Good Works Are Supported by Your Communion with Angels

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Please turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 1. The sermon today will be on Hebrews 1 .14,

00:16

which says, Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

00:22

Angels are not a topic very frequently taught on, and yet they are something

00:27

Scripture speaks much about. So it is worth spending some time of meditation on what

00:32

Scripture says about angels in order that we might have this comfort from the Lord. If you will stand, we will read verses 5 -14.

00:45

These are the words of the Lord. For to which of the angels did God ever say,

00:51

You are my son, today I have begotten you? Or again, I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

01:00

And again when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him.

01:06

Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.

01:12

But of the sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of a brightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

01:20

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

01:28

And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

01:34

They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll them up.

01:41

Like a garment, they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said,

01:49

Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

02:02

Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

02:11

We thank you for your blessings to us, blessings that we have in Jesus Christ. You have given us many things in him.

02:19

You have given us your spirit. You have given us each other. And you have even given us this promise of angels. We pray that you would open our eyes to understand these things today.

02:28

In Jesus' name, amen. There are many things, difficult things we are called to in this life.

02:36

We are called to resist temptations. We are called to undergo many trials. We are called to do great good works.

02:46

There are various reasons that people are not as equipped as they could be because they do not understand the blessings of the gospel.

02:54

We have talked about that in previous weeks, about how understanding the blessings of the

03:01

Lord, the grace that he gives, the fact that he has ordained good works for us, the that we are united together with Christ, the fact that the

03:08

Spirit unites us together with him, the fact that we are united together with each other, both the saints on earth and the saints in heaven.

03:15

All these unions and communions are important and given to us as comforts and as encouragements in good works.

03:26

And so it is the case with angels, through our communion with angels. If you consider the scene in the book of Kings where Elisha and his servant are surrounded by Syrian forces, and the servant is terrified.

03:47

He does not know what is going to happen. He does not know whether or not he will perish. It is very much like people today who face the trials that God has put around them and do not know whether or not they will perish, are very discouraged by them.

04:02

But Elisha prays that his eyes would be open and he sees all around countless angel armies, men on horses, chariots of fire.

04:15

And this, as his spiritual eyes are opened and he recognizes that he is surrounded by angels, it is a great comfort to him.

04:25

It is a great encouragement in the trial that he has to endure. So it is to be with us.

04:32

If we are to undergo the trials that we have before us today, the great works that God has called us to, if we are to resist temptation with any kind of real encouragement, we are not to neglect any of the truths that God has given us as encouragement.

04:47

And that would include our communion with angels. My prayer for you today is your eyes would be open so that you would see the angel forces around you.

04:55

Indeed today, and I mean this in a very literal sense, we are surrounded by innumerable angels.

05:02

And that should be a great encouragement to you. Today we will look at simply what angels are, our communion with them, and how this is to be an encouragement in good works.

05:17

So just considering this passage, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

05:29

So they are spirits. Angels are spirits. It means they are, in a sense, personal.

05:35

That means that they are immaterial. In our catechism, you may know that we speak of God as a spirit.

05:43

God is a spirit, infinite, unchangeable, immortal, right? He is a spirit.

05:48

But that does not mean he is a spirit like the angels. The angels, you can think of them as created substances, right?

05:55

But God is not any sort of created thing. So when we call God a spirit, we're affirming that he's immaterial.

06:02

We're affirming that he's personal. What we're not affirming is that he is like the angel in a positive way, in those negative ways of what he is not, right?

06:13

But not in a positive way of being made of a similar substance that they are made of.

06:20

God is uncreated. Now, the angels were created, and by all accounts, it seems that they were created on the first day.

06:30

Now, there are many people, I'm always surprised at how many works say that we can't really say with confidence when the angels were created.

06:40

Job 38 .7 says that they shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid. The Bible tells us that on the first day,

06:48

God created...he formed the earth. That is when the foundations of the earth were laid.

06:54

So if they were rejoicing for this, it seems only sensible to affirm they were created on the first day.

07:02

And there is an order among them. They're not all of one simple kind. We see all different kinds of angels with different kinds of tasks.

07:11

We even read of the archangel Michael, arch meaning chief, right? So there are different orders of angels.

07:17

We're not given all the details of what they might be. A lot of people have fanciful ideas about what the order of angels would be.

07:26

Some, in my opinion, read too much into seraphim and cherubim. These are not necessarily orders or labels of offices, so much as they are descriptions.

07:40

Seraphim meaning fiery. But we do know, simply by observing that there is a chief angel,

07:49

Michael, simply by observing different tasks that they are given, that there is an ordering to the angels.

07:59

Now, we are also told that the angels, the holy angels before God are elect angels.

08:05

This is what Paul tells Timothy. They are elect. God has chosen them to preserve them, unlike the fallen angels, the demons who have fallen, who are not elect, who are not chosen to be preserved by God.

08:20

Now, who is this for? This is for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. This is for the sake of the elect.

