Angels, Demons & You

[Music] hello church we're going to begin a study today on angels demons and you uh the real foundation of this whole study is the realization of the spiritual influences that are active and involved around our lives that add momentum to us or resist us it's not an imagination it's not the territory of the fanatic or the crazy people or the people who aren't educated or sophisticated if jesus believed in angels and demons i would submit to you that you and i maybe should consider it ourselves so it's not about my opinion we're going to open our bibles and take a careful look at what the scripture has to say and hopefully allow the spirit of god to expand our imagination our expectation and grow our faith grab your bible a notepad and most of all open your heart let's see what god has for us today i want to begin a study with you in this session under the title of angels demons and you i didn't call you an angel or a demon but if we just talk about angels and demons and we don't put the u in it it's easy to do it as a theoretical discussion it'd be a little bit like saying we wanted to talk about your health and we're going to talk about diet and exercise talk on so you're going to talk about diet and exercise and me now you're getting up in my business and it makes no sense to me to talk about angels and demons and spiritual things and not include in that the implications for each of us individually now this is beyond what we can do in a single session and so if your schedule allows i would encourage you to take advantage of the sessions that follow this but angels and demons and you i want to start with jesus and jesus presentation to us in time this book is predominantly a presentation of adam in god's interaction with his descendants it describes for us in the beginning of genesis an order coming into this world it doesn't necessarily describe for us original creation when it opens it simply says that the earth was chaotic it's a story it's a very limited story in its scope and it's presentation it's focused on adam and his descendants in their relationship with the creator of all things and if we try to make it into something else when we often stray off course a bit and we've struggled with this in the church even those of us who are zealous and and want to be biblically oriented we'll try to make it into a science book it isn't intended to be that i'm not saying we can't learn things about science from our bibles but it wasn't written as a science book and others of us prefer it to be a history book and it's it's a collection of 66 books written over a very broad span of time by multiple authors in different historical and social settings and it's not arranged chronologically so if you pick it up and imagine it's a 21st century history book you'll be confused what it will tell you is how to know the creator of heaven and earth and how to be prepared for your life beyond time and then the character that is the the linchpin the decision point in the whole narrative from genesis to revolution revolutions or revelations is jesus now most of us think of jesus as a new testament character but i would submit to you that's it's a bit simplistic it's illogical to me to imagine that the savior of all humanity the redeemer of all humankind has nothing to do with the initiative between god and and human beings until we get to the roman empire so if we put it back in the in the context of a little more technical theological language we're going to talk about jesus in time time is a construct time has an end to it eternity is a totally different state of existence but in time we talk about appearances of jesus prior to his incarnation prior to his birth in bethlehem did you know that jesus was involved with humanity before he was born in bethlehem kind of the 25 cent word for that are the pre-incarnate appearances of jesus there's some debate around that in biblical scholarship and which is and which isn't and i'm not trying to elicit any debate but i think it's clear and broadly agreed that he was engaged with the story of human beings before bethlehem i'll give you one example in jesus own words john chapter 8 i know this is the new testament so it's clearly after his incarnation but this is the incarnate jesus this is the man jesus of nazareth talking about his role in this unfolding narrative of humanity john 8 and verse 56 he's speaking to the jewish people he said your father abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day my day my time under the sun abraham rejoiced at seeing this and then he said he abraham saw it and was glad and that's made his audience angry because they imagine that what secures their future and what commends them to god is their descendants of abraham and jesus said abraham saw my day and he was glad about it so their response they said to him you're not 50 years old and you've seen abraham and jesus said i tell you the truth before abraham was born i am now by this point abraham's been gone for a while if you're not really a biblical timeline person you meet abraham in genesis chapter 12. you meet jesus in the gospels there's more than one turn of the calendar in there before abraham was born i am and at this they picked up stones to stone him they were going to kill him they were more than a little agitated and jesus hit himself and slipped away from the temple grounds so it's it's safe to say that we can talk about pre-incarnate jesus engagement with the story of humanity before bethlehem then we can talk about jesus post-resurrection it's easy to talk about jesus between bethlehem and the cross he looked just like us and the rules that govern us govern him and we understand hunger and thirst and tired and hot and cold and we get all of those things and he came to to demonstrate to us the character of god but most of us have had very limited interaction with people who were dead and so there's a certain amount of text that deals with the post-resurrection appearances of jesus now they are uniquely invested in his followers i didn't give you those passages because most of those you're familiar with john 20 when on resurrection day in the evening jesus stepped into the room with his disciples or the meals they had on the shore