Only a sinner saved by grace. Someone said one time, a sinner
is a special one. The Holy Ghost hath made him
one. Only God the Holy Spirit can
convince a person of his sinnerhood, that he or she is a sinner. Our Lord said, when he has come,
he shall convince the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. If you are a sinner tonight,
there's a Savior, right? For every sinner, for every sinner,
there's a Savior. If you will, let's open our Bibles
tonight to Hebrews chapter one. I was Recently reading in the book
of Daniel, I think it's Daniel chapter six, his words to the
king about how he was delivered from the lions. And this word
of his really stood out to me. We all are familiar with how
he came to be put into a den of lions. The Persians, they
had that law that once the law was passed, it could not be repealed,
it could not be changed, even though the king was all powerful
in the country, in the nation, but he could not change one of
their laws once it was enforced or once it was passed. And King
Darius was deceived. He was deceived into passing
a law that had Daniel obeyed it, then Daniel would have been
disobedient to God. The penalty to disobeying the
law, of course, was to be cast into a den of lions. We know
that the king did not want to put Daniel in the den, but as
I said, because of the law, it was either he lose his his kingship,
or Daniel, go into the den of lions. And the king spent a very
restless night. He told Daniel when he put him
in there, your God will take care of you. But the next morning
when he went early in the morning to check on Daniel, he said,
Daniel, oh Daniel, servant of the living God, Is thy God whom
thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions? Now he had told Daniel that his
God was able, but evidently he didn't really believe that. He
was just trying to soothe his conscience, no doubt. But Daniel
answered, and this is what got my attention, Daniel answered
the king saying, my God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's
mouth, that they have not hurt me. And I thought upon this verse
here in Hebrews chapter one, verse 14, we'll read in just
a moment. And also after the service last
Sunday evening, after the baptism was streamed, someone who had
watched the streaming, they texted me and they mentioned the fact
of angels rejoicing over one sinner that repents. And I thought of this verse here.
Let's read verses 13 and 14. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? And so I thought tonight we would
look, the Lord willing, at several things that are revealed unto
us in the word of God concerning angels and how it is that they
minister unto the heirs of salvation. I have three parts to my message
tonight. First, angels are creatures of
God. Angels are creatures of God.
The Scripture says all things were made by Him. Speaking of
the eternal Word of God, in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. And without Him was
not anything made that was made. All things were created by Him
and for Him. So the first point I would make
is that angels are God's creatures. They're creatures that He made. And here are four truths about
their creation. First of all, the number of angels
is said to be innumerable. Look with me here in Hebrews
chapter 12 in verse 22. The number of the angels. is
said to be innumerable. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
22, speaking of believers, those who come to Christ, we come to
him, but you are coming to Mount Zion, that is the church. You come to Mount Zion and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and notice,
and to an innumerable company of angels. So the first thing
I'll point out about the creation of angels is the number of them
is innumerable. And in Revelation chapter five
and verse 11, John said, I heard the voice of many angels. How
many, how many John? I heard the voice of many angels
and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000. I believe that's a million, isn't
it? But that wasn't all. He said, and the number of them
was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, thousands of thousands
of angels. Now we know that their number
is not infinite. Only God is infinite. He's infinite
in every way. He's infinite in love. Every
one of his attributes, he's infinite in. There's no limit, right,
to God. But the angels, though there
is an innumerable number of them, but their number's not infinite.
