| Good and Evil Angels Always Present |
Today's Text:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Ephesians 6:12
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The Message:
I wish to call your attention this afternoon to the importance of everyone understanding that we cannot keep ourselves, that God has angels. These angels from heaven communicate with the children of men, and not one of us, by anything we may do, can uphold or keep ourselves. We are where we are, kept every moment by the power of God. I have thought that we do not make the ministration of heavenly angels as important as we should.
We do not take in this matter and present it in the church; we do not present it in our families; we do not talk it as we ought, and thus keep in remembrance that every soul with whom we are connected has the guardianship of heavenly angels, sent forth to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation.
I want you to consider this point, What should we do without them? I want you to consider what kind of position we should be left in if we had not the ministry of holy angels.
From my text we see that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood." We meet the opposition of men and women, but there is someone behind that opposition. It is the prince of the powers of darkness, with his evil angels, who is constantly at work. We want to consider, all of us, that our warfare is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Who is it that is ruling the world today? And who is it that has chosen to stand under the banner of the prince of darkness? Why, it is nearly the whole world at large. All the world that has not accepted Jesus Christ has chosen for their leader the prince of darkness, and just as soon as they stand under his banner, they have connection with evil angels.
Either the evil angels or the angels of God are controlling all human minds. Our minds are given to the control of God or to the control of the powers of darkness, and it will be well for us to inquire where we are standing today-whether under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel or under the black banner of the powers of darkness. We must make every preparation in our power in order to resist the enemy of souls. Every provision has been made; everything in God's plan has been arranged so that we should not be left to our own impulses, to our own finite powers, to carry on the warfare against the powers of darkness in our own finite strength, because we would certainly fail if he were thus left to himself I thank the Lord that we have a power provided for us.
When Christ bowed on Jordan's banks He encircled the race with His own human arm, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite. And what does that mean? It means that finite man, who is connected with the earth, is again united with God through the merits of Christ, and earth is again united with heaven.
Jacob tells us about this. He went out from his home a poor, discouraged, sorrowful man. And on his way, in his discouragement and despair, he was in danger of separating from his God by Satan's casting his hellish shadow between him and heaven. But that must be prevented.
The God of heaven understood the case of Jacob better than he himself. In the night season he dreamed he saw a ladder whose base was planted firmly on earth, the topmost round of which reached to the highest heavens; and God was above it, shedding His glory all along that mystic ladder. And the angels were traversing that ladder, ascending and descending upon the Son of God. Now, we know that as Jacob went out from his father's house so discouraged, God was flashing light and encouragement onto his pathway. Read Genesis 28:12-17.
We want you to consider that Christ was that ladder; that Christ was the connecting link between heaven and earth, and that Christ stands as represented by that ladder, that the angels of God may communicate with man.
And then what do we want? We want that living faith to believe that we are not alone. When once you impress upon the minds of the youth that there is One who is standing near them, and that He is beholding all their works, and that He is ready to help them in every emergency, do you think that they will so easily fall into temptation and sin? No; for we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last times.
In the Psalm David speaks of God's being a refuge and a strong tower, a refuge and a fortress; unto Him we can run and we can be saved. How precious is the thought that God is our refuge and that He will be our helper in all times and in all places, and that in every emergency we have God with us. He says that He will give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways.
But why can we not take this matter in? As we walk the streets, or wherever we are, Satan is on our track. When Christ engaged to fight the battles for man on this little speck of a world, He engaged to stand as our substitute and surety, and God put all heaven into His hands, with all the facilities and all the powers that heaven could afford. Now heaven is open to man, and the light and the glory of heaven is imparted to him through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then in our God we have a helper, and we will trust in Him. We must constantly look in that direction, believing that the angels of God are round about us, and that heaven is in communication with us, because these heavenly messengers are ascending and descending upon the ladder of shining brightness. They are watching and guarding the children of men. They keep us from the influence of sin and sinning, and when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up for us a standard against the enemy.
