your feet. Maybe you lost a job recently. Maybe you're working through the pain of a wayward child. Maybe there's been a surprise diagnosis that's upended everything. Maybe you've been experiencing false accusations at work or persecution even because you're striving to stand for what the Bible says is true. The reality is that on this side of Eden, all of us are going to experience trouble. All of us are going to have seasons where it feels like the world is falling apart, where it feels like the ground is crumbling beneath our feet, when it feels like we're all alone. And that's where a passage like Psalm 46 comes into play. Psalm 46 is a beautiful reminder that God has given us something even better than the absence of trouble. And that's the presence of Himself. Now, Psalm 46, as you've come to learn throughout this series, the book of Psalms consists of 150 individual psalms or poems or songs. And those 150 Psalms are broken up into five books. Psalm 46 is a part of book two, but it's a part of another subset of Psalms called the Psalms of Zion or the Psalms of Zion. And these are a set of psalms that celebrate the presence of God in Jerusalem. That's another name for Jerusalem, Zion. That God has come to make Israel his people. That's what they're celebrating. And so as they're walking through great times or they're walking through difficult times, these songs become declarations that God is with us, that God will protect us, that God will provide for us. Now, if we were sitting in church history together or systematic theology, you'd probably hear me say this quite a bit that there's always more that could be said, because there's so much that we could unpack from this passage, but we only have so much time. So you need to listen quickly. I'll talk quickly here. If you look at the superscription there, which is that kind of the little words there above 46, it says to the choir master of the sons of Korah, according to Alamuth. Now, what all of that means is this psalm was meant to be sung by the people. In fact, for lots of church history, the church has sung the psalms. These are ways of telling themselves what is true, even when it doesn't feel true in their hearts. And the fact that this is written by the sons of Korah could be a whole separate message in and of itself. And I don't even have time to get into that. But if you go back to Numbers chapter 16 and you read about Korah's rebellion against Moses and against Aaron, the fact that his descendants are writing a psalm about the presence of God is pretty uh outstanding here. And that term Alamuth, if you study it in the Hebrew and you consult scholars and you read commentaries, you'll come to the conclusion that we still don't have an idea of what it actually means. Um it probably means is it's an indicator of the tune that this song is to be sung to, or the kind of instruments that are to be used in the playing of this song. At any rate, it is a song. And songs are important. In fact, we walk into church and we sing together. Because the reality is you don't always feel like singing those songs. And sometimes you need someone to lead you to sing the truth of God because you don't feel it in your heart. That's the beauty of this psalm. So let's read Psalm 46 together. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth, he makes wars to cease to the end of the earth, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. The reality is that God's presence is what gives us courage in the face of trouble. Not pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, not by the hope of things getting better in this life. But God's presence with us is what gives us courage when we walk through suffering and we walk through hardship. Now, this is a great passage for a Baptist preacher because it lays out three points for us to declare to together. In fact, if you see that word sela at the end of verse 3, verse 7, and then verse 11, that was probably used when that song was constructed as an indicator to the choir, to the people, to take a breath. For the reader of the psalm, it's an indicator to pause and reflect. So it's to meditate on what you've just said. So naturally, you've got three sections here, which means this Baptist preacher's got three points for you. There are three truths to declare when you are facing trouble and you're thinking about the presence of God with you in the midst of that trouble. Truth number one that you need to declare, even if you don't feel it in your heart, is God is our ever-present protection and provision. God is our ever-present protection and provision. Notice those opening words. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. What I love about this is the psalmist is implying what God has been for us in ordinary times, He is especially for us in extraordinary times. That God shows Himself as our refuge, our safe place, our fortress as we walk through hardship. In fact, in the ancient world, a fortress was a place of safety. It was a place where a people could come and they would, in fact, have a tactical advantage over the enemy. If you look at this picture on the screen, this is a picture of a place called Masada in Israel, which is on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Herod the Great actually established it as his winter fortress in the first century BC. The top part is a village, and you can see his palace built into the side. It's an incredible construction, especially when you think about it being made in the ancient world, but it was a place where they could run to for safety. And in fact, that was Israel's last stand, their Alamo, in the first century A.D. as Rome was invading. To this day, Israeli special forces have their graduation ceremony at the top of Masada as a way of saying, we'll never give up, we'll never surrender. And so when we think