Smith, Harold: Chr.Living-Angels-Ministers To Us Or For Us

22. The last chapter in your Bible. Verse Bible. Tonight I want to talk about something we don't hear or know too much Much about. about Angels. angels and their relationship to us as Christians. In Revelation 22, verse eight, John, uh, I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, the angel, see thou do it not. That is, don't worship me. For I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets. That is, I'm a fellow servant of thy brethren, the Old Testament prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. Now here an angel refuses worship from an apostle. He tells that a- Tonight I want to talk about something we don't hear or know too much about. Angels and their relationship to us as Christians. In Revelation twenty two verse nine eight, John, uh, I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, the angel, see thou do it not, that is, don't worship me, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets. That is, I'm a fellow servant of thy brethren, the Old Testament prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. Now here an angel refuses worship from an apostle. He tells that apostle, don't do that. Worship God. And in doing so, he declares a little but bit about the work of a, what a, what the work of an angel, uh, really is. He said, I am thy fellow servant. In other words, I render service like you do. I'm a fellow servant of yours and of those that keep the sayings of this book and of the Old Testament prophets. So we learn from that, that, that angels are fellow servants. Now, the service that John was about to render, also don't do that. Worship God. And in doing so, he declares a little bit about the work of a, what a, what the work of an angel, uh, really is. He said, I am thy fellow servant. In other words, I render service like you do. I'm a fellow servant of yours and of those that keep the sayings of this book and of the Old Testament prophets. So we learn from that, that, that angels are fellow servants. Now, the service that John was about to render to the angel was the service of worship. So we could add a little bit to that fellow servant and say that angels are fellow worshippers with us. They are created beings that God has made a whole heavenly host of them to render worship to God. Now, we have a lot to worship the Lord about. We have redemption. We have all the blessings that we have in Christ, and we can come together like we do in the Lord's day morning, and we can, we can remember the Lord, and from our hearts they can ascend that worship unto God that is most acceptable unto him. But I wonder what angels really have to worship God about. Don't worship me, I'm a fellow worshipper, the angel told John. So we're going to look at a couple of other verses, one in Hebrews chapter one verse fourteen. m In Hebrews chapter one verse fourteen, and this verse is speaking about angels. And speaking of angels, in Hebrews one verse fourteen it says, are they not all ministering spirits? Sent forth to minister for them who shall be ears of salvation. Now this tells us that angels have a ministry that is connected to save people. Now, turn over a few pages to First Peter chapter one and we want to look at another verse. First Peter chapter one, maybe we, we read a few verses here. First Peter chapter one verse ten. Peter, in writing about the salvation that we have, speaks of it like this in verse ten: Of which salvation the prophets, that is the Old Testament prophets, have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. The Old Testament prophets, in verse eleven, they were searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified before them the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. This verse is telling us that in the Old Testament prophets, the Holy Spirit was in them, witnessing about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow that sufferings. Now in verse twelve, when they testified of that, Peter is careful to say, unto whom it was not revealed, that not unto themselves, to to whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister these things. In other words, what the Old Testament prophets were saying about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, they didn't live to see it. They were ministering that, Peter says, just for us. They didn't live to see it. They died before Christ came. They died before he suffered. They died before he rose. They died before the glory that followed his resurrection came. So he says it was unto him it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister these things which were now reported unto you by them that have, that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. And this is the phrase I want you to notice. Which things the angels desire to look into. Which things the angels desire to look into. Now, this verse in First Peter that speaks about the angels desiring to look into something. I've always heard all my Christian life that this meant that the angels had a desire to look into the gospel and possibly preach it, but they weren't given that privilege. Now, there's nothing in this verse that would indicate that whatsoever. When it says which things the angels desire to look into, it's talking about the same which things of verse ten, of which salvation the prophets talked about. What that phrase, which things the angels desire to look into, they desire to look into what the prophets testified would come, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Now, that was their desire as heavenly messengers and heavenly worshippers. They desired to look in on the sufferings of Christ, and they desired to look in on the glory that should follow. Now, the Old Testament prophets, they prophesied about