What are the Angels doing that see God's face in Matthew 18:10 and guard children?

we had a question and there's going to be a time for more questions or follow-ups in just a moment but last week the one I didn't get to or the week before was how it was actually it was three questions and it was about guardian angels what what is going on with guardian angels and that's we're gonna look at this verse and then what are angels doing and and really what does that have to do with us today I mean do angels have any interaction with us and actually it'll be fun to answer that because Paul specifically taught in the epistles that people are supposed to avoid any messages from angels and we're supposed to also that's Galatians 1 ain't we're also supposed to avoid any adoration seeking wanting to see or worshipping angels because Satan's realm is deception if people are looking for angels they'll see him and remember it says in 2nd Corinthians 11:14 he can can he can transform himself into an angel of light the prime leader of darkness can make himself an angel of light and I think it's very interesting that many of the false religions of cults all have this glowing white robed angel coming to them with arms out like Betty Eadie the embrace by the light writer that's a Mormon and she doesn't believe in Christ in any way shape or form and yet in her out-of-body experience a white robed person took her and she just was filled with excitement and joy and he showed her around and of course we know that who that was it wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ because he wouldn't welcome someone that denied him but how can our understanding of Almighty God who made angels and guardian angels which are doing something we're going to look at in several passages and those that are the Fallen Angels the demons how can that transform us as followers of Jesus today so the first one is let's look at Matthew 1810 and this is right in the middle of Jesus talking about children and children's ministry right after he talked about church discipline and and a lot of other things and in chapter 18 and verse 10 he says take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones and you know he Jesus always was emphasizing the need for children for the helpless the weak the poor the widow I mean it was the the outcast of society the overlooked the easily run over people he says don't despise a little one for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven and that that idea in heaven their angels see is where we get and I was talking with someone on the way in scholasticism the the period of church history called scholasticism spent an entire time in medieval times studying everything the Bible doesn't say about angels and speculating on it and that's where this guardian angel thing came from this verse does not say that there's four for every child there is an angel hovering overhead I mean there may be but this verse doesn't say it because the way that the the preposition is formed there it says they're angels in heaven you notice it's it's angels and they're in heaven and in it appears that that all the angels are always interfacing around the throne and I've shown you that in other times but they are watching over the children so it's angels watching over children not angel over every child now there may be but it doesn't specifically say that in the form of this verse so what we do know is angels watch over little one plural plural but they watch over all the saints it's not just kids so that's that's part of what we have to realize but let's keep going on to Luke 15 because it's fascinating in Luke 15 so you're in math you keep going to the right Luke 15 this is another amazing verse that that that helps us understand what angels are doing right now and how vital they are angels surround God now we know that we've seen Revelation all the times we go to Revelation the angels are surrounding the throne and they're there just in undulating waves you know bowing getting up down every time the cherubim say holy holy holy they all fall down and so do the Saints but angels surround God but this is what's interesting if you carefully read what it says right here a lot of people think that angels rejoice when people get saved I think angels probably do but that's not what this verse says look what it says Jesus is telling this parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin the lost son and right in the middle of it in verse 7 he says I say unto you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine just persons who need no repentance so verse seven says when when sinners repent so when a sinner repents someone is rejoicing and the normal is angels are rejoicing so that comes from verse 10 but that's not really what it says if you look down at verse 10 of Luke 15 it says likewise I say into you there is joy in the presence of the Angels now that is a nice way I mean if you wanted to be kind of roundabout you could say that's a way of saying that angels are rejoicing but it's so interesting that this in the presence of actually it's a preposition in the word for I in the eyes of an opion it says that in front of or before the eyes and opion of the angels someone is rejoicing what's interesting is if you back up in Luke - Luke 1/2 a verse that we always read it to Christmas season in Luke 1 in verse 19 it's very interesting that the very same word occurs with an angel and of course a famous angel they're only two that have names well three Lucifer is one of them but he's a bad one but two good angels they have names and Gabriel Michael and here is one of them Gabriel and it says in the angel answered and said to him that Zacharias John the Baptist father I am Gabriel