God Is Your Strength And Shield

Armed Forces, police and firemen train and then comes the test.  When the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem this began the test for Daniel to exercise the Word of God he read by King David in Psalm 28:7:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him”

Psalm 28:7

Do you think Daniel called to his wife, “Honey shut the windows, lock the front door and get my sword because I have to fight to protect you and my stuff!”  Now, when the enemy knocked on his door to capture Daniel and take him back to Babylon he didn’t violently fight to defend his property, but he did fight to stay faithful to the Lord his God.  When things are going well it’s easy to say, “God loves me!”  But, to stay faithful when you are asked to serve a foreign king who declares himself to be a god?  Darius was Daniel’s God-given king, but the Lord God was his “strength and my shield.”  Daniel would face many threats to his faith, some that could even cost him his life, but when you think of Daniel I would guess everyone here thinks, “Daniel was a man who stood up against all odds to remain faithful to the Lord his God!”  Daniel knew it.  King Darius would learn it.  Luther would also experience it.  And I pray that you STAY STEADFAST to confess it as well on this Reformation Day!

God Is Your Strength And Shield!

When the Trap Is Set

The Lord was with Daniel in Babylon.  Earlier in the book we learn the king told his advisors to pick out the best men from the Jerusalem prisoners for a special purpose,

“⁴He was to choose young men who had no blemish, who were good looking, who had insight into all kinds of wisdom, who possessed knowledge, understanding, and learning, and who were capable of serving in the king’s palace, …. He ordered that they should be trained for three years. At the end of training they were to serve the king. ⁶In this group of young men… [was]…Daniel”

Daniel 1

Daniel was faithful to the king.  He was so good that his peers became jealous and devised an evil plan to catch Daniel doing something wrong. 

“⁷ The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den”

Daniel 6:7

You’ve seen this happen before!  They pitted the arrogance of Darius and the faithfulness of Daniel against each other.  Their plan made Daniel’s faithfulness illegal that would lead to his death. It worked.

“¹⁰ Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. ¹¹ Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. ¹² So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” ¹⁶ So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den.”

We all know how the devil loves to trick people.  Just imagine the temptations for Daniel!  See if any of these sound familiar when you got back advise from friends and society:

1) His friends said, “Daniel! Just cool it for a while. Master the art of silent prayer or at least close the drapes in the window while you’re praying!

2) Don’t be so obvious in your faithfulness!  Didn’t Jesus say,

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray”

Matthew 6:6

3) You don’t have to wear your religion on your sleeve!  Hide your faith for a while because what good will you do the Lord if you’re dead!?!

4) We don’t want anything bad to happen to you! The ends justify the means so just give up praying for a month.  That’s only 30 days.  That won’t kill you!”

You can imagine these temptations because they have happened to you! We’ve been tempted to keep our faith to ourselves.  We have been tempted to avoid having our souls fed God’s Word with far less consequences than Daniel. But, we still crumble and fall apart.  Then “the Lion” called Satan comes with his little cubs called Rejection, Loneliness, Embarrassment, Laziness, and Fear!  Then Satan tells us that those lions will devour us if we try to live the way God wants us to!  It is too obvious in our world today!  Go against the culture of “my opinion is more important than that truth” and that lion will eat you alive!  I know you’re afraid because I am, too!  Just like that the devil’s trap is set.

 Martin Luther experienced traps like that, too.  He was tempted to go with the flow of the Roman Catholic Church.  And it got worse when he found a copy of the Bible and read it.  The more he read and shared with others, the fiercer the lions of temptation were licking their chops!  Some of those lions were church leaders who should have been shepherding the flock, but instead they were stealing money from them by selling pieces of paper that were supposed to get their dead relatives out of purgatory and into heaven (indulgences).  Do you know the name of the chief lion in Luther’s day?  Leo!  Pope Leo X was the leader of the church who was much more concerned about money than the souls of people.  Martin Luther’s message from God’s Word was a threat to Leo’s prosperity.  The gospel was once again brought back into the light of day and devil’s Trap Was Set!  He pitted the truth of God’s Word against the arrogance of the pope.  Praise God, Luther remained faithful to God His Strength and Shield!  The Holy Spirit gave Luther the strength he needed from God’s Word to

Fight To Win The Bet

Now, when I say “Win the Bet” I don’t mean Luther was using money.  No, he was leaning his life on the truth of God’s Word.  That’s what faith does. 