08:28

Now, when it says those who will inherit salvation, that's primarily talking about the salvation that, not the one that we enjoy now, but the one that awaits us in the future.

08:37

Later on in Hebrews, it talks about how Jesus will come a second time unto salvation, right?

08:44

And so that is distinguishing it from the first time He came. Now, you might say, well, the first time He came, didn't He come for salvation? Yes, He did.

08:50

But when it uses the word salvation there, it's talking about that final salvation, that glorification where man is rescued from all difficulties that befall him in this life.

09:02

And so when it talks about those who will inherit salvation, it primarily has that in mind.

09:08

And yet, all the same, that is not to keep us from arriving at the conclusion that God assists us by His angels, not only merely after conversion, but even in our earlier years.

09:23

We see in Matthew that even the little ones who, in Luke, are called infants, have angels of God standing before Him in heaven.

09:35

Okay, so there are indications that God upholds us,

09:42

God assists us, ministers to us by His angels, or rather they minister to us and He helps us through them.

09:51

They minister to us even in our earlier years. Now, some people would object to this and say, well, the angels are not subject to God's decree.

10:00

They're not knowledgeable about His decree of election, so how could they know who is elect beforehand in order to serve those who are elect beforehand?

10:09

Well, I would say that even like we can often speculate about whether or not

10:15

God is doing a work in someone that may lead to their salvation, so the angels might, by God's direction and who to assist, deduce the same.

10:24

And so it is not...He does not have to declare all of His decree to them in order for this to be true, that they assist the elect even in earlier years.

10:37

Now, there is also a very common idea that originates from extra -biblical writings, that there is one angel assigned to every person, that you have your own individual guardian angel.

10:50

This is not the case. There's nothing in the

10:56

Bible that indicates that so directly. There are a few things that people think, say that, you know, there are angels in heaven that I just mentioned for the little ones, or Peter when he's let out of prison by an angel and then people observe that they think that he is his angel, right, suggesting that maybe he has a particular angel.

11:15

Yet, we see in Scripture the pairing of one to many or many to one.

11:21

Consider that Michael fights for all of Israel, and so that is one angel for many. We see many to one with Jacob's ladder, right, all the angels for just one

11:31

Jacob, right, Elisha's horsemen all around, Lazarus being carried by multiple angels, right?

11:40

And so all these things are...they let us know that there's not a one -to -one relationship between angels and humans.

11:47

Rather, frequently, it is many angels to an individual. This is supposed to be a great comfort to us, and so if you...a

11:59

lot of people try to comfort themselves with the idea that they have one angel assigned to them. Isn't it much better to have many angels working for us?

12:09

That is a much greater comfort. That's a much greater comfort, and if you believe that there is one angel that is dedicated to you, that calls for all kinds of superstition and nonsense that that can lead to.

12:20

And so they serve. How do they serve us? For what purpose do they serve us?

12:28

Your mind might immediately go to mere preservation, but consider that this is for good works.

12:38

They minister to us for the sake of supporting us in good works, and I'll give you three reasons for that.

12:44

The first is just here. Just here in this context.

12:52

We see in 2 -2, it says, For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received just retribution.

13:01

That's talking about the angels delivering the law. Okay, so in context, it immediately talks about the nature of angels.

13:07

One of the things they have done is given the law, and if good works, as we've defined it in the sermon series, is sincere obedience, what could be more helpful in that task than the giving of the law?

13:20

Secondly, all the way at the end, so you have the near context, all the way at the end of the book, it encourages love and good works, telling us to continue in brotherly love, show hospitality for one another.

13:32

Why? Because by it, some have been visited by angels. Angels have even blessed brotherly love.

13:38

Now, that's not supposed to be a promise that you will receive manifestations of angels.

13:43

It's a statement about the past, right, that the people in the past have had encountered manifestations of angels, and angels have blessed good works.

13:54

And so we see in the near context and the far context that what's in mind with the assistance of angels has to do with good works.

14:02

Secondly, it talks about those who will inherit salvation. So there's an orientation here around people's salvation and the nature of angels having to do with that salvation.

14:13

Later on in Hebrews 6, it will speak of love and good works as, in Hebrews 6, 8, as something that pertains to salvation.

14:24

He says, brothers, we are sure of greater things to you, things pertaining to salvation. God is not so unkind as to forget your love and your labor.

14:36

So salvation is something that is connected with the notion of good works.

14:42

Not to suggest that we are saved by our good works, but in this salvation,

14:48

God is sanctifying us. God is carrying us along. God is producing good things in us.

14:56

He is producing out of us good works. So that orientation of the angels around salvation implies an orientation around good works.

15:06

And also, this is just a logical consequence of what we've seen in previous weeks, that God has saved man particularly for good works.

15:17

He has created people for his own possession, purifying them for good works, Titus 2 .14. God has ordained good works for them beforehand,

15:25

Ephesians 2 .10. Christ has, we are made new creations in Christ Jesus for good works.

