What Every Christian Should Know About Angels and Demons – Part 1A

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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. There is an invisible war that is going on all around us that affects us every day. Although it's invisible, it is very, very real. And one way God protects us from this demonic warfare is through the ministry of angels. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Have you ever felt like one of God's angels was watching over you, maybe keeping you from harm or giving you comfort?

Well, the truth is, you're not imagining things. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains what angels are capable of, and the ways in which they improve our lives. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In just about four months from now, I'm going to be hosting the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska, and I'd love to have you join us. And I promise you, spending time in this magnificent display of God's creation will be a treasured memory forever.

The dates are June 15 through 22. In addition to exciting sightseeing opportunities, we'll bring our own entertainment onboard the cruise ship for your enjoyment. Talented recording artists such as Rebecca St. James and Michael O'Brien will provide lively, inspirational music. And my favorite comedian, Dennis Swanberg, will provoke some much needed laughter. I'll also be opening God's Word for us almost every evening. We've planned this event for you.

The Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska is yours to enjoy, so go to ptv.org, take a look at the details, and most importantly, reserve your spot while there's still room for the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. During the month of February, I'm pleased to offer a copy of my bestselling book called What Every Christian Should Know. Today's world is teeming with spiritual critics.

Some are agnostic, some are even atheist. But tragically, a lot of false teachers are creeping into the church as well. In my book, I'll equip you with ten core doctrines of our Christian faith. My book will build your confidence that your faith is squarely founded on the solid rock of God's Word. I'm pleased to send a copy to your home when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Again, my book is titled What Every Christian Should Know. Now, let's get started with our next study in this teaching series. Today, I'm going to speak to you about the spirit world.

I titled today's message, What Every Christian Should Know About Angels and Demons. During the Civil War, in the days before cable television and breaking news, Americans had to rely on newspapers to get their information about the conflict. Newspapers, remember those? Newspapers would send their correspondent to a particular battlefield.

The correspondent would write his story, but then it would take weeks to edit, to typeset, to print the newspaper and have it delivered by mail to individual homes. Because of that lag in time, most Americans during the Civil War felt like the war was distant, removed from themselves. They had no relationship to it until the conflict landed in their front yard.

For example, after July 3rd, 1863, I guarantee you no resident of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania thought of the Civil War as a distant conflict, the battle that occurred in their own town. There's a similar truth about another war that you and I are engaged in every day. It's a war that has been going on since Satan first rebelled against God. It is a spiritual war. There's a battlefield correspondent who describes what is happening in that spiritual war. His name is the Apostle Paul, and in Ephesians 6-12, he said, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. There is a real war going on, and yet when we read words like spiritual forces and heavenly places, we think is that war is being far off, distant, disconnected from our everyday lives until the war lands in our own front yard. The fact is we see evidence of this war all around us, and we feel it within us. This spiritual battle isn't happening someplace else.

It's not just happening out there. The battle between good and evil is waging within every Christian and every non-Christian. Fortunately, for those of us who are believers, God has given us a supernatural resource for that internal conflict between the will of God and the will of Satan.

That resource has a name. He's called the Holy Spirit of God, and we've talked about him. But God has also provided another resource for us, for those attacks that come from without, those attacks that come from external sources, and that heavenly resource is a heavenly ally, a group of allies we call angels. And today, as we continue our study of the 10 basic beliefs of historic Christianity, we're going to examine what every Christian needs to know about angels and demons.

Now, in theology, we call this the study of angiology, the study of angels, and technically, angels encompass two different groups of angels. We talk about the holy angels who are in heaven to do God's will, and then we talk about fallen angels we call demons who execute Satan's will. Let's first of all look at the scripture and what it says about our heavenly allies, God's holy angels.

If you have your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter one. You know, angels have a great place of prominence in our culture. Our world is fascinated by angels. You see them featured in movies and TV commercials, in books, on football jerseys.

We find them represented on knick-knack shelves in homes all across our country. And in fact, this fascination with angels is nothing new. In the book of Colossians, Paul was writing against a group of false teachers who said, oh, we are too humble to ever worship God. We will worship angels. Paul said, that's wrong, you should never worship angels. Remember in Revelation 22, eight and nine, when John, after receiving that revelation about the future from an angel, he bowed down and began to worship the angel. The angel said, get up, don't worship me, worship God instead.

To put angels in proper context, we need to compare angels to Jesus Christ himself. Remember the New Testament book of Hebrews? It was written to a group of Christians who were in danger of giving up their Christian faith and going back into Judaism. And the whole theme of Hebrews is that Christianity is superior to every element of the Jewish faith. The writer goes to great lengths to show how Jesus is superior to the Old Testament prophets, how Jesus' sacrifice was superior to the Old Testament sacrifices. And he shows also in the first chapter how Jesus was superior to the angels. The Jews worshiped angels. Angels were important in Hebrew life. But the writer of Hebrews says, don't worship angels, Jesus is superior to angels.