who stand and opion the same word as we just saw and Luke 15:10 who stand in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring to you these glad tidings so now go back to Luke 15 and think about what this is really saying because it kind of for me is one more motivator to share the gospel remember I'm not an evangelist I do the work of an evangelist but an evangelist is someone in you if you have ever met one there you can just tell they they are as into soul-winning as fishermen are into fishing you know fishermen I mean all winter long they're testing their motor out in a bucket making sure it runs they're polishing and sanding and painting their boat they can't wait and they're out ice fishing I mean all they think about is fishing so winners are the same way but for the rest of us we do the work of evangelism but here's a motivator look what it says in verse 10 likewise I've seen - there's joy before the eyes of the angels of God over one sinner who repents who do you think is doing the rejoicing probably God you see what it is it is God he's the one that's the in the lost son he is the one who is waiting and watching and runs toward the prodigal son returning see it that Jesus has done a story of God the father as Savior God the Father is a savior we always think of Jesus as Savior but Paul introduces us especially in the book of Titus to God our Savior God is characterized by seeking the salvation God so God so loved the world that He gave Jesus it was God who sent Jesus so God is the one who rejoices with the Angels that are always facing him and he is so excited when one sinner repents and interesting so angels are witnesses that's why the scriptures say that the angels desire to look into these things they cannot understand why God is in this overwhelming rejoicing mode and why God the son became one of us and became sin and it says which things the angels desire to look into because they are overwhelmed with what God is doing so number one back here angels do watch over little ones but they watch over as we'll see in a moment everybody all saints and angels are watching and in front of their eyes they see rejoicing I'm sure they're participating in it but it appears it is God who's doing the rejoicing but angels guard the heirs of salvation so let's go to Hebrews and this is um this is kind of trying to round out what the collection of questions was and it says in Hebrews 1 the last verse of Hebrews 1 it says and it's talking about Jesus being greater than the angels but then he talks about what they do and it says are they not all ministering spirits so an angel is a ministering that means they're there that's like a waiter that's the same word for deacon it's the idea of us a serving spirit so a spirit that ministers who are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation now I don't want to get too deep into this and I don't want you know to make anyone feel bad but if you think about a doctrine we all know very well theologically in systematic theology it's called the wisdom of God most of us have have heard of it in this way one of the omni's the omniscience of God and that's Omni is all and sheíll means to know in Latin so all cheering all knowing which you know it's that's a great concept but do you understand what all-knowing means immediately there's really not a conflict between Arminianism and Calvinism if you think about it this means that God never learns he never discovers he never counts he never waits to see you understand I mean he does not there's no accretion there's no addition to his learning he doesn't count the sands of the seashore he knows how many there are he doesn't have to count him he doesn't count the hairs of her head it says they're numbered doesn't say he counted them he knows all of them in how many and that two just left you know I mean he knows you know every time that hairbrush goes through and you throw it in a trash the number went down but but he knew that see the wisdom of God is that he he has the totality of all knowledge that nothing is added to his knowledge he never discovers he never learns he never counts he never waits to see what's gonna happen and you understand where I'm going with that the Lord or already knows see this word air we sing it heir of salvation purchase of God you all know that song an air is twofold it's someone that is going to have something they're going to have some inheritance or possession or they're the air they have it and it's both in Hebrews 1:14 God sends angels to watch over those who are going to be saved so guess who already knows who's going to be saved right the wisdom one the omniscient one doesn't change us the person that wrote more about the the calling and and predestinated and electing god was paul and paul said knowing the terror of the lord I go out and persuade people and say you need to be saved and he says I beg people to get saved so Paul was not a reformed person the way you see him nowadays Paul was a fervent evangelistic begging people to get saved evangelist because he likes Virgin said virgin the Great British preacher used to say you can't pull someone's shirt up and see if they have an e stamped on him elect he said you know Spurgeon was quite a thinker he said you can't pull up their shirt and see any so just give the gospel to everybody and those that are will respond God knows who's going to have salvation and he knows those that have salvation but angels minister to both so you know what's really interesting I told you the story of all back in you know I should have saved the story for this question this man that was in my Bible study many years ago in Tulsa that used to walk in front of Patton's Jeep that was his job in World War two they they