[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, go with me, if you would, to 2 Kings 6 and verse 8.
[0:13] And I have roughly 30 minutes here. And I want to talk to you about angels in our world. And we're going to start, we'll read the passage of Scripture because I think the reason I'm going there is that's exactly what this passage is talking about.
[0:26] It shows us a beautiful truth that I think maybe we don't know and think about. So read with me. The Bible says, Then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
[0:41] That's the king of Syria. That's the bad guy. He said, That's for him, we'll have my camp. And the man of God, Elisha, sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, for that's where the Syrians are planning on coming down.
[0:55] Verse 10. The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of it and saved himself thereof not once nor twice. More than one time he got the word.
[1:07] Verse 11. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled. He's bothered. He's worried. He couldn't understand it. And he called his servants. He said, Will you not show me who's the spy on our team?
[1:20] Which of us is for the king of Israel? Verse 12. And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king. But Elisha, that man of God up there in Israel, he's telling the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
[1:35] And he said, Well, you go and spy out where he is that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, He's in Dothan, not Alabama. Therefore, send he thither horses and chariots and a great host.
[1:50] And they came by night and they come past the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host, that's a whole army, a big group of people are come past there all around the city with horses and chariots.
[2:07] And the servant said unto Elisha, the man of God, Oh, my master, alas, my master, what are we going to do? How shall we do? And the man of God said, Oh, don't worry. Because they're more on our side than they're on their side.
[2:21] And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open this guy's eyes that he can see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
[2:36] Now, is that a crazy story or not? Amen. So the spine going on, it's not real spine because God's telling the man of God, the man of God's telling the king and the king's telling his soldiers, be careful, that's what's going on over there.
[2:51] The king of Syria is like, I don't appreciate that one bit that you're doing that. So find that guy, bring him here. We're going to put a stop to that right now. So they find the city he's in, they surround the city.
[3:02] He's come with this large army to get him. And the man of God's got a guy that works with him. And so his assistant runs outside, comes back and says, you're not going to believe this.
[3:12] We are surrounded and we're in a heap of trouble. And Elisha, no, no, no problem, not a problem. Calm down. There's more on our side than they're on his side. And the Lord opened his eyes and let him see.
[3:24] And he saw a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. The word angel is not even used in this passage of scripture, but you clearly know what you're seeing.
[3:37] Now, we'll talk to you about angels tonight. So I'm pretty sure most of you don't know what you think about angels. So we're going to talk about it. The word angels found in 117 times, it's found 117 times in 108 verses in the Old Testament.
[3:51] There are only 23,145 verses in the Old Testament. So that means that one out of every 215 verses mentions an angel. There are 65 times in 57 verses that the word cherubim is mentioned.
[4:04] There are two times where seraphim is mentioned. That means some type of angel word is used in at least 138 verses in the Old Testament. There's tons of places like this passage where it doesn't say the word, but it's talking about the same thing.
[4:20] Angels are just assumed in the Bible. They're everywhere. And they're doing all sorts of things. In the New Testament, there's 180 times in 175 verses you'd find the word.
[4:31] That's one in every 45 times. You might have thought that angels would be more in the Old Testament than the New Testament, but actually it's four times more activity in the New Testament than the Old Testament.
[4:43] And get this, the last book of the Bible, there's 72 verses with 76 mentions of an angel. One verse out of every 90 verses in the Bible talks about an angel.
[4:55] That's minimum. That's pretty wild, isn't it? So you've got a Bible story here that we've gone over and you've seen what's happening there. Listen to this testimony from a chief that was saved in John Patton's ministry in the South Pacific.
[5:11] Hostile natives surrounded his mission quarters one night intent on burning the Pattons out and killing them. John Patton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them.
[5:24] When daylight came, they were amazed to see that unaccountably the attackers had left. They thanked God for delivering them. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ.
[5:38] And Mr. Patton, remembering what had happened, he asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. And the chief replied in surprise, Well, who were all those men you had up there with you?
[5:51] The missionary answered, There were no men there, just my wife and I. And the chief argued and said, You had many men sending guards. Hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hand.
[6:04] They circled the mission station so that the natives, we were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Patton realize that God had sent his angels to protect them. And the chief agreed there was no other explanation.
[6:17] I am sure you're probably thinking that's a crazy story. But he asked the guy a year later. The guy a year later told him that story. And after we look at the Bible a little bit, maybe it won't seem so surprising to you.
