Let's open the scriptures this
evening to the book of Hebrews chapter one. It's good to have
our musicians back with us. David was here this morning,
and it's good to have Marty this evening. It kind of gives a bit
of normalcy to our service to have these dear folks with us, and
we are certainly grateful for their ministry to us in music. Let's be prayerful for our sister,
Pat. She's going to have surgery Thursday,
and we're quite concerned about her. and asked that it might
be able to get all the infection out of her leg and do whatever
needs to be done that she might heal. And so we ask you to remember
her. Also remember Mackie in prayer. She is, of course, back the house. and sore from the broken ribs. She's also going to have to have
surgery on her leg. She'll have to have a skin graft. We're not sure when that's going
to be, but that is for certain. She's going to have to have that.
And I was thinking today of Doritha. She and Russell are most likely
watching now. but we continue to remember Doretha
and Russell also and each other before the throne of God's grace. And then, if you would, continue
to remember our sister Shelby and the saints of God at Grace
Baptist that God would give them peace and comfort It's a very
difficult time for them and indeed our hearts go out to them and
we pray that God would sustain them and strengthen them and
encourage them in the gospel and that God would lead as they
make the decisions that they're going to have to make in the
near future. or Hebrews chapter one. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance, he has obtained a more excellent name than they. For under which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a
father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the son, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. I read that this afternoon as
I was reading over this passage of scripture, if I could just
insert this. He was just the opposite of us. We hated righteousness and we
loved iniquity. Thank God for the perfect man,
the Lord Jesus, who loved righteousness and he hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old, as
doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thine
years shall never fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. And then of these angels he asked,
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them? who shall be the heirs of salvation. And the word ministering and
minister has the idea of being servants, those who serve. Indeed, they serve the purpose
of God, they serve the purpose of Christ Jesus, but they are
specifically in this verse of scripture, they're designated
as being those who are of service, to people who are the heirs of
God's salvation. God uses angels to help us, and
that certainly isn't surprising. He uses us to be helpers to others. Therefore, we can see that he
uses angels to be of help to one another, though God needs
no help. God needs no assistance, but
it was agreeable to God's wisdom. It was agreeable to the goodness
of God to make use of angels in order to serve his purpose
regarding you and me who are the people of God. Let's bow
our heads together. Our Father, we bow to thank you
for the great privilege, the honor, that we have to open the
scriptures and to read the word of God, to read again and be
reminded of the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ, exalted
above the angels, the angels who are the appointed servants
of those who are the heirs of your salvation. These angels
worship Christ Jesus. Indeed, they render worship to
the very one that we render worship. We understand that our Lord Jesus
is Lord over all. He has ascended back to the very
heaven of heavens where he sits at the right hand of the majesty
on high. having finished the work of redemption
you gave him to do, and he is deserving of, and we endeavor
to render to him worship and honor and glory. We're so thankful, Father, that
you have made abundant provision for your children. provision
of grace, the provision of this great salvation, the provision
of angels to minister to us as they do even before conversion
and that conversion and after conversion. These invisible ministering
spirits Oh God, we thank you for them. We do not thank them,
for they do your bidding. They await your word of instruction
and command. Lord, we thank you. It's a marvelous
arrangement that you've made for your children. that we are
hedged about on every side. There are these ministering spirits. There are, moreover, the promises
of God. There is the Holy Spirit who
indwells us. There is our Savior who has rendered
perfection to you and the sacrifice that removed our sinfulness.
All things that you've done for us, Father, we just, we stand
back and we look with amazement at your marvelous grace to your
people. We ask, oh Father, for those
who are hurting this evening. Some are hurting physically.
Others are hurting, having broken hearts. Lord, for our sister,
Pat, and for Mackie, for Dorifa, for others of our congregation
who have physical ailments, oh God, we lift them up to you.
We're so thankful for these dear faithful ladies. Lord, you have
used them to be a blessing to us. and in their time of need,
of physical difficulty. We present them to you, and Lord,
you know their case, each of them, and others as well of our
congregation who are struggling with physical illnesses. Lord, we ask that you would do
what's best for them. how good it is to know that our
lives are in the hands of God, that one who redeemed us governs
all things for the good of your children. Lord, we also lift
up to you our sister Shelby, and Faith, and Doug, and Will,
and Audrey Grace, and all the saints of God, They're in Danville. Lord, how they need you. Theirs
is a different sort of pain. It's not due to physical affliction
to them, but to the fact that their hearts are grieved over
the departure of your servant. While they know and we know that
all of these sayings are according to your word and your will, yet,
Lord, we know what it means to be in sorrow. We know what it
means to be in grief. And when others in the kingdom
of God, when they hurt, indeed we hurt. And may they know in
some small measure that there are many of the Lord's people
who share the burdens that they bear. We're so thankful that
you make all things work together for the good of your children.