that, but they never had the privilege of looking in on it. They were here when Christ came, and they were here when he arose from the dead and the glory that followed his sufferings. But we're told the angels desire to, to decide to look into that. Now I want you to notice that, the which things they desire to look into is the same things that the prophets desired to look into, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Now, the word their desire is not in the past tense. It's in the present tense. It's not which things the angels desired to look into, but they continue to desire to look into that in the present tense. They have an earnest, inward, uh, desire to look into the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. That word to look into means to stoop down, it means to scrutinize, it means to examine very carefully, it means to look very closely. What this little phrase is saying, that the angels stoop down, as it were, they stoop down to earth, and they desire to look into the sufferings of Christ, and they desire to look into the glory that should follow that suffering. And God granted them their desire. God granted them their desire, as we shall see. What the angels desired to do here, they got their desire. The prophets of old desired to look into the sufferings of Christ and the glory that she brought. They never got their desire, but the angels did get their desire. Just briefly, I want to show you that they did look into the sufferings of Christ, but then I want to show you more, more so that they looked into the glory that should follow. First, in Luke chapter one, or maybe Matthew chapter one will be sufficient, in Matthew chapter one, the angels desired to look into the sufferings of Christ. Now, when the Lord Jesus came into this world, he came into this world for one reason, to suffer and bleed and die on Calvary's cross for me and for you. Did the angels see anything about that? They saw him in his conception, even before he was born. Matthew one verse twenty: but while he thought on those things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. They desired to look into the sufferings, the humility of Christ, the condescension of Christ, the coming down of Christ to this earth to suffer. Did they see it? They saw him in his conception. In Luke chapter one verse thirty five, the angel said, that holy thing which shall be born of thee, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and that which shall be born of thee shall be called the, uh, the Son of the Highest. They desired to look into the conception of Christ. They saw him in his conception. At the very outset, when he was miraculously conceived to be brought into this world, they saw, they saw it. They were there, they saw it. They desired to look into the sufferings of God. They saw what the prophets weren't privileged to see. Now, in Luke chapter two verse eleven, they saw him in his birth, not only in his conception, but you remember the story of the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds in the field in verse nine and ten. There the angel of the Lord came upon them in verse nine. verse ten, the angel of the Lord said unto them, and then in verse eleven, this is what the angel of the Lord said, that unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Verse thirteen, suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God. The angels desired to look into the sufferings of Christ. They saw him in his conception. They saw him in his birth. They announced his conception. They announced his birth. The first message of the birth of Christ was given by heavenly messengers and heavenly worshippers, for a whole multitude of them, they were praising God. So they saw him in his suffering, they saw him in his conception, they saw him in his birth. Now look in Matthew again, chapter two, verse thirteen, and we read here the Lord Jesus is about two years old. Verse thirteen: and when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the ch- run- young child and his mother and flee into Egypt. That was an angel that saw him as a child. And in verse nineteen, down there in Egypt, that when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. In verse twenty, that same angel said, arise a- and go back into the land. They saw him in his childhood. They desired to listen to the humility and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. They saw him in his conception. They saw him in his birth. They saw him in his childhood. Did they get their desire? Of course they did. They're looking in to his sufferings. Look at Matthew chapter four. and we have the Lord Jesus when he's about thirty years old. He's now under Jewish custom, looked upon as a man. Men become men in our, uh, culture about, I guess they're down, they used to be around twenty one when I was a boy, but I guess they're down to eighteen, probably less now. But when a child was about thirty years old, they were considered to be a man. The Lord Jesus' childhood is over, and at about thirty years old, he's baptized, and he's taken away in the wilderness, and he's tempted of the devil forty days and forty nights. But listen what we read in verse eleven: Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. They saw him in his temptations. They desired to look into his suffering. They did. They did. They saw him in his conception. They saw him in his birth. They saw him in his childhood. They saw him in his temptation. Now look with me in Luke chapter twenty two. In Luke chapter twenty two, and there again we will see in verse forty three, the Lord Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's agonizing and sweat is dropping from his brow as great drops of blood. He's coming under the shadow of the cross for the first time. His hour has now come. The