Welcome to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church in Donaldson, Arkansas. This is Elder Neal Phelan, Jr. preaching in our regular Sunday morning service. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be looking at some scriptures this morning. I've got a little different message for you this morning. I don't know if you were on Facebook last Sunday night when I was up at Point Remove, but I preached on the subject of angels. And so I want to look at that again this morning. You may have already seen the message, but maybe it won't bore you to hear it again. But I think it's something that's very important to God's people. We sang that song. A minute ago, God's angels encampeth round them that fear him. And it said a lot about angels. And so it's a biblical subject that I think we should address from time to time. There's 365 passages in the Bible that speak about angels. And they're part of God's creation. And we read about the things that God has created in the Bible. And it's a great thing to have knowledge of the Word of God because we've got people in the world today that get very distressed over UFOs and people on Mars and all these crazy ideas. If they had an understanding of the Word of God, then we would know all the things that God has created because I believe the things, everything that God's created is given to us in the Word of God. And one of those things are angels that God has created. They are inhabitants of a spiritual realm and unobservable by the natural eye unless they want us to see them. And so we're gonna look at the angels this morning, where they came from, why were they created, when they were created, their purpose, and how they interact with us here. So we'll start out with where did they come from? And so I've already told you where they came from. God created the angels. In Colossians 1.16, if you're taking notes, we read this, for by him were all things created. All things. that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. So God created the angels, And he was before them, of course, if he created them. God is eternal, right? So he is not a created being, but angels are created beings. And he created them just like everything else, out of nothing. He created them out of nothing. Remember that angels are not gods. They are not gods. They are not omnipresent. Satan is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking who he may devour. So he's not everywhere at once. He is a fallen angel. We'll see that in a minute. They're not omnipresent, they're not omnipotent, all powerful, and they are not omniscient. So they do not know everything as God does. So why were they created anyway? Well, we just read the passage in Colossians. All things were created by him. for him. So angels were created for God to be his servants. The word angel means messenger, and it means ambassador. So all of their power and authority that they have is God-given, and they are never to act independently of God. So they're not down here running around doing things of their own mind and their own will. They are sent here by God to do the things that God has told them to do. So when were angels created? If we were to go back into the very beginning of the created universe, where would we find angels anyway? Over in the book of Job, and I believe the book of Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. And in chapter 38, God has appeared to Job, or didn't appear to him, but God begins to speak to Job out of the whirlwind. And Job is wanting to talk to God, so he got his request, and God begins to speak to Job. And when he begins to speak to Job, he begins to talk to Job about the things that he has created. which is a great subject. It should cause us all to stand back in awe and just recognize how great that God is concerning everything that he has created. And he asked this question to Job, where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding, who hath laid the measure thereof? This is in 38 verses 4 and 7. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So when God created the universe, and we read in Genesis that he made the stars also, which is kind of like a little finger work of God, all of the sons of God shouted for joy. Now sons of God is a little phrase that's used in the Bible many times that refer to angels. Remember when we were preaching on the book of Job, when the sons of God appeared and they were having the meeting, and God was bringing up Job before the sons of God, and when Satan came among them. So the sons of God shouted for joy. an amazing event to them to see when God created everything and he created the stars up there out of nothing and they shouted for joy at God's great creation. So we know from that passage of scripture that when God created the universe, the angels were already created, right? So we don't know exactly the very moment that they were created, possibly before he created anything in the physical universe, the angels were already created. Now, when we begin to look at angels, we know that from the scriptures there's different kinds of angels, right? We read of the cherubim. Singular would be cherub, and we know of the seraphim, and just sometimes it's just referred to as angel. I call them generic angels, they're just angels. And so, let's look at the three, at least two different kinds, maybe three, there may be many different kinds of angels, I don't know, but we know of at least two kinds that have a name. And the cherubim is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible. If you're a student of God's Word and you're reading the Bible, you're gonna come across the cherubims at least 40 times, and they're known for their beauty and power. They are mentioned many times as protectors of openings and entrances. For instance, the first mention of the cherubim is over in Genesis chapter three in verse 24 when Adam and Eve had sinned. It says God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden and he placed cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." So these cherubims in the very morning of time are placed there at the end of each end of Eden to protect the openings