And these things will indeed work for their good. Father, as we go into the scriptures
this evening, Let us once again rejoice in that marvelous grace
that you've given to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us
see the hand of our God in all things. And let us know the peace
that passes understanding, as we remember that that one who
redeemed us governs all things. He sets upon us a throne of majesty
and sovereignty, and all things obey His will. Oh, how we bless
the name of King Jesus. How we honor Him and exalt Him. Oh, Lord, in our hearts, may
we worship Him this evening. So bless your people and save
those who are lost. And Father, open our minds and
our hearts to receive that which you have for us this evening.
We're totally at your disposal. Lord, I help this, your servant,
to be of Be a blessing, too, and be a help to your dear, beloved
children. For the glory of our Savior,
we ask these things, and in His name, amen. Well, if you would, go back with
me to Psalm 91, the book of Psalms 91. Our subject this evening is guardians
of God's people. Guardians of God's people. My
text, I believe, has something very vital to say to all of the
children of God. This is for everyone who is indeed
saved by the grace of God. If you are a sinner resting in
the Lord Jesus, you're an object of God's sovereign electing grace. If you believe the reason for
your faith in the Son of God is because you were anointed
or appointed by God unto salvation, you were ordained to eternal
life, You were in the Lord Jesus when He came into this world. He came for you. He came for
me. He was born for you. He was born
for me. He became flesh and blood. He
took that flesh and blood into union with His own deity. He
did that for you. He did that for me. For a little
bit, He was made lower than the angels. He lived a life of obedience. He did that for you. He did that
for me. He lived a life of perfection.
He was the one who was faultless in every way, in all of his thoughts,
in all of his motives, in every word that he uttered, in every
deed that he did. Everything was done perfectly
in a manner honoring to God always. that which was foremost in his
mind. In fact, I think we could say
that which, that filled the mind of Christ Jesus and the heart
of the Son of God was that God the Father would be glorified.
He always sought his glory and he worshiped him and he bowed
and he petitioned him, always asking for God's will to be done.
and everything that he did on this earth, he did on behalf
of you and me." Now, don't ever lose sight of that. When he was
forsaken by God, he was forsaken for you in order that you would
never be forsaken. When the Savior said, when he
uttered those words from the cross of Calvary, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. He's praying for you. Father,
forgive them, forgive you and forgive me. And when he said
those words, it is finished. He had finished the work that
he came to do for God on our behalf, that is on your behalf. He finished that work. What was
that work? The work of redeeming you. The
work of buying you back from the law and justice of God. The
work of reconciling you. the work of removing all of your
sins because your sins were removed from you and put on him. And
then he bore them away. He did that for you. Why the
agony of the cross of Calvary? Why all the mockery? Why was
he deserted or forsaken by the father? Why did he thirst? It was because it was necessary
for you. Oh, I tell you, a recollection
that the Lord Jesus did all of these things on our behalf as
our representative, as our substitute, as the very friend of sinners,
that will keep us, it'll keep us lowly in mind, in the heart,
and it will keep us thankful. because we're nothing without
the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. And thank God that he loved us
to such an extent that he gave his life in order to save us. He did all of this for you. He did it for me. And you not only are an object
of God's sovereign grace because he chose you, because he ordained
you unto eternal life, you're an object of the Savior's work
of redemption, but you're also, if you're a believer, you're
an object of the Spirit's work of regeneration. Well, you're a new creature in
Christ Jesus. You've been born of the Spirit.