went so far behind German lines they had no idea where the land mines were and this guy's job was to walk down the road in front of patents she so the patent never got blown up the guy would and the guy was a drinking chasing women wild man with a trying to be like Patton with a cigar out of his mouth and he said all the other guys got blown up by land mines and he just kept walking and he never got blown up and he got home from the war and one of the first things he did is go to you know like one of those Billy Graham right after the war Crusades and got saved he was an air of salvation he didn't have it yet he was going to and I am sure that that there was a ministering spirit look what it says they are ministering to those who will inherit salvation so just to go back to the point we have here that angels guard in their ministry they guard I mean if you read missionary biographies John Paton you know of the New Hebrides and Vanuatu and all of those places that great missionary went back to those islands and said to the cannibals why didn't you eat me and he said eat you your guards kept us away and he said I had no guards and they said you had guards see it isn't that God can't protect us it's just that God does protect us what accords with his purposes and his plan because he has the guards and and so angels guard the heirs of salvation both us that that that have salvation and those that are going to have salvation so we have to only do our part we're supposed to go in the world and be telling the gospel to every creature and the joy is to see him respond and and I just in one of my Tuesday morning Bible study I think it was a Tuesday morning I don't remember which one but I said how many of you had led someone to Jesus Christ they all said our kids I said yeah that's great start but how many of you have shared the gospel and seen someone in the total control of sin and Satan be delivered it's one of the most powerful attestations to the reality of God to see salvation come to someone and that's one of the great comforts to our heart so Angels will help you okay now here's another one let's go to Revelation one for this one is fascinating and this will round out the question and I'm just going to give a basic angelology and we'll go on tonight but four times in Revelation it says something and there are two interpretations for these and Exodus 3 but I think two are valid but angels in all four of those verses it talks about in some the seven pillars of fire others it talks about the seven spirits and others it says which are the angels and so it appears that around the throne of God there I mean it's really it's hard to draw but if this is the throne of God it says there are seven pillars two four six I don't know where to put my seventh one there seven towers of flame seven flames around the throne of God for cherub beams that are flying around and then twenty-four Thrones so it's God's throne seven flames twenty-four Thrones of these elders above are these four the four living creatures the cherub cherub beam with the four phases in theö centric God is always in the center and they're in the-- eccentric orbit there they're always flying around this throne saying holy holy holy and then it says it's interesting it says that around out of the throne is this river of fire flowing out in front of it and it says that there are millions hundreds of millions if not billions of angels that are ministering and millions ministering hundreds of millions standing so I'm not sure where they're standing you know you know maybe there's just they're out here but the Saints seem to be in here so between the 24 elders and the seven and in all the billions or whatever they are are the Saints they're in here here are the Saints and they are are standing before the throne and and falling down in in concert with the Angels but what we're talking about right now is what is this who are these are these the same Luke 15 always beholding God is this where God rejoices when sinners repent and the angels that Matthew 18 says always look on his face see because it isn't clear in the Bible but that's why the Jews believe that this is Gabriel this is Michael this is Raphael this is Jerome Al and I don't know how to pronounce all the rest of them but the Jews have named the seven ark angels the Bible doesn't say there's seven Archangels the Bible says and so we only know come on there we go get rid of these come on you can stay there but we know that there are seven flames but let's look at the verses okay and I want you to think about this with me revelation one for grace to you and peace from him who was and is and is to come and from the seven spirits now it's interesting some versions capitalized that some and so this word is used at places for angels and other times it is capitalized and it's used as for the Holy Spirit and so there's two views here it's very interesting one view is that these references are to the Holy Spirit and that is because of what it says in Isaiah 11 and it's called the Sevenfold Spirit of God remember 7-7 in got a hepcat of you know a group of seven is a complete set all you know the seven titles and the seven signed miracles and the seven lampstands and churches and everything else it's a complete set and so Isaiah 11 talks about the seven aspects of the Spirit of God that came on Christ and it talks about the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power so that's that's probably the prime interpretation for these then when we see the seven spirits we're talking about the Sevenfold Spirit of God so that's interesting now keep going to chapter three verse one and it says to the angel of church in Sardis write these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars what are the seven spirits of God well Uther it's the Sevenfold fullness of the spirit the seven beautiful facets of the Holy Spirit that rest on Christ because remember the Spirit came upon him and lit upon his head at the Baptism and all that but another thought is that there are seven spirits because Hebrews 1:14 calls angels ministering spirits and if you keep going let's go to the next one look at chapter four verse 5 it says and from the throne so back to this you know picture out of this throne that's the center of heaven verse five proceeded lightnings and thunders and voices and seven lamps of fire seven kind of pillars or burning or flames or something lamps of fire we're burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God again is that the holy spirit displayed in a Sevenfold flaming you know because the spirit came like cloven tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost so I mean he can be a lot more than seven he was a hundred and twenty you know his his presence was was embodied was shown by those tongues of fire that were on the heads of those so it's very possible that this is an Isaiah 11 reference to the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the Holy Spirit but now look at chapter five and verse six that's the last one revelation five six and I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and in the midst of four creatures so in the midst of the throne in the midst of the four here they are the cherubim they're the ones they have the square heads remember what a cherubim looks like a cherubim has a square head and on each side is a different face the face of the man the face of an ox the the face of an eagle on the face of ox Eagle man lion there we go thinks so lion face ox face eagle face man face what is that that is strange I mean you read Ezekiel and you go plus they're covered with eyes they're whole the cherubims entire body is is covered with eyes did you know that's what Satan is Satan is one of them he was the biggest the greatest the highest most powerful one so Satan does not wear red tights and have a pointy tail and a pitchfork he's got four heads and covered with eyes but what's this man thing the lion thing the ox thing most likely by the way this is the same four standards that Israel this is all the way through the Bible is part of the tabernacle it's part of Ezekiel and it's here in Revelation basically what we believe is the lion stands for Christ the King and that's the Gospel of Matthew the Ox stands for Christ the servant and that is the gospel by Mark the man speaks of Christ you know the perfect God man you know the Incarnation and that is most embodied by the Gospel of Luke so in Luke Christ is most seen as the perfect man for the Greek people who worship you know perfection of humanity for the Jews he was the Lion King of the Jews that's what Matthew portrays for mark he's the suffering servant the the the ox speaking of the servant and all of that which would have appealed to the Romans who loved servants and used servants and had millions of them and the eagle speaks of the deity of Christ and no gospel does that more than the Gospel of John and and man was for the Greeks Luke it's written for the Greeks lion is for the Jews Matthew's written for the Jews ox for the Romans mark was written for the Romans and eagle the deity of Christ John was written for everyone and in it's kind of the universal gospel that is probably why these creatures have four faces to remind us forever of when God became human he was a servant like an ox he was a perfect man he was divine like the eagle soaring and he was this king this lion but here's those four that is talked about in verse six so if look at five sixes and I look at me holding the midst of throwing it and of the four living creatures in the midst the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain boy that's interesting this is after the resurrection this is Jesus that's who this is and he looks like a lamb that's been slain that's a real gentle wording actually a better rendering of that word is slaughtered or massacred probably Jesus will look not like all the pretty drawings of him you know a little suntan glowing you know blue eyes and everything no he's gonna look probably like Isaiah 53 portrays him with of this age that is more marred than anyone because that's when when he is seen the only thing John could remember John is trying to explain this to us and the Holy Spirit is helping him to write this down and when he sees Jesus Christ in verse 6 he says he is a lamb but he looks slaughtered having seven horns seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth oh there it is again and so either that means that these seven pillars of fire or lamps represent the total you know omniscient eyes of God through his spirit or this is these seven our angels that actually are sent out don't want to get to the next one that are sent out by God because if you read in in the Old Testament God is dispatching angels to come to and fro throughout the earth unto to check on everything this God need angels to do that no it's just part of how he relates to us it's what we call anthropomorphisms where he does things that humans can understand and so he sends out these angels to check on how everything's going in the world just so we know that he's checking on how everything's going in the world because otherwise how can an invisible god that's a spirit show us he's doing that it could be these seven are actually the ark angels that are surrounding the throne so real quickly before run out of time so that we can use our microphone this is a short course if you were at the Masters seminary where I taught and enjoyed for many