[6:28] So who are the horses and chariots of fire in 2 Kings 6 and verse 17? I'll show you this real quickly. God regularly sent angels to protect his people.
[6:41] So we're just going to talk through, because I don't have time to show you all the verses. But it's a regular occurrence in the Bible if you're paying attention. When Lot was in Sodom and Gomorrah, he was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he sent angels to get them out.
[6:54] When Elijah needed food and drink and directions, when he was pouting under the juniper tree, he sent an angel. When the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace, an angel came.
[7:05] When Daniel was in the lion's den, an angel came and shut the mouth of the lions. When Peter was in jail, an angel got him out of jail. That's just a few little incidences of what happened.
[7:17] Now, if you take your Bible, we're going to look at some verses quickly. You can write these down and look them up later if you'd like. Look at Psalm 34, 7. In a similar way to what he did for Elijah, he promised to do for us.
[7:28] Look at this. The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him and delivers them. How many of you see that verse? We're a missionary church, and we're sending missionaries around the world, and you're very worried about terrorists, and you're very worried about natives wanting to kill you.
[7:47] Maybe you ought to memorize Psalm 34, 7. Could you read that out loud with me together, all in one united voice? Are you ready? Read with me. The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him and delivers them.
[8:02] Now, how many of you fear him? Say amen. Okay, so if you fear him, all I know is the angel of the Lord encamps round about them. And I'm just going to believe what the book says, and it says he delivers them.
[8:13] The Bible says in Hebrews 1 and verse 14 that God has given ministering spirits to those that are saved. Look at this.
[8:24] It says, Are they not all ministering spirits? Hebrews 1, 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
[8:36] Maybe a guardian angel, but a ministering spirit sent forth to take care of those who shall be heirs. I am soon to get my inheritance. And I am an heir of salvation, and ministering spirits have been sent forth, or at least that's the question.
[8:54] In Matthew chapter 18, in verse 10, Jesus said, Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven.
[9:08] Not sure what it means, but it seems to say there's an angel up in heaven that knows about that kid's watching the father watching the kid. You might get an idea there. Those chariots of fire were God's holy army of angels sent to protect him.
[9:23] I'd ask you to not be suspicious of angels, because if you believe in Jesus and you read his story, they're everywhere in his story.
[9:33] So I'm just going to summarize real quickly some of those. There was an angel, Gabriel, who talked to Mary and said, You're going to have a baby who will be our Savior. It was an angel that talked to Joseph and told him to trust Mary that the baby was coming from God.
[9:48] It was an angel that announced the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, or angels. It was angels that ministered to Jesus in the wilderness when he was being tempted. An angel strengthened Jesus in the garden just before the cross.
[10:01] And when Jesus was about to be crucified and they wanted to fight and defend him, he said, Guys, wait a minute. I could call 12 legions of angels from my Father right now if I wanted. I'm not calling.
[10:12] I just read this week, that's something like 70,000 guys would have come rolling in if he'd ask. It was an angel that rolled the song away. Angels ascended with him. Angels are coming back with him.
[10:23] And that's a pretty wonderful thought. Angels all through his ministry. Let me tell you what Jesus said about angels. Look these verses up with me. You got your Bible?
[10:34] Write them down. Look these verses up. Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 and verse 8, And I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels.
[10:47] of God. So Jesus said, If you'll talk about me before men, I'll talk about you before angels. But he said in verse 9, But you deny me before men, you'll get denied before the angels of God.
[11:02] He assumed there were angels up there. You already saw that Jesus said in Matthew 18, 10, In heaven the children's angels do behold the face of the Father.
[11:14] In Luke chapter 15 and verse 10, Jesus said that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
[11:25] In Luke 16, 22, when Jesus was teaching, he said that when Lazarus died, he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom.
[11:36] In Matthew chapter 13 and verse 41, Jesus teaching, he said, That the Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and they'll cast them into the furnace of fire, or into hell.
[11:52] God's going to send those angels to pick them up and do that. In Matthew 26, 53, that's where Jesus said, Twelve legions of angels I can get. In Matthew 16, 27, Jesus said, When I come back, my angels are coming with me.
[12:07] That's what Jesus said. So let me just take you through some basic truths that I think will incite you, and bless you, and help you as you think about that. Now in the story, God's doing miracle stuff, protecting the nation of Israel.
[12:22] Somehow, Elisha knows what's going on with the king of Syria. Somehow, God's getting a message to Elisha. Elisha's getting to the king. That guy's upset, wants to get rid of him. He wants to do him harm.