there. Now that's It's an amazing thing to think about something that long ago and what that really looked like. Mila and I were talking about Genesis last night and about the Garden of Eden and all that. But anyway, we find the cherubims in the very beginning of time. We find that when God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness and in the Holy of Holies was a very special piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant. And it was one of the most holy pieces of furniture that was in there. And God commanded them to place a cherubim at each end of the Ark of the Covenant. I think the wingspan of these cherubims was about 10 feet long. And we read, and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold. of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat." So, as we read about these creatures, we know that they really existed. Though we may never have seen one, but by the eye of faith, we believe that there's such a creature, an angel, called a cherubim. In 2 Samuel 22 and 11, here's a reference to God riding upon a cherubim. It says, and he rode upon a cherub and did fly, and he was seen upon the winds, wings of the wind. So a beautiful picture of God and his providential dealings, I believe, with us using the cherubim as a messenger or an ambassador for him. Another angel that we read of in the Bible that we know is true is called the seraphim. The word seraphim means burning, God's burning ones. And in the book of Isaiah in chapter six, The very big, verse one, we read that they had six wings, by the way. It says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, plural. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face. With twain he covered his feet. And with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved that the voice of him that cried in the house was filled with smoke from the burning ones, which had six wings. Some people say, well, do angels have wings? Well, according to the Bible, some of the angels have wings. This creature has six wings. We see a lot of pictures about angels, don't we, especially during Christmas, but we don't see any angels or read of any angels in the Bible that look like the little fat cherubs we see in these pictures. They're austere creatures whenever somebody sees one most of the time, although we know that sometimes angels have appeared and the form of men. When the angels appeared to Abraham in the wilderness to let Abraham know about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and then they traveled on down to Sodom and Gomorrah, appeared to Lot and spoke to Lot. Lot invited him into his house. They appeared as men on that occasion. So apparently they can take upon themselves, some of them can take upon themselves the form of whatever they want to take. And I call them generic angels, you might say that, because there's all kinds of angels. And we don't really know how many there are. So anyway, so there's at least some idea of the different kinds of angels. Well we also know something else, being different kinds of angels, they possess a unique and personal identity just like people. So we read of the angels and so they have different names. So we know the names of some of the angels, don't we? If you've read the New Testament, You know the names of at least two angels, and that's really the two that we know the names of. One of them is Michael. The word Michael means who is like God. It's mentioned five times in the Bible, three times in the book of Daniel. And in Jude in the New Testament in the ninth verse we read this, yet Michael the archangel, When contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee." So apparently there was some conversation going on between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. And I'm not, we don't, I've had a lot of speculation about what that's about, but we know that God buried Moses. and we don't know exactly the spot, but there was something about that that there was a contention about. But anyway, we read about this angel having the name of Michael. He's mentioned in the book of Daniel three times. This is in the Old Testament. And think about that. Here is a statement about an angel who has a name in the Old Testament in the days of Daniel. And then we read about him over in the New Testament, which is hundreds of years later, the same person. which tells us that angels don't age. They keep the same name, the same identity, and the same office with God. And so we read in Daniel chapter 10, the angel that spoke to Daniel referred to as Michael. He says, but I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth, and this is the angel speaking to Daniel. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael, your prince. So here is some kind of cosmic warfare going on and this angel is telling Daniel about it. And he speaks of this angel being by the name of Michael. Okay, there's another angel that you also know about. This angel's name is Gabriel. Gabriel means man of God. It's mentioned four times in the Bible, two in the Old Testament and two times in the New Testament. And this is the angel that appeared to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Remember he was in the temple? He was performing his service. I think he was offering incense in the temple, and the angel appeared to him whose name was Gabriel. And he said, you're going to have a son. And he told him what he was going to do. And remember, Zacharias didn't really believe him, so he couldn't speak until the child was born. But that angel's name was Gabriel. This is the same angel that appeared to Mary announcing the birth of Jesus Christ and also to Joseph, the husband of Mary, saying, fear not to take unto thee Mary to be your wife, because that which she's been overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. So just giving Joseph some comfort to know what's going on in their life. So this angel has been used of God to make these great announcements down here of some things that are going to happen and so they are God's messengers. And Daniel 9, this is amazing to me, but Gabriel also appeared to Daniel. So Daniel had both of these angels appear