of galilee when the fish was cooking i mean most of you are familiar with some of those stories i think it's noteworthy in this little section that there is there was the last scene that the the unbelieving world had of jesus was him dead on a cross there's no suggestion in the scripture that a resurrected christ appeared to those who didn't believe in him he didn't go knock on pilate's door and said bad move he didn't go find a high priest that had had him slapped and slap him back god did nothing to disrupt that presentation of jesus except for those who were his followers there's a benefit to seeking god that was a very weak response to a very important principle there's a benefit to seeking god we haven't really been coached up on that we've been coached to be born again or to be saved to give our lives to the lord but after that we we typically invest pretty modest energy in the pursuit of god there is nothing you will invest in the pursuit of god that god will not respond to there's a benefit in seeking god so we've got pre-incarnate appearances of jesus we have post-resurrection appearances of jesus jesus seen alive after his death and burial then we have a third category and these are post ascension after jesus left the earth he appeared to people on earth you see he was i believe he was involved with us before bethlehem he was involved in a very personal way in that window of time that we have in the gospels in acts chapter 1 he went back to heaven but he's involved in what's happening in the earth today we stand kind of away from i go well you know pastor i don't know that's why we're doing the study jesus is alive even though he ascended into heaven i'll give you a couple examples on this because we don't talk about it quite as frequently acts chapter 9 this is saul of tarsus he's a pharisee he hates people who believe in jesus he's committed himself professionally to having them destroyed he seeks them out he contact traces them he has them arrested and thrown into prison he's been so effective at it that it's added tremendous momentum to his career and the leaders in jerusalem have entrusted him not just to do it in jerusalem but now they've sent him to damascus the same damascus that's in our news these days and on that road to damascus he has an encounter with one jesus of nazareth i didn't make this up it's acts 9 it says saul fell to the ground and he heard a voice say to him and the voice knows who he is saul why do you persecute me he not only knows who he is he knows what he's been up to do you have the imagination that jesus knows you by name and knows what you've been up to if you think being a christ father was fooling pastor you're confused pastor's not that clever i have enough trouble keeping my own car between the ditches saul why do you persecute me and he said who are you he's smart lord because by this point he's been knocked off of his horse and he has dust in his face [Music] i'm jesus whom you're persecuting now get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do i would call that a post-resurrection encounter with jesus wouldn't you it goes on in damascus there was a disciple named ananias and the lord called to him in a vision ananias this is interesting he had a vision he seized the lord i don't know if he'd heard jesus teach i don't know if he was standing near the cross on the day he was crucified but he clearly has an understanding of who jesus is he lives in damascus he has a vision and the lord calls to him and the vision he answers yes lord and the lord told him go to the house of judas on straight street and ask for a man from tarsus named saul he's praying i guess he is he's blind after that little encounter with the boss ananias was reluctant some of you know the story he said he's here to kill us he's telling jesus he doesn't think jesus has been reading the social media post about saul of tarsus so he's going to fill jesus in on that and jesus is very aware of that that's why he intercepted him on the road see i would submit to you that jesus is far more aware of what's happening in our world than we are we're carrying a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety and a lot of uncertainty needlessly the boss knows what we need to know is what he wants us to do we need to be more aware of his power and his glory and his majesty than we are of all the expressions of evil i'd love to to see if we couldn't dispel some of that the fear the anxiety the the frustrations and i don't mean just around culver i just mean in general it's all been ratcheted up we need to be more concerned about ungodliness and immorality in the people close to us we've been winking at that and nodding at that for way too long anyway ananias we're going to get to the angels i promise ananias went to the house and he entered and he placed his hands on saul and said brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit please understand ananias said jesus sent me here he told me your story so not only did saul have an encounter with a post-ascension jesus ananias did we're not done revelation chapter one who wrote the book of revelation john one of the twelve that jesus recruited he spent three years with jesus he knows him well he was the closest of all the twelve to jesus when we get to the book of revelation john's an old man his peer group have been for the most part martyred and he's imprisoned on an island and on the lord's day he has a guest it's revelation 1 10 on the lord's day i was in the spirit and i heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet if you're not accustomed to giving a day to the lord or giving time to the lord i would encourage you to think about your schedule i know we're all busy and i don't want to add to the burdens you carry because the demands on our lives particularly in this season are significant but but you i would encourage you to give some focused time to the lord some quiet time with the lord beyond your your quick read through your bible portion what would i do maybe you take the book of psalms and read a half a dozen chapters and and find the circle the verses that apply to you maybe you make a list of the people you know who are struggling because of covet and and quietly pray for them don't draw