15:31

Same verse, Ephesians 2 .10. If these are the primary purposes that God has for us in good works, and angels are sent to assist us, is it not the obvious conclusion that they would be assisting us in that primary purpose that God has for us?

15:50

Of course. Of course it would be. Now, how is it that we have a union with angels?

15:58

First of all, this is not the same union that we have spoken before that is established directly in Christ Jesus.

16:05

Okay, we do not have, so it says in the next chapter that it was not for angels that Christ died on the cross.

16:13

It's not for angels that he came to save. It was rather for the offspring of Abraham. He has not sent them the

16:18

Holy Spirit. It is mankind. It is the offspring of Abraham that has the

16:23

Holy Spirit. Those who by faith are children of Abraham. They have the Holy Spirit.

16:29

It's the Holy Spirit is the one who unites us to Christ in the vine, and then in him we are united with the other saints.

16:35

Both saints on earth, saints in heaven, we are all united together, bound together by that one union.

16:41

This is not the same union that we have with angels. Rather, it is union that is via that union we have in Christ, but not directly through it.

16:54

Simply, it is the case that if the angels have an obligation and loyalty to Jesus Christ, to God himself, and then we are united to Christ, we are in him, the natural implication of that is that angels would then not serve only him, but also serve us.

17:19

That union establishes our union, a secondary kind of union, with angels.

17:27

Let me give several proofs of this. First of all, just note the context here.

17:35

Those who inherit salvation, what did it say before in verse 2? It said, in these last days he spoke to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things.

17:42

Who is the heir of all things? Jesus Christ. It is in him that we become heirs, so it is in him that we become those who are appropriate for angels to serve, those who will inherit salvation.

17:56

Consider what Hebrews 2 says in chapter 7. You made him for a little while lower than the angels.

18:02

You crowned him with glory and honor. Now, you may notice this is quoting Psalm 8. Psalm 8 says that man is made a little lower than the angels.

18:10

Here in Hebrews 2, it talks about Jesus being a little while lower than the angels.

18:17

And he is raised to glory, and his people raised to glory with him. It speaks of him being raised to glory in verse 9.

18:27

It says, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor.

18:33

And then in verse 10, it speaks of this glory being given to us. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

18:47

So us being in Christ, lowly creatures, him having come to earth, him through his perfection, having been exalted on high, being raised to glory, raises us up with glory.

19:02

So that while we were created a little lower than the angels, Christ being made a little while lower than the angels, raises up above the angels.

19:10

The whole point of chapter 1 is how he's greater than the angels. We raised up with him, likewise, greater than the angels.

19:19

Though we were originally created lower. Consider the words of Ephesians 1 and 2.

19:25

Ephesians 1 verses 20 through 21 says that God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

19:43

Okay, so he has seated him above all authority and power and dominion. If you're familiar with the language of Ephesians and Colossians, powers and dominions refers to not just earthly rulers, it refers to heavenly spirits.

19:57

He has placed them above all of them. Okay, he is seated at his right hand above all those.

20:02

What does Ephesians 2 verse 16 say? And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ.

20:11

So who else has been raised in Christ Jesus above all dominions, etc.? So we have.

20:17

We have been raised up with him and we are seated with him. And consider what this means for judgment.

20:27

Job 4 verse 18 says, Even his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error. God judges even his angels.

20:37

Christ is ruler over them. He guides them. He judges them. What does 1

20:43

Corinthians 6 say? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How is it that we are to judge angels?

20:50

Well, in Christ, like it is nonsensical for one who is a lower being to judge one who is a higher being.

21:00

Okay, there is no position of authority with which one could do that. What has happened here is we in Christ have been raised up higher than the angels so that it is appropriate that as Christ has judgment, we sitting on his throne with him, we being seated with him in the heavenly places, will, when it is fully manifest, judge angels.

21:22

And it is so because all of this that angels serve us not because we were created greater than them, but rather Christ has earned a glory that is higher than them and because of their loyalty to him, because of their obligation to him, they therefore have an obligation to us.

21:44

If you are a servant in a man's house, you don't just serve that man. You serve his whole family. It is the same thing.

21:51

We are his body. We are his family. The angels do not just serve Christ. Since we are united to him, they must serve us as well.

22:01

Christ is the door. He is not just the door to the sheepfold. He is the door to heaven. He is the door to the access to the angels.

22:12

Now, that is the nature of this union having been established in Jesus Christ. What is the nature of the communion?

22:18

Remember, union is the bond, right, that there is some relationship between us.

22:25

Communion is the thing shared within that bond. What is the communion? First of all, there is a communion of proximity.

22:37

Angels, while not being material beings, do have physical location.

22:43

Okay, you see this in several places. You see this in Daniel 10 where it describes

22:49

Michael going out to fight the Prince of Persia, coming and going.

22:54

You see this in many places that angels travel. They exist in particular places, and so they have a proximity to God's people.

23:04

They share. One of the things shared is simply location with God's people. They also share with us.