Now suppose that when the devil came to Christ and said, "Cast thyself down from the pinnacle of the temple" [ Matthew 4:5, 6], that He had done it. That would have been presumption. It would not have been giving God the glory, that according to the suggestion of the wily foe He should cast Himself down from the temple. No; that would not have been fulfilling His mission at all.
The plan of salvation was such that He could not call to His aid divine power, or place His life in unnecessary peril, or in any way place Himself in connection with the powers of darkness and respond to Satan's temptations, or in any way succumb to them, because He was working out the salvation of a fallen race. He was to place Himself just where man would be placed, and give man an example of what he should do in like circumstances.
When we consider that the Son of man, the Majesty of heaven, would not place Himself in any position to tempt the Lord, how inconsistent for fallen man to yield to the suggestions of Satan.
There will be constant temptations that will come to a church, large or small, no matter where it is, and the temptations will come just according to the circumstances. How is it with us? Are we standing with the whole armor on, so that we can work in harmony with the angels of God who are working for us? If we separate ourselves from these angels by taking our own course of action, then we place ourselves where the wicked one can tempt us.-Manuscript 1, 1890 (Sermons and Talks, 2:57-59).
*Note: I have added in the parts that were left out by the compilers for what ever reason, that the true sentiment of the author may be seen.
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Commentary:
My friend, there are always two influences that are at work today. Either the influence from God or from Satan. God has given to each of us a holy angel that are to guard and protect us from the wiles of the evil angels that Satan has dispatched to lead us into sin. We are not left to battle the forces of darkness on our own, we have holy angels and the Spirit of God to guide and keep us. But while God has provided all that we may not fall into sin, He never forces us to obey Him. When we choose the path of unrighteousness we are placing ourselves under the power and influence of the evil angels, and lessen the power and influence of holy angels sent to protect us.
We must be mindful that we are in a spiritual battle against the forces of wickedness in this world. Unless we are under the direct protection of holy angles, we would not be able to stand against it. Therefore, we must cooperate with these heavenly agencies that we may not be led into sin so that we may become beacons of light in this world.
With this in mind the remnant church of God is the primary target of the forces of evil. Through the influence of the leaders of the church much of the church is led. Unless the leaders of the church are under the direct influence of the Spirit of Christ and the holy angles, the influence of evil would prevail. But sadly these leaders have been corrupted by the prince of darkness. Through his influence, he has supplanted the worship of the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ, for the worship of the trinity. This false doctrine has come into the church by minds that have been worked by the arch deceiver. "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 4).
These compromised men have come into the church and have led others to believe a lie. It has taken the Church of Philadelphia which had no admonition before God, to become the Church of Laodicea which is "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17). It is in this condition because the church has forsaken the One true God for the triune god of Babylon. The Spirit of Christ is no longer leading the church and is depicted as on the outside seeking to gain entrance into the hearts of His people.
The trinity is the source of all of the abominations that have come into the church today. By its false teaching the evil influence of Satan bears sway upon the minds of the congregation, and unless they are awakened to their terrible condition they cannot be saved. Thus God has sent a most startling message to the Seventh-day Adventist church that is in the Laodicean condition, pointing out their true condition before Him. His counsel to them is "... buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3:18).
The church needs to be purified by the fires of affliction, that they may see their true condition before God. They must see that they do not have the righteousness of Christ and are naked before God. Only then will they be zealous and repent.
The forces of evil are continually at work to keep the minds of the people upon the false doctrine of the trinity. They inspire the hearts of the people to resist the message about the One true God, and to persecute anyone that speaks against the trinity. He does this is such a way as to lead them to believe that they are doing the will of God while they persecute these messengers of God.
My friend, now is the time to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). It is time to come back and worship the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ, and heed the prayer of Jesus saying "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3).
God bless,
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Video of the Week
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| The Law of Life - David Clayton |
A sermon from the 2018 Roan Mountain Camp Meeting
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