A Mighty Fortress
Spiritual Warfare • Sermon • Submitted
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1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
Psalm 46:1-3
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Psalm 46:4
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
We’re still in our sermon series on Spiritual Warfare but I am going to talk about a fortress.
Fortress - A Military stronghold, a fortified city.
In ancient warfare, in order to conquer a city, an invading army will have to penetrate or breakthrough a fortress.
There is a story ancient times where an old city had a very strong fortress. Because the walls of the city was so strong, the enemy armies decided not to destroy the walls of the city. But rather they employed a tactic of trying to destroy the city from within by stopping the supply of food and water from outside the city.
So they isolated the city so that no one can go out of it. In fact it was very similar to a quarantine.
So we know what will happen to the people in the city right since no one can go out and no basic supplies can come in?
Eventually they will starve and before they die the city will implode from within. There are real stories of people in an ancient city called Samaria that was besieged by the Syrian army where because of hunger, the inhabitants started to go after each other and started eating each other and resorted to cannibalism.
There is a similarity with this story with what is happening to the world and this country with the spread of the coronavirus. This is a virus that may have come from outside but slowly grew from within. People can’t go outside and eventually they started going after each other competing for basic supplies, like toilet paper and to asians rice. I’m glad shortage of rice is not an issue in our home because we are fasting at this time.
America is known to be the world’s greatest superpower. But this month we saw how unprepared this country is. All the weapons for national defense are powerless against this tiny microbe called the Coronavirus. Life as we knew it was brought to a halt. If this does not stop, this country can be destroyed without any bullets or rockets being fired.
God has shown us that our greatest defense, our fortress is not America’s military might.
Actually God is our Mighty Fortress!
is a magnificent Psalm that talks about God being our strong fortress!
It has three movements separated by the word Selah.
Verses 1-3 - God protects us even through natural earthly calamities.
Verses 4-7 - God protects us even though nations rage (attacks or lay siege)
Verses 8-11 - God protects us from His judgement.
Verse 1 God is our refuge and strength.
Refuge - When you are afraid
Refuge - When you are afraid
Strength - When you are weak
God is our ever-present help in time of trouble. That means God is ever with us to rescue us.
God is our ever-present help in time of trouble. That means God is ever with us to rescue us.
He will rescue us from the present danger or crisis that we see.
In fact, he can rescue us from any danger that we can imagine that is yet to happen.
2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
We should not be afraid of any form of catastrophe that you can imagine.
Though the earth gives way - doomsayers say that a single asteroid ( that hits the earth will wipe out all life forms on earth. Even with that, there is no reason to fear - God is our refuge and strength.
Verse two of this Psalm says: Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. - These are what ifs?
Do you know that the coronavirus was a what if? Several years ago Bill Gates talked about “what if a global pandemic hits the world? Are we going to be prepared as a country?
There are other what ifs that we think about.. doomsday scenario.
experts predict that there are earthquakes that are about to happen on the west coast of the United States one along the San Andreas fault and one on the northwestern part called the cascadian subduction zone. (fact check), experts also say that yellowstone is a very active volcano that once it erupts - will destroy much of the US.
What if all these things happen?
But in all these worst case scenarios that can take place - you have nothing to fear, If you are in Christ, God is a source of refuge and strength. What a great assurance.
Now we go to the second part of the Psalm...
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
This part of the Psalm talks of God’s protection when the nations rage.
Psalm 46:40-7
This part of the Psalm talks of God’s protection when the nations rage.
This part of the Psalm talks of God’s protection when the nations rage.
This part of the Psalm talks of God’s protection when the nations rage.
The historical background of this Psalm is when Jerusalem under King Hezekiah was surrounded by the Assyrian army. So the Kingdom was under siege.
The strategy of the Assyrian army was not to immediately attack the city. Before they risk the lives of their armies or use their energy or weapons by attacking the city, they tried to stop the supply of food and water by surrounding the city so that no one can go in and out. Water is a precious commodity in Jerusalem because it is one of the few cities not built on a river. So the strategy is to hold the people of Jerusalem captive inside the city without food and water until finally the just give up and surrender.
Wisely, Hezekiah built an underground tunnel that connected the Spring of Gihon with the Pool of Siloam within the city, so water was available.