years and I am so enjoying the copy machine here at Calvary because I found out it's a scanner and I had 100 binders of all the classes I've taught over all the years and I found out our copy machine can read my handwriting and I scan it in and all these classes it's just fascinating so I'm all excited so you're looking at some of my scannings from teaching at the seminary but the doctrine of the creation of angels God created all angels most likely he created them somewhere after day one because they were rejoicing as he laid the foundation of the earth later on the days the week of creation but it appears from job that that God created the angels as a part of the Genesis one sometime after Genesis 1:1 God created the angels they are not eternal like God they're not always existing they are created beings so he created them and sometime after creation week they fell this is the fall and 2/3 of them according to revelation 12 two-thirds of them continue to this day obeying serving adoring and worshipping God but one third of them rebelled and most of them are still out there these are called the demons some of them are in prison now I'm not going to go into that again but Jude Moses and Peter tell us that there were angels that did not keep their abode what they were they didn't follow protocol and they are so malignant that Peter tells us they're not only in prison they're in ever lasting chains in other words God isn't letting him go anywhere they're they're confined to the prison out of these rebels there are many levels of that the Bible talks about so basically there's angelology God created all angels sometime in the creation week they all are singing until sin came angels sing after sin angels don't sing you can't find angels sing in the Bible don't worry you can say it at Christmas but it doesn't say it no Bible they're singing it appears that all creation including the Angels are groaning until the until all of sin is is done once and for all and the work of redemption that was finished on the cross is consummated but 2/3 of all the angels which are the words in Greek are myriads of myriads the highest number kind of like our Google you know the the Google sign the biggest number they had in the Greek language is a myriad and and it's like ten thousands it's just like more than you can count and there are more than you can count multiplied by more than you can count of angels so there's probably billions of them and two-thirds of the billions and one-third of the billions are with Satan and some of them are incarcerated okay each angel we read about in God's Word every single angel solo has power that exceeds anything we can humanly understand that is even possible according the laws of the physical world that we live in every single angel has unbelievable power and if you think about angels the the angels are I mean one angel killed 185 thousand soldiers one I mean instantly they exceed anything we can even understand that I mean that's why I think our whole science fiction fascination you know the movies everything one of my cousins is actually a cartoonist and he worked for the cartoon come I mean the man the comic book company's DC Comics and all those and what were comic books that we paid a quarter for or whatever back when I was a kid our movies now and and and people are watching them like they're waiting for that to happen they want science to get to the point where we can all put on an Iron Man suit and fly anywhere and be you know live forever or something and you know what that is directly playing into Satan's plan because the superheroes the extraterrestrials that that the whole world is waiting for we have all these radio telescopes waiting and and just wanting to hear communication from them God is going to let them start communicating and angels are going to be very much at work during the tribulation the fallen angels and they are going to be deceiving the world so it's it's amazing but God is more powerful God is absolutely all-powerful greater than everything that is anywhere God shows us his power reflected by the creatures he made to surround him in the universe and and so if you think about it think about angels angels are supernatural super-powerful creatures an angel as far as we know is indestructible the only thing they say is don't put us in the pit they didn't say don't blow us up as far as we know they're kind of like all Superman you know they're there or I guess the superwoman now we have and but you know what I mean they're indestructible they can't be killed they can't be destroyed they travel the universe effortlessly they don't need the Starship Enterprise you know they just can go anywhere no spaceship they seemingly never rest they don't have to rest they don't sleep they don't even appear to need to eat I mean these are super powerful beings all all of them remember there's two kinds there's super-powerful good ones and there are super-powerful bad ones and some are so bad that God keeps him chained up in fact in the tribulation he has to pull him back in he lets him out he pulls him back in because he said it Jesus said in Matthew 24 if I let this keep going no one would be left alive they would hunt down and destroy every human that's how powerful they are it's just amazing the Bible's better than science fiction because it's true and think about this when we talk about God's omnipotence that's another Omni term God is greater than the sum of all he created because he spoke everything into existence now if you follow scientific discoveries they recently spent some the Astrophysical you know scientific community using all of our telescopes focused on one little part of the of this you know the universe out there and they took