How God's Angels Help Us

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.