[12:34] And when he goes to make the attack on him, God's angels are standing around him, taking care of him. So we know some things about angels that you can go back thinking about.
[12:45] They are ministering spirits. Hebrews chapter 1, they're serving spirits. They're serving God, and they're sent to his heirs, those that are going to heaven. In Psalm 103, verse 20, God made angels.
[13:00] They're made before us. There's no record of their, most likely before the first day, and there's no record of them being created with us. And the Bible says in Psalm 103, 20, bless the Lord, you, his angels, praise him, praise him, that excel in strength, and do his commandments, and listen to, pay attention to, hearken unto the voice of his word.
[13:25] So, all through your Bible, angels are active, and even more active in the book of Revelation. Even more active in the book of Revelation.
[13:36] We know that God has used angels to send messages to his people. I wasn't going to take you through the Bible and show you that, but in the Bible, the angels show up, and they teach Samson's family how to raise a child.
[13:49] Angels show up all through the Bible, doing all sorts of things, if you believe the Bible. Angels have been known to keep God's people from doing what they shouldn't do. There was a guy named Balaam riding on his donkey one day, trying to go where he shouldn't go, and do what he shouldn't do, and the donkey wouldn't let him go.
[14:06] And Balaam got mad, started hitting the donkey, and God let Balaam see there was an angel in the way. You're not going to believe this part. Put on your seatbelt.
[14:16] They're watchers. Look at Daniel chapter 4 and verse 17. They're watchers. Daniel chapter 4 and verse 17.
[14:27] This matter is by decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
[14:48] So what happens is these angels, they're messengers. They take messages from God to people. They're carrying messages.
[14:59] We'll see another verse about that in a second. And here they're watchers, and they're seeing what's going on on the earth, to the intent, if you've got your Bible open, that the living might know.
[15:09] So Nebuchadnezzar, you better figure out something, buddy. There is a God in heaven watching you, and he knows what you're doing, and we're telling him what you're doing, and God's going to take you out.
[15:22] That's kind of a weird verse. He's a watcher. But then you get the New Testament, and there's like three verses that seem to say watcher, and another way. Look with me, if you would, at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 9.
[15:32] The apostle Paul said, people are mistreating me, and people are mistreating the angels, so that people make fun of me, and even the angels see me as a spectacle. Read the verse with me. For I think that God has set forth the apostles last, as they were appointed to death.
[15:48] So we're the last ones, and he's going to let us be killed. For we are made a spectacle, a laughing stock unto the world, and even the angels and the men. That's wild.
[15:59] They're watching. In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10, the angels are watching God's goodness. The angels are watching what God's doing in the church.
[16:13] The angels are seeing God's great wisdom. Look at verse 10. Ephesians 3.10. To the intent now, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places.
[16:25] Now, principalities and powers, those are groups of angels and or demons. So the angels have rankings. There is archangels.
[16:38] There's regular angels, and they have rankings. We got that in the Bible. And these angels are looking to see what might be known by the church and the manifold wisdom of God.
[16:49] Can you imagine with me just a minute? Angels most likely created before any of us are created. They see all that God's done. They watch God create the world. They watch God make the Garden of Eden.
[17:01] They watch all the perfection that God puts there. They watch God put these other created beings, because angels are created too. They watch Him put them in the garden, and they watch Him and listen to Him say, if you sin, if you eat that fruit, that day you'll die.
[17:16] They watch Him eat the fruit, and they expect Him to die, and they die spiritually, but God comes down and shows His great sweetness and makes a way of salvation.
[17:28] The angels are like, are you believing this? And then the angels are watching towards the end of the time now as the church is out and doing its thing, and they're watching. You're not going to believe this verse either.
[17:40] Look with me at 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. You know that what's going on with us seems to make the angels jealous. They're watching.
[17:52] Probably in this room right now, and they cannot believe how our Father loves us. They cannot believe how our Father takes care of us. 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. The Bible says, unto whom it was revealed, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them, that have preached the gospel.
[18:12] Unto you with the Holy Ghost, set down from heaven, which thing the angels desire to look into. Angels are like, can you believe this? Can you hit Michael and Gabriel?
[18:23] Check this out. Look how good God is. Look how good our Creator is. Look how good He is. There are more angels that can ever be counted.
