I Am Thy Fellowservant

Q: What does the Bible say about fellow servants?

Fellow servants are co-workers in the gospel who serve the same master, emphasizing equality among believers. The concept of fellow servants is rooted in Revelation 22:9, where the angel tells John not to worship him because he is a fellow servant, just like John. This term indicates that both serve the same master, highlighting that within the body of Christ, there is no hierarchy; each believer and servant is equal in their service. This equality is further illustrated throughout scripture, where ministers and congregants alike are reminded that they share the same position before God. All are united in their mission to glorify the Lord and spread His message.

Q: How do we know angels are not to be worshiped?

Angels are messengers and fellow servants of God, not to be worshiped as they serve the same Lord. In Revelation 22:9, the angel emphasizes that he is a fellow servant, like John, and therefore not worthy of worship. Worship is due to God alone, as angels themselves are created beings meant to carry out God's messages. This teaching reiterates the biblical truth that only God is to be honored and praised. The angel’s response serves to clarify the distinction between the worship due to God and the honor shared among His servants, reminding believers of the severe importance of worship and the rightful object of that worship.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand their role as fellow servants?

Recognizing our role as fellow servants fosters unity and humility within the body of Christ. Understanding ourselves as fellow servants underscores the truth that no one in the Church holds a position superior to others in the eyes of God. This concept is vital in maintaining unity and humility within the body of Christ. Each believer, regardless of their role or office, contributes to the work of advancing the Gospel. By recognizing this, Christians can celebrate their mutual dependence on one another and God’s grace, embracing the call to serve rather than seeking lordship over one another. Ultimately, this perspective nurtures a vibrant church that advances the mission of Christ collaboratively.

Q: How do angels serve God?

Angels serve God by delivering His messages and ministering to His people as His created messengers. Angels, as described in scripture, serve as messengers and ministers of God's will. Their role is outlined in various passages, including Revelation 22:6, where an angel is sent to reveal prophetic truths to the Apostle John. They act not only as bearers of messages but also as guardians and helpers for believers, reinforcing God's providence over His creation. Recognizing the function of angels within a sovereign grace framework highlights the omnipotent and purposeful nature of God, who uses both heavenly and earthly beings to accomplish His divine plans.

Q: Why do ministers emphasize the scripture as the only message?

Ministers emphasize scripture as the sole message because it is the divinely inspired truth revealing God's will. In the sermon, the speaker underscores the importance of adhering strictly to scripture when proclaiming God’s message. Ministers are called to deliver God's word as it is presented in the Bible without altering or editorializing it. The danger of deviating from the biblical text is significant, as it may distort the truth of the Gospel. This commitment to scripture is rooted in passages such as Ephesians 2:20, where the foundation of the church is said to rest on the apostles and prophets, whose messages are anchored in Christ Himself. Consistency with the biblical text ensures that the integrity of God’s revelation is preserved for the church and the world.