It is a finite number. And no doubt, God inspired the
writers here of the scriptures to speak of Their numbers being
so great, so great in these terms, which is beyond our calculation. It's beyond our calculation of
how many angels God created. The second thing I noticed from
the word of God, they were present when God created the material
universe. Look with me in Job. God tells
Job this in Job chapter 38. Job chapter 38. God is asking
Job some questions here, isn't he? Maybe if God asks man today questions,
It kind of knocked the starch out of a lot of these proud,
boastful people. Where were you, Joe? Verse four. Where was thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Where were you? Do you have anything
to do with it? Did you help me? What is God showing here? He's
showing his omnipotence. Certainly he's showing his sovereignty,
isn't he? His sovereignty. Where was thou
when I laid the foundations of the earth declare? Speak up,
man. Speak up. Where were you? You've
been talking and not without sin, no doubt. You've been speaking,
justifying yourself. Where were you? You know so much? Where was thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Speak up, declare, if thou hast
understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof,
if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line
upon it? Who measured out God's universes,
the universe in which we live? Who measured it out? Who weighed
it? Who laid the measures thereof,
if thou knowest? Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? Who put the universe into space? Who put the world into space? Remember that course? He's got
the whole world in His hands, in His hands. I know that course
was speaking about people, but the same is true about the universe,
about His world, isn't it? Where was thou? Whereupon are
the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof? Now notice, who laid the cornerstone
thereof when the morning stars sang together and all the sons
of God shouted for joy. All the sons of God shouted for
joy. The stars sang together. When
God laid the foundations of the earth in the morning of creation,
we're talking about angels here, their number is innumerable,
and they were created before the material universe was created
because when God laid the foundations of the universe, the stars, that
may refer to angels as well, certainly all the sons of God
shouted for joy. The sons of God here is speaking
about the angels. The third thing, the title, their
title, angel. Now, it does not, that title
does not refer to their nature, but to their office, messengers,
to their office. As to their nature, angels are
persons. They're persons. They're personal
beings. They have intelligence. They
have a will. They're persons. Some of the
things that the scriptures reveal to us concerning their qualities
show them to be persons, not just powers and certainly not
things. But angels are creatures that
are persons. They're wise. In 2 Samuel, we
read this about David. He is said to have the wisdom
of an angel of God. An angel, the wisdom which they
have. They're holy. How many times
do we read the holy angels? They're holy. They're powerful. They're powerful. One angel one
night destroyed 185 soldiers. They're powerful. And they are not only wise and
holy and powerful, but they manifest in the word of God that they
have an interest in how sinners are saved. They have an interest in knowing,
searching into, looking into how it is that sinners are saved.
Think about the fact that they saw their creator, their sovereign,
their God, that they have worshiped from eternity, that in the fullness
of time that he humbled himself and came into this world as a
man. How they must have witnessed
Him, His birth, they sang at His birth. A multitude of angels,
right, filled the heavens at His birth, singing glory to God
in the highest. They have an interest. Look in
I Peter. We see this here in I Peter. You know the scriptures, aren't
you thankful for the scriptures, for the word of God? But the
scriptures are not written like a systematic theology book. A systematic theology book will
take all the scriptures, let's say on any subject, let's just
say the Trinity, for instance, and we will see listed under
that subject, the Trinity, the various scriptures that reveal
and show forth the trinity of persons in the Godhead. But the
Bible isn't written like a systematic theology book. You've got to
go through the book and hear a little, and hear a little,
and hear a little. And just like our Lord said about
that seed, first the blade, then the ear, and then the corn. And that's the way it is in our
life. That's our experience. And that's the way the Word of
God was written, is written. A little here, a little more,
a little more. That's the reason it's so important
to read all the Word of God. I was so happy recently when
one of the members here told me, I said, Pastor, I'm reading
through the scriptures like you encouraged us to do at the first
She said, I've always read the scriptures, but I've never read
straight through the Bible. And I remember encouraging every
believer should do that at least once in your lifetime, at least
once, preferably every year, if you can. Just start in Genesis
and go all the way through. And you'll be surprised that
you will see things you think, well, I didn't see that before. Was that there? Yeah, it was
there. It's been there since the Word
of God was finished, right? The canon was put together. But
here in 1 Peter, what I'm saying is, to learn these things about
the angels, it's not all in one chapter or one book. You've got
to go through the scriptures. And we're just touching the hem
of the garment tonight. But here in 1 Peter 1, If you
look in verse 10, of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently. Now these are these Old Testament
prophets. They prophesied, inspired by
God the Holy Spirit, but they couldn't or they didn't understand
all of their prophecies. One of the things that was so
difficult for the prophets to see was how the same person the
Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, how he could be such
a great and powerful and reigning person, but then at another time
described as such a lowly, suffering person. How can that be? Remember what that Ethiopian
eunuch said? Is the prophet speaking of himself
or of some other man? These prophets It says they searched
diligently. They searched into their own
prophecies. They prophesied of the grace
that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when it testified
beforehand. Now notice these two things,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ. the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Now notice which things the angels desire to look into. They've
got an interest. They have an interest and desire
to look into the method of salvation, the way that God saves sinners.