[18:35] In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22, it says it's an innumerable company of angels. It's an innumerable company. In the Bible, there are 10,000 times 10,000 plus thousands more.
[18:46] The point being, God has all these angels all over the place. And we are never to ever worship angels. We are to never ever worship angels.
[18:58] In Colossians 2, 18, let no man beguile you into the voluntary humility and worshiping of angels. So let me give you some application lessons to take home from this about angels.
[19:10] They're more prominent than you probably thought. I have rushed through a whole bunch of scripture. In fact, as if you saw my outline, I'm actually on page 14 already because I've just skipped all the verses I could have read to you.
[19:21] And I didn't put most of the verses in here because there's a bunch of them. But angels are everywhere in the Bible. So you believe in an angel, it would be you're just believing the Bible.
[19:33] Could you consider for a moment that in the Bible, the angels are an expression of how much God loves you. They work at two primary things that we see in the Bible, serving us and protecting us.
[19:47] Serving us and protecting us. Hebrews 1, 14. And then you saw the story tonight. And Elisha knew something you and I didn't know. Elisha knew, hey, open his eyes and let him see.
[20:00] I know you got this under control. You're getting all freaked out all the time like you're all alone and you can't handle it. And even if there weren't angels, God's already there and God's got the strength.
[20:10] And on top of God doing it, God said, I'll even put some soldiers around you. It's pretty wild. He loves us. Here's a good one. There's a lot going on I can't see.
[20:25] This is probably wild for you, but in this very room at this very time, and you can laugh at me if you'd like, but there's very likely some things going on you can't see because the Lord hadn't opened my eyes and probably hadn't opened your eyes.
[20:35] And Elisha said, open his eyes. He looked up. He's like, good night. Look who came to the meeting tonight. There was a time when old Balaam was riding on his donkey and has no idea what's going on. There's an angel there.
[20:47] Do you ever think there might be some things going on that you can't see that God's at work in the world and you could just learn to trust him and believe him? We're a missionary church.
[20:58] We go to the mission field and some of you are just so paranoid, but you don't really have to be because he's taking care of you. He is with you until the very end of the world and he's got guardians with you taking care of you, guardians looking over you, guardians set to serve you, guardians are watching your kids and looking at his face, Jesus said.
[21:21] That's pretty wild, isn't it? You live in a world you might could trust him with. There's a picture in the Bible here of great spiritual warfare. There's a lot of stuff going on that we don't see and we don't understand.
[21:35] In the story tonight, the man of God and his servant are in the city and there's a literal physical army all around them. This guy has come marching in on his camels and his horses and his soldiers running on their feet and whatever weapons they brought with them.
[21:50] They're all around and the servant's like, we are in a pickle. We're in big trouble. We're going to have something happen to us here in a second. And Elisha's like, oh no, no, no, no, no. You don't understand what God's doing.
[22:02] Open his eyes. I'd like to show you a couple of more Bible stories and some verses here. If I could, go with me to Daniel chapter 10 and verse 12. There's things going on we don't see.
[22:14] There are things going on we don't see. Now if you're just going to be a simple-minded Bible believer, read this stuff and believe it. Instead of trying to figure out a way to knock it out of the Bible and not believe it.
[22:27] Daniel chapter 10 and verse 12 of the Bible said, Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and chasten you, from the first day you began to fast and pray and ask me, I heard your words and I'm here because of what you asked for.
[22:46] Look at that verse. On the first day you asked, I took off and I came this way. It's an angel, by the way, doing the talking. Probably Gabriel. Verse 13 it says, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days.
[23:03] And Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. This is a wild story too. This is a story going on that you can't see.
[23:14] Daniel's up praying and begging God. It's been twenty-one days and the answer hasn't come. God has all the ability to answer that prayer as quickly as he wants. He's God. He can do anything he wants to do. But he prays and evidently Gabriel is on his way with a message and Gabriel gets there and this demon, the prince of Persia, stands up and tries to stop him and Gabriel's the messenger and Michael's the warrior.
[23:39] He can't get through and then Michael shows up and whips his rear and he comes on through. Did you ever think that while you're overseas and while you're here and when you're at work and when the desire to witness comes, there's a whole bunch of junk going on you can't see and you ought to learn to trust God?
[23:56] You've got to believe what the Bible says and not what you feel. You've got to believe what the Bible says and not what seems to be going on. Now you're probably thinking this is crazy and ridiculous but in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10 if you would, in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10 the Bible says as he finishes this book of Ephesians everybody loves the book of Ephesians.