about God being our fortress, that's sort of the picture, at least something like that, that the psalmist has in mind. That no matter what's going on around us, God is our place of refuge. He himself is our protection. He himself gives us what we need to endure the season that we're walking through. Because he's a good father. He knows how to care for his children. But when you hear that, you might say, well, if he's a good father, why not just lead us to avoid the treble altogether? Why not just rescue us out of that? William Plummer, who was a Presbyterian minister in the 1800s, put it this way: one great end of affliction is to cause us to return unto the Most High. The greater our distress, the more we need him. Experience is a great school for Christians. Without it, they would be babes all their days. The only thing worse than experiencing trouble and hardship in this life is God leaving us the way we are by not bringing us through trouble and hardship. Because God didn't save you just so that you could escape from hell. God saved you to conform you into the likeness of his son Jesus so that you would exist for all eternity to the praise of his glory. God, the sovereign ruler of the universe, as a good father, leads you through trouble, not around it, not over it, not under it. If you've read that story, we're going on a bear hunt. But instead, he leads us through it. And by leading us through it, we come to experience what we know to be true about God. It's not just knowledge out there, it's that God has shaped us in here. God gives us the gift of himself. And here's the reality: the promise that God will be our ever-present protection and provision is not the guarantee that this life is going to get better. You may be asking, why did I come to church today to hear that? The prosperity gospel will tell you that. But the gospel of Jesus Christ says that God Himself is the gospel. God is giving you the gift of Himself because that's what you were created for. And what God is promising is there is a city to come. There is a country we're bound for. And that is where we will experience everlasting peace. So God is bringing us through trouble now that we might learn who He is and what He is for us at all times. And that's why Paul can say in Romans chapter 5, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame. Why? Because God's love has been poured into our hearts. There it is, the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Because Christ Jesus conquered our ultimate enemy, sin on the cross and defeated the grave through his resurrection. You and I have confidence to face trouble, knowing that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. God is our ultimate refuge. He will always provide what is needed so that we can endure until the very end. That brings us to the second truth that we need to proclaim today, whether we feel it or not in our hearts. Not only is he our ever-present protection and provision, but God is our source of security and joy. God is our source of security and joy. The tone changes from verses one through three in verses four through seven. We go from it feels like the world is falling apart, everything is shaking beneath our feet, to this picture of serenity. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. The point that the psalmist is making here is that despite whatever is going on out there, God is in here. God is with us. Now, in the Old Testament, God was with his people in Jerusalem, in the temple. Now, to be very clear, God is everywhere at all times. He's omnipresent. But God showed up, God made his presence known in a unique way in the Holy of Holies, in the temple in Jerusalem. It acted as the throne room of God among his people. In the New Testament, that same God takes on flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1 14 tells us, and the word became flesh and tabernacled. And after his resurrection, he gave us something even more beautiful, the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 3 asks that rhetorical question: Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? So far better than God dwelling in the temple in Jerusalem, or even him walking physically among us, God Himself has come to live inside of everyone who's turned from their sin to trust in Jesus. There's nowhere you can go. There's no trouble you can walk through that God is literally not with you at all times. And that's why this imagery of this peaceful river with its streams flowing through the city is used. The reality is there is no river that flows through Jerusalem. The closest thing to a stream flowing through Jerusalem is what's called Hezekiah's Tunnel. Back in the Old Testament, the Gihon Spring was directed through a tunnel underneath the city into the pool of Siloam so that they would have a source of water even if they were being besieged by an enemy. If you want to, you can actually crawl through that tunnel today. You can walk through the water if you're not claustrophobic. It's really cool, though, if you get the chance to do it. But even that's not the picture here. The picture of a river is used all throughout the Old Testament as flowing. Through the city of God, because what God is saying is, I am your source of security and provision and joy. Just as a river brings life to its the surrounding area, God is saying, I'm here. I have everything you need. Your sense of security from the enemy who's besieging you is me. Your sense of joy, even when life is falling apart, comes from my presence dwelling with you. And this is why when we come to the book of Revelation in chapter 22, the picture of the new heaven reads like this Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. In other words, this is a brand new Eden. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face. There it is again. The gospel is about having him, the presence of God. His name will be on their foreheads, they'll be defined by him, and night will be no more. They'll need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Friends, we have here in Psalm 46 the future hope of the people of God. That God has been, is, and always will be our supply of security and joy. And one day, the pain that you are feeling from that lost loved one, from the uncertainty of the diagnosis you've received, from the trouble that you're walking through at work, that will cease. And until then, God is saying, I will be enough for you. Until that day comes, as Matthew 16, Jesus promises us, the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church. God will sustain us, He will be our fortress, He will deliver us. But there's a third promise that we need to declare today. That we need to speak. And I again I would encourage you, even this week, in the moments when you feel down, in the moments when you feel discouraged, that instead of listening to yourself, this might sound crazy, you should speak to yourself instead. Do you know what I mean there? When you're laying your head on the pillow at night and you're listening to yourself, to the thoughts running through your head, we're experts at listening to ourselves when we're suffering. What the psalmist is saying is say these things, declare these things, tell yourself the truth. That's why you sit under the preaching of the Word of God. That's why you come to worship, that's why you go to a small group, so that you can hear people tell you what you know to be true, even if it doesn't feel true in the moment. And what he tells us, this third truth, is that God will reign as our sovereign king forever. He will reign as our sovereign king forever. One day, every knee will bow, willingly or unwillingly, in submission to the great king. The peasant carpenter who showed up on the full of a donkey into Jerusalem will come back on a white steed with a robe dipped in blood, with a tattoo on his thigh that says King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And in that moment, every so-called power who raises itself against the Almighty, every enemy of the people of God will bow the knee and declare Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is why Paul gives us that in Philippians chapter 2, that Jesus has highly God has highly exalted Jesus and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And in fact, when you read verses 8 through 11 here, that's the picture. When he says, Be still and know that I am God, it's because he has conquered. Listen to the language. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes war cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. It's as if all of the enemy's supplies have been gathered up into a giant bonfire because Yahweh, the warrior king, has come and he has conquered. He has planted his flag in the ground and said, No one is sovereign except for me. That's our God. And he is ruling and reigning even now. And one day, the world will feel that rule and reign in a way it never has before. The God who spoke the world into being will come again and he will make it new because he will conquer every form of evil and every enemy against the people of God, and no one will be able to escape on that day. But for those who've turned from their sin to trust in Christ alone, we will say, Here is our King. He has come to save us. One of the ways that we live with that sort of confidence, that sort of expectation that Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, as that phrase is repeated twice here, the God of Jacob, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One of the ways that we declare, one of the ways that we live with hope that he will come is by looking to the past and remembering his faithfulness. This is one of the reasons why the Old Testament over and over again tells the people of God, remember, remember, remember. God is saying, Do you remember when I delivered you from Egypt? Do you remember when I parted the Red Sea? Do you remember when I provided food in the wilderness? Do you remember when I fought for you and I drove out your enemies from the promised land? Do you remember when I set your king on the throne? Do you remember that even when you ran from me and you sinned against me, I brought you out of exile back into the promised land? Do you remember? And so you and I personally are then challenged to remember. Do you remember when God provided for you when you didn't know how you were going to pay the bills? Do you remember when God protected you in that car accident when you should have been hurt much worse than you were? Do you remember when God provided a child for you when you didn't think you could have one? Do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember? Because when we remember his past faithfulness, we'll trust him for his future grace. We'll trust that God will be everything for us that he promises that he will be. That's why Pastor John Piper says the great promise of future grace is that nothing will ever enter your experience as God's child that by God's sovereign grace will not turn out to be a benefit to you. That is what it means for God to be God and for God to be for you and for God to freely give you all things with Christ. That doesn't mean that everything that comes into your life is good. But it means that our sovereign king is working all things together for your good, as Romans 8 promises. That God, who is the true and only sovereign king of the universe, doesn't allow anything to come into your life that he's not orchestrating for your ultimate good and for his glory. And that's why in that moment when you feel all alone, when you feel like the world is falling apart, when the ground is crumbling beneath your feet, you once again say, He is our sovereign king and he will reign forever. And though I don't feel it in my heart right now, I will declare it with the people of God so that I live with hope and trust him that he will be for me everything he promises to be. He is coming. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, because of his resurrection from the grave, we have the hope that God will come and make all things right and bring us safely into his heavenly kingdom. That's where we find comfort and confidence and joy. Now, I gave you a fair warning at the beginning of the sermon here that just for a second, I might bring in some church history along the way. So just for a second, okay? In 1521, the Catholic monk Martin Luther stood trial for his conviction that sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Contrary to what the Catholic Church had been teaching at that point. He was brought to an important meeting called the Diet of Verms in 1521, which, by the way, on his way there, he and his companions sang the 46th Psalm. And he stood on trial before the Emperor Charles V, who, as a result of the meeting, declared him an outlaw and a heretic. That night, as they were leaving, Luther was kidnapped by a local official's guards and taken to the Wartburg Castle. Now, the official was a supporter of Luther, and so he sent his guards to bring him to the castle for safekeeping. But for the next ten months, Luther sat in this castle contemplating what's going to happen. The emperor calls him an outlaw, the Pope calls him a heretic, he's got enemies all around him. We could understand if Luther had curled up in the fetal position and said, I'm done. I'm not going anywhere from here. But instead, very literally, Luther fortified himself with the Word of God. Over those ten months, Luther would take the Greek New Testament and translate it into German so that the people could have the scripture in their own language. And over the next six years, even as he returned to Wittenberg, he preached and he pastored and he wrote on the gospel of grace. He walked through hardship over those years. He gained enemies because of the stand that he took. In fact, in 1527, things got even worse when the bubonic plague came through Wittenberg, and Luther watched as friends and parishioners were dying around him. And perhaps worst of all, he and his wife Katie's infant son Hans passed away during this season. All kinds of trouble had come into Luther's life. And yet, once again, Luther turned to Psalm 46. And as he meditated on this scripture, he wrote a hymn. There it is again, declaring the truth of God, even when I don't feel it in my heart. And by stirring up those affections, I learned to praise him for who he is. I want to read these lyrics for you. You might have heard this song before. This is what Luther wrote. Our helper, he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel aid, on earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our side the man of God's own choosing? You ask who that may be, Christ Jesus, it is he, Lord Sabaoth, there it is again, his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fail him. That word, the Lord Jesus Christ, above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also, the body they may kill. God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Friends, I don't know what you're walking through today. But as Luther has taught us through this song, and as Psalm 46 reminds us, our God is a refuge for us. Our God is the divine warrior who fights for us. He will protect us, he will provide us, he will give us security and joy in a way that nothing else in this life can. And one day, he will bring us safely home. By looking to the past and remembering what he has done, we can look into the future with confidence for his future grace. That he will be for us everything that he promises to be in Jesus Christ. Is that the kind of confidence you have today? Maybe today needs to be a day where you just lay Psalm 46 out at this altar and you say, God, I need you to be this for me now. Maybe you need to come to one of our staff members and you need to unburden the trouble that you're feeling. Remember, this is a psalm to be sung with the community. We need each other. We need to hear the truth from each other. Come, share that today. Let them walk with you. And then maybe there are some here today who you don't have that sense of hope and security and peace and joy because you're still striving. God is saying to your soul, be still and know that I am God. Quit trying to live as your own God, as if you're in control because you're not. And if you'll turn from living in your sin and put your hope in Jesus Christ, he will deliver you from the judgment you deserve for your sin. Because Jesus took that for you. And he'll bring you into his kingdom so that you too can say, God is my refuge. He's my fortress. He's my deliverer. And again, our staff would love to help you walk through making that decision today. For all of us, let's be still and know that He alone is God. Lord God, we thank you for your word today. We thank you that you have spoken to us. And we pray that you would help us to cease striving in our own strength. Living with worry and anxiety and fear. We're being despondent and despairing. And you would help us to listen to the truth once again. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. I pray even now that you would lead us to respond as you're calling us. That the people of God would find comfort today. And if there's anyone here now, Father, who doesn't know you, lead them to come take the hand of one of our staff members today and to say, I need Christ. Lead them to faith in you. Move in our hearts today. And we pray these things by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

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