23:14

They also have a communion with us in worship. In Hebrews 12 22, I feel like I quote this more often than I quote possibly any verse in the

23:22

Bible, in Hebrews 12 22, it says, For you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living

23:29

God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering. This is describing worship. When we are gathered together, we are gathered together.

23:36

It describes us having gathered together with a heavenly assembly that includes innumerable angels in festal gathering.

23:47

There's a communion of us in worship to God. They worship

23:53

God singing before Him. We see many scenes of this in Scripture, Isaiah 6, Revelation 4, etc.

23:58

We likewise sing to God. There's a communion between us in shared worship toward God.

24:07

There's also, likewise, a shared concern. Because they are sensible to what's going on with us, they have a desire for our good.

24:20

We see, for example, in Zechariah 1, the angel of the Lord leads other angels in lamenting of Jerusalem's poor condition, of Israel's poor condition.

24:33

So there is a question of what it would mean for an angel to mourn given that they don't have weaknesses like we have weaknesses.

24:41

I'm not necessarily trying to explain that their mourning is like our mourning. I'm just saying that there's something analogous going on there.

24:48

And it says, likewise, that they rejoice when just one person is converted, one person is brought into the kingdom.

24:57

Okay, so there's a concern for us, a concern that has something analogous to lamenting and to rejoicing.

25:05

So there's a shared concern. And then there is aid. And so they are partnering with us in the things that we are doing, assisting us in them.

25:15

So there is a communion in that sense, working with us in that way.

25:25

There are several things that we do not have communion in. One is worship of them. We should not worship angels.

25:31

And this is what most people are doing when they're worshiping idols, is they're worshiping false gods.

25:39

First Corinthians 10 explains that there are demons behind idols. When you worship an idol, you are worshiping an angelic spirit, a demonic one.

25:50

There's also no communion of speech, right? You do not pray to angels. You do not talk to them.

25:57

They can hear you. You know, they're around. They're observing. But you are not to talk to them.

26:02

They are not mediators for us. They are not... Yeah, there's only one mediator between God and man.

26:10

That is Christ Jesus. That Christ has not shed his blood for them. They don't have a special access.

26:17

They have a kind of access to the throne, but it's not the kind of access that we would have to be able to make the kind of prayers that we make on behalf of one another, pleading on the basis of the blood of Christ.

26:30

Now, this communion that we have with angels is a really wonderful thing.

26:37

If you were, if you had just one servant in your home, given our culture, you know how rare servants are.

26:44

You know, if you just had one or a few servants in your home, you would feel like a very blessed man or woman to have servants attending to me, to caring about me, whose main objective in life is to watch over me.

27:00

You have innumerable angels that are doing this. How much has God cared for us that he does this?

27:07

And consider what this verse says, too, in Hebrews 1 .14. Are not they all ministering spirits?

27:14

It is not some of them. It's not, okay, well, you've got the real big guys who sit next to the throne, and that's all they do.

27:21

You know, they just hang around God. They don't come and hang around us. Are they not all ministering spirits?

27:27

Even the greatest of them are sent for our assistance. It is a wonderful blessing from God to have this communion with angels.

27:39

Now, how do they encourage, how do they support good works? There are three categories of their ministries that I think are a good way to think about how they support good works.

27:51

I'm not going to exclusively talk about all their ministries towards us. There are some things that are worth thinking about that I won't mention, like the fact that there are multiple verses that talk about them carrying the elect to glory.

28:03

You see that with Lazarus, etc. Right, there are many different ministries, but how do they support us in good works now?

28:12

I'm going to break these categories into different observations, or different categories of their power.

28:21

Okay, the first is their power of observation. They have a power of observation. Okay, this is unlike the dead.

28:28

Remember last week we talked about with our communion, the saints in heaven, that they're not watching down. Okay, that's not what the cloud of witnesses mean.

28:35

Cloud of witnesses means that they are testifying to us by their past lives, right, by the history of them, of God's faithfulness.

28:45

They can't see us. They will witness when we finish the race, but they do not witness us now.

28:51

The angels do witness us. They are aware of what is going on. Consider that they make it a habit to study us.

29:02

In Job, you see Satan going up and down the earth to study mankind. God asks him, have you considered my servant

29:09

Job? And Satan immediately responds as though he had studied him quite a bit, and knew quite a bit about him already. Right, there's a study that's happening with angelic power.

29:18

And I know that's a demon, but if you consider that all

29:23

God's holy angels are sent out for the sake of those who will inherit salvation, ought they not to be concerned about us in even greater ways?

29:35

First Corinthians 4, 9 says, we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

29:41

That's Paul speaking, being a spectacle to angels. Angels are watching. He knows that angels are watching him.

29:47

They have limitations in their understanding. Okay, they are not omniscient. They don't know all things.

29:54

They do not know the heart. Jeremiah explains that only God knows the heart. Now that does not mean that they cannot deduce a lot about where your heart is at.

30:02

Just like another person, if they see you sweating, they can deduce that you are nervous. Okay, an angel has a lot of capacities for observation.