God gave you spiritual life. You are an object of the wondrous
miracle of the new birth. You were dead. He made you alive. You were in darkness. He put
you in the light. He shined the light of the gospel
into your heart. He has illuminated you. Yes,
he did that for you. You're indwelt by the Lord Jesus. 2 Peter 1 says you're a partaker
of the divine nature. That is, you're one who has escaped
the corruption that is in this world. So I say to all of the people
of God, to every believer, to those who are chosen in grace,
you're redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, you wear the
righteousness, you wear the garments of salvation, you're born of
the Spirit. I say to you, this portion of
scripture this evening, it should be such a blessing to you. And
in addition to the blessings that I have just noted, This
Psalm has something to say to you. Psalm 91 verse 11, for he shall
give his angels this charge or this command over thee to keep
you in all your ways. Our God, This is the God who
chose us. This is the God who has redeemed
us. This is a God who has regenerated
us. Back before the world began,
he gave his angels this command, to keep every one of his children
in all their ways, wherever they go, whatever they do, whatever
they're involved in, in the years before their conversion and in
the years after their conversion. In those months when you're in
your mother's womb, he gave this very commandment to the angels,
preserve that one. That's a special one there. That's
one of my children. That's one I have selected unto
everlasting life. That's one I've chosen unto salvation. That's one my Son's going to
redeem. That's one the Spirit of God's
going to quicken. I give this great commandment
to the angels to keep you in all your ways during those nine
months of development in your mother's womb and through your
infancy. through your childhood, during
those days when maybe as a young person, you did many foolish
things, maybe got involved in outright wickedness, open ungodliness,
maybe not caring much for the safety of your own life. But
even during those days, in your days of iniquity, in your days
of defilement, in those years of rebellion, whatever you did
growing up, in school, when you were with your buddies, maybe
you got into trouble, whatever it was, in all those, there were
angels all around you. They were protecting you. They
were on an errand from God to you. When you didn't know him,
when you had no thoughts of him, maybe when you were wrapped up
in false religion, still those angels, notwithstanding the error
that you embraced then, still the angels of God. having received
a commission from God, having been instructed that that one
is an heir of salvation, the angels of God were safeguarding you, they were keeping
you, they were preserving you in all your ways. In fact, it says in verse number
12, and this is a vital verse too, they shall bear thee up
in their hands. You didn't know it, I didn't
know it, but all along they were holding us up. God in his purpose, God in his
wisdom, God in his goodness, He instructed these angels, bear
him up, bear her up, lest they dash their
foot against a stone, lest they do something that does some real
damage to themselves. Even in your years of foolishness,
in your years of error, in your years of ungodliness, The angels
of your God, the angels of your heavenly Father, they held you
up and they embraced you as it were unto themselves because
God the Father said, don't let him die. Now this one has got
to be watched after. They have received a commission
from God for all of his children. The word angel, as we defined
it this morning, means messenger or ambassador, one who is sent. Now, in bringing you this message
on the guardians of God's people, I want to begin with addressing
some errors about angels. I'm thankful for angels. I'm
fully persuaded that there are angels here this evening. I have no question about it.
There's not a doubt in my mind, but what the building isn't filled
with angels. There are only one, two, three,
four, five, six, six precious souls in here tonight. But there
are a multitude of angels guarding us, watching over us. preserving us. And as it is here,
so it is at your house. Right there where you are, your
living room, your family room, your office, your den, wherever
it is that you're watching this internet broadcast, and you're
a believer, you're one of the Lord's little ones, rest assured,
The angels of God, the hosts of heaven, they fill that room. You have many guardian angels. They are assigned by God to his
children to keep us safe. Now let me address some errors
about angels. Number one, there are some people
who worship angels. I know there's a lot of superstition. There's a lot of sentimentality
about angels. Some would honor them even as
they would honor God. They are not to be worshiped
and they are not to be adored. And we have a good illustration
of that in the book of Revelation, the 22nd chapter, verse nine,
when John, having received marvelous revelations, and this from an
angel, he was just so overcome with thanksgiving and the majesty
of this being who has given him so much information, that he
just fell down at the feet of the angel to worship him. And the angel of God said, immediately,
see thou do it not. He said, I'm just your fellow
servant. Remember, they're ministering
spirits. And I said, the root idea in
that is they're servants. He says, I'm just your fellow
servant. I'm of your brethren. and of them which keep the sayings
of this book. And then the angel said, worship
God. And he, this is the, that's the
second time he said it. First time is back in Revelation
chapter 19. Listen, and I want to be understood. It is absolutely
idolatrous to render to any created being that which is due to God
only. Don't wear jewelry that has angels
on it. Don't try to exalt them, be thankful
for them. Be grateful for their presence
and their mission, but recognize this, they are the servants of
God, just like you're a servant of God. And they do his bidding. They are not acting toward you
in an independent way. They have received a divine commission. The Lord himself has sent them
out to you. And they watch over you according
to his word. Worship God. And then secondly,
they're not mediators between men and God. No angel can stand
between you and God. the Lord, except that one who
is the angel of the Lord, that is Christ Jesus. For we read
in 1 Timothy 2, for there is one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. No angel, no Mary, no