How? First of all, he has a superior name. No angel was ever referred to as the Son of God. And as we'll see in a moment, sometimes they're described as sons of God, but never as the Son of God. Secondly, Jesus is a superior object of worship to the angels. When Jesus came, he never worshiped angels. Instead, the angels worshiped him. Thirdly, he rules over a superior kingdom. Hebrews 1.7 said that angels are subjects in Christ's kingdom, servants doing his will.

And finally, the writer says Christ will enjoy a superior victory. Hebrews 1.13 says, to which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand and I will make your enemies a footstool to you. But God said that about his own son, Jesus Christ. What do we need to know about angels?

Let me mention three things. First of all, angels are created beings. Now, we've spent some time the last few weeks looking at what every Christian needs to know about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always existed. They weren't created. They have no beginning or end. But unlike the Godhead, and like human beings, angels have a beginning.

They haven't always existed. There is a beginning point for angels. Paul described that in Colossians 1.16 in talking about Jesus. He says, for by him, Jesus, all things were created both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created by Jesus and for Jesus. You know, God the Father was involved in creation, Genesis 1-1. Genesis 1-2, the Holy Spirit was involved in creation. And here we see that Jesus Christ was instrumental in creating all things visible and invisible and that includes angels. Well, when exactly were angels created? We have to do a little biblical detective work to find the answer to that question.

In Job 38 verses 4-7, remember what God said to his servant Job who started asking questions? God said to Job, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Who are the stars, the morning stars, the sons of God who shouted for joy?

That's the angels. And we know from Genesis 1, 9, and 10 that the foundation of the world was laid on the third day of creation. So we can surmise that angels were at least on hand by the third day of creation.

They must have been created before that time. The truth is we don't know the moment in history when they were created, but when they were created, there was a fixed number of angels. That number is described in Revelation 5-11 as myriads of angels. The word myriad is a Greek word that is the highest figure in the Greek language. Some translations said thousands upon thousands, ten thousand upon ten thousands. There are millions of angels.

But interestingly, the number is fixed. There are no new angels being added and angels never die. What do we know about the creation of angels? Well, first of all, angels were direct creations of God. They are sometimes referred to as the sons of God, never as the son of God, but as sons of God in this sense that every angel was uniquely created by God. Remember Jesus said that we are like angels in this way.

We neither give nor are given in marriage. We don't procreate. No new little angels are being born every day. There's a fixed number of angels. And by the way, don't ever tell your children that before they were born, they were angels in heaven. And don't tell them when they die, they become angels or demons or whatever you think they are.

It's a little added thing into the sermon there, but don't tell them that. Angels were created at a point in time and there are no more angels being created. Secondly, angels will exist forever. Now, they have not always existed forever. Like us, there was a point of creation, but they will live forever. Some will live in heaven with God, praising Him.

Other fallen angels will be in the lake of fire, as we'll see for a moment. But angels will exist forever. Thirdly, angels have an intellect. They can think.

They have understanding. Revelation 10 and 17 tell us that angels have some understanding of God's prophetic future. Fourthly, angels have emotions. They feel things. Angel 6-3 says that they had the ability to worship God, and that's what a group of them are doing in heaven right now.

Luke 15-10 tells us that when somebody is converted, when somebody trusts in Christ as Savior, the angels in heaven rejoice. They have emotions. Fifth, angels have a will. By that, I mean they can make choices.

They have a will. The most consequential choice ever made by an angel was the chief angel, Lucifer, who made a choice to rebel against the rule of God over his life. And remember Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, tell us how Lucifer fell from heaven. In Isaiah 14, we find the five I wills that Satan proclaimed in heaven. I will ascend into the heavens.

I will become like the most God. And on and on he went until he was cast out of heaven. Apparently, a group of angels chose. They made a volitional choice to follow Lucifer in his rebellion against God, and they were cast down from heaven along with Lucifer. Now, you heard me say apparently. There is no scripture verse that explicitly says a group of angels chose to follow Satan in his rebellion and were cast from heaven to earth.

Now, I know what you're thinking. There's a verse. I know it's in there somewhere where the Bible says that a group of angels fell from heaven to earth. Well, you're thinking about Revelation 12, 9, when John says he saw a great host of stars, angels, fall from heaven and being cast out of heaven along with Satan.

That's true, but that is a future event, as we saw in our study of the Revelation. Halfway through the tribulation, there's going to be a group of angels with Satan who are cast out of heaven. You say, what is Satan doing in heaven right now? He's been granted a temporary access badge that allows him into heaven to do one thing, to accuse you and me before God day and night. That's what he's doing, and he's got a group of angels with him.