30:11

Capacities beyond those capacities that we would have. And they are wise beings.

30:17

They've been around for a long time. There's no reason not to think that they would be very good at deducing things about what are going on in the heart.

30:25

But they do not know the heart directly the way God knows the heart. So these angels are watching and they are, you know, like the almost, you know, the comical

30:38

Sherlock Holmes thing where he knows everything just based on a few details or whatever. You know, it's probably something similar to that where they understand much about us.

30:47

And why is this important for us in good works? Well, it's because if that is the case, how much more should their witness encourage us to good works?

30:57

For accountability and for desiring the rejoicing.

31:04

1 Corinthians 11 .10 motivates head coverings with the presence of angels.

31:10

1 Timothy 5 .21, Paul says to Timothy, In the presence of God in Christ Jesus and of the elect angels,

31:17

I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. He charges him saying,

31:23

I'm telling you to do this given that angels are watching. Angels are watching. Pursue this good work that God has called you to because angels are watching.

31:35

In both directions, right? You'll avoid sin because it's something that would, they would lament in an analogous sense.

31:43

This is something you pursue good works because they will rejoice.

31:48

It is something that we are to desire. God tells us about this so that we would desire it. There is supposed to be this communion.

31:54

Maybe I should have added this to the list. That communion includes a bond of love. You know, a care for God.

32:01

We should love all of God's holy things. The angels, holy beings of God.

32:07

We should love them. They love us. We should desire their rejoicing. Now consider another power, which is power of physical manipulation.

32:20

Okay, we see this at certain points. We see in Revelation 16, angels pouring out plagues in vengeance for God.

32:27

We see Job being afflicted physically by Satan.

32:33

They can give strength or take it away. You see Paul describing the thorn, an angel from Satan who has come and given him a thorn in his flesh.

32:46

I don't want to make too many claims about what that would be, but I think that physical weakness is definitely on the list of possibilities at least, and that's where I would lean toward it being.

32:59

Angels strengthen Daniel when he faints. They strengthen Christ when he fasts. They strengthen Christ when he is praying on the mountain before his crucifixion.

33:10

They assist in travel, or they can hinder in travel. Consider that Paul was hindered in going to the

33:15

Thessalonians because of Satan. Verse Thessalonians 2, 18, Because we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us.

33:24

Peter is released from prison and made able to travel by an angel. Okay, so they can assist and travel.

33:32

They protect. Psalm 91, 11 through 12, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

33:39

On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. They can protect, even preventing occasions of sin.

33:48

You know, those temptations that you could walk into, they can divert. These are various ways that angels are capable and do assist

33:57

God's people. Now, if you've ever been to a foreign place and had guides, it is very comforting to have them to protect you from all the things that are going to happen.

34:11

You know, when I remember the first few times I went to the Philippines and I had my family all around me who, you know, is able to speak the language, etc.

34:21

They, yeah, it's just very comforting that I know that I'm not going to get into any trouble because I have all these guards and guides around me.

34:30

That is a comforting thing. Okay, now they also have abilities of spiritual manipulations.

34:40

Okay, first they can repel temptation. Consider that Satan tempts. Okay, he can give evil suggestions to the mind.

34:48

Ananias, it said that Satan filled his heart with an evil desire to steal from the

34:54

Lord. Judas, Satan filled his heart with evil desires.

35:00

David, Satan incited him to conduct the census that he ought not conduct.

35:11

Yeah, you have many examples of temptations. Now, is it not the case that angels can fight against these things?

35:22

Indeed do. In fact, if you've ever wondered what that mysterious statement is in Jude about Michael contending over the body of Moses, I believe this is precisely what's going on.

35:30

Let me read to you these verses. Jude 1, 9 says, But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the

35:45

Lord rebuke you. What is interesting about the body of Moses? Deuteronomy 34, 6 says this,

35:52

And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. This is God who buried him, by the way. God's burying him.

35:59

But no one knows the place of his burial to this day.

36:05

The most common interpretation of this among, you know, especially Reformed authors, especially the

36:11

Puritans, is that Satan had in mind that he wanted to suggest to the people where the body was so that they could do whatever idolatrous things with it.

36:24

And Michael is fighting against Satan so that that would not happen. And keeping the people from that temptation to reveal where the body of Moses is.

36:35

So they can protect from temptation. And consider especially how much this is needed even in dreams.

36:45

You know, if you have sinful things happen in your dreams, lust, anger, all kinds of things, that is not...

36:51

A lot of people think that, Oh, because I'm in less control in my dreams, therefore, those aren't sinful.

36:58

No, if you have sinful desires, even in your dreams, that is wrong. And how is it...

37:06

Consider that we see in Scripture angels manipulating dreams.

37:12

How is it not important to have God's angels protecting us from such suggestions of Satan? You know, that phrase, suggestions of Satan, is something in our confession, something our confession even acknowledges happens.

37:23

These demonic suggestions impressed upon the mind. And so, likewise, angels can make such good suggestions, right?