Revelation chapter 22, and I'd
like to read verses six, seven, eight, and nine, and spend a
little time on verse nine. This one of the seven angels. is who appeared to John. And
I just have to go back to the first part of this book and read
about the seven churches of Asia and their seven angels. And it
tells us earlier here, chapter 21, that this one of the seven
angels who had the seven last plagues appeared to John and
gave him this beautiful picture or allowed him to see, brought
him over to see the church, New Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven in its glorified state. And John got to see what the
church would be like in the glorified state. We see it by faith. John got to see it by sight. He also got to see a fellow pastor
in the eyes that God looks at them. And that is why, and I
was reading the commentary this afternoon that said that John
bowed down to this angel to worship him and he was displaying his
depravity. Well, John didn't have to bow
down to worship an angel to display his depravity. I think he was
just caught. I believe he was just caught.
The glory of someone that's been in the presence of the Lord would
catch us too. We just say, my goodness, how
can it be such? Those who've gone on before us,
we'd look at them and say, oh my, how could it be such? We
cannot imagine the glory of being in the presence of the Lord.
So that's the way I'm going to view this, that John was just
caught, I'm not going to say off guard, but he was caught
and he attempted to worship this angel and this angel stopped
him. Now an angel Very, very seldom does it mean a winged
creature. Most of the time it really means
a messenger. That's what it means. And it
can be a creature that God created that's higher than our creation. He made us a little lower than
the angels and he made the Son of Man a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death. So there is a higher creation
and they have their place And God has called on them, and many
of them fell with Lucifer, and they lost their first estate,
and there is no redemption for those. They are bound in chains
until that day when they shall be punished, cast into the lake
of fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. So
there are beings that God has in his service that are above
us, and they're called messengers. And now he has messengers that
are not beings that are above us, but are just those who carry
out the message or the service of the Lord. In Revelation chapter
22 and verse 6 it says, And he saith unto me, that's this one,
this angel, These sayings are faithful and true. The Lord God
of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto you, his servants,
the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these
things and heard them. And when I heard and seen, I
fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed
me these things. Then said he unto me, and in
verse three, excuse me, verse nine, there are three reasons
he gives for not worshiping him. Number one, for I am thy fellow
servant, Number two, and of thy brethren the prophets, and number
three, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, colon,
worship God. Now that's what we'd like to
look at, is that verse nine. These three statements, why the
angel, why this messenger, why this preacher in this state,
called on John not to worship him. Now, if he'd have been a
modern person, he would have said, go right ahead. But since
he was a angel of the Lord, he prevented it. Three reasons why. I am thy fellow servant. Now
this word fellow servant comes to us from a word which are a
couple of words, one who serves the same master as another. If
we are working for the same master, we're fellow servants. Or it
was used as one who with others serves a king, one who ministers
to a king. They have equal position before
the king. That's what a fellow servant
is. It's someone who is equal in the service of a king or someone
who is equal in the service of a master. There's no great big
eyes and little use when it comes to a fellow servant. Now, I'd
like to look at a few verses of scripture that use this word
fellow servant and we find out that John is dealing with someone
that was equal to him. He is not higher than him, he
is equal to him. And he shares this equality by
saying, I am your fellow servant. Now, clothed in the raiment that
he had, and in the glory of his being in the presence of the
Lord and being able to share the great glory of Christ and
the glory of the church, he was, in such a state that it would
draw upon anyone who is in this life to say, you know, this is
a pretty important person. I am going to submit myself to
him. And yet we find that this angel,
this fellow servant says, stop, don't do that. Now, we're going
to conclude tonight with one verse, and I'm going to jump
ahead. Thomas said to Jesus Christ,
my Lord and my God. Now, I have a translation in
my study. It's put out by the Watchtower
Society. You know how that verse is translated
in the Watchtower Society Bible? My Lord and my God, capital L,
capital G. They didn't mess with that verse.
Next time I visit with one of them, I'm going to say, there
it is right there. Your Bible says Jesus is my Lord
and my God. All right. Turn with me to the
book of Colossians, if you would. And we find here this word, this
fellow servant, equal servant, servant of a king. And truly,
the Lord is our king and our servant of a master. And we're
co-equal. We're going to get co-pay. We're
going to get co- dealt with in the same manner, and that's just
the way it is. We're equal this way, and that's
one of the reasons that this angel, this messenger said, don't
worship me, John. I am your co-worker. I am your co-servant. I am your fellow servant. We're equal, and we're serving
the same one, the Lord. In the book of Colossians chapter
one, we find this word is brought in again here, Colossians chapter
one and verse seven, Colossians chapter one and verse seven,
and it shares with us here about a person, Epaphras, says, our
dear fellow servant. Now, that's a wonderful way of
looking at people in the church and a wonderful way of looking
at people that God calls to the ministry. He never intended for