No doubt, by their Lord, by their God, becoming flesh and giving
his life to save his people. And the fourth thing about angels,
their spirits. Their spirits, and we see that
here in this first chapter of Hebrews. which is a quote from
Psalm, I believe it's Psalm 106, but in Hebrews 1 in verse 7,
one of the places here it says, and of the angels he saith, who
maketh his angels spirits. Now spirits do not have bodies. They do not have bodies, they
are pure spirits. And not only are they spirits,
But they are created immortal. Created immortal. In other words,
they will never cease to exist. In Luke chapter 20, in verse
36, the Lord Jesus, speaking of glorified saints, said, neither
can they die anymore, for they are equal unto the angels. Glorified
saints will never die. We were given eternal life equal
to the angels. Here's the second point. Angels
were not created a race. It's not a race. They're unlike
men. When angels fell, they did not
all fall. They did not all fall because
they were not created as a race. In 2 Peter 2, in verse 4, Peter
says, God spared not the angels that sinned. He didn't spare
the angels that sinned. Not all angels sinned. Unlike you and I, unlike man,
They did not have a federal head. By one man, sin entered into
the world, but that's not true of angels, is it? That's not
true of angels. It wasn't by one angel that all
angels became sinful angels, no. They were not created to
race. There are many And we pointed
out that there's a innumerable number of angels, that many of
them were chosen. They're called elect angels. Elect angels. Now, if some angels
are elect angels, then some angels were not elect angels. And it was those angels which
were not elect, and you say, well, what does that mean? It
means that they were chosen to stand in holiness with Christ
as their head. They were created holy angels,
and they did not sin. Many did, no doubt. Some believe a third followed
Satan and his rebellion. A third of the angels, but we
don't know that. But I am comfortable in saying
that there are many fallen angels. There's many evil spirits. There's
one devil, but he has a number of demons under his authority. And he is under God's authority. Never forget that. In Jude, we
read of the angels which kept not their first estate. They
were created holy, but they sin, and they are fallen, and they
are therefore evil angels. Now my third point, angels are
ministering spirits, as our text tells us tonight. Are they not
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? To whom do they minister? Well,
that verse tells us, doesn't it? They minister to those who
shall be heirs of salvation. One translation is they are sent
forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation. Salvation here means, of course,
heaven, what we call heaven, eternal glory. And it will be
possessed by everyone who enters into heaven as an inheritance. Heirs of salvation. And that
tells us in itself, doesn't it, that salvation is not by works.
It's not by works, it is rather by grace. Our Lord said in Matthew
chapter 25, then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Inherit the kingdom.
inherit. We don't earn it. We certainly
don't deserve it. No salvation is by grace through
faith, isn't it? It's bequeathed, heaven is bequeathed
to them by their Father, our Father. It comes to us through
the death of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God the
Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. How do they minister? To whom
do they minister? They minister unto the heirs
of salvation. But how do they minister? Well,
like I said a minute ago, the Bible isn't like a systematic
theology book, and we're not told, well, they minister one,
two, three, four, five, six in these ways. The only way we can
come to some understanding of how they minister is to see in
the Word of God how they have ministered, how they have ministered,
how we are told that they have ministered. And I have four things
that I see in the Word of God. We read that they appear to defend
and protect God's people. That's one way they minister.