apostle, None of those can ever bring you to God or provide an
entrance for you into the very presence of God. Christ Jesus
said, if words mean anything, this ought to put this issue
for rest forever. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I'm the life. Listen to this, no man cometh
unto the father but by me. Don't come by an angel, you'll
never make it. and don't come by Mary, you're
not gonna make it. Don't come by some dead departed
saint. You're not gonna make it. One
way to God, you know that. Anybody who reads the Word of
God and is led of the Spirit of God to believe that which
God has written, knows for certain there's only one way to God,
Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the only way. Thirdly, angels are not loved
ones who have died and who now watch over us. They're not deceased
ones, whether children, whether infants or little children or
adults. You see, our loved ones, when
they die, they don't become angels. They don't become our protectors. They go back to God who gave
them life. And then He does one of two things
with them. If they died in Christ Jesus,
He welcomes them. If they died outside of Christ
Jesus, died in their sins, the Savior said, if you died in your
sins, where I am, you can't come. And God's gonna send you away
into everlasting torment. You say, well, what happens to
believers when they're deceased, when they die? Well, they continue
to be worshipers of God. You see, I emphasize the word
continue. What do we do on this earth?
What do the people of God do? What's the most delightful thing
to you and me? It's the worship of God. It's
when we exalt Christ Jesus, we hear the gospel of grace, of
blood, of sacrifice, of representation, of substitution, of reparation,
of satisfaction. We hear this gospel, this good
news, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We
hear this good news and we worship. We adore him. That's what we
do on earth. That's what we enjoy doing. It's
one of the reasons we miss being here, although we worship at
home and we worship through the hearing of the word of God, as
you're hearing right now, but we meet together and we always
rehearse the gospel. This is the bread for the children. We worship the Lord. And when
we get to heaven, what are we going to do? We're still going
to worship the Lord, only we will worship Him in perfection. We'll worship Him without sin. When I was talking to Brother
Fortner, Saturday a week ago, he talked
about looking forward to seeing the Lord Jesus, going into eternity,
leaning upon the beloved. And he made this statement, but
it's hard to leave those whom you love. And I understand that. It is. But once we leave this
world, we enter into the presence of Christ Jesus. I'll tell you
something, old things are then passed away. And we have no more
sinful nature. There is no more sin in us. We awake in his likeness and
we worship them. We worship the Lord Jesus then.
as we wanted to do on earth. There's not a one of us here
nor one of you at home who doesn't long to worship the Lord free
from sin. You wanna do that? I know you
wanna do that because that's what I wanna do. Free from distraction. You're not happy with yourself. You're happy with Christ Jesus,
but you're a disappointment to yourself and I am to me. And
the reason is because we're sinful and we say, oh God, forgive us.
And over and over again, we go to the Lord for forgiving grace.
But we know that when we leave this world, that's over with. No more sin. And we'll worship. We'll worship the Lord together. And then there'll be no more
differences, no more pride. No more church disagreements. All of those things be in the
past. And then let me say this about
angels, eras regarding angels. They don't earn their wings by
the works that they do. How did angels become angels
anyway? Well, Before God made men, he made provision for all of the
needs of his people. Everything was already worked
out in old eternity. Salvation, the Savior, the means
of salvation, when that salvation would be obtained by Christ Jesus,
when we would be the recipients of it. All those things were
worked out before the world began. But also something else. God
had ordained these blessed servants to aid us in our earthly pilgrimage. I want you to go back to the
book of Job, if you would, in the book of Job, and I'll have
you go back to chapter 38. Chapter 38. I've often been asked
about when were angels created? We know they're created because
they're created beings, because in eternity, There was no existence
save God himself in the trinity of his persons. But what about
angels? Well, I wouldn't be dogmatic
about this, but I think we can get a little indication of when
they were created here in Job chapter 38. Then the Lord answered
Job out of the whirlwind and said, this is Job 38 verse two
now, who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a
man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me. Where was
thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare. if thou
hast understanding? Who hath laid the measures thereof
if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line
upon it? Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fashioned? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted
for joy? Who are these sons of God? Well,
you know, there is the Son of God. He's the Son of God by birth,
everlasting generation. You and I are sons of God by
adoption. These are the angels and they
are said to be sons of God by creation. And as you consider
this setting or this context, as I considered it, it seems
to me that they were created immediately after or maybe just
before God made, God created the heavens and the earth, and
they beheld the creative wisdom and goodness and power of God. And then they, as the scripture
says, they shouted for joy. They sang together as they beheld
the magnificence of God in creating all things. Angels have always been angels. They didn't earn that right to
be angels. It says in Psalm 148 in verse
five, let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded
and they were created. And then let me say this, angels who fell have no savior. All angels were created upright
whenever it was that God created them. Based upon this passage,
it would appear that he created them in order that they would
be witnesses of his creative glory. After all, the heavens
declare the glory of God. and the firmament, his handiwork,
and these sons of God, these angels, apparently they sang
together for joy. And they're in innumerable company.
