EPISODE 33 / ANGELS EXPOSED!

The speaker discusses the misconception that people become angels after they pass away, emphasizing that angels are separate beings created by God. They explain that angels serve various roles as messengers, agents of both wrath and mercy, and guardians. The speaker also touches on the belief in guardian angels, citing biblical passages that suggest their existence. They caution against worshiping angels and emphasize the importance of keeping things in perspective and focusing on Jesus. The overall message is to rely on God's word for understanding and to avoid idolizing created beings. Well, shame on her teacher, and George Bailey ought to know better than that. I love the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, it's a great movie, and George Bailey, what a good guy he is, but you know, the sad thing is that there are many people, maybe some people listening today that you got your idea, your doctrine, your belief about angels from a Hollywood movie, from a book, from a play, and the truth is that we get our ideas for a lot of doctrines and a lot of things we believe, not from God's word, but from things like literature and things from Hollywood movies. Many people get their ideas of what hell is like, not from what God's word says about that, but what paradise lost and other things like that, and we do that with angels. We watch TV shows like Touched by an Angel, and we buy paintings and earrings and little statues of little babies, little fat babies, and we call them angels, and we get our idea of what angels are, not from what God has told us, but what man has said. So this morning, I just want to talk to you a little bit about angels. We have to keep things like this in perspective, and so just a few things about angels. Angels were created by God. Colossians 1.17 says, ìAll things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.î Nehemiah 9.6 says, ìGod made the heavens with all of the hosts.î So God created everything. Angels are created beings. That leads into probably what I need to talk about the most today, is our loved ones, when they pass away, they do not become angels. They do not get their wings when a bell rings. Angels have already been created, so we don't become angels. I hate to bust somebody's bubble. Your Aunt Susie, she might have been a sweet, dear lady, a follower of Christ, but she will never be an angel, and that's just what God's word has to say. There are fallen angels, and there are the Lord's angels. We have told the story there in Isaiah about how Lucifer rebelled, and a third of the angels were swept out with him. So there are angels, and there are fallen angels, we call, and God's word calls, demons. Right here, we just need to stop. Some people just don't believe in the supernatural. If you can't see it, taste it, touch it, you can't believe it. My friends, you cannot be a follower of Christ and not believe in the supernatural. Supernatural simply means it's above nature. It's above what we see, feel, taste, and touch on a daily basis. The very idea, the bedrock of Christianity is supernatural, that we have a Creator God. That Creator God loves us, and that Creator God sent his one and only son to die on a Roman, a cruel Roman cross, that he was buried, he was dead for three days, but was resurrected to life, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding on our behalf. My dear friends, that's above what we understand. That's above our natural world that we encounter day to day. So we have to believe in angels, and here's something that some people may not want to swallow, but you can't believe in angels and not believe that there are demons. Both of these things are true. So angels are created beings. We don't become angels. They're already a class created by God, and there are two types of beings. There are the good ones and the bad ones. Angels serve God. Angels are messengers. An angel talked to Jacob in a dream, and an angel sent the message to Joseph. Angels approached Mary about the birth of Christ. So angels are messengers. As a matter of fact, that word in the Greek, angelos, is messenger. So angels sometimes are agents of God's wrath. It was angels. There were two angels that were in Sodom and brought that destruction and that devastation. It was wrought by angels. So sometimes they are agents of God's wrath and His power. Sometimes they're agents of God's mercy. It was angels that announced the birth of Christ. In Isaiah 6, it was an angel, an angelic being that took with a tongue the red hot coal off the altar and brought it and touched Isaiah's lips, purging him of his sin and his guilt. So angels are messengers, sometimes of God's wrath and judgment, sometimes of God's mercy and grace. Angels serve as guardians sometimes. They participated in key moments in the life of Christ. The angel Gabriel, we're told two angels by name in Scripture, Gabriel and the archangel Michael. And so Gabriel announced the birth of John the Baptist. We see this time and time again in Scripture, and there's no way today that I could tell you everything that we should know about angels. But angels, if you look in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, angels played a huge role in God's word, in God's plan from the old to the new. If you really want to read a good book about angeology, I would suggest Billy Graham's book Angels, Angels, Angels, and you'll get the straight from Scripture story. Angels ministered to Jesus when he was in the wilderness. When the devil left him, Jesus has been 40 days without food, and angels came and ministered to him. Angels