purpose for its return into the world has arrived. And notice what we read in verse forty three: There appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Did they see into the sufferings at the prophets never lived to see? Of course they did. Of course they did. They saw him in his agony as he come under the shadow of the cross. Now you remember at the cross... that they took that body down and they buried him after he was crucified. And in Matthew chapter twenty eight we read this. In verse two, Mary and others had come to the tomb to see the body of Jesus, to anoint the body of Jesus. And in verse two, behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. They saw him in his burial. They took the stone away, not that the stone had to be removed for the Lord Jesus to come out of the grave, but they came down and rolled the stone away so they could look in and see the place where the Lord Jesus lay. They saw him in his burial. They saw him in his conception. They saw him in his birth. They saw him in his childhood. They saw him in his temptation. They saw him in his agony in the Garden of Eden. They saw him in his burial. And look in verse, verse, um, 5. The angel answered and said unto the woman, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. They saw him in his resurrection. And in Acts chapter one verse ten, we could read there that as he ascended up into heaven, though his suffering was over, they saw him go. But up to the point of his resurrection, they saw him in his conception, in his birth, in his childhood, in his temptation, in his agony in the garden, in his burial, and in his resurrection. Now, I missed something there, didn't I? They didn't see him in his death. You remember in connection with his death, he said, I could call twelve legions of angels, and they would deliver me, but he didn't call them. It's said that in a legion of angels, or a legion of anything, there would be roughly five thousand people, or angels in this case. Multiply that by twelve legions, and you've got about sixty thousand angels he said he could have called. That's a few. But yet he didn't call them. Angels are never said to have seen the Lord Jesus in his death. Now there's a reason for that. That he had to do alone. God forsook him. The angels forsook him. The disciples forsook him. Divine eyes of justice alone saw the Lord Jesus hanging on the cross. Divine eyes of the wrath of God alone saw the Lord Jesus dying on the cross. The angels did not look into that. Though they saw the sufferings of Christ, they did not seemingly see the death of Christ. No doubt, but they didn't see the death of Christ. There was darkness over the land during those three hours, a darkness like there never was before. It was not only a physical darkness, but I believe it was a spiritual darkness as well. This was the hour of the powers of darkness, and darkness came all over the land. Part of that darkness was just the cry of the Savior, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He could have well said the angels are gone too, the disciples are gone, they're all gone, everybody's gone. He had to bear that all alone. But the the divine eyes of God's justice and the divine eyes of God's wrath, they could pierce that darkness, and they alone could see. The angels saw the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. They saw all that the Old Testaments desired to look into, but weren't able, but the angels did. Now, the glory that should follow. Here's another verse in, we learn in Hebrews chapter one, uh and that has to do with the glory that should follow those sufferings. The angels are associated in Peter with the sufferings of Christ in Hebrews one, They are associated with seeing the glory that was to follow. Now, here's another verse that I have read for twenty seven years since I was saved, that I never really understood until quite recently. I want to read this first to you and tell you what it doesn't say, and then tell you what it does say. Chapter one of Hebrews, verse fourteen: Are not they, are they not angels or ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be ears of salvation. Now I'm going to say something that this verse doesn't say that might shock you. This verse does not say that angels are ministering spirits to people that are saved. Now that's true, they are. The Bible says the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. And the angels most certainly had a, a, a played a vital part in the book of Acts in association with those people, uh, of God that were saved in the book of Acts, as well as all through the Old Testament. And it's true that angels are sent forth to minister to people that are saved. But this verse doesn't say that. You could never prove that from this verse. It doesn't say that, that they are sent forth to minister to them that are saved, but it said they are sent forth to minister for them that are saved. There is a difference there. This is that, that little word for isn't the normal word. It means because of, it means the cause and not the object. They're not wish- they're not coming forth to minister on them, but they're coming forth and they're, they're ministering because of them. Let me illustrate. If our brother Clarence, and maybe I should have done this when he, when I, when I came in tonight, if it had been all right with the rest, I should have asked him to have a little word with me tonight. But let's suppose he was due to speak here tonight. And let's say he arrived and he said, now, brother Harold, I'm just not feeling good, and I'm just not feeling up to it. Would you speak for me? I would say, sure, I'll do that for you. So I would be up here speaking for him, that is in his place. I would be speaking for him. I would be doing it on his behalf. I would be