attention to it don't post it don't share a selfie of it i could give you a biblical perspective on that if you do it to be seen by other people you'll forfeit whatever good things would have come to you but cultivate the practice of some time with the lord and then expand it almost all of us have jobs and duty assignments in our life that don't require great thought of us mowing the grass washing a window cleaning a bathroom something that probably doesn't require great intellectual focus and while you have those times think about the lord talk to him some of my best times have come in a tractor seat can't make that stuff up because i'm on the tractor it's loud enough nobody can hear what i'm saying i can sing i can worship the lord i can pray in the spirit i do whatever i want to and i don't have to answer a phone nobody's going to approach me because i'll run over with the bush hog sorry i didn't see you don't know why i backed up that third time did you want to ask me something time with the lord i was in the lord i was in the spirit on the lord's day and i heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet and he turns to see who's talking and among the lamp stands was someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest and his head and his hair were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were like blazing fire and his feet were like bronze in a furnace and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters in his right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance who did he see jesus can you imagine john was standing on the mount of olives that day when he lifted off can you imagine how lonely that must have felt for three years every problem they encountered jesus had a solution to demonized people hungry crowds storms death even his own death didn't stop him can you imagine the those 40 days they had with jesus after the resurrection well he taught them now that would have been a seminar to get to attend he stood on the mount of olives and he saw jesus lift off and he and the crew started in telling the jesus story and they started in the hardest place they started in the streets of jerusalem saying you crucified our messiah and they threatened them and arrested them and had them beaten and imprisoned and some of them were murdered john kept telling the story year after year decade he never went back to his fishing business now he's an old man and his strength is spent and his friends are gone he said on the lord's day i was in the spirit and i turned but he doesn't say hey i saw my buddy jesus hey j-man how you doing there's not that he describes him in the most majestic way to what captures me in verse 17 he said when i saw him i fell at his feet like i was dead folks we got to get to know jesus i want to talk to you about angels and demons and you but what i really want to do is my prayer is that collectively we're going to get to know jesus in a new way and then i like jesus response just in case you're not convinced it's him he placed his right hand on me and said do not be afraid i'm the first and the last i'm the living one i was dead behold i'm alive forever and ever and i have the keys of death and hades again it's a post-ascension [Music] encounter with jesus in time in time i assure you jesus is involved in what's happening he knows your name and your schedule he knows the privacy of your home [Music] that's not a threat that's a wonderful thing that's a wonderful thing if you're living in such a way that that's perceived as a threat you need to change i would submit to you we have too little imagination of spiritual things and we make too few allowances for spiritual influences in our lives on the other end of the spectrum i think we imagine that our physical attributes our strength or our beauty or our financial condition our education our race our iq our social status all of things are we imagine to be far more significant determiners of our life outcome than spiritual influences we say we're christ followers and we believe the book and we believe in jesus and we've done some certain things around that but we spend the majority of our time and our energy and our effort investing ourselves as if all these other things are far more significant we get far more emotional about it we we're willing to spend lots of resources and time and energy and effort and when we come to spiritual things we start backing up well you know i don't know about all that again not a criticism if we can acknowledge where we are we can find our way out of it how do we get here well because the church hasn't always been like this the 21st century church is not reflective of the church in every century particularly 21st century church in the west does not always look like this we've lost a little perspective we've drifted a bit and i'm a part of that i've given my life to it so i'm not throwing stones at anybody i would tell you one of the significant contributors has to do with something that's it's kind of a technical definition for how you approach theology and biblical studies it's called biblical criticism not criticism in the way the vernacular way would use it on the street where you're nitpicking problems with somebody or you can't be satisfied it's a thing it's a it's a formal school of thought regarding biblical studies it uses critical analysis to explain the bible and it's broken into several categories and they're constantly morphing and changing a bit but things like textual criticism and literary criticism and source criticism form criticism redaction criticism it's a whole school of thought there are entire theology schools built around this approach to biblical studies and decade after decade after decade we've trained leaders into the church in this school of thought so this isn't something subtle or small it defines the biblical worldview of a significant percentage of people engaged in the contemporary church in our nation and in the west i spent a good bit of time in university settings being trained up in those things so it's not a theory to me a bit newer but it similar in many respects is critical race theory it arises from a similar approach it's changing of definitions in the changing of terms it's a reimagining of