That's what we know about angels from Hebrews chapter 12. You
can't even number all of the angels that exist. The heavens
are full of the hosts of God. He's the Lord of hosts. He's
the Lord of multitudes of angels, innumerable angels. But after he created them, a
third of them fell into sin. Those who didn't fall are said
to be in 1 Timothy 5 and 21, elect angels. They were kept
from falling, kept from rebellion, kept by the power of God while
the other ones fell into sin. The Savior did not provide salvation
for them. He did not choose the ones who
fell under salvation. When I hear people argue about
divine sovereignty, it isn't fair. They say it isn't fair
of God that He didn't give salvation to everybody. Well, what about
the angels? What about the angels who fell?
Would you charge God with unfairness? There was no salvation for them. There was no savior for them,
no mercy for them, no grace for them. They sealed their doom
when they defied God. And God made no provision for
their recovery. The scripture says, they kept
not their first estate. Their hearts were filled with
pride. So what do we know then about
angels? Let me just get into this a little
bit. Number one, they're non-human
spirit beings. Therefore they are invisible
unless God gives to them a temporary body which they inhabit in order
to fulfill his purpose. When Elisha's servant back in,
what is it? Second Kings chapter six, when
Elisha's servant looked out and he saw that he and his master
were surrounded by the enemy, by the Syrians, he said, alas,
master, alas. But he didn't see the angels,
but they were there. They were all around. They were
all around Elisha and himself. And Elisha, he sought the Lord's
will, he prayed, and he said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes
that he may see. And then behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. They're
there, they're here, though we can't see them. They're non-human
spirit beings who are invisible to these eyes, unless God's pleased
to make them visible. And he sometimes in the Old Testament,
especially, and even in the New Testament, before the record
of God, before the written word was finished, he had angels appear
to the saints of God for various purposes. And in order for them to appear
to men, They had to have a body that could be seen. But they didn't have bodies by
nature. I know this also, they're immortal. Leviticus, excuse me, Luke chapter
20 and verse 36, the Savior was speaking to the Sadducees about
the saints of God who die. And he said, in heaven, neither
can they die anymore. For in heaven, they're equal
to the angels. They can't die. The angels can't
die. The angels can't cease to exist.
Whatever life they have is an angelic life that God gave them
in the life that he gave them will always exist. I've already
said they're innumerable, Hebrews 12.22. Psalm 103.20 says they're
powerful. And there's a real interesting
passage in 1 Peter 1.12 concerning salvation of which things the
angels desire to look into. While they have superior intelligence
to us, and have much more knowledge than we've got and much more
powerful than we are, they really don't have a full understanding
of the salvation of sinners. And it must have been a shock
to them to see their creator come down from heaven and then
take upon himself the form of a servant of a person of a man. and then to see rebels rescued
from sin by the death of their creator. This is something they
can't comprehend. They can't comprehend what it
means for a sinner to be saved because they've never been in
our condition. They don't know what it means
to be a rebel against God. The only rebels they know something
about was the one third of their cohorts, their fellow angels
who sinned against God and they had no mercy. And I almost wonder
if when Adam was, when he fell, if the angels didn't say, that's
it for mankind right there. And to their amazement, no. No, when man fell, there was
an announcement that the seed of the woman was coming. Whoa,
how astonishing to the angels. How amazing that there would
be the restoration of sons and daughters of Adam. And then let
me point this out to you. The angels had an active ministry
in the days of our Lord Jesus. It was an angel who announced
to Mary that she would have a child by the power of the Holy Spirit
and the child would be called the Son of God. It was an angel
who spoke to Joseph in a dream, told him the reason that this
one was coming into the world, the one who would be born from
his espoused wife, Mary, a woman he hadn't had relations with.
