Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Psalm 91:1-4,9-16
Pastor: Pastor Horton
Sermon Date:  September 29, 2024

Psalm 91:1-4, 9-16

1 One who lives in the shelter of the Most High will stay in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

 3 Surely he will rescue you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague.

4 With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you will find refuge. His truth will be your shield and armor.

9 Yes, you, Lord, are my refuge! If you make the Most High your shelter,

10 evil will not overtake you. Disaster will not come near your tent.

11 Yes, he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.

12 They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent.

 14 The Lord says, Because he clings to me, I will rescue him. I will protect him, because he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in distress. I will deliver him and I will honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him, and I will let him see my salvation.

For those of you parents or grandparents (or Godparents) of our school children, you know the scene well: somewhere around 7:45-8am on each school day as you approach the school doors pastor or one of the teachers are there to greet you every morning and give each child the Eastside welcome of a fist-bump.

Now there may be some of you who were a little bit afraid of this.  When you (Pre-K through 2^nd graders) were younger, maybe you weren’t so sure about those adults who were stand outside in the morning.  Especially when you are little, we adults can look pretty big, and if we didn’t shave in the morning can sometimes look maybe a little scary.  At least…you might be careful and cautious.  And so, what might these little ones do?  They look for those parents who tower over them and who give them security.  They may even run behind them and while their parent is standing, grab on and hold on tight to each leg with each one of their arms and look out to make sure everything is okay.  They have their own fortress of mom or dad.  They know them.  They trust them.  They find safety there with their parent.

As we heard the words of Psalm 91 for this morning, a similar picture is being painted for us when it comes to our almighty God who not only towers over us, but he also acts for us and serves us as our might Father in heaven.  When we feel scared or in danger – when the world seems too wild and wicked – when Satan lays his snares – we are able to, no matter our age, run to God and grab on to his good gospel promises to save us and to protect us.  We see that most clearly through the work of Jesus.  And we are reminded today that we have Safety with our Savior.

And that comfort is needed, isn’t it?  It ws needed for the author.  We don’t know the human authorship of Psalm 91, but it does pair up with Psalm 90, and so perhaps Moses wrote both.  And while the previous words of Psalm 90 spoke of the limitations of our human life and swift passing of our days – Psalm 91 for today looks to the towering God we have who has by saving our lives in Christ, given us hope and a future, and reminded us that we have worth and purpose and are precious to our God.

Take a look at the opening four verses, and the variety of pictures painted for us in their words as we live “in the shadow of the Almighty.”  Verse 2, “I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”  Surely he will rescue you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague.  With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you will find refuge.  His truth will be your shield and armor.  Like framed art in an entire museum of our God’s goodness: here’s a picture of a soon-to-be-besieged city as the people are streaming into walls and looking for the high point on a hill – the stronghold.  Here with our God is protection from the enemy that brings destruction with him and safety from the plague that brings death.  And then another picture of baby birds scurrying under the outstretched wings of the momma bird.  They move with quickness for they had just escaped the foul fowler and tricky trapper, the devil, who had been patiently attempting to bait and lure and capture and do harm to them.  Under the wings of our God, we find wonderful safety.  And yet in another masterpiece of a picture as we find a soldier, explained so well a few weeks ago on Christian Education Sunday of how God’s Word of truth serves our armor and security from personal attacks and sneaky temptations of the evil ones.

But the museum hall full of great pictures of the safety and salvation we have with our God, really extends into an entire wing, if you will, on this celebration of St. Michael & All Angels.  “If you make the Most High your shelter, evil will not overtake you.  Disaster will not come near your tent.  Yes, he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.  They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  The Lord of Hosts is powerful, as Jesus reminds Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane when he says, “Do you not realize that I could call on my Father, and at once he would provide me with more than twelve legions of angels?”   

And who exactly are these angels?  Each was created by the all-knowing and all-powerful God and he saw to it that they were “very good.”  They are not former humans who pine away trying to get their wings in heaven as Hollywood portrays them and as Hallmark cards describe them.  They are invisible spirit beings who in the Bible have taken on various forms as they serve the will of God.  They are not omniscient for they do not know the “day or hour” of the Son of Mans return on Judgment Day.  They will be active on that day as they gather believers to Jesus and to our heavenly home.  And they are active now, serving as messengers and as warriors of the Almighty.  They are not tv-angels walking around as moralizing gurus, but we will interact with them and by blessed as they serve God on our behalf.  And they are powerful.  We find one angel annihilating an army in 2 Chronicles and shutting the mouth of a lion in the book of Daniel, who saw “thousands upon thousands” attending the Ancient of Days on his judgment seat.  And John in Revelation heard “ten thousand times ten thousand.”

We yet we also find angels at great gospel moments in the Scriptures.  At the calling of Isaiah, they are there and announced to him that with God “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”  When the time had fully come, they announced the birth of the Jesus in Bethlehem who would “save his people from their sins.”  There at the empty tomb on the Sunday of the Resurrection it was an angel who announced “you are looking for Jesus, who is crucified.  He is not here, he is risen.”  And at Jesus ascension to highest heaven where he would be in full control of all things – including seeing us safely home, it was angels who said to the gawking disciples still looking into the sky “The same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

What good reminders for you and me of the Almighty God in action to save us from our sins and to get us, both body and soul, home to heaven thanks to Jesus.  You can’t help but think when you hear a verse like verse 13, “You will tread on the lion and the cobra.  You will trample the young lion and the serpent.”…of the defeat of the devil who is prowling around like a roaring lion.  Or of the first gospel promise of a Savior in Genesis 3:15, when we’re told that Jesus would come to smash the head and the hold the serpent had upon us.

The truth is that there are not just physical dangers in this world but spiritual dangers as well.  And sometimes we do get enticed by the devil and take the bait of temptation.  Sometimes we don’t heed the warning and fail to scamper to the protection of our God.  Sometimes we are neglectful of putting on the full armor of God.  And our own sinful flesh thinks it can survive just fine on its own apart from God.  But the world quickly entangles us in sin.  Born spiritual outsiders our sin – our own sins – should send us to death, and to eternal death apart from God.

But we hear our Savior come to our aid.  Jesus, the Chosen One of God, goes into action to utterly defeat the fallen angel Satan and his henchmen.  Jesus sheds his righteous blood on the cross so that we are cleansed, forgiven, and given a place with the saints and with the angels in the throne room of heaven.  Jesus strikes down the devil’s plan to doom you to destruction for eternity.  Jesus swings the sword of his word, defends and clarifies it’s truth.  He holds the field for you and for me.  He keeps his gospel of salvation from the twisted corruption of the devil.  Jesus sends out his armies of angels “concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.”  You are too precious to him.  He wants you: body and soul, in heaven one day.

Hear it from our big, towering parental God as seven verbs are used to describe God’s coming to your rescue: “The Lord says, because he clings to me, I will rescue him.  I will protect him, because he acknowledges my name.  He will call on me, and I will answer him.  I will be with him in distress.  I will deliver him and I will honor him.  With long life I will satisfy him, and I will let him see my salvation.”  Not only was your salvation personal to Jesus, so also is your safety.  Regardless of our remaining length of days here on earth, your God intends on giving to you an even longer and fuller life eternal with him in the glory of heaven.

Listen to the gospel of salvation in Jesus.  Watch the created angel hosts rejoicing over the gospel that saves you.  Cheer that Jesus has made Satan fall like lightning from the sky.  Run to shelter in God’s powerful gospel promises to you.  And look forward to heaven as your home, where you will find permanent rest, joy, and safety with your Savior.  Amen.