history but whether it's biblical criticism or critical race there it begins with an outcome in mind then it formulates or formulates a rational plan to achieve what that outcome is well the outcome of biblical criticism that's our focus in this session or at least the portion of is to imagine that the bible is little more than an epic human effort it's a remarkable human effort broad periods of time enormous influence we want to understand that it's worthy of study but it shouldn't be understood to have a divine component or influence so the the beginning point in reading your bible and studying your bible is not a point of faith or belief or application it's dissecting it to study it as if it's inert it's not alive it's not vibrant it's not transformational well in case you haven't made it reach the conclusion yet i don't accept that premise and i would say to you it's by no means the only school of thought regarding scripture and perhaps more importantly it doesn't reflect the thoughts of the early church or the church through the centuries it's very much a late comer to the biblical studies discussion but it's very prevalent in this season it informs much of the dialogue that's held in in some of the most celebrated expressions of faith so when we pick up the conversation about angels and demons it's easy to dismiss them and say well you know the first century audience believed in those things but we're in the 21st century and it's as if we've just dismissed the whole category so the outcome has been we have multiplied almost innumerable people who sit in churches and imagine themselves to be people of faith and they have almost zero awareness of spiritual influences we've been trained that way we've studied the social context in the historical context and we act as if somehow we're a bit more enlightened a bit more aware we're a bit too sophisticated to believe in things like the devil and so this study of angels and demons and you and me i think is of tremendous significance now i'll start out with some big rock ideas the bible tells us that angels are ministering spirits they're spiritual beings they didn't get an earth suit like you and me so they're not limited to time they're messengers we're going to look some examples of all of these they're prevalent meaning they're they're far more prevalent in your realm of existence than you and i are typically conscious of they move between dimensions they interact with you and me in time and yet they're creatures of eternity those are two very different dimensions we'll start with the beginning of those ministering spirits and messages hebrews chapter 1 says are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation salvation is a reference to the redemptive work of jesus jesus death burial resurrection who are the beneficiaries of the redemptive work of jesus humanity it's not a trick question the redemptive work of jesus on the cross was not intended to help the angels that rebelled against god the demons aren't going to get saved the devil is not going to make a profession of faith so we're given a very significant component piece of the puzzle when it says all the angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation they're ministering spirits on our behalf we're going to look at the text in a bit to see that if god has provided ministering spirits to help us just maybe we ought to know a little bit about them i mean i'm just thinking i'm just thinking psalm 103 verse 19 the lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all bless the lord you his angels mighty in strength who perform his word obeying the voice of his word you want a little more back story on angels who they are and what they're about they're mighty in strength we probably won't get to it in this session but one of the things we will focus on a little bit is the the magnitude of the presentation of angels and their strength their influence their abilities it's phenomenal the language that the bible uses they're mighty in strength and they perform his word obeying the voice of his word then hebrews chapter 13 gives us a little cautionary note do not forget to entertain strangers do you have a biblical assignment to be kind to strangers well did you know the bible says the new testament says to practice hospitality well i mean i'd be happy if somebody practiced hospitality on me i know i'm meddling now don't forget to entertain strangers for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it do you think you could be in the presence of an angel and not know it do you live like that do you use words like that you talk about your hobbies like that do you tell jokes like that it's gonna be really awkward if you get to heaven you meet some angels that you've been in some places you didn't know angel's inhabited i just looked down started thinking where have i been lately let's take a minute and look at some of the roles of angels and scriptures and in this section the majority of these are going to come from the hebrew bible the old testament but it's not limited to that we just limited how much you can endure in one session one of the roles that is described or attributed to angels is their guardians they're guardians on our behalf genesis chapter 3 that's very near the beginning of the book it says the lord god banished adam from the garden of eden to work the ground which he had taken and after he drove the man out he placed on the east side of the garden of eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life cherubim is one of the groups one of the classifications of angels in hebrew that i am ending is plural [Music] so you've probably heard of cherubim and seraphim they're they're part of the created beings usually they're described to us in and when we see pictures of the throne of god and the the creatures that are surrounding god but in this case they were given an assignment to guard the tree of life in exodus chapter 14 we get a bit more of a pedestrian display of angels as guardians exodus as you know is the story of the hebrew slaves being delivered from egyptian slavery and it was not an easy deliverance let me think god delivered the hebrew slaves from egypt about a third of you what do the rest of you think how many of me think