under the airs of salvation. They defend and protect God's
people. Let's look at this in Acts chapter
12, in the case of Peter. Now the angel appeared to him
to protect him and defend him. In Acts chapter 12, And beginning
in verse 6, when Herod would have brought
him forth, he would have brought him forth to execute him. He
had him in jail, and he would have brought him forth to execute
him, just like he had James. He saw that pleased the Jews,
so he arrested Peter and had every intention to execute him. But God's angel came. And when Herod would have brought
him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Doesn't that show us something
about the peace of God which passeth all understanding? Here's
a man who's to be executed the next day. What's he doing? He's sleeping. He's sleeping. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. And because we have peace with
God, we have peace in our hearts, don't we? We have the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding. Here Peter is. Peter, aren't
you afraid? Don't you know tomorrow you're
going to be put to death? Well. As one man said, there's
no need in both of us staying up. God's watching. He doesn't
slumber nor sleep. No need in him and me staying
awake tonight. He's sleeping. Bound with two
chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And
behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined
in the prison and he smoked Peter on the side. Had to wake him
up. Raised him up, saying, rise up quickly. And his chains fell
off from his hands. And the angel said unto him,
gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he
saith unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. One way that angels minister
unto the heirs of salvation is they protect, they protect and
they keep. They defend, rather, God's people. The psalmist said in Psalm 34,
the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Do you fear God? The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When God saves a sinner,
he puts that fear of God in his heart, doesn't he? It's not a
slavish fear, I understand that. It's a reverential fear of God. And God says, His angels, His
angel, rather, encampeth round about them that fear Him. There's
an angel. We can't see them tonight. They're
spirits, aren't they? They're angels in this place
this evening. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear Him. Why? To protect. To protect and to defend God's
people. I have an example I want to give. When we first moved to Mexico
in 1966, I don't know if they still have these in Mexico, but
at that time they had what they called green angels, green angels. And what it was, it was a truck
of two men, mechanics for the most part, I assume. And they
traveled the roads that most tourists traveled. when visiting
Mexico or going through Mexico, and if they found a tourist broken
down, they would stop. I assume they helped others as
well, but especially tourists. They were called green angels.
And I want to tell you something. If you ever broke down on one
of those roads, you would have called them angels too. We had
that happen to us one time, and they were a great help. A great
help to us. But think of the angels of God
that encamp around God's people. Second, we read that they appear
to encourage and strengthen God's people. You see that in Acts
chapter 27. Angels, how do they minister
under the airs of salvation? They appear to encourage and
strengthen the people of God. We see this in this example of
Paul aboard that ship in the midst of a hurricane. In chapter
27 and verse 21, we read, but after a long abstinence, Paul
stood forth in the midst of them and said, sirs, you should have
hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete and to have
gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer. For there shall be no loss of
any man's life among you but of the ship. For there stood
by me this night the angel of God. The angel of God was with
him to encourage him, to strengthen him, so that he was a blessing
to the captain of that ship and all those men aboard the ship. He stood forth. And he told them,
the angel told me, fear not, Paul. thou must be brought before
Caesar, and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with
thee. You know, the scripture says
in Luke, and this has always been somewhat of a mystery, and
all of these things are mysteries, aren't they? How that they actually
do this work. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
was in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before, He was crucified,
the scripture says, an angel of the Lord came and strengthened
him. Strengthened him. That's amazing,
isn't it? He who is all powerful, the eternal
son of God, but he was also a man, wasn't he? And that angel came
and strengthened him. A third thing, we read that they
have a deep interest in sinners being saved. I've already mentioned
that passage in our Lord's parable in Luke 15. He tells us that
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repented. Over one sinner that repented.
But oh, think what that means for that one sinner. that one
sinner who repents, saved from an eternity in hell. Oh, they
rejoice, they're happy. And then the last thing, we read
that at a believer's death, they carry or they escort his soul
into the presence of God. You know the passage, look with
me in Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, and our Lord
told us, name the names. This man was a beggar. Verse
20, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid
at his gate full of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores, and it came to pass that the beggar died. I think
it's recorded in Genesis about Methuselah. He lived 960 some years and he died. That's recorded about every man
who's ever walked on the face of God's earth except Elijah
and Enoch. And he died. This beggar died. But notice the scripture says,
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The bosom,
Abraham's bosom to the Jews, that meant heaven. Because they
felt like they thought wherever Abraham was, he was happy. He was blessed. And wherever
he was, to go to be with him was to go to be where God's people
are blessed, heaven, eternity. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to us this evening.