doing it because he'd asked me to do it. But now I'm up here speaking to him, not for him, but to him. Of course, I'm speaking to the rest of you too as well. But you see the difference? There's a difference between ministering for somebody and ministering to somebody. We have an ambassador that goes to every country practically in the world, and they go out there to minister, as it were, for Canada to those people. They're not ministering to Canada, they're ministering for Canada to somebody in a distant land. Now they send ambassadors over here to minister to us. Now this verse says that angels are ministering spirits that are sent there to find something about me and you that they can minister to God on our behalf. Now, just the same as I pointed out seven things in the Word of God that the angels saw in relationship to his suffering, there are seven things in the Word of God that angels should see about every Christian that should cause them to worship God. Now, this is ministry for us. This is ministry because of us. Now, we're going to look at those seven things that angels minister worship to God on behalf of believers. That's true, they minister to us, but this is ministry because of us. Now, the first one is in Luke chapter fifteen, In Luke chapter fifteen verse ten. The writer says, likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Angels worship and rejoice in the presence of God when a sinner repents. Now, that was ministry because of the sinner. When I repented of my sins and got saved twenty seven years ago, the angels worshipped God because of that. When you repented of your sins and got saved, whatever it may have been, you caused the angels to have something to worship about. That's ministry for you. They're taking what you're doing on earth, and they're using that to go up to God, to worship God, their fellow worshippers. You repenting on earth causes them to worship in heaven. In the book of J- of Job, we read there that there came a day when Job one verse six, there came a day when the angels of God went up into the presence of God to present themselves to the Lord. Hey, what do you suppose they did that for? What would they ever go up to the, in the presence of God to present themselves to the Lord for? Since the devil came there up along with them. We know what he come up there for. He come up there to accuse Job and say, yeah, Job's worshiping you, Job fears you, but look, you blessed him, you've given him all your life. You take the hedges away and he'll curse you. But what do you suppose the angels went up there for? Well, if the an- if the devil went up to accuse Job, well, the angels went up to take that just man, that perfect man, that man that hated e- e- evil, and they went up to tell Job about that man, uh, tell God, rather, about that man Job, and they, and they went up to worship God because of Job. Because they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them, or because of them that are saved. And when they see a man like Job, one that was upright, one that was perfect, one that hated evil, one that shunned evil, but had something to worship God about. Had Job been sinning against the Lord, the angels most certainly wouldn't have gone up and presented themselves to God on their behalf, on his behalf. So sinners repenting causes the angels to worship. It causes heavenly worship to take place when a sinner on earth repents. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, it's not hard to make the angels worship God. All you have to do is repent of your sins and get saved, and they'll do it every day. We desire to look into the glory that would follow the sufferings of Christ, and it's the sufferings of Christ that m- that enables sinners to repent and trust and be saved, and that's the glory that is to follow. That's part of the glory that is to follow. Now I must go on. Luke chapter twelve is the second reason why angels minister for us or worship God on our behalf. Luke chapter twelve verse eight. uh Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess. Before who? Before the angels of God. Now, what would he want to do that for? Why didn't he confess us before the Father, which is in heaven? He does that too, we're told in Matthew ten thirty two. But here it says, whosoever confesses me before men, he says, I'll confess them before the angels of God. What for? So the angels of God can go in the presence of God and worship over that. When sinners repent, the angels worship. When saints confess Christ before men, the saints of God worship. You know, some of you brethren and sisters too, I hope you're doing some witnessing and talking to people about the Lord. And sometimes I've said this, sometimes I've said this, well, we told them about Christ, but it didn't seem to do much good. After. You know, that's not right. It did do a lot of good. Even though sinners laugh in your face, if you confess Christ before them, you've done enough good to cause the angels in heaven to worship God over them. That's a lot. That's a lot. You remember that the next time you talk to somebody and really confess Christ. Now, if you invite them to the gospel hall here, that's good, but that's not confessing Christ. If you talk to them about religion, that's, that's, that's not confessing Christ. I'm talking about when you tell people that the Lord Jesus is your savior and that, that, that he can save them and tell them about the savior, that's confessing Christ before men. And if you do nothing else at all, you do a great service in heaven because the angels of God up there start worshiping. According to this, the Lord Jesus starts to act when you do that, and he confesses what you're doing down on earth to the angels in heaven. And you know, angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister, not