they had a contract and they bought their way out no they won the lottery a relative left them some property well i bet if we stopped and you raised your hand we could get almost universal that that god delivered them but i think we could also say it wasn't an easy deliverance see i would think if i told you god delivered me from some horrific place that you would imagine well it was easy and joyful and happy and kind of a parade-like thing yellow brick road and i skipped merrily along it and no problems and no challenges but many of you have read the book of exodus and you know that that story of deliverance was oh beyond difficult i mean lots of stresses and lots of points of unbelief and questioning and anger about leadership and resentment of what was happening and a lot of fear i mean just lots of stuff between the the brick pits and the the promised land wow and so we're getting a little getting just one snapshot of this in exodus 14 it's it's after the passover and they've been released and then pharaoh changes his mind no doubt somebody rolls in and starts to chirp in his ear you're not really going to let him go are you you're not really going to let them humiliate you are you moses grew up in the palace he's mocking you so he gathers his chariots in his army and he starts out after the former slaves in verse 19 it's exodus 14 it says the angel of the lord the angel of god who had been traveling in front of israel's army withdrew and went behind them the pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them coming between the armies of egypt and israel and throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other so neither went near the other all night long pharaoh caught the hebrews and it says the angel of the lord stood between them now that part's pretty clear at this point it's hard for me to imagine that the hebrews had a standing army they've been slaves for hundreds of years one of the titles attributed to the lord is the lord of hosts if you read the message which i know is is not a translation but if you read the message every time you see the lord of hosts the message translates at the lord of the armies lord of the angel armies now the angel army isn't specifically mentioned there it does say the angel of the lord was but i imagine that the angel of the lord took up his position along with the heavenly host and darkened the perspective of the egyptians and brought light to the hebrews angels are guardians folks you have guardians in fact the bible talks about guardian angels we'll look at that before we're done angels carry out god's directions they do god's bidding in time they're messengers sent forth to serve those we just read it who will inherit salvation there are angels in the earth today in middle tennessee today doing god's business well pastor you know i just don't know [Music] i know it's why we're reading it we haven't known for long enough it's time to know in numbers 22 balaam he's kind of a interesting character in the bible he's not all good and he's not all bad god's ultimately going to judge him he's aware of spiritual things but he's also very carnal greedy selfish the hardest characters in life are those groups they'll worship the lord with enthusiasm and behave in an ungodly way with great enthusiasm don't be one of those people it's not a good place numbers 22 says balaam got up early in the morning he's been paid a lot of money to pronounce a curse on the israelites they're traveling between egypt and the promised land and there's a ruler that recognizes the threat they present and he wants them cursed and he's hired balaam because he's one of these shadowy spiritual character characters so he saddles his donkey many of you know the story he went with the princess of moab but god was angry when he went god had told him not to go and the angel of the lord stood in the road to oppose him god sent an angel to stop balaam that's really the story balaam said i'm going to go do this and god sent an angel and said no you're not no you're not don't make choices to oppose god be careful balaam was writing on his donkey and his two servants worth and when the donkey saw the angel of the lord this is the fun part the donkey has more discernment than the prophet standing in the road with a draw and sword at his hand she turned off the road are you are you ready are you ready to imagine [Music] are you ready to imagine that god would send an angel to terminate a life of someone who was disobedient it's not just an old testament thing folks before we're done with the study we're going to see it in the new testament as well he struck saul of tarsus blind there's an angel standing with his sword drawn when the donkey saw the angel standing in the road she turned off the road into a field and balaam beat her to get her back in the road the angel of the lord stood in a narrow path the angel found a better place fewer options for the donkey he's being outsmarted by a donkey and he's not going to tolerate it when the donkey saw the angel of the lord she pressed close to the wall and she crushed balaam's foot against it have you ever ridden a horse or a donkey that may have happened to you they rubbed your leg against the tree the wall and the barn they're not above it they'll try to rub you off so he beat her again then the angel of the lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn now this time the angel says i've got this donkey and when the donkey saw the angel of the lord she lay down under balaam if you've ever worked with donkeys that is that is a very accurate description of donkey behavior you beat them a couple times they will lay down don't ask me how i know but that's trust me that is legitimate we had a donkey for a while we had a little burrow we used him for christmas programs we used to be in the christmas parade and we wanted mary and joseph in a borough so we bought a little borough and we named him murphree so we owned murfree borough and we had we brought him into the church i i got the privilege of training murphree to come in and out of the building he didn't seem really impressed there were many discussions around his participation first christmas program i'll finish i promise but first christmas program murphy was a