But that temporary access badge is going to be revoked halfway through the tribulation, and Satan will be cast to earth, for through the antichrist, he will wreak havoc upon the world. But we can piece scriptures together to realize that demons, that we'll talk more about next time, are actually fallen angels. The Bible refers to Satan and his angels, which are demons. By the way, angels are created to inhabit certain realms.

The holy angels, some are in heaven right now praising God, that's what Isaiah saw. Some are here on the earth to minister to us, and some have been given actual charge over specific nations. There's indication in scripture that every nation has a guardian angel who executes God's will for that particular nation through the angel. For example, Michael is known as the archangel of Israel. His job is to protect Israel.

I'd say he's been doing a pretty good job of that over the years. And there's reason to think every nation has an angel to execute God's judgment and will over that nation. They have certain realms. Seventhly, angels can appear to be human. Now remember, angels are spirit beings, but they can take on human form. And Hebrews 13 gives us a warning saying, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without even knowing it. Abraham and Sarah learned that lesson the hard way when they showed hospitality to people who turned out to be angels. Some of you may be married to angels, some of you may be married, no we're not going to go down that road. But angels can take on a human appearance from time to time. Sometimes that can be a frightening thing when an angel takes on human form. Remember the soldiers who were guarding the tomb of Jesus? And when the angel appeared to roll the stone away, they were frozen in fear over what they saw.

Gabriel made an appearance to Elizabeth, to Mary, and ultimately to the shepherds to announce the coming of Christ. What did he say? The first words out of his mouth were, Fear not.

Why? Because they were deathly afraid of seeing Gabriel. They thought a judgment from God was coming.

But he said, This time I come to bring you good news of great joy for all people. Angels can appear to be human at times. So we've seen angels are created by God. Secondly, and this is I know what you're going to be particularly interested in, angels minister to believers. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 13, the writer says we're not to worship angels because God has given Christ a special place of prominence.

He's the one whose enemies will be made into a footstool. Well, then what is the purpose of angels? Look at Hebrews 1 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? Who is it that inherits salvation?

It's you and me. It's Christians. We don't earn salvation. We receive it as a free gift of God. And God has sent angels to be ministers to those of us who are children of God. I like to refer to angels as God's triple A service for believers, always available to assist. That's what angels are. And as you look through scripture, you discover there are at least four ways that angels minister to you and me. First of all, God uses angels to sustain and encourage us.

They're used to sustain and encourage us. Remember in First Kings chapter 19 after Elijah had fought the battle on Mount Carmel and defeated the false prophets of Baal and Asherah. Remember when Jezebel announced she was going to get him and get him good and that sent Elijah running and he ran and he ran and he ran until exhausted. He planted himself under a juniper tree and said, God, take my life.

I'm ready to end it all. He was tired. He was depressed. But God knew that. He didn't grant Elijah's request.

Instead, what did he do? He sent an angel to minister to Elijah. And the angel encouraged Elijah to rest. And when Elijah had awakened, the angel had prepared food for him, a jar of water. And the Bible says a freshly baked cake. This is the first example of angel's food cake in history.

I don't know that for sure, but it could have been. But it does say a freshly baked cake and Elijah drank and he ate and then he went back to sleep and he did the same thing for 40 days. It was an angel that ministered to him in his time of need. Same thing with Jesus in Matthew 4-11 after his temptation in the desert. Remember, the Bible says, then the devil left Jesus and behold, angels came and began to minister to him. Have you ever had anybody who ministered to you in a time of great discouragement, a great time of physical need or oppression, spiritual oppression? It may be that was an angel that ministered to you. Or God used an angel to prompt somebody to minister to you. Angels sustain and encourage us. Secondly, angels sometimes will reveal God's will to us. Now, let me be quick to say this isn't the norm, but it has happened before that God has revealed his will through an angel. That's what happened to Joseph when he discovered that Mary was pregnant and he was not the father.

He was tempted to end the engagement. But notice what happened in Matthew 1, verse 20. But when Joseph had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of God, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Remember, it was an angel who revealed to Philip his plan in Acts chapter 8, his need to leave the Gaza road and to go and minister through an Ethiopian court official. Sometimes, not all the time, sometimes God uses angels to communicate God's plan for us. There's so much confusion about angels and demons today.

So please keep listening because there's a lot more instruction I want to give you on this topic. We're talking about what every Christian should know about angels and demons. In addition to this daily program, I've also written a book for you.

There's an entire chapter devoted to angels and demons. Plus, I've written chapters on what every Christian should know about the Holy Spirit, the church, the end times, and much more. My book is 270 pages in length, and you can request your copy right now when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. The full title of my book is What Every Christian Should Know, 10 Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. Let me press upon you the urgency of your financial support. We're living in a world that's constantly shifting.

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Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. There's more ahead in our message called, What Every Christian Should Know About Angels and Demons. So be sure to join us Friday for Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.