37:37

Man might talk to his outer senses, angels can impress things upon the inner senses.

37:45

Consider that the angel appears to Mary and to Joseph in a dream.

37:51

Now, how is that happening unless the angel is capable of impressing things upon the mind?

37:57

Okay, if that's God just doing it, making an angel appear, then it's not really an angel. It's God, you know, showing an image of something that's like an angel, right?

38:07

It's not really an angel at that point. So it must be the angel that is impressing this on the mind to Joseph and Mary.

38:15

So angels are capable of doing such things. We see that Satan does such things. He offers evil suggestions.

38:23

Likewise, angels offer good suggestions. Consider what it says about the teaching of demons in 1

38:32

Timothy 4 .1. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

38:39

What does it mean for a demon to have a teaching? Is it not some suggestion from the enemy, right? Likewise, likewise, there can be good suggestions as well.

38:48

The Bible talks about how from the lips of infants, God has ordained praise.

38:55

You know, how do the infants know to praise God unless there were some suggestion to them? How do they know to sing hosannas?

39:02

You know, the Bible, once again, you see that connection in Scripture with infants in the gospels, right?

39:09

Their angels stand before God in heaven. Out of their lips, He's ordained praise. You know, it's letting you know that there's something going on there, that God is assisting them in their praise by the angels.

39:20

And that's what we have confirmed in Hebrews 12, 22. We are assisted in our praise by angels. That's what we sing in our hymns, that angels would assist our praise.

39:31

You know, if you sing that and don't mean it, now you can start meaning it. And they can also impress, excite emotions.

39:43

You see Saul being tormented, Saul the king, right? Being tormented by Satan, being tormented by demonic forces.

39:54

Likewise, angels can incite peace. Now, how are these things, these internal suggestions, distinguished from the work of the

40:04

Spirit? Okay, first of all, they are external rather than internal.

40:09

And by, okay, so I was using the word internal before to distinguish it from man, right? Man, the outer senses, right?

40:16

Right, hearing, that kind of thing. Speaking about angels impressing upon inner senses.

40:23

Yet, distinguished from the Holy Spirit, there's a sense in which the Spirit is in us, okay? He dwells in us and is internal.

40:30

It is immediate that He is working on our heart. Angels, it is from outside, right?

40:36

That such impressions would happen. That's the first way they're distinguished. Also, the

40:42

Spirit, once again, directly working on us.

40:47

Angels simply can only excite what is already there, right? So whatever evil passions that you have in your flesh, demons can tempt you by exciting those passions, right?

41:05

This is why if you are a, if you have, if your flesh is strong, if you have given yourself over to the flesh, if you're a person who does not know

41:16

God, you are more susceptible to the enemy's suggestions because of that. Because there's something much stronger for the enemy to incite.

41:24

Whereas if you have a principle of grace in you, that the new man is very renewed if he's grown very strong, right?

41:30

You have more that angels are capable of inciting. These are reasons to increase, yeah, increase that activity of putting on the new man, putting off the old man.

41:45

Angels, unlike the Holy Spirit, add nothing to us, right? The Spirit adds this principle of grace, right?

41:52

He adds capacities to our soul. He actually grows us. The angels can do none of these, nothing like that.

42:02

And the activity of angels is transient, whereas the activity of the Spirit is abiding.

42:07

He is working in us at all times. Now given all that, you might ask, why does the Spirit work through angels?

42:13

What need would there be for angels? Why not just the Spirit working directly at all times?

42:19

Well, isn't it almost always the case that God works through means to reveal himself more clearly to us and to encourage us?

42:28

Isn't it always the case that he does this? For example, if Christ can teach us, why does he use ministers, right?

42:35

He uses me, a minister of the gospel, for his particular purpose. Same thing, angels are ministering spirits sent out.

42:45

So the Holy Spirit could do all these things directly, but he has his purposes that he would not do these things directly exclusively, but instead work in part by the ministry of angels.

43:02

Now consider the blessings of this. First, it's a blessing to the angels themselves that they get to partner with God in this work of salvation, right?

43:12

They are not co -redeemers or anything like that, but in working out our salvation, in preserving us for that great day, they get to be partners with the

43:24

Lord. This is a great blessing with them. There's also a great comfort and consolation to us.

43:31

We get to hear of these things that reveal God's glory in a way that is more profound than otherwise if he had just done these things directly.

43:41

And contemplating, for example, the diversity of his creation, the mountains, the flowers, etc.,

43:48

you are much more impressed with his power and majesty than you would be if he didn't use that means to communicate such things to you, if he didn't have a diversity of creation, right?

43:58

The same thing is true with his work through angels. There's a special comfort to us because of that added diversity and the way that he would assist us in the glorious nature of angels.

44:10

It is also a benefit to us together that would unite two species in love, that angels caring about angels, man caring about man, but each of us being brought together to have some communion, to be two spiritual beings who have some concern for each other and love for each other, that God brings a union of sorts to us.

44:38

This is also the reason it would be a blessing that he would work through them for our benefit. And ultimately, this all brings about the glory of God.