part of i came i worked for weeks i used to train colts and stuff or break them but so i had the donkey where he'd walk in and out of the church door like it was just walking in and out of his stall and he was going to be fed and he was good to go it didn't occur to me i needed to train mary and joseph they were afraid of murphy and if you've ever worked with an animal you know what happens if you're afraid of the animal right it's not going to go real well so christmas was donkey less but then murphy was going to be in our christmas parade this was another year and i you had to line up for the parade before church was done so the parade crew's up there doing that and i'm doing church and with churches then i go up to watch the parade and i get there and there's no murphy i'm trying to be calm and collected and pastor like so i inquired where is the borough and they looked at me and said he didn't want to come [Laughter] they looked at me and said he didn't want to come and at that point i wanted to name them balaam because i thought unless he talked to you [Laughter] you would have been so proud of me all i said was give me the truck keys [Music] so i drove out to where murphy lived and he had a change of heart [Laughter] he wanted to go to the parade but we had to we had to the parade had already started by todd murphy and i got back so the parade's you know a quarter of a mile away going down now it's mtsu boulevard so i get him out of the trailer and murphy and i are running down the street and the police officers are in their radios laughing because it's against security obviously and they're saying there's some crazy man in a donkey jogging down the street just waved them on that's true i couldn't make that stuff up murphy's last adventure with us was a palm sunday and we put a little pen the church used to have a front porch and we built a little pit and we put murphy in it with some hay so the children could see a burrow it's time for church to start and somebody comes running through the door of the church and said murphree's gone [Music] and he knocked off one of the boards of the little pen that he'd run he was running down the highway towards his pasture after we caught that murphy that day we didn't care if murphy borough ever came back to church again we helped him find a home that had fewer requirements so when balaam's donkey lays down i can tell you i've been there murphy laid down in the front door of the church oh i know i was going someplace with all of this yes it says the lord opened the donkey's mouth in verse 28 and he said to balaam what have i done to make you beat me these three times and balob answered him how mad do you have to be to talk to a donkey don't ask me that because i heard my own answers balaam said you made a fool of me if i had a sword he said i'd kill you right now balaam is clueless he has no idea that all the bad behavior that he has experienced is the result of the angel of the lord carrying out god's direction just next that the lord opened balaam's eyes and he could see god gave balaam multiple opportunities to repent of his stubbornness of his rebellion of his persistent wickedness just pure greed the pursuit of money was causing him to set aside what he understood of god's direction and say it doesn't matter to me i'll be glad that the lord doesn't send a destroying angel after every one of us when we make a selfish decision angels are instruments of god's judgment in second samuel 24 it's an event from david's life david took a census of the soldiers and god had told him not to do it so he sent the prophet to david and he said i'm going to judge you and i'll give you some options and david chose the option that was dependent upon god's actions and not the actions of other people he said i i trust god to be more merciful than my enemies but the destruction begins in verse 16 of that chapter it says the angel stretched out his hand to destroy jerusalem by this point seventy thousand people have died and now he's come to jerusalem a destroying angel sent by god and the lord was grieved because of the calamity and he said to the angel who was afflicting the people withdraw your hand and the angel of the lord was at the threshing floor of aruna the jebusite the threshing floor of aruna some of you will remember is what david purchased for the place for the temple to be built [Music] mount zion mount moriah where abraham had brought isaac to offer him as a sacrifice the place where solomon would build his temple the place where the second temple in jerusalem would be built by zerubbabel the temple where jesus would come and teach and minister in the courtyards there when you see pictures of jerusalem today and you see that gold domed building that's a muslim shrine to muhammad but it is resting on a platform built by herod the great in the same place where this angel received the instruction from god to stop when david saw the angel was striking down the people he said to the lord i'm the one who has sinned and done wrong these people are but sheep what have they done let your hand fall on me and my family angels are instruments of god's judgment in isaiah 37 a little different historical context the assyrians have come to jerusalem and they have superior military might and superior numbers and superior technology there's no chance that the the inhabitants of jerusalem can defend themselves hezekiah is the king isaiah is the prophet and hezekiah prays and he sins for the prophet and he says don't worry about these people it says the angel of the lord went out and struck 185 000 in the camp of the assyrians when men arose early in the morning all of these were dead i love the the understatement of the bible so seneca departed 185 000 people died overnight how many people think they departed in a hurry an angel of the lord you see we've lived with more fear of people than we have a respect and reverence for god our spiritual lives have been so anemic so small our spiritual awareness so limited our willingness to believe so dwarfed that we struggle to imagine that god's involved in the history of human beings and yet it's what our bible is filled with we've relegated our faith to studies and groups and events and theological debates and we have