to, that's true, but for what you're doing down there, on behalf of your confession down there. So sinners repenting causes the angels to worship. Saints confessing causes the angels to worship. They're d- they're looking into the glory that would follow the sufferings of Christ. All right, First Timothy chapter five. this will be the third thing that, that, that the angels look into that causes them to worship. First Timothy chapter five. Paul in this portion is charging young Timothy to be faithful to the word of God. Beloved, if there's ever a charge that young and old alike need, and this evil day of apostasy in which we live, it's a charge to be faithful to the word of God. And in First Timothy chapter five verse 21, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels. Notice that God has a group of angels, selected group of angels, and he puts them right alongside of the Lord Jesus and God, and he says, now I'm charging you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and before the elect angels that thou observest, observe these things. That is, you be faithful to these things that I'm teaching you. You be faithful to the word of God. But notice here, the charge is before the elect angels. Timothy, I'm charging you, and you do these things because the el- there's a certain elect group of angels in heaven, especially assigned to those people that are heirs of salvation, and when they're faithful to the word of God, those elect angels minister for them that are heirs of salvation. So to remain faithful to the word of God, to be uncompromisingly faithful to the word of God, causes those elect angels to look on and worship in the presence of God. See, if you don't do any earthly good in your confessing Christ and your faithful, faithfulness to his word, you're doing a lot of heavenly good. You're doing a lot of heavenly good because angels are fellow servants, and as we worship down below, and we're not going to be good worshippers unless we're faithful to his word and in some measure confess Christ, and then as we worship below, they worship above. So we're doing a lot of heavenly good if we're doing nothing here on earth, accomplishing nothing on earth. Faithfulness to his word is before the elect angels of God. Now in First Corinthians chapter four, we have the fourth thing that I would like to mention in connection with angels. First Corinthians chapter four. It's a ministry of serving the Lord. In verse one, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ, as stewards of the mysteries of God. More that's required in a, in a steward that a man be found faithful. Now down in verse nine he says this, for I think that God has set forth us, the apostles last, as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle unto men, unto the world, and to angels. A spectacle to angels. Paul is saying, all my sufferings, all my service, he goes on to speak about it in verse e- e- 10. He says, we're fools for Christ's sake, and people look at us as fanatics. We're weak. And he says in verse eleven, we're even at this present hour, we're hungry, and we're thirsty, and we're naked, and we're buffeted, and we have no certain dwelling place. We labor working with our own hands. We're reviled, we're persecuted, we're defeigned, and all those things. He was rendering a service to the Lord, and it was costing him something. And he was said to be a spectacle to the angels. They were looking on. They were looking on. He says, I think that God has set us forth, the apostles, last, for we are made a spectacle to the angels. They were looking on. And every service rendered to the name of the Lord will bring its proper reward, even a cup of cold water given in his name. But every service rendered unto the Lord is before the angels in heaven. They're heavenly spectators looking on, seeking to see something about me and something about you that will cause them to go in the presence of God and worship. They desire to look into the glory that would follow his suffering. And when they see that glory in our lives, in repentance of our sins, in confessing Christ as our Savior, in being faithful to the word of God, and in, and in rendering a service to the Lord, when they see that, then they up in the presence of God and present themselves to the Lord, and they worship God. So that service rendered to the Lord is a service rendered in the presence of the angels. It will bring us reward at the judgment seat of Christ, but it will cause the angels to worship even now. Even now, it will cause them to worship. So there are four lovely things that the angels look into and worship God because of the saints of God. Now there's another one in First Corinthians chapter eleven. First Corinthians chapter eleven, verse ten. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head. Why? Because of the angels. Because the angels are looking on. The sister that is at the gathering of the assembly with her head properly covered, has something on her head that the angels save. Now, beloved, here's a ministry that's confined to the sisters alone. Were the brethren to wear a head covering, it would not cause the angels to rejoice. But for the sisters to be properly covered, they're to do it because of the angels, because the angels are looking on. And when they see that proper covering, that's a sign of his subjection to the man in the meeting, and so giving room to the man to enthrone Christ as the head, that naturally causes the angels to rejoice. You know, um, there's a tendency in meetings for some sisters to go uncovered, and sometimes with little or no covering on. The word covered in verse six of this chapter, for woman be not covered. The Greek word is de- is kata covered, down covered, heavy covered. It means well covered. Now, I'm not suggesting