In the midst of the current turmoil in the outside world, where people engage in panic buying and horde basic supplies. We have an inner supply that will not run out.
The psalmist says there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.. the imagery of a river tells us of continuous satisfaction, replenishment and life.
The book of Revelation in the 21st chapter tells us that there will be a river of life that will flow from the throne of God to the eternal city of God, the New Jerusalem Hallelujah.
But there is a source of living water that will satisfy forever.
Jesus said in .
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
John 4:10
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The Spirit of Christ living in us will be water that will continue to satisfy, and refresh and replenish. He said we will never be thirsty again!
This is the kind of life God wants for us, that we receive from that fount of living water and out of us that spring will well up to eternal life.
There is that internal source of peace and satisfaction that you will not be affected by what’s going on around you.
Psalmist says:
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
There may be an external siege from enemy forces, trying to block supply from outside, attempting to weaken and discourage, and to give up. But it doesn’t matter there is an inner supply of living water that flows out of you the follower of Jesus and you will not be moved.
Actually God causes that living water inside of us to overflow so we can serve others. You have neighbors around you who are scared, tell them about the love of Jesus. Proclaim the good news that Jesus loves them and that He paid the price for all their sins. That He is offering them this living water too.
Next: The Psalm deals with the coming judgement.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Psalm 46:
We see how this coronavirus had changed our lives dramatically, stopped normal life dead on its tracks, crippled the economy.
We see how this coronavirus had changed our lives dramatically, stopped normal life dead on its tracks, crippled the economy.
But there is a final judgement of this world that is coming. A final desolation of the earth, a final judgement of the ungodly.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:
There will be a great war that will end all wars.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.
Psalm 46:9
There will be a final battle called the battle of Armageddon, where Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of lords will deliver Satan and his armies the final blow and judgement will come. The old heaven and earth will pass away and a new heaven and earth will come.
Before that, Jesus said there will be a great tribulation a great time of suffering in the world like was never seen before.
Scared of the Coronavirus? It may have crossed your mind that this may be the end of the world. I believe it will get better before we see something worse. I am not a doomsday prophet, but Jesus said this is just the beginning of birth pains.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO THEN?
I love this next verse:
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Repeat. This is a very popular verse among us followers of Jesus.
In the midst of the darkness and the turmoil in the world. I will remain still and quiet at peace with the Lord, because He remains to be God.
We use this scripture for meditation and as a call to worship.
There is another meaning, you see the word of God is a two-edged sword, it can be a word of assurance for those who belong to Christ or a warning and invitation to those who don’t belong to Him.
You see the words for be still, in the Hebrew Rapha. Also means, to desist, or to let go, to release, in other words quit resisting or fighting.
At this time, God in His mercy and love is calling out to the world. I am God, I will be exalted no matter what and I am showing you what I can do in this present crisis.
Stop resisting me, You don’t have to fight me anymore. Surrender!
Stop kicking against a solid wall. Surrender!
Stop rejecting Jesus Christ. Surrender and receive Jesus Christ today.
says to those who receive Jesus, to those who believe in His Name.. He gave them the right to become children of God.
That is the call of the hour. Surrender stop fighting, be at peace with Your creator and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior.
Would you give Your life to Jesus today? Tired of the chaos, the uncertainty, the lack of answers from the world? The world has nothing to offer. You turn to CNN for information and what you get is fear and depression
Amid the chaos in the world, you can have the peace that matters the most, peace with God. All you have to do is to say a prayer from Your heart, believing that He is a God Who hears and He will give you lasting peace and eternal life.
from where you are repeat these words after me. If you are family pray altogether.
Dear God,
I am tired of running away from you. I have turned to the world. But there are no answers. I am tired of fighting You. Today I surrender, and I give my life to You.
Lord Jesus,
Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with Your living water, Your Holy Spirit. And make me the person You want me to be.
My own prayer.
If you prayed that prayer from your heart, God guarantees from His word that you are now His child, you have been born again. The Bible says now you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Drop a comment below this livestream post and we will see you when we can gather again. Welcome to the family of God.
God bless You all and see you next week. Remember, God is our refuge and strength in these troubled times.