to him back in his day in the Old Testament. In chapter 9, Daniel writes, yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly, "'Touch me about the time of the evening oblation.'" So this same angel has been used of God, both in the Old Testament, speaking to God's servants, Daniel, and also in the New Testament, speaking to Mary, to Zacharias, and to Joseph. Now, if we were to ask you this morning, how many angels do you think there are? What would be your answer? We know there's a lot of angels, right? But when we begin to read the Bible about it, it gives us something about the number of angels. But let me say this in the beginning, the number of angels has always been constant. When God created the angels, he created them all at once. And so there is an exact number of angels, or still the same number of angels, as when God first created them, the same as God's elect. When God chose his people before the world began, he chose an exact number of people. Remember David said, though he make it not to grow, he said, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things insure. And this is all of my hope, and this is all of my desire, though he make it not to grow. God's not growing his elect on a daily basis. I think people in some churches may go to church and think, well, God's gonna add to the number of people that are going to heaven by the things that we're doing here at church. No, God's not gonna add to the number of people. He already knows his family. He chose them before the world began. He sent His Son to redeem those very same people. And those very same people are going to live with God in glory one day. Their number is exact. Jesus knows the exact number of people He died for. He knew them personally when He died for His people. But the same thing with angels. When God created the angels, He created the same exact number of angels. Just think about it like this. When God created the stars, he created the stars. He's not creating stars today. It was his creation in the very beginning. So the number of angels, We don't really know how many, but we know that there are a lot of angels. In Matthew 26, remember the night that our Lord was betrayed, and they came out to take him, a crowd of mob came out to take him with swords and sticks and staves, and Peter took out his sword, and he was gonna defend the Lord, and he was gonna cut the high priest's servant's head off, but he cut his ear off. And Jesus said, put up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels. When Jesus could have prayed to the father, and the father would have sent him 12 legions of angels to protect him, and it would have kept him from going to the cross. But my friends, Jesus came down here to go to the cross. So he would not be protected from going to the cross. He could have called the angels, but the number was 12 legions. Well, a legion is 6,000 soldiers. A legion of soldiers is 6,000. So 12 legions of angels would be 72,000 angels. So Jesus Christ could have called 72,000 angels on that night to protect him, but he didn't. In Psalm 68, we read, the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them in Sinai and in the holy place. You know, sometimes I believe when we meet here, the angels are actually with us. We can't see them. But I believe they love to peer into these things, to our worship service. They love to look into the salvation of God's people. So I think many times they're here with us. And that's something for us to think about when we come. To know that not only may the Lord be present, but His holy angels are observing the things that we do. In Revelation 5 and 11, on the Isle of Patmos, this is what John writes, and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels. round about the throne and the beast and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. Is that a lot of angels? You know, it staggers the mind to think of what God has created. It's something for us to meditate upon, to think of how great God's creation really is. One person said that 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands is 100 million. If you were to add all of that up, you might say, well, how can there be that many angels? God's creation is an amazing thing. You know, we're just down here on planet Earth. But just imagine the whole universe that we cannot even see. There's plenty of room for all the angels, by the way. One person said that 10,000 was the highest number that could be used in the Greek language. So they use this term thousands of thousands of thousands to basically say that there is a number that is so great that we cannot number it concerning the number of angels. So how powerful are these things anyway? Jesus said he could call down 12 legions of angels to protect him. Would that have been enough? I think it would have been enough. But you think about the power of angels in 2 Kings 19. There is a time when Israel had sinned and they were going to destroy the, I think it was the southern two tribes. The Assyrians were, compassing the armies of Israel. And God sends an angel down to destroy the soldiers. And it says, and it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord, this is one angel, the angel of the Lord, went out and smote the camp of the Assyrians, a hundred, four score, and 5,000. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So here's one angel. And that night he destroyed 185,000 warriors, one angel. That's quite a bit of power. But if you think of 12 legions, how many could 12 legions have taken care of? How many soldiers could 12 legions of angels have destroyed? Well, you do the math and it's 12 billion, 920 million, soldiers that these angels could have destroyed. And that's not even counting the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of angels. So who do you think's in control right now? I think the Lord's in total control of all things. And by the way, the Earth's population in 2021 was about 7.9 billion. So if 12 legions could take care of 12 billion, that would pretty well take care of everybody. So as we read about the angels, there's another interesting thing about them. They seem to have an order about them. You know, they're not just all the same. There's an order to the angels. And Daniel, again in Daniel chapter 10, we read, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia, this is an angel speaking. withstood me one in 20 days, but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia." So one of the chief princes, one of the chief angels, came in this cosmic battle that's going on around us, and I believe still going on today, but we cannot see things are going on. God is in His providence, and this is really interesting. If you want to read the last book of Daniel, and I was reading this the other day, you see that God is saying the different, thrones that are gonna be set up, this throne, this king, this king's gonna fall, another king's coming, here comes another king, and we get all caught up in our life about what's gonna happen to the United States of America, or what's gonna happen here, and when you read that, you're gonna realize that God is in sovereign control of what's going on down here. He's got a predicted end. I'm not telling you that you shouldn't be a responsible citizen, that you shouldn't vote, but I'm just telling you, don't get all bent out of shape about what's going on because God is in sovereign control of who the kings are gonna be and who is going to be in power. Read the last book of the book of Daniel. So their purpose, their purpose is to serve God in many ways as we've already said. They were created by him and for him. So angels are created to serve God. So one thing they do is they minister. And Hebrews, we read this when the Apostle Paul is writing this letter to the Hebrews and he's speaking somewhat about angels. But he's placing Christ above the angels. They thought Jesus, a lot of them, was just a man. And he's trying to show that Christ is above all things. But in this verse he says, but to which of the angels said he at any time? Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation? So we have angels that minister to us in many ways that we may never have seen in our life. But I think it's important for us to have an understanding that God watches over us. but he has ways that he does it. And one of those ways is with angels. In Matthew 4 and 11, remember when the devil tempted Jesus Christ, and tempted him and said, you know, if you're the son of God, cast yourself down from this temple, because it's written, he's quoting Psalms, by the way, Satan knows the scriptures, so there's a lot of people out there quoting scriptures that God didn't call, by the way, so be careful. But anyway, Satan knows the Bible, And so he tempted Jesus Christ to cast himself down from the temple and said, if you're the son of God, then God will lift you up because it says in the Psalms that he shall lift you up lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus quoted scripture too. It's important when we read any scripture to compare it with another scripture. They've got to all agree. But it says in Matthew 4 and 11, after he tempted Christ, the devil leave with him and behold, angels came and ministered to Jesus Christ after he was in the desert and had nothing to eat for 40 days. So the angels came and ministered to them. So we see them as ministers. They're also messengers. We've already seen that. They brought the message right to Mary about her birth of Christ. They brought the message to Joseph. They brought the message to Zacharias. We go back into the Old Testament and read of the mother of Samson. They came and told her about Samson. And so we see them many times bringing messages and some unsuspecting mortal down here. is doing something in a normal day and suddenly an angel appears and tells them something fantastic that they never would have imagined. Well there are guardians and protectors as we already mentioned in the book of Genesis, the tree of life in Genesis, I mentioned that. But they're protectors for us and this is the Psalm that Satan quoted, it's Psalms 91 where David writes, for he shall give his angels charge over thee. To keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest they'll dash thy foot against a stone. And we sang that song this morning, God's angels encampeth round them that love him. And that song is taken from the 34th Psalm, where we read the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. and delivereth them. God's angels encampeth round them that fear him." So that's the same for you and I. I don't know about you and your personal experience, but I know there's been some times in my personal life that I look back and I believe an angel saved me. God, it was God that did it. Now we're going to give God credit for it. We're not going to worship angels this morning. We're not to pray to them, worship them or anything. But we should know that they are very present many times in dangerous situations in our lives. I had a car wreck one time, and the car spun around many times. I was going very fast, had friends in there with me, and the car just slid up between two trees, never touched anything. We're going 85 miles an hour. And I know that night that something was there. that protected me from having a horrific accident and being responsible for the death of some of my friends. And I know that that wasn't the only time that God has sent an angel to watch over me. And if you look back in your life, you may recognize the same. Now, we preached from the book of Job a few Sundays ago. And remember when Satan came among the angels and they were having the meeting and God pulls the curtain back a little bit for us to look in there. And Satan says, well, you put a hedge about him. He's wanting to get at Job really bad, but he can't because there's this hedge around Job. Well, that hedge is angels that protected Job and his family. And I believe in our own families, in our own lives, that many times God has protected us. He's got a hedge about us, and we can't see it, but we thank the Lord for it. In Matthew 18 and 10, here's another passage of scripture that refers to angels that watch over us. It says, take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. This is Christ speaking. For I say unto you that in