we go back to the gay nineties and get a bonnet and tie it around our chin or something like that. But the thought is, is a proper covering for the top of the head. Not a mosquito net, or not a little piece of something through the hair, but something that properly covers the head. And there's a tendency today in meetings for sisters to be uncovered. And needless for me to say that the angels of God have nothing to minister to God in relationship to the sister in that meeting. That's the reason the sister to have a head covering on, to show that she's subject to the man, and to show that to the angels of God. What for? So they can be ministering spirits for that sister in the presence of God. Sometimes you see sisters, and I hope I don't step on anybody's toes, but if it fits you, well, then you put the shoe on. Sometimes you see sisters in meeting, meetings not so much around our area, but in my travels, you see them come in the hall without a head covering on. And immediately when the la- when the amen is said, the head covering comes off. I've been in meetings where in a morning meeting, three minutes to the hour, there'd be sisters sitting in their seats with no head coverings on. Just before they'd wait as long as they dare to, just before some brother would get up and open the meeting, they'd pull something out and put it down over their head. Think if they had to bend down to pick anything up off the floor, they'd be bareheaded because it wouldn't stay there. It would fall. And immediately, when the last announcement, announcement was made, the old men were said it would come off and go back in their purse. Now you say, what's wrong with that? The meeting didn't start till the hour, and it ended on the hour, so, uh, the meeting wasn't convened, uh, just two minutes before or two minutes after. What's wrong with that? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with it. They're telling me, that sister, that she didn't want to wear it anyway. She didn't want to wear it anyway. Sure, if she wanted to wear it, she'd had it on when she come in, and she likely would have had it when she went out, unless it was extremely hot or something like that. I'm not saying it's wrong to do that, but they're telling me something by their actions, and actions speak louder than words. They're saying, and that's, I didn't want to wear that thing anyway. I'm glad to get it off my head, get it out of the way. But to the sister that understands what the head covering really means, it means more than a sign of subjection to the man in the meeting. It means more than that. It means this, that the angels can look down on the sisters properly covered, and they can go up, and I'm quite sure they can render better worship to God than we can. At least on their behalf, they can go up in the presence of God, and they can render worship to God because of what they see in the sisters down below. So here you might say that this is the thought of worship or subjection because of the sister's subjection to the man and wearing the sign of the head covering. She is causing the angels, giving the angels a call to go into the presence of God and a- and worship God. For they're sent forth to minister to, yes, but for them that are saved. Now again, and I must hurry on, in Revelation chapter three we will see the sixth thing that causes angels to rejoice. Revelation chapter three. verse five. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Why? The same reason. They're ministering spirits sent forth to minister for us. Now, here is the overcomer, the Christian that overcomes. You say, who's that? Well, I'll tell you who the overcoming Christian is. It's not a Christian that never has a problem. That's not the overcoming Christian. It's the, the, the, the defeated Christian is the Christian that a problem has them. Now there's a vast difference between you having a problem and a problem having you. A Christian should never really be without a problem. It's a dangerous place to be. One day, Mr. Moody, a young fellow, got saved in his meeting, and he seemed to be quite happily saved. He came back after a while, he said, Mr. Moody, I'm not doing too good. So he talked to him a little bit, and the things were going along easy every other way. Nobody is bothering him, nobody's persecuting him, he wasn't high up, he wasn't sick in body, there was nothing wrong that way, but he just wasn't doing anything going spiritually, he just wasn't doing too well. So he said, I want you to pray for me. So they got down and prayed, and in the course of the prayer, Mr. Moody said, Lord, send a little trouble this man's way. Send him a little bit of tribulation. The man stopped him. And Mr. Moody said, I wanted you to pray to help me, not to hurt me. Ah, Mr. Moody says, this is what you need. You're having it too easy. You got nothing to overcome. Any old jellyfish can float down the stream, but it takes a real fish to swim up the stream. Anybody can roll a boat down the, down the stream. You don't even have to try or go. But it takes a good rower to navigate a boat up a stream. Now, the Christian that overcomes isn't the person who never has a problem. In fact, he always, that he or she always has a problem. And you know, if you're a real overcoming Christian, if you haven't got a problem, you're going to look for one. If you can't find one, you're going to get one from somebody else and see if you can overcome that for them. The thought of overcoming is one that is a conqueror, and Paul said, we're more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. There's a French translation of the Bible that says that puts that verse, we're more than conquerors and more than enemies through him that loved us. Paul could say that God always causes us to triumph in Christ. You never