were there at the empty tomb. Don't be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where he laid. And the angel said, go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And that's from Mark chapter 16. Angels sat there. When Jesus ascended back into heaven, angels addressed the people that were standing in wonderment. And he said in Acts chapter 1, I believe in verse 10, why do you stand looking up into the heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go. We're not to worship angels. We're to be very careful. We're told not to have any other gods before him. So we have to be careful not to exalt these angelic beings. We're told in scripture that we will judge angels. And Paul tells us that. So we will reign with him, second Timothy, and in eternity we will judge the angels. That's probably that we will condemn the evil angels. We will sit in judgment of them. But we will also exercise authority over God's angels. Do you not know, this says in 1 Corinthians 6, 3, do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more than matters pertaining to this life? So that's probably one of the best passages that shows a distinction between man and angels, that we will sit in judgment of the angels. So we have to be careful. There's a lot of people that believe that we have guardian angels. And I'm going to tell you, there was a time that I thought that was just totally unscriptural and was not true, but I'm going to tell you, I think God's word, I can't say that there is guardian angels, that there are guardian angels rather, but I can't tell you that there's not. I want to read a couple of passages from scripture, just give you something to chew on. In Exodus 23, verses 20 and 21, behold, I sent an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. Psalm 34, 7, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Listen to this from Matthew 18, 10. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Listen to this. For I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven. So, there are some scriptures that could be used to prove that we have guardian angels. I really believe it's probably somewhere in between that we don't have a personal angel that was with us 24-7, but I believe there are times in our life that God sends angelic beings into our life to aid us, to protect us, to guard us, and even to guide us. I think that squares with scripture just a little bit better. But here's the overall reason to talk about angels today, is friends, we have to be careful. Some people will worship the creation more than they do the creator. I believe personally that we as Christians, according to what God said in the Garden of Eden, to set man over everything, to subdue everything, to care for everything, that we should be environmentalists. We shouldn't trash the planet. We should care for the planet. We also shouldn't fall off in the deep end and worship the planet and think that we're so powerful that we can supersede God's plan that we are going to destroy the planet. Now this planet is going to be destroyed, make sure of that, but I want you to know that it's going to be at the hand of God, not at our internal combustion engine. Just like we shouldn't worship the earth, we have to keep things like angels in perspective. We have to keep this. Some people exonerate, not exonerate, they lift up, exalt saints, and we have to be careful. Matthew, Peter, the Apostle Paul, they were great men of the faith, but I'm not going to be praying to those guys anytime soon. I'm not going to pray to Jesus' mother. Why would I talk to Jesus' mother when I can talk to Jesus? I believe when the curtain was ripped at the crucifixion, that was a bold move. That says that we don't need a priest, that you and I can walk boldly into the presence of God, not because of us or our merit, but because of what Jesus has done for us. My friends, nothing or no one should stand in Jesus' light, and that includes angels. We need to just keep those things in perspective. Perspective is the key word. That's the word of the day if we were on Sesame Street, perspective. Keep things in perspective. Where do we get perspective? We get it from God's word. Be in God's word. Be where God's word is being taught and being preached. I'll tell you, we will have the right ideas and the right doctrines to teach and to share with people. I hope that's made a little sense today. Don't say fly high. Your loved one's not getting a set of wings and flying. They're not becoming angels. They may be ushered into the presence of God and see the face of Jesus taken there by angels, but we do not worship angels. My friends, I hope you have a good week. I hope God blesses you and prospers you. I hope he keeps you safe. I hope that angels keep you from dashing your foot, and I hope they keep you safe. Let me pray for you before we go. Dear Lord, we thank you today for loving us. We thank you for being so, so good to us, Lord, for giving us purpose and saving us. Lord, I pray if there's someone that hears this that doesn't know you, Lord, they've never been born again, God, that, Lord, you would draw them to yourself, that you would convict them, that they would see their sin and realize how desperately they need a savior. God, I pray for the church that's listening to this, God, that you would give us the words. You would put the words of life on our tongue, that, Lord, when we're able to share with somebody the truth, Lord, of your word and salvation and the gospel, that, God, you would give us the exact words. God, we love you, and we thank you so much for loving us first. In Jesus' name, amen.