44:48

God is made more glorious by working through means than he would be if he did not work through means.

44:54

The means illustrate to us, and as low creatures who need illustrations, who need to be condescended to, they illustrate to us

45:03

God's greatness in a way that wouldn't exist otherwise. You know, the sea is made more magnificent by all the little creatures in it than it would be if it were just big creatures, right?

45:15

If it were just whales or whatever, right? All the diversity of life that's in the sea makes it more magnificent.

45:22

The same is true with God. The fact that he does not do everything directly but works through angels, works through ministers, draws more glory to him as it causes our minds to recognize greater truths about him that we would not be so inclined to think about and meditate on apart from such means.

45:47

All right, so how ought we to pursue good works? How ought we to think about these things given this union, this communion that we have with angels?

45:59

First, you should improve your communion with angels. First, if you do not know the

46:05

Lord, it is only in Jesus Christ that you can have this. It is only in him that you would be raised up and seated in the heavenly places, given a place above angels that they would serve you.

46:16

Otherwise, you are below angels and they have no reason to serve you apart from whatever transient wishes the

46:24

Lord might have. You must come to Jesus Christ.

46:30

It is only through him that you would have this relationship with angels. Now, if you already have that relationship with Jesus Christ and therefore a relationship with angels, it is necessary that you be more conformed to the image of Christ.

46:45

Just as we spoke about with our communion with the saints, it is not equal. My communion with one individual is not the same as my communion with another individual because of our differing degrees to which we are conformed to Christ.

46:59

Two saints who are very conformed to Christ will have a much deeper and sweeter communion than two who are not.

47:07

So it is with angels that that communion is shaped by our conformity to Jesus Christ.

47:13

The more we have that principle of grace within us, that new man is put on, the more the angels have the ability to work with us in their suggestive powers that I mentioned earlier.

47:30

And the more God would call them to assist us. You see that he sends greater angels for greater tasks.

47:41

And who has been helped the most by angels in the Bible, except for those who are doing greater things.

47:47

So it is with us that the more we pursue holiness, the greater God would assist us by his angels.

47:56

So you ought to be improving that communion. Also, this communion can be improved by a love for one another.

48:03

Remember what Jesus told the people about the little ones. He says, do not despise the little ones because their angels in heaven always stand before my father's face.

48:14

Do not despise each other. If there are angels that are watching over your brother, your sister, they care how you treat your brother or your sister.

48:25

If you want to improve your communion with angels, you must improve your communion with man. This is directly what

48:33

Jesus is teaching us. Otherwise, what would it mean? Why would we care that angels are watching? It is because that relationship is something that we should care about, our relationship to the angels.

48:46

Now, we ought to also avoid improper communion with the angels. Okay, no praying to the angels.

48:54

They cannot, they can hear you. And so it is a greater temptation in some ways than it is with praying to saints.

49:02

But this is not, we are not to commune with angels. We are told not to worship them. Praying is a, using mystical means of communication is something that the

49:12

Bible forbids. It is not something that we are called to do. And anyone who tries to will almost certainly end up communicating with demonic entities, not holy angels.

49:22

Do not do this. There is a, don't rebuke demons either.

49:30

So this applies to demons. I know some people who have in their prayers switched from talking to God to talking to Satan.

49:38

And saying stuff like, I rebuke you, Satan, et cetera. Don't talk to Satan. You don't talk to the holy angels.

49:43

You don't, definitely don't talk to the evil ones. Not even Michael said that, right? He said the

49:49

Lord rebuke you, first of all. And he's free to talk to Satan, but even he would not rebuke

49:55

Satan directly. And then on top of that, yeah, we just, we have no warrant to be talking to angels, either holy ones or evil ones, especially not evil ones.

50:09

So don't, do not chastise Satan. Do not speak to him. Okay, so beyond this, singing.

50:21

Singing is an interesting one because there is some warrant for it in scripture.

50:27

You see these verses. Psalm 103, 20.

50:33

Bless the Lord, O you His angels, you mighty ones who do His word, obeying the voice of His word. That's what we've read for the call to worship.

50:39

Psalm 148, two. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His hosts. Even the song we sang earlier, the first one, included an address of angels.

50:49

This is a poetic device. There is reason for additional caution in this though. Hebrew and Greek both have a third person imperative that English does not have.

51:00

So in that psalm, it's good to read that psalm, et cetera. But in that psalm, it's not actually addressing second person.

51:09

If you know grammar, it's not saying you. This you is added in 103, 20 in the

51:16

ESV just to make it make sense in English. But there's not actually a second person imperative, or sorry, there's not a third person imperative in English to translate it with.

51:27

But the way that this often gets translated is just let them do this, right? Let the trees praise you, that kind of thing.

51:33

It's not trees, as though you're really trying to communicate with trees. So when we end up singing those things, just know that it's more of a let that happen third person.

51:44

It's not a direct communication as though you're communicating with the angels. All right, and this should be an encouragement directly in good works.