there be to a hierarchy in either. There will not be a hierarchy
in the church, and there will not be a hierarchy among ministers. There are fellow servants who
are fellow workers. As it says here, as ye also learned
of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful
minister of Christ. We're equal, and that's the word
that that angel, that messenger used with John, and this is one
reason, don't bow to me. We're fellow servants. And then
in the same book, Colossians chapter four, we have this word
used here too, Colossians chapter four and verse seven, and it
says, all my state shall Titius declare unto you, who is a fellow,
is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant
in the Lord. Three different words used in
that verse of scripture about the relationship between these
two. And that's the way it is among
the church. What's it say? Declaring you who is a beloved
brother. And that's where the brothers
and sisters all inherit equally. only place and a faithful minister
and a fellow servant in the Lord. So there's an equality here we
find no other place and this messenger this angel was what
honor he gave to the Lord to say John don't bow bow to him. I'm not worthy of this." John
the Baptist even shared this, he must increase, I must decrease.
I'm not even worthy to take off his sandals. but we're all fellow
servants of him. And then that same word is used
a number of times in Matthew chapter 18. Would you turn over
here? And it helped me a lot with this
parable that the Lord shared in Matthew chapter 18, because
the word fellow servant is used here. It means they had the same
position before the king. One was not in a better position
than the other. In fact, he really was worse
off because of debt. All right, Matthew chapter 18,
and there in verse 23, we read these words. It says, therefore,
is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would
take account of his servants? We've got a king. We have a king
with servants. And when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him who owed him 10,000 talents. Now,
in today's language, that would be a bunch, a lot, millions of
dollars. He's a fellow servant of someone
else, though. Now he owes a lot, and the king
is going to reckon. But for as much as he had not to pay, his
lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and
all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore
fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with
me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant
was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the
debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow
servants. The fellow servant was co-equal
with his relationship to the king. Found his fellow servant,
and it says here, fell down, let me back up here. But the same servant, verse 28,
and found one of his fellow servants, which he owed him a hundred pence,
and that's just a few dollars, if that, and he laid hands on
him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him,
saying, Now the first fellow servant fell down at the feet
of the king, and said, Lord, The second fellow servant fell
down at the feet of this person and didn't bring that up. He
was not his lord. There's only one lord, one king,
and that's who the fellow servants serve. Have patience with me
and I'll pay the all. And he would not, but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. And so when
his fellow servants saw that what was done, they were very
sorry and came unto their lord and told their Lord all that
was done. Now, you know the rest of the
story, but we have fellow servant, fellow servant, fellow servants,
they're all at an equal position before this king. And that's
a wonderful thing about the church. There is equality. Absolute equality. Nobody is unequal. We have the same position with
Christ. We have the same blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, same forgiveness, same redemption, same altar,
same sanctuary, same rock, same shadow, same, same, same. And here this person who is termed
an angel, a messenger of the Lord, says, don't worship me
because I'm your fellow servant. Now, going back over there, we
find that he mentions another reason, and of thy brethren the
prophets. I've been a minister. And ministers
don't do this. Ministers don't worship anybody
but the Lord. God's ministers worship Christ
and Christ alone. And that's it. And we're on an
equal basis. Now, it doesn't matter whether
there are those who want to hold a position. When it comes to
Christ, there is no positions. We're ministers of a king. And he says, I'm of thy brethren,
the prophets. Now, this word prophet means
someone who shares, someone, a spokesman, solemnly declares
to men what he has received. That is all a prophet is. He
is nothing until he gets a message. He is nothing until God speaks
to him what he wants him to say. He is a silent person until he
has made a profit by the master. The master is not going to say
anything. There's no job to be done. Now, when they were in
court or in a situation in the early days in the Eastern countries,
this person had nothing to do until he was called on by the
king to speak for him. Now, he was not to speak anything
but what he was given. He had a note, he had a message,
he had a letter, he had something, and that's all he was to declare. That's what Moses was given.
That's what Joshua was given. That's what Isaiah was given.
You think Isaiah is a tough book? I shared that with someone on
Sunday night. Isaiah is a tough book. But who
gave it? God. God gave it to Isaiah to
give to Israel and Judah and to us. It is God's book to his
people, and that's the way every book is, and every message ever
recorded in all of the books was a message that God gave to
his preachers. Now, he said, if someone says
something and it doesn't come to pass, take him out and stone
him, because I didn't give him that message. My messages are
true and faithful, and they will be fulfilled, all right? And an apostle. There were, not
the name, but the persons in the Old Testament as well as
the New who were apostles. An apostle is a delegate or a
messenger or one sent forth with orders. So we have an apostle