one little square and they zeroed in on it and they found in that one little square you know if here's all the visible universe that we've ever seen and they picked one of these out and they magnified it huge and what they thought when they were here it was filled with stars and so they thought it was stars but when they zeroed in just on this part they found every one of those stars weren't galaxies they were clusters of galaxies just this one little I mean you can watch that's on YouTube and and it shows you as our computers are getting better and better at defining what all these signals that were were gathering and as we develop them and magnify and go into them from this octillion z' of stars they picked one little square and they went into it and what they thought were stars turned out to be masters of galaxies effect one of them is just amazing it's called the halo or something like that it's it's just a feathery light like this and it's got kind of a misty Center it's not the one we normally see it's it looks a little bit like Saturn but as they looked at it they said there's not enough mass to hold that ring of stars this way and all that gas together and so they examined it further and they found out that it was 98% dark matter or 96% dark matter that balances it and so it's a perfectly shaped lightly populated galaxy out there I mean the more I mean give them time they'll look at all of them but now think about this if you think about the the God who made a universe this great it's amazing to think that everything we know about in the universe which is astounding everything we're finding in the earth did you know every time we pay attention they find more living creatures there every time that they spend more time concentrating on some region whether it's the floor of the ocean or somewhere else or some river somewhere there's so much life so many life forms here on earth all of the stuff going on out there and those dots that turned out to not be galaxies but clusters of galaxies God is greater than all that plus everything that we're living around plus everything we can't see all of those added together God Himself is greater than all of them together because he did effort that he expended no effort he did not exhaust himself he didn't rest on the seventh day because he would you know work out he didn't expend anything he didn't lose any of his power he just he is greater than the sum of everything he created and so when you start looking at some of the pieces of it just just the the stuff we know is astounding in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 we have the Guardian this is the guardian of God this is the anointed cherub that covered God it's kind of like his umbrella if God need one and Lucifer was the the light Lucifer comes from the Latin lux Lucius and it means light he's the light bearing one he was the angel of light that's why he can transform himself into an angel of light he is the most powerful created being in the universe astounding he was the guardian of the throne of God then he was a super cherub then there are the normal cherubs who are awesome who always face God they never never look away but God his throne all four faces are always visible that's why they have a square head and four faces at any moment from the throne God sees all four I mean as if he needs to see doesn't have eyes because he's a spirit but you know what I mean then below them I mean this is super this is off-the-charts we don't even understand and we don't need to and it's it's horrible to think of what he his power these cherubim we know very little about then we have the Archangels I mean that's Gabriel and Michael and possibly five others who are awesome then we have the burning ones that's what Sarah theme means a seraph is a burning angel they're just on fire they just are constantly burning and they surround God showing purity and then we have angels and it's probably more but the Bible doesn't go in it just says they're great and their angels are great and what's interesting is now the Bible tells us a lot about the bad guys the angel of light which is Satan Satan means adversary the he is the accuser he is a bad guy and that's Satan right there but right under him is an angel that God only lets out little bits he's called specifically in the scripture the destroyer now I think that's significant because any of you gamers out there you're familiar with that name that's that's part of the lore of video gaming the the destroyer is in the video games in fact most of the video games have a lot of this monster stuff in them and it's amazing to think that Christians would would be spending hours my son went to a Christian University to visit it and check it out and the kids in his dorm room gamed from 10:00 at night till 3:00 in the morning five hours that's almost enough time to read all of the Gospels but they didn't have time to read the four Gospels but they gamed gaming with the destroyer and they almost can't stop in fact they missed their classes till noon they were so worn out from the destroyer game and and it's a Christian college by the way so that's amazing the power that Satan has through all these games but the destroyer is amazing in fact I just give you a few verses about him any of you that like to study this the destroyer is the one that we find in Exodus 12 23 the destroyer is the same angel who slew the firstborn of the Egyptians before Israel left Egypt in Exodus 12 23 he killed 70,000 during David's census in 2nd Samuel 24 and in response to the prayer of Isaiah and Hezekiah he destroyed the entire Syrian Army in 2nd chronicles 32 21 Wow then this the destroyer has a whole army under him they're the ones that keep coming out of the