Is it possible that more of the angels could sin?

But more; an angel out of heaven might conceivably repeat the sin of those who kept not their first estate, and become a slanderer of Him by the word of whose power angels are themselves upheld. The apostle is not rhapsodizing when he thus expresses his alarm. Angels have sinned, and may again transgress. The saints shall judge angels in the day of Christ (1 Cor. 6:3). The possibilities of sin are known to God only, and with its probabilities we have less concern than with the certainty that all unrighteousness is sin, and that no creature is self-sustaining nor exempt from the peril of apostasy, when considered apart from its Creator. The elect angels are preserved from falling by the same Almighty arm which is ere long to bring within the circle of their bright and multitudinous array the Church of the first-born who now walk by faith (Rev. 5:11).

Your second question assumes two falls of angels, of which scripture does not speak, though it be very possible. Satan is spoken of as fallen; he "abode not in the truth" - but of his angels we have no account, though we must suppose they are fallen, but not the same as those reserved in chains of darkness. These last are simply kept in chains for the judgment of the great day; nor are they ever called demons that I know of: those are active in evil. So we have "the devil and his angels:" but no further account of them.

It is only as we get a knowledge of Him by the Spirit that we are able to take in the vast design of God in creation, and in bringing intelligent beings into that creation, and also placing them in a position in which they were to maintain themselves by obedience to the divine decree, not bringing about the fall of any, but allowing that fall to take place where the creature revolted from allegiance to his Creator. Myriads of others were upheld by His power, and not allowed to fall. Such angels (1 Tim. 5:21) are called elect. But, as we see, man has fallen, and has wasted all the resources that God had for him as a responsible creature, even the gift of His own Son was not withheld; and this was the last and greatest attempt (if I may use such an expression) to win back the rebellious race to right relations with Himself. “He sent Him last unto them”; and because they recognized in Him the Heir, they killed Him.

That God knew man would fall I need hardly affirm. That He secretly connived at it is a wicked aspersion upon His infinite goodness. He knew well what the effect of the attack of the fell fiend upon man would be. No creature can maintain himself in blessing by his own obedience. Every, creature set in blessing with God must be maintained there by the power of God, and all have fallen who have stood upon the footing of responsibility. There are fallen angels as well as fallen men, and there are elect angels as well as elect men. It is impossible to imagine a creature as self-supporting. Hence what was in the counsel of God was a universe of blessing in which all intelligent beings would be upheld by the power of God. The fall of man gave occasion for God to bring out the secret thought of His heart, and in all His ways He will in the end be justified even in the eyes of those who shall come under His eternal displeasure.

But has He whose purpose is to bring many sons to glory been defeated? It is clear that God cannot maintain the creature in active rebellion against His beneficent sway, and give him licence to corrupt for ever His fair creation. Must He then destroy the human race, and confess Himself unable to give effect to His eternal purpose of blessing? Must He confess that He has been out-manoeuvred by His implacable enemy? Far be the thought: He who makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrains the superabundance, can in His infinite wisdom make the puny efforts of every rebel creature serve to the fulfilment of His eternal decrees. No sane person could ever suppose the Creator overreached by the creature. All His creatures exist for His service. Elect angels have been upheld in their primal perfection, and others have been allowed to fall from their first estate, and for these we do not read of recovery. Man made in the image and likeness of God fell, and brought into existence a fallen race; but to these mercy has been manifested, and a way of salvation devised. But if preserved in their first and perfect condition, or if allowed to fall, all is for the wise purpose of God, and all are made to serve to the fulfilment of the purpose of eternal love. He does not bring about the fall of any one of His creatures, but where a creature is placed on the ground of responsibility, obliged to fulfil whatever obligations are imposed upon him, he cannot complain if by the exercise of his own will he finds himself a ruined sinner.

A creature could not be a creature and not imperfect, and hence liable to fall - I add could not be in the truth; hence, in a glorious state he "abode not in the truth." As to man he fell tempted, when something above and out of his state was presented, having lost sinfully his confidence in God.

It is sometimes said that Adam was without sin in his nature, and he fell, and therefore the fact of a person being sinless does not of necessity guarantee that he shall not fall. That is so, for God has never yet made an imperfect being. But, nevertheless, as far as I see from Scripture, every being that has been set on the footing of responsibility has fallen. The devil fell, demons are fallen beings, angels also have fallen, and yet all were made perfect. Adam fell, and he was made perfect. Every being must be maintained by the power of God, and where one has to keep himself in the position in which God has been pleased to set him, and that by his faithfulness, is sure to fail, as all such have fallen. Christ alone could stand under the most trying temptations, and under the most dreadful circumstances, even when forsaken by God; yet He glorified God perfectly, and finished to His satisfaction the work that was given Him to do. But no other has ever done that.

When we come to the real fact of what a creature is, we shall find that uncertainty does not characterise responsibility so much as we suppose. If not sustained of God by divine strength, we shall fail; if sustained, we shall not. Our sense of this dependence is our daily safety. "Without me ye can do nothing." The angels that fell, and Adam, are witnesses of the path of a creature left to his responsibility, untempted or tempted. The elect angels and renewed men are examples of beings sustained of God in responsibility. But man is not of this mind. He is, he says, in a state of probation; he thinks that, though fallen, he may (doubtless, he will say, with God's help) make out the leading a life which will adequately satisfy his responsibility. Many, of course, will add the goodness of God (as they will feel their path imperfect) and the merits of Christ, to make up what fails.

God created not merely stones, but moral beings, beings with responsibility; and if responsibility be a fact, there is liability to good and evil, as it means having to answer to Him. To a man in the state described in Hebrews 6 there is no restorability; the passage says so. Again, there is no restorability to angels, because they full when they were in the good itself. Jude tells us of angels who kept not their first estate.

In verses 5-7, we have three cases cited, which show how the irrevocable judgment of God lies upon the kind of evil that these ungodly men were committing. In the case of Israel it was plain and thorough unbelief, and the unbelievers were destroyed in spite of the fact that at the outset they participated in many privileges. In the case of the angels, their sin was in one word, apostasy. They totally abandoned their original place and state. That is apostasy: and for any creature to do that, whether angel or man, is to be hopelessly doomed. Sodom and her sister cities gave themselves up to utter license, breaking through boundaries that God had set, and their judgment is eternal. Three awful warnings!