and a prophet. These are those people that God
has set aside for the purpose of declaring his word and they
are a delegate. They are a messenger. They're
one sent forth with orders. And this angel shared with John,
don't worship me because I am one of the prophets. I am only
speaking by orders. I have no message of my own. I have a message that came from
God. Now, I'd like to read three verses
and they're all found in the book of Ephesians with regard
to this apostles and prophets. It's a word that's used almost
synonymously, and we immediately think of 12 apostles. And the
Lord had 12 apostles, and he sent them forth to preach. They
were sent forth and they had a special place in the with the
Lord during his earthly ministry. But they're not the only apostles
and the apostleship. Now we're not going to elect
new apostles. That's there are those who want
to and there are those who do elect new apostles. We're not
into that. We're into the necessity of having
someone sent from God with a message. That's an apostle and a prophet.
And John was told by this angel, don't fall down and worship me
because I'm just someone sent by God with a message. I'm not
worthy to be worshiped. He could have said, I'm a sinner
saved by grace. All right, look with me here
in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians three times, this word
prophet is combined with the word apostle. And we have this
delegate or a messenger once sent with orders and someone
who is solemnly declares to men what he has received. The book
of Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. I'm of thy
brethren the prophets. I've been sent. I'm one sent,
but I have a message. And this message is right out
of the book. That's the message of the prophet.
Now if the message does not come from the book, it's not a prophet.
Now, he may be somebody's prophet, but he's not the prophet of the
Lord. Now, I want to read one verse a little bit later here
about a prophet that he wasn't the Lord's prophet, but he did
say a message. All right, let's look here. Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 20 says, and are built upon the foundation.
Let's back up here just a little bit. 18, for through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Now what is the foundation of
the apostles and prophets? What is he sharing with us there? He's sharing with us that the
church is built on the message that Christ is the Messiah. He is the chief cornerstone. We have nothing unless we have
him. He is the foundation and we have nothing unless we have
him. And Moses declared that and every prophet in the Old
Testament declared the same message, the gospel, that he is the chief
cornerstone and we have nothing unless we have him. That's the
message of apostles and prophets. It is not politics. It is not
social issues or moral issues. It is Jesus Christ is the Messiah,
the only Savior. That's the message of God's apostles
and God's prophets. An apostle is someone, a delegate,
a messenger, one sent forth with orders. And in those orders,
the prophet finds he is to declare only what he has received. That's the prophet that this
angel is sharing with John I'm just one of those God sent and
I just had a message that God gave me and that's all it is
and I'm a nothing besides that if I didn't have that I'm a nothing
if I'm not saying I'm a nothing and If I'm not called, if I'm
not sent, I'm a nothing. All right, Ephesians chapter
three and verse five, it shares these. Which in other ages was
not made known unto us the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirits, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs, and by the same body and partakers of
the promise in Christ by the gospel. What is it? Revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. What is that? Gentiles are going to be saved
the same way the Jews are going to be saved. The apostles, those
that were sent with a message and the prophets who were to
declare only what they received. The apostles and prophets and
all of the apostles and all of the prophets in the Old Testament
would readily declare just like this one did He must increase,
I must decrease. He is important, I am not important. I am just a sinner saved by grace
and God sent me with a message. And that's the easy part. The
message, understanding it is hard. We got the message. Don't share anything but the
word of God. The message is easy. Now, it
may be difficult sometimes finding where we're supposed to be in
it, and we may not understand what it says, but the message
is easy. It's contained here. If it's
anywhere besides here, it's not an apostle and prophet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Then in Ephesians 4, verse 11,
Ephesians 4, verse 11, this combination is used again, an apostle, a
delegate, a messenger, one sent forth with orders. One sent forth
with orders. In the New Testament, it talks
about the apostle Barnabas. He was just one that was sent
forth with orders, and he was a prophet. Not that he necessarily,
and usually when we hear the word prophet, or people try to
portray the word prophet, is they're going to open up the
future. That's not what the book of Revelation
is all about. The book of Revelation is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. A prophet is going to open up
the message of grace. A prophet is going to open up
the message of Christ. He's not going to have to open
up the future. We know very little about it. Christ is coming back. When?
Don't know. How? I just don't know a whole
lot about it. But I know he's coming back.
That is his promise. But we don't know much about
the future. We don't know much about tomorrow. We don't know
much about what's going to happen in 10 minutes. Do we know anything? We surmise, we guess, we hope,
we pray. But that's it. That's not my
business. My business is not trying to
see in the future. Our business is not trying to
see in the future. Our business is to take a message that's been
given and give it as it was given. Don't add to. That's going to
be brought out here in the book of Revelation. Don't take from
the message. Leave it alone. Leave the results
alone, leave the message alone. He called his people to be deliverers
