Sermons 2026

Text: Psalm 46

Outline
1.    Fortress!
2.    God as Protection no matter what happens.

3. God's Protection now

Sermon

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation is the Introit, Psalm 46 verses one through eleven.
Beloved lambs, I pray that you are doing well today. I have a rock, how strong are rocks? Rocks are really super strong. They are hard to break and they stand for a long time. Buildings used to be built out of nothing but rocks. They used to build really big buildings called fortresses that would be a place of safety and protection for everyone around. The Psalmist calls God our Fortress. How is God our Fortress? How does He defend and protect us still today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Fortress

How many of you have ever seen a fortress? I am sure you have seen depictions of some. They are popular in mythologies and movies. We might think of the Fortress of Hornburg from Lord of the Rings movies where the battle of Helm’s Deep is depicted, Alnwick Castle, England as seen in the Harry Potter series, Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland – which was the setting for Highlander, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, Fort Sumter in South Carolina, or even the Great Wall of China.

These massive marvels of engineering and manpower, typically built of giant stones, hewn and placed together just right. They are strong and well-made. They are usually built upon places that are easy to defend because they have a singular purpose. When the enemy attacks, the people have a place of safety to run to for protection. 

Where do you run to for protection? When things go bad, we tend to roll up our sleeves, pick up our tools, and start building many fortresses of our own making for our protection and defense. 
When our job becomes difficult, and co-workers become unbearable, many make fortresses of alcohol. They seek relief in the numbing bottom of the bottle as a way to deal with the pain and stress of the world. When wives become unbearable and nagging, husbands, what do you do? The garage and outdoor projects become your fortress as a way of finding peace while at home. Wives, when your husband becomes cold and distant, then friends and gatherings often become a fortress rather than talking to each other. 

Children, you are always perfect right? I wish! Parents make fortresses out of each other, looking to the other for strength, support, advice, and comfort so that the children can be raised together. Parents often make fortresses of good grades or sports, living vicariously through their children so that their hopes and dreams that the parents had as children may be realized. All of these buildings of our own fortresses is sin. Not that it is all necessary sinful in and of itself. Rather it is sin because we are looking for security, hope, and protection apart from our real fortre69ss. No matter how well a fortress is built, eventually, it will be destroyed and overwhelmed by the enemy. The same is true of everything that we find our protection in apart from God.

2.    God as Protection no matter what happens.

Our real fortress is God Himself as the Psalmist states. “    God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  ” God is not against us. He is not our enemy seeking to overthrow us and destroy us. We rightly deserve to be overthrown and destroyed, as well as much more, because of our sins.

Yet, in His grace and mercy, God is our Fortress. He is the only one that we turn to in the midst of calamity, trial, and hardship because He is the only one who can save us from everything evil that befalls us in this body and life.  As we sing in 656 A mighty Fortress, based upon our text, we can do nothing under our own power, “but for us fights the valiant One, whom God Himself elected.” We know the certainty of God’s great love for us as He has appointed One to fight for us on our behalf against all of our enemies. Who is this? This is Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus has defeated every single one of our enemies. Jesus has saved us from the temptations of the Devil. Through Jesus’ blood shed for us upon the cross, God has freed us from our sins because He laid the punishment for our sins upon Jesus Christ. Dying, Jesus destroys the power of death by rising again from the dead. With God on our side, what do we have to fear? Nothing! As Luther states, Christ holds the field forever on our behalf. Jesus holds the victory and gives it freely to us.

God security for us in Christ is assured no matter what happens upon this earth. As the Psalmist says, “though the earth give 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. ” As sure and steadfast as mountains are, they can and will eventually fade away. Even if something were to happen that would cause them to be moved and thrown into the sea, we would have nothing to fear. We fear nothing because God is our present help, even to the end of the age.

Even if everything we know dissolves into nothingness, the mountains moved into the heart of the sea, the earth itself quake and fade away as it is consumed by fire at the end of time. We fear not because of the great love that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ. As Jesus promises, He is with us always to the very end of the age. When He comes again in power and glory, everything will fade away and will be remade in the new heaven and new earth. Then, we shall live with Him forever in a wonderful city, a city of glory, protected, secure, and safe forever. “The city of God is the church, especially as it is at peace in heaven. In Revelation chapter 21 our eternal home is described as a strongly fortified city in which God’s people dwell in complete security. The waters of the sea are restless and dangerous, but the river of God is peaceful and life-giving. This river reminds us of the rivers of Eden that sustained life there. In this psalm and in Revelation, the river represents the life-giving power of God that will sustain us throughout eternity. Revelation 22:1–5 describes our eternal home as a new Eden, watered by the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God.

We begin to experience the fulfillment of these verses already in this life. The Lord preserves his city, the church, from destruction. Since God’s Word sustains our faith, it is often compared to waters of life. Nevertheless, the ultimate fulfillment of the promises of these verses will come only in the new heavens and the new earth.  

3.    God’s protection now

God is our Fortress. He guards and protects us even now upon this earth from all harm and danger. He uses His might and power for our good. We might think of how God bared His holy arm to rescue His people in the Bible. The Exodus, when God freed Israel through the waters of the Red Sea, of the rescue of Jerusalem from the might of the Assyrians, the restoration of Israel from exile in Babylon, the incarnation, perfect life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So too, God guards you. He keeps you in the true faith through the power of His Holy Spirit. He continues to give you His Word and promises though the Pastoral Office. He is your constant and present help. He protects you from harm and danger. He gives you everything that you need, maybe not everything that you desire, for this body and life, unto life everlasting6.

Continue to run to safety. Safety and security found not in your own actions or hands. True safety found in the Lord who is your fortress and might, a present help in danger, until the day when all is made new, and we are perfectly at peace forever and ever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.