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How God's Angels Help Us
Genesis 19:1-16; Luke 1:26-33; Luke 2:8-11; Matthew 28:1-6;
Matthew 2:13-14; Acts 10:1-6; Acts 27:18-25
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - July 14, 2013
BACKGROUND:
*As we began to focus on angels last week, we saw first that angels are just as real as we are.
This truth is evident both in God's Word and in the testimonies of His people.
Angels are a matter of fact.
*And angels have a Master.
As big and powerful as the angels are, Jesus Christ is Lord of all!
*The third truth we saw about angels last week is that they have a ministry in the lives of God's people.
Hebrews 1:14 puts this truth as a question in the KJV: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
Hebrews 1:14 in the New Living Translation says: "But angels are only servants.
They are spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation."
*Angels have a ministry in the lives of God's people.
Since this is true, let's go deeper this week to see how God's angels help us.
We'll focus on several passages of Scripture today, but let's begin by looking at the Old Testament story of Lot in Genesis 19:1-16.
MESSAGE:
*How do God's angels help His people?
This morning we will look at some of the ways.
1.
And here in Genesis 19, we see that sometimes angels rescue God's people.
*The Lord God sent two of His angels to rescue Lot and his family from the coming destruction of Sodom.
*The story includes a scene of horrible wickedness in vs. 5-9.
There the totally depraved men of Sodom tried to assault these two angels.
And by the way, this story reminds us angels can be as ordinary looking as we are.
There is no way any man would try to confront an angel revealed in all his glory.
But the men of Sodom certainly wanted to attack and abuse these strangers.
*Also by the way, Lot doesn't come-off looking much better in this story.
He had selfishly chosen to come to Sodom in the first place.
And their wickedness surely rubbed off on him, because in vs. 8, he tried to offer them his own daughters.
*We wouldn't tend to cut Lot any slack, except for the fact that 2 Peter 2:7-8 says that God:
7. . .
delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked
8. (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)
*We can't see it here in Genesis, but God did a work in Lot's heart.
His faith was in the Lord.
And the Lord rescued him through his angels.
*Does the Lord ever send His angels to rescue people today?
Listen to this 1996 testimony from Chris Lutes in "Campus Life" Christian magazine.
Chris wrote:
-"Let me be real clear right from the start: I have never seen an angel as far as I know.
On the other hand, my friend Tim thinks he just may have had 'a close encounter of the angelic kind.'
It was during a ski trip, as Tim drove along an ice-covered road in the Colorado Rockies.
And Tim said: "Suddenly my car went into a skid.
I hit the brakes, -- no action.
The car spun around backwards, kept sliding downhill.
And was about to drop off the side of the mountain.
*But my car came to a stop right on the edge of a cliff!
It was like somebody had a hold of my back bumper.
And there was no way my car stopped just because I was slamming on the brakes.
No way.
-- Too much ice.
It was weird,' he said.
*Tim now believes God was watching out for him in some supernatural way, and said: 'I really think it was an angel.'"
Chris ended his report by saying: "I want you to understand that Tim's no flake.
He's not one to make up amazing stories just to wow me or anybody else.
He's a sane, sensible, ordinary guy who thinks he may have had an angel's arms wrapped around the back bumper of his Oldsmobile."
(1)
*Was that an angel?
-- It certainly could have been.
*Something like that happened years ago to a West Monroe man named Sidney Biggs.
Mr. Biggs was a long-time member of McClendon Baptist Church.
He passed away in November of 1998 at the age of 96.
*Mr.
Biggs worked at the paper mill, and he was a legendary turkey hunter around town.
He had killed more turkeys, than most hunters had probably ever seen.
Their house on Thomas Road was where the "Duck Dynasty" parking lot is today.
And when you went to their house, those turkey beards were scattered around everywhere.
*One time Mr. Biggs told me about being way out in the woods, when he was a teenager or a young man.
Suddenly he came upon a huge rattlesnake.
Mr. Biggs held up his arm to show me how thick the snake was.
*He said the rattlesnake was coiled, and started to strike him.
But while that snake was in mid-air, it was suddenly pulled to the side, as if an invisible hand grabbed it and pulled it away.
Mr. Sidney said that if that snake had bitten him there was no way he could have survived, because he was so far out in the woods and across the river.
*Was that an angel?
-- It certainly could have been.
Mr. Biggs was convinced that God had miraculously spared his life.
And why not?
-- Because all things are possible with God!
And sometimes He sends His angels to rescue His people.
That's what the Lord did for Lot.
[1] And in this rescue story we see the angels' power.
*We can see just a little of their power starting in vs. 9.
There the wicked men of Sodom told Lot to:
9. . .
"Stand back!''
Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.''
So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.
10.
But the men (i.e. the angels who looked like men) reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11.
And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
*Strike a town full of wicked men with blindness, -- No problem what so ever.
-Angels have amazing power to help God's servants
[2] But we also see their pity.
*This is in vs. 12-14 where those angels disguised as men:
12. . . said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here?
Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city take them out of this place!
13.
For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.''
14.
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!''
But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
*These angels really cared about Lot, his wife and the two daughters still at home.
But the angels also cared about any other family and friends that Lot had in Sodom.
They genuinely wanted these people to escape from the wrath to come.
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