51:54

First of all, recall their observation they are watching. Paul calls Timothy to remember that the angels are watching whether or not he upholds his vows.

52:01

This is especially, this is true of all good works, but this is especially true with any vows you have made. If you're a married person, you've made vows to another.

52:08

Okay, if you're a government employee, you've probably made some kind of oath. Okay, the angels were watching.

52:14

It's not just God, it's angels, and they are all around you, they are watching you. You know, it was interesting this past week having meditated on this and just thinking about that because I'm used to,

52:25

I'm so used to the thought of God watching over me that I've become somewhat dull to it. But then thinking about innumerable angels watching, it really does add a heaviness to your actions.

52:36

And that's why God uses means. Not that the angels add to his actual greatness, but it illustrates for us who need the illustration.

52:47

You should desire to delight them. You should not want to grieve them. You should pray to the

52:55

Lord with a respect to angels, thinking of the angels, right? You should thank him for their assistance.

53:02

This is something to be grateful for, to thank him for. If you would be thankful for any physical assistance, be thankful for his spiritual agents who are watching over you.

53:10

You should also pray for assistance from angels. Jesus says that he could pray for that.

53:17

He could pray and God would send 12 ,000 legions of angels. And we are to pray for anything that is according to God's will.

53:23

If Hebrews 1 .14 says that he sent them out for our sake, we already know this sort of thing is God's will.

53:29

It is right to pray for things according to God's will. So it's okay for you and good for you to pray for angelic assistance.

53:35

Pray for angelic assistance. Even in worship, like we do in some of our hymns, you know, may the angels assist us.

53:46

Your current difficulties, your current good works, face them with confidence.

53:53

Temptations, Christ was strengthened by angels to face temptations. Dangers, Peter, assisted by angels, so he would be taken out of prison.

54:04

Any kind of difficulties where you don't know that you would have enough guidance. Yeah, the Spirit can speak to you, but likewise, angels suggest such things.

54:14

We see this with Peter, we see this with, excuse me, Philip, we see this with Cornelius, that angels tell them to go.

54:21

It doesn't say how they tell them to go, but given what we've seen elsewhere and the ability of angels to simply give suggestions, not just appear in magnificent, outward sense -oriented communication.

54:34

You know, trust that God will give you whatever direction you need, whether it be directly through the Spirit, whether or not it be through brothers and sisters, whether it be through his word, whether it be even through angels.

54:43

He will give you sufficient assistance, so you should go into your good works knowing that you have this plethora of sources.

54:51

It's not just one or two. It's this plethora of sources of direction. And I'm not telling you to sense whether or not an angel is suggesting something to you, okay?

55:02

This is more or less a fool's errand to be doing that kind of thing.

55:08

I know a lot of charismatics teach that sort of thing where they say, oh, well, do you feel like this idea came from yourself or not?

55:15

If it feels a little foreign to you, then maybe that's God talking to you. And then they import upon it, whether it's an angel or God, divine authority.

55:24

Okay, there's no need to do that. This is such a difficult thing to discern that even though we might do that with things like describing something as a suggestion of Satan, and feel comfortable doing that, don't do it with the holy angels in such a way where you would ever competently declare that this is definitely a message from God, okay?

55:44

We don't have the authority to do that like we do with his word. All right, and then pursue greater works.

55:58

Like I said, is it not the case that God has sent his greatest angels to assist in the greatest works?

56:04

Now this is, you see named angels, Michael and Gabriel being sent for the greatest of works.

56:10

It's not the case that as you pursue greater works, God sends greater angels, that he assists you more in all the ways.

56:17

All the ways that he assists, he will assist you more and more. And this is likewise true of the angels.

56:23

Dedicate yourself to good works. Dedicate yourself to the service of the Lord. He will assist you in all these things.

56:31

In the Old Testament, we see the temple and it's decorated with a lot of things.

56:37

It's decorated with pomegranates and palm trees, et cetera. But one of the things it's decorated repletely with is angels.

56:43

Angels all over, angels all over to let the people know that God's place of worship is protected.

56:49

The New Testament temple is the church. We are the church. There are angels all around us as it says in Hebrews 12, 22.

56:57

We should take confidence just like the Old Testament Israelites are supposed to enter the temple. See the images of the angels and be reinforced with the confidence that angels were attending to them.

57:10

We should have the confidence that God's temple today is attended by many angels. And we should be like Elisha's servant, not before he had his eyes open, but after seeing that God has surrounded us with innumerable angels who are doing his will, who are all ministering spirits sent out for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.

57:30

Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your immeasurable kindness to us in sending us innumerable angels.

57:41

We thank you that you have done this, that you have revealed your glory in this way, that you not only work directly, but you even work through means revealing your glory.

57:52

We pray that we would understand these things, that we would be diligent to search the scriptures about this matter.

57:58

We pray that we would not find our hope in angels, but in the one who has united us together with them.

58:10

We pray that you would, by this truth, encourage us in every good work.