have a triumph, or you never conquer without some battle. So to the overcoming Christian, to the Christian who lives victorious in Christ, and that's where he wants us to live. The Lord says, I'll confess that Christian before the angels, and they'll be able to worship God on behalf of that Christian. Now, the last one we're going to find in Luke chapter sixteen. In Luke chapter sixteen. The weary Christian has battled his way and won his victories. He's gone through life, he's confessed Christ, he's repented of his sins and caused the angels to rejoice. He's confessed Christ before men, and he's caused the angels to rejoice. He's been faithful to the word of God, and he's caused the angels to rejoice. He's rendered a service unto the Lord, and he's caused the angels to rejoice. The sisters have covered their heads, and they've caused the angels to rejoice. And the Christian has overcome and caused the angels to rejoice. Now, what a wonderful departure that Christian is going to have from this world. Notice it. Luke chapter sixteen. That certain beggar, I'm sure you know the story, we'll pick it up in up in verse twenty two. It came to pass that the beggar died, was carried by who? The angels. I tell you, there's nobody ever had pallbearers like that. The angels carried him into Abraham's bosom. What an abundant entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Met by the angels. That soul left the body. The angels were right there. What a difference in the next verse. The rich man also died. Men took him and they buried him in the ground, his body. His soul were not told that angels were there. His soul went down into a place called Hades, Hades. There in torment, waiting the resurrection of his body, when he, both body and soul, will be cast into the lake of fire. But how different with Lazarus. Angels conducted him into that place of bliss, that place of comfort, that paradise of God, that place of safety, that place of happiness. Funerals are always sad, but you know the angels rejoice over a funeral. The funeral of every Christian on earth is causing angels to rejoice in heaven. You know why? Because the Bible says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I die, and any of you people ever come to my funeral, don't cry too much because the angels will be worshiping up in heaven. The angels meet the saint of God and carries him away when he leaves this old mortal body. What a wonderful glory the angels really see. And I'm wondering, in closing, how much are we really causing the angels to worship God? Their worship is controlled by our earthly activity. Repenting of sin, whether it's that of a lost sinner or a saved sinner, causes the angels to rejoice. Confessing Christ as Savior causes the angels to rejoice. Do we do that? Do we do that? How much have you caused the angels to worship since you were saved. Faithfulness to his word, not only in big things, but little things as well, causes the angels to rejoice. How much do we cause them to rejoice? Some service rendered to him. You know, the thought of service in the Bible is like the thought of giving. David said, shall I give to the Lord that which costs me nothing? If we just give what we have left over of our time, our mind, our money, our life to the Lord, we're not giving him anything at all. Service has to do with sacrifice. How much service are we really rendering to the Lord? That causes the angels to rejoice. Sisters with their head coverings are rendering service. How many times do we get discouraged and mumble and murmur and complain? How often the problems of life get us and get us down? Nothing there for the angels to rejoice about. But when you rise up to those problems and say, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me, and you rise up and overcome them, you cause the angels to rejoice. I wonder, are we causing the angels to rejoice? I'm sure if we live now to cause them to rejoice, when we depart to go with him, the angels will receive us, and they'll be joy in the presence of God over one saint that has come home to him. Shall we pray? Our Father, we come to thee to thank thee for thy word. We thank thee, Father, for these heavenly messager- messengers and worshippers that thou hast created for thine own glory, for thine own worship, and how little we know of them, but we thank thee that we are spectators, and that that we are spectacle unto them, and they are watching not only over us, but watching us, that they might render some worship to thee on our behalf. Oh, Father, help us to be continually worshiping thee through the angels looking on our lives. O Lord, help us in every way to be obedient to thee and to confess thee and Christ as our Savior before men, that others might hear the gospel and that angels might rejoice in heaven. So we commend each one of us to thyself. Bless thy word to our hearts, we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. What if we could sing a verse? I think we know this hymn, number sixty four. number sixty four. Heart is the watchman's cry, wake, brethren, wake. Jesus our Lord is nigh, wake, brethren, wake. Sleep is for the sons of night, ye are children of the light. Yours is the glory bright, wake, brother, wake. Number sixty four. Brother Clarence, can you start that for us, please? Who has called us from darkness into his marvelous light. So bless each one here, bless this meeting. We thank thee for this testimony. We just pray that thou wouldest ever help it to go on for thee and to burn brightly in this dark world, that there might be a true light in this dark place, that others might come to know the Savior. So we commend them to thee, to thy, to thy word that's able to build them up, and thy grace that's able to sustain them. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.