very small imaginations that that god has actually engaged in our lives that there are spiritual beings to help us to communicate with us to demonstrate god's strength on our behalf that we're not alone that we haven't been abandoned before we're done we'll look at the angels in jesus life and his ministry and in his teaching the bible tells us that there are angelic messengers that god sends to his servants when they're tired or they're hungry or they're afraid those aren't particularly triumphant points in life when you're hungry or frightened or defeated and yet god will send a messenger to help you i'll give you a couple of examples first kings 19 elijah was afraid and ran for his life he's a prophet he's called fire down from heaven [Music] he's killed the prophets of baal he's killed hundreds of idolatrous prophets false prophets again we've had this imagination that our faith is about being kind and timid i'm not encouraging you to be violent or angry but i'm telling you there's more in the balance the outcomes are significant and we haven't really lived that way because we thought we could secure our futures with the resources that were available to us and we had enough things that we could navigate and negotiate so we haven't really had to invest our hearts and the things of the lord and we've thought of spiritual things as kind of trivial maybe a little scary and certainly perhaps the periphery of someone of our intellectual ability but it's not a subtle theme of scripture elijah ran for his life and he came to bersheba in judah mount carmel he called fire from heaven is it's a mountain in the northern half of israel and he's run a long way south into the desert and he went another day's journey into the desert and he came to a broom tree and he sat down under it and he prayed that he might die i've had enough he said i've just had enough take my life i'm no better than my ancestors and he laid down under the tree and fell asleep and all at once an angel touched him an angel touched him an angel touched him and he didn't say you gutless he touched him and said get up eat something and he looked around and there was a cake and the bread a jar of water and he ate and drank and he went back to sleep and the angel lord came back a second time and touched him and said you need to eat some more because the journey is too much for you god sent an angel to help him he's exhausted emotionally physically spiritually he said i can't do any more lord i'm done i'm all in and the angel brought him something to eat do you think angels are still doing that me too second kings chapter one it's still elijah elijah is holding up god's truth in the midst of a culture that doesn't want to hear it they're killing prophets they're practicing paganism god's people they're not tolerant of the word of god they've hunted for elijah to find him on multiple occasions they've sent groups of soldiers to arrest him the queen has said i'll destroy him if i can put my hands on him he's living in a difficult season again do we have an imagination that we could be representatives of god ambassadors for the kingdom in the midst of a culture that doesn't really want to hear the message that we're delivering and are we willing to persevere or will we simply withdraw and say well it's not a good time for me to go public so it's a group of soldiers that have come for elijah it's actually the there have been multiple groups the others had some fire encounters [Music] and the angel of the lord said to elijah go down with him don't be afraid of him so elijah got up and went down with him to the king if the angel tells you don't be afraid i assure you you were what afraid again are you prepared to believe that god would send an angel to help somebody who was frightened of the circumstance i don't have much time to unpack this little next section but a significant portion of the the old testament deals with lessons that the people have learned along their journey big chunks of psalms and proverbs and even in the prophets many of the passages make it clear that the hebrew people understood that angels have had a significant involvement in their history and it's not just a historical reference it's written down to encourage each following generation to understand the role of the angels in their journey through time our trip through time is relatively brief the bible says it's like a flower we're here today and we're gone tomorrow we're like a a a fist it's a combination of a vapor and a mist it's like a mist that disappears when the sun comes up it's not that it's insignificant it's a significant part of our journey your spirit's eternal but your time under the sun with an earth suit is enormously significant for your role in eternity psalm 34 says the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them they've heard the story from exodus that i read to you a moment ago they've heard it from grandparents and parents they've heard it around their holidays there are many other examples that i haven't taken the time to read you and so we get to the psalms and they're worshiping together and a part of the message that they say to one another is the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him so it would be good to cultivate the fear of the lord it would be worthwhile to understand what a respect and a reverence for god is because if you practice that and cultivate that it attracts angelic involvement i'm not making it up i just read it to you the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him psalm 35 says contend o lord with those who contend with me fight against those who fight against me like you sent the angel to work on balaam again he's not removed from them they're not just studying history they're not just studying what people in the book of genesis believed god did may they be like chaff before the wind with the angel of the lord driving them away may their path be dark and slippery with the angel of the lord pursuing them you talk a path i don't want to be on a dark and slippery path with the angel of the lord coming for me no thank you like we can expand that whole section we may come back and do that in another time slot but angels provide protection in daniel chapter six you know the