[24:17] I mean the Calvinist loves the book of Ephesians the Christian loves the book of Ephesians the guys that think he can lose his salvation love the book everybody loves the book of Ephesians. Arminians love it.
[24:28] Look at just what it says don't get away from it it says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
[24:45] The devil's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve to get you to not trust him with your tithing and your giving to get you to not talk to people about Jesus to get you to not live a holy and pure life to get you to be afraid to do whatever God might have you to do.
[24:58] He's got a lot of tricks he's got tricks to get you to do wrong and to fall into sin he's got all kinds of tricks but the Bible said be strong in the Lord that's not about building up your muscles that's about drawing real close to God.
[25:11] It's about drawing real close to God knowing I can't do it but I'll stand here real close where you can do it. Put on the whole armor he said that you'll be able to stand that you may be able to stand that's what Jeff told us tonight that you may be able to stand he said you God's power is in you and you can have victory that you may be able to stand.
[25:32] Verse 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood so you know the truth is the Muslims aren't our problem the Buddhists aren't our problems and lost people aren't our problems and your mother-in-law is not your problem and your neighbor's not your problem and all these other people that seem to be bothering you they're not your problem there's a problem going on here we're wrestling against spiritual stuff that's what the Bible says.
[25:58] Look at it we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities that's those princes just like in Daniel that's these guys that have control and power against powers against the rulers of darkness of this world this world is that world kingdom that stands against God that we've talked about and all these rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places all that's going on says against the rulers of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore taken to you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand you know the idea of withstanding is it's like it's like a flood is coming at you and you just brace and stand that's the picture here the devil is after you the world is after you everybody would turn you from Jesus but put on the whole armor look to Jesus and trust him there's spiritual warfare going on what we're doing is being watched to see how God's grace will play out in our lives as you leave the service tonight you should know you're in a fight we're in a fight we are in a war that is not something that missionaries are dealing with that's something every born again believer is dealing with the devil would do everything he could to get you to stop believing God the devil would do everything he could to destroy your marriage the devil would do everything he could to get you to walk away from serving Jesus the devil and all the host of hell are against us
[27:32] I mean we got everything on our side we got Jesus on our side we got angels in the story tonight we got the armor on our side and the angels are watching I think that's really wild isn't it go study the verses yourself I spent a lot of time with them this week the angels are watching I wonder what they see when they watch us will they see you take advantage of who you are and you live up to who you are because in the Lord Jesus you have all you need to live a good solid Christian life that honors Jesus in him you have all the power to have victory this week in him you have power to have success in your marriage in him you have power to overcome sin in him you have power not to fall in temptation or will you bring shame to his name so that the demons are happy the angels are sad will you be more careful to be watching out for how God is working in your life I think if you think on this one little thought for just a second there's a lot going on in this room I do not see
[28:36] I have no idea what happens when Ed's driving down the road in a car a redneck Filipino tried to put back together if he hadn't been in Georgia long enough to learn how to tape a car together he has to have a little bit of Georgia redneck in there somewhere amen but if he had been to Tennessee he could have got the bumper would have stayed on with duct tape he needed another lesson you have no idea what was going on all around him you have no idea how the Lord was protecting him and you ought to learn to think boy God's at work in my life you ought to be able to go home tonight and say I'm just going to trust God if the rain starts coming hard and the wind starts blowing if there's an earthquake if something goes wrong I know who I am and I know who's with me I will lay myself down tonight and I will trust him I'll trust God to take care of my children when they go to the mission field I'll trust God to take care of my wife my husband my children I trust God will you be more careful to be watching out for how God's working in your life don't act like it's all coincidence and chance but know you're involved in spiritual warfare stand for
[29:46] Jesus and having done all stand so someday when we're a lot older than we are if I'm still living no teeth and no hair and drooling and can't walk I hope I'm standing for Jesus I want to stand for him you can stand for him we can have victory in Jesus I love O Elisha the man comes in he says hey pastor we're in a heap of trouble they got a whole army surrounding us and Elisha said oh son you don't know our God do you Lord open his eyes and let him see you got it all under control and this week you're going to deal with junk there may be an accident in your family there may be something bad happen there may be times that you'll be tempted to fear and run and be scared but you have a promise he will never leave you nor forsake you and you can trust him this message was recorded at Vision Baptist
[30:51] Church in Alfredo Georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information and more audio and video recordings out and h