the cork is pulled out and they come out of the pit and they just start just pillaging the earth he leads them then there are the doomed angels there's the ones in the in the chains they're the ones that seem to have been involved at the flood and they're not out right now they're down there in the pit then Daniel tells us there are some kind of angels there's the Prince of Persia and there's the Prince of Greece and there's a prince of this and that and Daniel and it's only a little glimpse we have of that but it appears that kind of like God has angels that watch over you know those that are going to be heirs Satan has angels that are driving nations toward Satan's goals as the god of this world and they're the National princes then there are principled now we get into what we're studying I told you if even six there are principalities powers so the rulers of the darkness this age their spiritual hosts who hosts who feed on wickedness and love wickedness and promote wickedness and are found in wickedness and are drawn to wickedness demons are like flies for rotting garbage and they are drawn to to filth there you ever wonder why there's such an overpowering force through pornography because demons are drawn to filth and to a God of goodness witchcraft and all the bloodshed that gaming stuff and all the immorality are like garbage to God and the demons are like flies on it and that's why most Christians who get involved in a cultic stuff immoral stuff you know kind of like the killing the all the bloody games you know and killing and murdering stuff they seem to get really cold and and they feel so far from God and it's because of the the coldness that demons spring when when you are entertaining entertained by them they they suppress they inhibit our our love and actually what it does is it grieves the Holy Spirit and then there are just the demons and boy Jesus was running into them all the time they're just nondescript kind of the privates or whatever of the army of Satan and they're awful but just the power the destroyer I want you to think for just a second with what happens in exodus 12 23 when you talk about I'm only telling you this because it reminds us of how great the Angels are but one angel under God's direct control was able listen to this in fact turn to Exodus 12 23 and and I'll give you a picture I hope you can that will draw you to the power of God but Exodus 12 23 for the Lord will pass through the end strike to strike the Egyptians so this angel was directly under God's control and when he sees the post on the lintel and on the doorpost the Lord will pass over the door now listen this and not allow what are the next two words in your Bible the destroyer this angel was operating at God's command but he's the destroyer he's an he's a being who destroys and by the way by the time we get to Revelation he's named his name in greek is apollyon there's another gaming creature and Abaddon in Hebrews so as Hebrew name is Abaddon his Greek name is apollyon his English name translating those two is the destroyer that's what it means that's that's who it is but he in verse 23 will not allow the destroyer to come into your house and strike you now think about what happened on that night just one angel under God's direct control was able to kill every firstborn of the Egyptians and the firstborn of their animals the animal parts even harder to believe on a single night in Exodus 12 23 the angel in verse 23 is differentiated from God and is named the destroyer this angel is so powerful God keeps him locked up in the bottomless pit we find him that's where he is in Revelation 9:11 and he loses him only for tests like the death of the firstborn the slaying of the 70,000 Paul refers to him as a destroyer that's what it says in 1st Corinthians 10:10 Paul actually says in 1st Corinthians he says the destroyer destroyed the people that grumbled aren't you glad God keeps him down or don't grumble you know I mean it's kind of wow but listen to what he can do to know during one night under darkness in an ancient non-electronic world of 3,500 years ago who and which were the firstborn among humans and animals have you ever thought that the record-keeping that would take that is impossible to know in human terms the destroyer knew it he located only the firstborn of the living within the land of Egypt those that were not standing behind blood mark doorpost which you couldn't see in the dark anyway blood is the you know it turns brownish color against the doorpost I mean to know who was who is amazing and only to kill them on the spot without collateral civilian casualties that's utterly impossible for anything we know to do anything like that would have taken an army of night-vision equipped commandos a fleet of helicopters plus jeeps and other transportation logistics plus constant real-time access to biometric and geographic databases that know and even possesses today how do you know who's the firstborn animal in our house we only have one other than the mice but you know what I mean how would you know who we have one little dog so he would have gotten it you know I guess because he's the only born and but that is just one of the bad ones and greater is He that's in us and those that are ministering to us than any of these that are in the world I mean it's just amazing okay before we go the big picture why are we even doing this because God is absolutely powerful and he says you are facing creatures you have no idea how malignant and dangerous they are you know people are afraid of terrorists terrorists can only harm your body they can't take anything that's eternal away from us these things are spirit beings these things can quench the Holy Spirit in our lives these things