of a message. I think part of what I don't
like about news broadcasters anymore is they editorialize. We have very few that actually
report the news. They gotta editorialize. And
that's probably easy. What slant you have, it's probably
easy to want to editorialize. And that's a problem when preachers
want to editorialize the Bible. Leave it alone. It is given by
God. It's a message from God. It's
His message, and He wants it left intact. Ephesians chapter
4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers. What for? For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. That's what they're for. That
angel in his life, his whole job was to edify the body of
Christ. That was his goal, his ministry.
And God allowed him, of his own sovereign will, allowed him. John, come over here. I've got
something to show you. Now, you and I get to do that same thing.
Friend, come over here. I got something to show you.
I want to show you the church in its glorified state and what
this is in Christ. We got the same message. We got
the book. All right. And then would you
turn with me to Titus? Titus uses this word, but it
tells us about the prophet Titus chapter 1 verse 12 tells about
the Cretan prophet. Now this is what the Cretan prophet
had to say. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
said the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies. That's the Cretan prophet. Now
I'm glad I'm not in his ministry. Same word, someone who is sent
to tell the message. Now, I liked what we had a minister
here many years ago, and he said, David said, in my haste, all
men are liars. I liked what he had to say about
it. David could have said that just walking away. He didn't
even have to say it in his haste. All men are liars. All right. Now, the third thing that this
angel, this messenger brought up was, I am of them which keep
the sayings of this book. And I said, whoa, that's interesting. Wouldn't you like to keep the
sayings of this book? Here is a messenger who is a
fellow servant. He is a prophet like John, tells
the truth about God. And he concludes this reason
for not worshiping him by saying, I am of them which keep the sayings
of the book. And I says, wow. Now I know he's
not presumptuous. This man, this angel is not presumptuous. He's not bragging. He's making
a statement. He is making a statement that
he has been given the privilege of keeping the sayings of this
book. And I said, how can that be? How can this angel, this messenger,
this prophet, this fellow servant say that? And then I went back
to where the same word is used. I just, oh, hallelujah. I found
out something about the Lord today I didn't know. And it's
always good. You find out something about
the Lord, it's always going to be good. It's never going to
be negative. It's always going to be a benefit
to us. And we find out that we have
more benefits than we thought we did. Turn with me to the book
of John chapter 17. John chapter 17, four times this
word is used, keeping the word, keeping the word. And we find
out here, Thank God it wasn't left up to me, because I don't
keep the word on a daily basis, not alone in a lifetime. Left to myself, I'd never be
able to stand before John and say, well, you know, I am your
fellow servant, and I tried to, but to keep the sayings of this
book, sorry, I'll have to step aside on that point, because
I don't keep it like I want to. Not even like I should! But turn
with me to John 17. In John 17, this is good. And this 17th chapter, John,
I'm telling you, it just, it's a full. John 17, verse six, the
same word is used here, and it's used by the Lord in his visit
with his father. This is a prayer, and he's gonna
use the same word as John, the angel of the Lord said, I am
of them that keep the sayings of this book. Boy, I wanna be
in that group. I want to be found with that
statement. I want to have the Lord say, you kept the sayings
of the book beginning to end. John chapter 17 verse six. The
Lord Jesus said this, I have manifested thy name unto the
men which thou gavest me out of the world. Now he's qualifying
who he is speaking about. And he does that. And it's sad,
but if you read some commentaries, they take that privilege away
from the Lord Jesus. He's speaking about those the
Father gave him. In other words, he's speaking
about the sheep. In other words, he's speaking
about the elect. In other words, those in the
covenant of grace. That's who he's speaking about.
There in John chapter 17, verse six, it says, I've manifested
thy name unto the man which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Look at Peter, he denied the
Lord three times. Look at the rest of the apostles,
they ran away. Wow in the world. In Christ,
that is the only way and that's the way we want it. In Christ
is the only way we can keep his word, but he has promised that
they will. He's promised that his church will keep his word. That is so powerful. That's so
rich. That's so good for people to
know, believers to know in Christ. Now, I am a failure, but in Christ,
I've kept his word. Let's look here again. John chapter
17, verse 11, the same subject is brought up. And now I am no
more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come
to thee, Holy Father, keep through thy own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Here we have
the Lord saying same word as we found over there in the book
of Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 9, this word, I'm of them
which keep. I'm of them that keep. Who's
the keeper? The Lord God Almighty. It says there in verse 11, In
John chapter 17 and verse 11, I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thy own name those whom thou hast given me. He is
the keeper of those who keep the word. He's the only one that
can promote that in our soul. He's the only one that can cause
the church to keep the word of God. And it's not presumptuous. It's just taking God's promise
and saying, I am one of those. that keeps the words of this
book. And what he's saying is, I'm
dependent on Christ. No one else. I'm not dependent
upon me. I've heard of people that have
memorized most of the Bible. I heard this one guy, about a