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”

Hebrew 11:1

This is what Daniel did.

“¹¹ Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.”

That got him sentenced to be thrown into the Lion’s den.  And just like Daniel, Luther remained faithful to God’s Word.  In 1520 Pope Leo labeled Luther as a heretic and warned people how dangerous his teachings were.  9 months later Luther was standing before another lion, Emperor Charles V, at the Diet of Worms.  The Emperor wanted Luther to recant, that is, to take back all his writings and admit he was wrong.  It was just like Daniel who refused to turn his back on the Lord that Luther said, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason….I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.  Here I stand.  I can do no other.  So help me God!  Amen!”  The bet was made.  Would his faith in the Lord save him or kill him?  It looked as though it would kill him since Charles put a death sentence on Luther just like Daniel.

“¹⁶ So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

But, like he did for Daniel, so he did for Luther.

“¹⁹ At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. ²⁰ When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”  ²¹ Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! ²² My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” 

Luther was also rescued from the mouth of the lions by his friends who pretended to kidnap him, and actually took him safely to the Wartburg Castle.  Do you know what happened next?  Luther wasn’t silenced but was given alone time as he translated the Bible into German so people could read God’s promises with their own eyes!

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him”

Psalm 28:7

Daniel and Luther Fought to Win The Bet.

These were both men with extraordinary faith.  They had something else as well.  They both had sin.  Yes, each man received grace and forgiveness from the Lord to protect their lives.  But, neither man assumed credit for themselves.  For instance, Luther hated the name “Lutheran Church” because it wasn’t about him.  He preferred to call his new church “Evangelical” because it was all about the Good News of Jesus Christ!  Yes, they were sinners who appreciated the forgiveness of sins they had by the grace of God alone, found in Scripture alone, and were received through faith alone.  It was all about the God—Their Refuge and Strength! They remained STEADFAST in their faith as Daniel looked forward to the promised Messiah,

“As I looked, ‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze’”

Daniel 7:9

While he preached Luther often pointed back to the crucifix to remind his listeners of the free and full forgiveness in Jesus.

Jesus faced lions, too.  Jesus remained more than faithful to his Father in heaven when he faced his lions, he defeated them.  Jesus started from the top down beginning with Satan as St. John wrote,

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”

1 John 3:8

When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus defeated him with God’s Word. 

Dear Christian friends, this is our confidence on this Reformation Day. You know the joy of knowing that you have won!  This happened when Ronny Jackson took me to the horse races.  I hadn’t won a race and had to go to the restroom.  When I came out Ronny said, “Give me $2.”  Okay – and I did.  He returned to the seats and handed me $20!  He said, “You won!”  As he smiled and I realized he has already won the race and gave a victory to me!  That’s the confidence of Daniel who remained STEADFAST on the Lord’s promises and survived the lion’s den.  Luther remained STEADFAST on the Word of God and survived attacks by his enemies.  So, our confidence is in Jesus’ victory.  We will end the service today with the Reformation hymn that Luther wrote, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!” 

Dear Christian friends, the lions of Devil, sinful flesh and the world are going to keep attacking you because they hate you so much.  I pray that your answer to them is the same as Daniel’s answer,

“²² My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me.”

I pray that your answer is the same as Luther’s, “I am bound by the Scriptures… and my conscience is captive to the Word of God….Here I Stand!”  Yes, Stay Steadfast To Stay Faithful. When the Trap is Set.  Fight to Win the Bet for God Is Your Strength and Shield! Amen!