She was a virgin. The angel of God told him the
reason, told Joseph the reason. The angel said, Joseph, call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And it was an angel who proclaimed
as a preacher, to the shepherds the birth of the Savior. Fear
not, for behold, I bring thee good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
then suddenly the skies were filled with myriads of angels.
They were all praising God. God sent his angels, he commissioned
his angels, he gave a command to the angels, go and fill the
skies and all of you sing together. Oh, what must that have sounded
like? When all of the angels of God
sang together, glory, glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace, goodwill toward men. Do you not see the fulfillment
of our text here in Psalm 91? Do you not see the fulfillment
of that? When an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
go into Egypt. This is after the Lord Jesus
was born, after the wise men saw him and found him. And Herod
said, make sure you come back and tell me where he's at. But
Herod had hatred in his heart. The angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph and said, go into Egypt. Be thou there until I bring you
word. Arise, take the young child and
his mother and flee to Egypt. Can you not see the fulfillment
of this? No evil shall befall thee, neither
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. He shall give his angels
charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. And the angel
of God said, go and meet him. Protecting him. When the Lord
Jesus was tempted of Satan 40 days and 40 nights, the angels
of God came and ministered to him. They served him. And note
this. They didn't come till the conflict
was over. Because in order to be our savior,
he's gotta be able to conquer Satan by himself. He's got to
be able to deal with the evil one on our behalf, which he did. And after that was over, then
the angels came and ministered to him. How did they minister
to him? Scripture doesn't say. I would
suspect by bringing him food, water, maybe by whispering scripture
verses in his mind. When he was in the garden, he
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, the angels came to
comfort him, to strengthen him. I don't know how the angels of
God strengthened the Son of God. I am at a loss. Some suggest
the angels strengthened him by showing him the glory of the
results of his work of redemption. I do not know. That is not stated
in the scriptures. but they strengthened, the angels
strengthened the body of our Lord. But I'll tell you something that
is obvious. When that most magnificent event
of all time and eternity, when that came to pass, the death
of our Lord Jesus, there were no angels present. Now, you know, Simon Peter drew
out his sword when they were about to arrest him and they
drew near to him and Simon Peter cut off the right ear of the
high priest's servant, Malchus. Our Lord Jesus reattached the
ear and told Simon to put his sword up. He said, listen, I
could call 10,000 angels from my father. But he said, how then would the
scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be. That's what it says. Thus it must be. I must die. No, angels are not
coming to my rescue. And you're not coming to my rescue,
Peter. And nobody else will for this
is the path marked out for me. It was for this purpose I came
into the world to finish the work that God gave me to do.
I must die because the wages of sin is death. I'm gonna die
for my people. This was ordained of God. That's
how we're saved. And then there was an angel that
rolled away the stone and announced his resurrection. Two angels
were present when he ascended, and angels will accompany him
in his second coming. But then finally, they have an
active ministry in our lives. And I've already alluded to this
several times, but let me say this, we know there is an appointed
time when the Lord will cross our paths with the gospel. And even before that, the angels
were always present with us, preserving us and protecting
us. The instruments of God in what
we would call prevenient grace, that is the elect of God are
kept preserved, secretly directed, watched over all of the days
of our lives until at last we're brought to the feet of the Savior
in faith. The angels of God can't save
us. Please don't mistake what I'm
saying. They cannot in any way provide salvation for us. That's
the Lord's doing. Salvation is of the Lord. But
their ministry involves protecting us and hedging us about. Lest evil come upon us. They
minister to us by keeping evil at bay and bringing good to us. This is what they do. The angels of God always await
the orders of the Lord concerning his people. I read to you there
at the beginning, are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth to those who shall be the heirs of salvation? Would you
look at another passage with me? And it is, I've got two more
verses I want you to look at. And the first one is in Matthew
chapter 18. Matthew, the book of Matthew
chapter 18. And look at verse 10, Matthew
18, verse 10. Take heed that you despise not
one of these little ones. He's talking about little children.