heaven there angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Don't despise the little ones of God because they've got angels that are watching over them from heaven. That's a very, very interesting passage of scripture. When Jacob was wandering in the wilderness, there were angels watching over him. God was gonna get him to a destination. And in Genesis 32, we read, and Jacob went his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host. And he called the name of that place Meheanim. So Jacob saw the angels and saw the host of God that were escorting him through the wilderness. Not every day, but I'm just saying he did get a glimpse of them. And they are involved in the providence of God's people. I've already said that. But they're involved in our lives and the many events that happen to us in our lives. In Genesis 28, again, this is Jacob. And he dreamed a dream and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon this ladder. Now this is a vision that Jacob saw, but it's a picture of angels coming to and from heaven and having their work to do down here in the affairs of mankind. In Hebrews 13, I was preaching on this the other night and Elder Carl Staten came up and he said, you left out Hebrews 13, one and two. So I thought, I'm not gonna leave it out this morning. Because here we read it says, let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Now it's not talking about entertaining just somebody that you pick up off the street. But these are people that I believe in that day that when ministers and people from other churches would come to visit places and worship, that they entertained them, took care of them, and they were actually an angel among them. Or it could be speaking about Abraham. Remember Abraham when he was in the plain and these men approached him to him and Abraham made something for them to eat? It was angels that he was entertaining unawares. Many times angels are sent in answer to our prayers. So how many of you as parents probably will remember praying for your children? They're out on a date and they're gone somewhere to a ball game or they're somewhere. And you're praying that Lord would bless them to get home safely. Well, many times the reason they did was because you prayed and God heard and he blessed them to get home safely. In Acts chapter 12, we read about the time when Peter was apprehended. They had already cut off, I think it was James, the brother of John. They had beheaded him with a sword. They placed Peter in prison and they recognized what was about to happen to Peter. Peter knew it himself. And so he's in prison. And it says, the church continued in prayer unceasing for Peter. So the church prayed and prayed and prayed, and they didn't stop praying for Peter. And it says in chapter 12 of Acts, about the time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, he killed James, a brother of John, with a sword. Because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, And the keepers before the door kept the prison, and behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him. And a light shined in the prison, and he smoked Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. His chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. He went out, followed him, and wist not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he had saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came into the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on. through one street and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod." So because the church was praying and because we pray, don't think that your prayers are not being heard because It just happened, your teenager got home that night, or something was averted that could have possibly happened. The Lord hears our prayers, and many times this is the way that he answers them. Well, I've already mentioned that Jacob said this is God's host. Well, that means that angels are an army. The word host means army. And so angels are God's army. Many times they're not just messengers, but they're also his soldiers. They do things to protect God's people. The term Lord of Hosts means a lord of an army of people, and it's used 1,000 times in the Bible. The Lord of Hosts, his holy angels. So as I've already said, they've been involved in a spiritual battle that we cannot see since the morning of time. Something going on out there that the angels are taking care of and when the king of Sirius and his soldiers to take Elisha His servant Looked out and said there was a host that can pass the city with horses and chariots and his servant said unto him alas my master How shall we do? And he answered, he said, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and beheld the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. So, Alas, you could see the angels and the chariots of God, and many times we read of the angels being in chariots of fire. And so he opened the young man's eyes to see this great army that had surrounded them. Revelation chapter 12 there is an interesting passage that speaks of this war in heaven and angels being involved in it. In Revelation 12 verse 7 it says, there was war in heaven. Michael, we've just heard about him, and his angels, plural, fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not, neither was there found Anymore in heaven and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world He was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him so We find that Here is an army, here is a battle, and we read about Satan being cast out, and the angels with him, which we were gonna refer to as the fallen angels, okay? So there are angels, I think the Apostle Paul refers to them as the elect angels. And there are some angels that have fallen. So the fallen angels, remember we read in Jude 1 and 6, I've already read this to you, but I'll give it to you one more time. It says, and the angels. which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, hath he reserved an everlasting change under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. So there are some angels that have fallen. These are the evil spirits that Jesus Christ would