story it's daniel and the lions did i hope you learned it in sunday school if you didn't i'm sorry but this was daniel's analysis my god sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions angels will protect us angelic messages provide insight and understanding again in the book of daniel an angel has come to see him and he says don't be afraid daniel since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before the lord your god your words were heard and i've come in response to them your choices attracted an angelic response from god see this isn't just abstract it's not just the whimsical your god choices impact god's choices towards you and i'm sorry we haven't been coached in this better we've been coached to be born again and then kind of forget it don't lie cheat or steal but in seeking god in the pursuit of god god will respond to you daniel when you set your heart to gain understanding and you humbled yourself you begin to fast and he's fasted for quite a season i have come in response to them but the prince of the persian kingdom resisted me 21 days this isn't an earthly prince it's a spiritual prince a spiritual authority of darkness over the persian kingdom resisted the angelic messenger then michael one of the chief princes came to help me michael is one of the archangels his primary assignment is the jewish people michael came to help me in the struggle i was detained there by the king of persia now i have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for the vision concerns a time yet to come daniel began to seek the lord and he sent an angel and there was opposition so an archangel came to help him folks we will not defeat evil by outworking it out thinking it out organizing it it's not about our numbers the only thing evil will yield to is a power greater than itself and that power isn't represented in our physical strength or our monetary assets that power is represented in the king of kings and the lord of lords and we the church have to be aware of that power that's available to us so what do we do i want to conclude with this for this session what's our response to this well let's put it in terms of this to ask the lord to begin to open our eyes and i don't mean just to see angels but to open our eyes to his reality to his truth beyond the burdensome habit of bible study or the loathsome responsibilities to attend worship services or to be good or be polite or be tamed there are real issues in our lives where we need the power of god to bring about acceptable outcomes and god's responses aren't whimsical or arbitrary we need our eyes to be opened luke 24 it says of jesus and his followers he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures in acts 16 i love this little passage paul has been directed to philippi supernaturally in a dream and he arrives he says one of those listening to him speak was a woman named lydia she's a dealer in purple cloth from the city who was a worshiper of god and the lord opened her heart to respond to paul's message the lord opened her heart you can begin to say lord open my heart i don't want to just sit in church i don't want to try to defend myself i don't want to try to defend what i think is right and excuse what i think is wrong i don't want to be an i want to be a debater with you god open my heart give me a longing for the things of your kingdom god just simple little prayers they will change the trajectory of your god will respond to you god forgive me i've been a little casual i've been a little indifferent one more component to this john 20. this is jesus with his disciples this is resurrection day so i'm thinking he has a very attentive audience is that safe for the last time they saw him he was dead on a cross some of them saw him buried in a tomb haven't seen him since and now he's standing in the room let me think they took notes i bet they put their phone down do you think anybody was scrolling through facebook when the jesus was there i don't think so i think it's safe to say he has their undivided attention he said peace be with you as the father sent me i'm sending you wow with that he breathed on him and said receive the holy spirit if i could give you one more idea you begin to say to the spirit of god you're welcome in my life you're welcome in my life i'm not as familiar with you as i'd like to be i don't really recognize your voice to be honest i'm a little frightened to the topic i don't know you as well as i'd like i don't want to be deceived i don't want to get into trouble but i'd like to know you would you help me i'll tell you the best way that i know of to attract the involvement of the holy spirit is to give honor to jesus if you'll commit yourself to honoring jesus speaking well of him any place you go you take him with you don't go anyplace where you're not willing to let jesus be honored and you will find the involvement of the holy spirit in your life increases dramatically we're going to work on this some more in the next session i brought you a prayer it's not in your notes but they're going to put it on the screens i ran out of space i made those scriptures so small any small load had been micro fish don't you stand with me want to read this prayer together after 45 minutes the angels won't listen anymore so i have to hush let's read this prayer together you can take this prayer and read it through your week it's it's really it's too important to leave as a casual offhand thing let's read it together already almighty god forgive us for our unbelief and indifference we humble ourselves and acknowledge you as the creator and sustainer of all things now open our hearts and our eyes that we may have understanding and insight from you deliver us from deception holy spirit teach us we are listening and we will follow give us now a boldness to believe to serve and to respond as never before may the name of jesus be lifted high and may his people be strengthened in jesus name amen hallelujah [Music] hey this is pastor allen thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content when we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

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Length: 60min 58sec (3658 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021