No, he's talking about one of his little ones. Any of his little
ones. That's his children. Adopted,
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto
himself. Take heed now that you despise
not, that you don't look down on. You don't feel like you're
superior to one of these little ones. For I say unto you that
in heaven, they're angels. They've got angels. They do always behold the face
of my Father which is in heaven." Don't offend one of the little
ones. Don't you know they have angels
assigned to them who await the command of God pertaining to
whatever it is that he would have them serve this little one? Don't offend one of his little
ones. I read this and I thought, how often I'm sure I have offended
one of the Lord's little ones with my words. I'm sorry. I say,
Lord, forgive me. I've had to go to people and
say, please, please forgive me. Forgive my words. Sometimes I
can speak before I think. And I say something I ought not
say. And it offends one of his little
ones. That's a bad thing. I don't want
to hurt any of God's people. The Lord's got a lot invested
in his people. Everlasting covenant of grace.
blood sacrifice, the death of His Son, the sufferings and all
of that, the call of the Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
the preaching of the Word that God has used to bring about their
salvation, and then me say something that cuts the heart of the people
of God, oh God help me not to do that, because they're angels. a weight word from their father
as to what is to be done about it. They're angels, I like that.
I like that. I'm quite certain that when we
get to heaven, only then will we realize how significant the
ministry of the angels were in our lives, protecting, encouraging
us, ministering to us, whispering into our hearts sweet
things about the Savior. I was reading yesterday, one
writer was talking about the bliss of having guardian angels
He said, the angels of God come to us and they comfort us. And
he said, when they come and comfort me, he said, I just take a nap
in the lap of my Savior. Pretty sweet. I just take a nap
in the lap of my Savior. Psalm 34 verse seven says, the
angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him and
delivers them. I did a little study on that
word, encampeth. It means he pitches his tent
around us. That's protection. And then one
other reference and I'll quit. Look at Luke chapter 16. When
our earthly journey is over. The angels of God, these guardian
angels, having protected us and provided for us in all the mysterious
ways that they've ministered to us, at God's pleasure, at His time,
they escort our souls into the presence of the Lord. Luke chapter
16 verse 19, there was a certain rich man which was clothed in
purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there
was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full
of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from
the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs, they were
his only companions. They were his only friends. They
came and licked his sores. Poor Lazarus. He was destitute of every human
comfort. But he was immensely blessed
in Christ Jesus. He was one of those that sovereign
grace appointed unto salvation. You see, when he went to heaven,
he didn't go because he was poor. He was poor because that's the
God in his providence ordained that for him and brought that
to pass. He went to glory because he's an object of God's sovereign
grace. He was a sinner bought with the
blood of Christ Jesus, and when the Holy Spirit had taught him
the gospel, But it says in verse 22, and
it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. Carried by the angels in their
arms. Remember, our text in Psalm 91
talks about The angels bear us up in their arms. There he was, poor Lazarus. He died. So there wasn't anybody
there. How sad, he died there by himself. Wait just a minute. There were
a multitude of angels there. Moreover, the Lord himself was
there. And as soon as he breathed his
last, they carried his soul into heaven. And I looked up that
word carried, and it really means effectually brought. See, it's
like here's a twofold effectual call. First of all, effectually
called to come to Christ Jesus, and then effectually called to
come to him in heaven. And the angels of God were sent
by the Lord and said, now's the time for Lazarus to come home. And they went to fetch him. Ah,
here's another illustration of fetching grace. And my friend,
when time comes for you, you who are the people of God, everyone
who believes him, when the time comes for you to leave this world,
the angels of God will be there. Oh, you won't see them with these
eyes, but see them with your mind's eye. Believe the word
of God. These angels, your angels, that's
what the scripture says, your angels will be there. And then
at God's bidding, you'll breathe your last and then ever so gently
and lovingly, the angels of God will caress your soul and just
immediately just whisk you away. And before you can even blink
your eyes, you're in the presence of King Jesus. These are ministering
spirits sent forth to those who shall be the heirs of God's salvation. Thank God for his angels who
comfort and strengthen and protect and provide for us in ways that
we don't even realize. But know this, they're with you. Our Father, take these words
from the scripture, bless your people, those that are troubled,
those who doubt, those who are sick, those who sorrow. And may we see in all of this
the great care and concern that the Lord has for us. And may
we be reminded of the words of the Apostle Peter, casting all
of your care upon him. Casting all of your anxiety,
is what the word means, upon him. for he careth for you. And he has evidenced that in
giving us these angels. Lord, we thank you for them. We bless you for all the provisions
you've made for your dear children. So bless us and encourage us
as we continue our wilderness journey toward the land of promise. We believe you and we seek to
believe you more fully. These things we ask for your
glory and for our good in the name of our savior. Amen.