guy down in the Medford area one time, he told another man,
he says, for every verse you quote, I'll quote you 10. For
every chapter, I'll quote you 10. And for every book you quote,
I'll quote you 10. Whoopee. You know, I'm afraid
the man was on the left-hand side, because it takes more than
quoting the book. You gotta know someone who the
book declares. Kept. Kept by God. Another verse,
17 verse 12. He says, while I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. I kept them. He's the keeper. I kept them. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. And in verse 15, I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. How are we kept from the evil?
He keeps us. How do we keep the word? He keeps
us. How do we keep the book he keeps
us? We must be found in Christ because
he has done all of that on our behalf. Now don't stop reading
it. But we know the book only because
of Christ and we keep the book only because of Christ and we're
kept only because of Christ. Our security is the Lord Jesus
Christ and nothing that we have done at all is because of Christ. In the book of Matthew chapter
27, it shares with us a little bit of how this is applied from
a human standpoint. The Lord Jesus Christ had some
keepers. Matthew chapter 27, verse 36. The Lord Jesus Christ had some
keepers. He had some people watching him.
Matthew chapter 27 verse 36, and this is, I'm of them which
keep the sayings of this book. I am kept by the power of God. Matthew 27 verse 36, it says
here, and sitting down, they watched him there. This word
watch is they kept view of him. These are those who were there
to watch his crucifixion and the results of the crucifixion,
from a physical standpoint. They sat down and watched him
or kept view of him. And then in chapter 27 and verse
54, it says this, now when the centurion and they that were
with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things which
were done, they feared greatly saying, truly this was the son
of God. They were watching, the same
word, watching. If we look at this from God's
standpoint, he's watching, keeping. From a human standpoint, here's
some people on the ground. They're watching the Lord. They're
watching, keeping the earthquake. And then in verse chapter 28
and verse 4, it says this. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men, keepers. Now that word is
used about men who are trying to keep something. And it's used
about God who keeps his people, keeps them, keeps them. And in chapter 28 and verse 20,
teach them to observe. That word observe is the same
word as keep. Teach them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen." So how did this person,
he's simply saying, this angel is saying to John, who attempted
to bow down and worship him, he is saying, number one, I'm
your fellow servant. We serve the same king. Number
two, I'm of your brethren, the prophets. We're co-equal, we're
sent. We're sent. I didn't call this
on myself. You didn't call it on yourself.
We're sent of God. We're a delegate. We're a messenger.
We're one sent with orders. And we solemnly declare to men
what we have received. And thirdly, he's saying, I am
just blood bought like you are. I am one that keeps the word,
but I have one that kept it for me. I'm not special. I need this special watch and
care over me by God almighty or I will not make it. I'm not here by my own effort.
I'm here because he is faithful to his word and every one that
the father gave to the son, the father has kept him in the faith. I'm dependent upon the Father
for all I am and all I have, so don't worship me. And Thomas,
oh, he's got a big down the road for not being in church on that
one Sunday. I've heard him run down the road.
He wasn't in church, and that's why I missed the blessing. but
he's the only one we have record of saying, my Lord and my God. Now the rest of them, we know
they did, but we have the record. Jesus said that time when he
came in, unless I see him, I'll not believe. And Jesus knew that
saying had been passed over his lips. And he says, come over
here, Thomas, run your fingers into my, and Thomas didn't have to. Thomas
confessed this confession. My Lord and my God and that angel
told John. worship God. Now John knew that. He knew all about that. But he
was caught. Here is a being that is so glorious
and has shown me so much and I've seen so much that I'm just
going to pay him homage and bow down and worship him. I think
he might even be the Savior. And that being, that angel, that
man said, no, no, no. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. I've stepped over the foam. I've
gone over the river. I've gone into the land. And
this is what you get when you go over there. This is what you'll
look like. I'm just a servant, a fellow
servant. I'm just a prophet, a preacher
like you. And I needed to be blood bought.
I have a father that keeps me. And that's the only way I can
keep the words of this book. So, John didn't bow any further. He didn't argue, he didn't say,
well, I think I'll go do it anyway. No, that was enough. And then
it says, and he said unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy
of this book, for the time is at hand. I remember reading Daniel. Daniel was told, seal up the
book. Got some years to go. Now this is open. What's happening
today? The revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
Be comforted, be comforted in the revelation of Jesus Christ.
All right, we'll close with that.

I Am Thy Fellowservant

What does the Bible say about fellow servants?

How do we know angels are not to be worshiped?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their role as fellow servants?

How do angels serve God?

Why do ministers emphasize the scripture as the only message?

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I Am Thy Fellowservant

What does the Bible say about fellow servants?

How do we know angels are not to be worshiped?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their role as fellow servants?

How do angels serve God?

Why do ministers emphasize the scripture as the only message?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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