can grieve the Holy Spirit in our lives so my brethren Christians be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might you can't resist them on your own how do you resist them put on the whole armor which is comparable to being clothed in Christ so that you will be able to stand against the wiles all of the scheming of the devil because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood these aren't just normal break-in thugs they are principalities they are powers they are rulers of the dark world of this age their spiritual hosts of wickedness that are in the spiritual realm therefore he says they didn't take up the whole armor to withstand them and having done all stand and as if we didn't get it stand having girded your waist with truth that means we have to know the word and embrace the word and surround our life with the word having put on Christ righteousness having put on the peace that passes understanding and knowing the gospel of peace preaching it to ourselves and sharing with others above all take the shield hide behind the Lord who can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and all of his hosts however many there are and keep wearing the helmet of salvation because the real battle is in the mind have you notice how much mental illness is going on if you read Drudge everybody is mentally ill I mean the government basically is declared we're all mentally ill and we are in other word for mental illness is sin and and the reason there's mental illness is because sin entered the world and there are varying degrees but we're all mentally ill because we fall so far short of the perfection of God and there are stages and I'm not belittling the five I'm just saying the only hope for us is to have our mind guarded with the helmet of salvation and the only offensive very direct effect the sword of the Spirit the two-edged sword the Hebrews 4:12 talks about that word is used in Greek literature outside the Bible for a scalpel or a Meat Cutters knife where he debones things and what it's saying is that the scriptures are so sharp that they can cut away anything in our life that is drawing the flies of the demons you know to get rid of the old us and also it's so sharp that as Luther said one little word will fail him not any word but one specific word of Scripture not not a long us but a Rhema a specific word a doctrinal truth that that's what Jesus did with the devil he spoke directly in rebuttal to what Satan was coming after him with so what should we do well with angels we should listen to God we should remember that God is greater than the sum of all these creatures both good and bad angels are created by God though they're powerful they're under his control and only God can protect us from the devil and we don't want to have anything in our life that draws the Flies the demons to destroy or anything else so we don't fear them we're not supposed to fear angels we're supposed to resist them and the powers of darkness Christ is already one that's what Romans 8 says he is triumph that's what it says in first Corinthians two and Colossians and we're more than conquerors Romans eight through Christ but what about angels there's still at work around us both the good and the bad do you know what it says and he was 13 watch out you might entertain an angel you know sometimes you think about some of those people standing with little signs by the highway you don't know whether they're all you know some alcoholic from downtown at the rescue mission that should go back you might have an angel looking at you to see if you have a shred of Christ compassion because can you imagine Jesus driving by a genuinely needy person and his window up at him can you walk in the car I wonder how many people hear the car doors lock every time you know they come out with their sign and so we have to be careful were supposed to be wise as serpents but angels are still around us to see whether we're hospitable do you know Hospitality means the context they're loving strangers not loving your best friends and your neighbors and your flock and life group members strangers I wonder how many angels have visited Calvary Bible Church to see if we would reach out to them on behalf of Christ to see if we love strangers or we avoid them and only talk to our friends you know what I mean it did you know that there is a constant need for us to love strangers so that I know the little kids are supposed to avoid strangers and not be you know I'm talking about within the context of wisdom we are supposed to reach out to strangers so they can sense and feel and see the love of Christ number two beware of receiving false doctrine Galatians 1 8 says if an angel comes preaching something to you that isn't in the Bible that is that is anathema don't receive it so avoid angels with doctrines like Moroni with his golden tablets in the Mormon Church and all that danger and also watch out for the angel of light Satan Satan is at work in religious deception and finally it says in Colossians 2:18 don't worship angels we're not supposed to be that's why they aren't even named other than those two and that's why the Jews are so not wise to name them all and think about them all you know in the Apocrypha don't worship angels don't pray to them or the Saints because they can't hear they're not omniscient nor omnipresent and don't seek Him we're not supposed to be seeking anyone but God because he said I'll never leave your forsake you

Channel: DTBM

Views: 26,725

Rating: 4.7829456 out of 5

Keywords: john barnett, dtbm, q&a, q&a-121, angels, god's face, matthew 18, face, surround, protect, children

Id: FfHBeiBvlc8

Length: 59min 48sec (3588 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 14 2016