cast out of people. They're still alive today, and they're still here, and they're still very busy. I believe that many times that people who get involved in drugs are opening up a medium for angels to actually inhabit them. I always mention some of the old albums that I used to see on some of the hard rock music and you look at that and there's a picture of a demon on the front of that album. I think many times music is something that Satan uses. There's good music and there's bad music. There's some bad music that many times I believe people get involved in it. They get addicted to it and Satan uses it. He can put things in people's minds and use these fallen angels to possess them. and to use them to do some very wicked things down here on earth. So it's something that we should be aware of, just as Peter writes about Satan as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You know, we may not have even thought in our lives. There's such a real being as Satan. I mean, Satan is just as real as your dog and your cat. And he's always trying to destroy God's people in many, many ways. When Jesus cast them out, did you ever notice something very interesting about that? They knew him. Jesus knew Jesus Christ. I mean, the fallen angels that he cast out, the devils he cast out knew him. They knew him before, remember? Before they were cast out from heaven or wherever that place was that it speaks about. They had knowledge of him. They said, you've come, you know, don't cast us out before the time. They knew there's gonna be a time that they're gonna be judged. So these are real beings and they're still very active. If you've ever read the book by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, it's a fiction book, a book of fiction about an angel that actually was trying to possess a person. But in this book he writes something very interesting. He said, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall into about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors. So they would love for us to not know they existed. They'd also love for us to try to contact them. A lot of people, they have seances, Ouija boards and things like that. They're really there and these things do happen to people. Satan is a fallen angel. In Luke 10, 18, Jesus said, I beheld Satan is lightning fall from heaven. But remember, Satan is not God. He's not omniscient, omnipotent. He's not omnipresent. So Satan is, of course, nothing compared to God and his power. If we read the book of Ezekiel, there's a passage there that speaks, I believe, of Satan being cast out of heaven. It's compared to a person, which many times the scriptures do that, they're comparing something to a person, but they're also giving a description of Satan. It says in, this is in Ezekiel chapter 28, if you're taking notes, verse 11, and he's comparing him to the king of Tyre. He says, moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Now we know that this king had not been in Eden. Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, the gold, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of the pipes, thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Speaking of a very, very beautiful creation of God, which was a cherubim, which fell, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. I believe that's a direct reference to Satan himself. and God cast him out because he left his first estate. In other words, there was something they did that was not in God's will, and they left this precious place with God to do something that was evil, and God cast them out. Some believe he was lifted up in pride himself, wanting to be as God. So there are fallen angels. Well, couple more things about angels before we close. They're worshipful creatures. In Hebrews 1 and 6, it says, and again, when he bringeth the firstborn into the world, he said, let all the angels worship him. So the angels that are not fallen are worshipful creatures to the Lord himself. In Revelation 4 and 8, it says the four beasts, each of them had six wings. about him and they were full of eyes within, they rest not night and day saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, which is, and which is to come. We also read that another interesting thing about angels is that they will escort God's elect at the time of their death into the presence of God. We read over in the, Book of Luke, remember Lazarus, the poor beggar that laid at the feet of the rich man's gate and the dogs licked his sores. And it says, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And it says the rich man also died and was buried. Nothing about an angel escorting him anywhere. So we have a lot of scripture that tells us that the angels do escort God's elect into the presence. And when we take that last breath, the first thing we're going to see is a host of angels. We sing that song, Angel Band. Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home. That's what that song is all about, is the angels. In Mark 13, it says, when Jesus returns one day, he shall send his angels and shall gather together his elect. from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. So when Jesus Christ comes back, he's going to come in his glory and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. See, there's a lot about angels that we as God's people should have knowledge of. I anticipate the time that I get to see them. They kind of make you a little bit excited about drawing your last breath. I mean, if you get close to dying, to me that is a great comfort. If you're coming to the place that you know you're about to die and you can say, I'm about to see a great thing, God's going to send His holy angels to take me home to my immortal home. Thank you for listening to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. This has been Elder Neal Phelan, Jr. preaching from one of our regular meetings. Come and join us as we worship God in the simplicity of Christ every Sunday morning at 416 North Hall Street in Donaldson, Arkansas. At Harmony, we don't have many things that are so common in the religion of our day, but we do have a successful Savior. We invite you to come and see.