Acts 12

Good morning. That was enthusiastic. We'll arrange for blood transfusions after. Acts 12. Acts 12. Let's pray together.

Father, on this day we do give thanks. We're thankful for those who have been delivered. We pray for those who have problems that need to be solved. And we ask that you will heal them and help them. We pray, Father, for our president. Give him wisdom, courage. May his strength be matched with compassion. And I pray that you will guide him in the guiding of our nation.

You have instructed us to pray for those who despitefully use us, and so we would pray for those in Iran who were a part of this grossly inhuman deed. And we pray, Father, that somehow the truth of the gospel may come to them. We ask, Lord, that as a nation we might have a good testimony to the grace of God.

We do pray for Brother Bitterman, that you'll be with him. We pray for those who have taken him captive. Give him grace and strength and witness. We pray for his wife, his two children, for his family back here. We ask that you will rule and overrule. We think of the folks in Russia as well, and we think of all the believers behind the Iron Curtain, many of whom suffer. And we would pray for them, that you would encourage them and out of all of this evil, by your grace, somehow bring good and glory. May the wrath of men praise you. As we study the word now, encourage our hearts, instruct us, remind us, if necessary rebuke us, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

"Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him." 16 soldiers guarding one fisherman.

"Intending after Easter, or Passover, to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. And the keepers before the door kept the prison.

"And behold, an angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shone in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, 'Arise quickly.' And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, 'Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals.' And so he did. And he saith unto him, 'Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.' And he went out, and followed him, and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And they went out, and passed on through one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

"And when Peter was come to himself, he said, 'Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.' And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

"And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid came to hearken named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, 'Thou art mad.' But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then they said, 'It is his angel.'

"But Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, 'Go show these things unto James.'"

This is obviously not the James who had been killed. This was the James who was in charge of the Jerusalem church.

"'And to the brethren.' And he departed and went into another place. Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers concerning what was become of Peter."

I can imagine that. 16 men.

"And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and there abode."

And the rest of the chapter tells us that he was put to death because he wouldn't give the glory to God. Acts 12:24, "But the word of God grew and multiplied."

I think it's significant that Peter, in his first letter 1 Peter 5:7, wrote that statement, "Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." All your care. Because if you'll read the four Gospels and the Book of Acts, you'll discover, as you probably already have, that Peter had a lot of care.

He was always bringing some some problem to the Lord Jesus. He had sickness in the home. His mother-in-law was ill. He told Jesus about it. Jesus healed her. He had to pay his taxes one day and he told Jesus about it, and Jesus took care of it. He was walking on the water and started to sink, and cried out, and the Lord saved him. When Jesus was being arrested, Peter was very brave and courageous out of the will of God, cut a man's ear off. Jesus reached over and healed the man.

And now Peter is about to be killed. I'm sure that if I were about to be killed, the night before, if I were chained between two soldiers and bound with two chains, I wouldn't be sleeping too hard. He was sleeping so soundly the angel had to smite him to wake him up. Imagine having an angel for an alarm clock. Marvelous, marvelous.

Now from this passage, I'd like us to see four powers at work. And these four powers were at work today, and we better remember it.

First of all, there's the power of Satan. Satan was at work in the days of the early church. He's at work today. In fact, when you page through the Book of Acts, you find that Satan really didn't take much of a vacation. Acts 4, he comes as the lion to devour, and he has the the apostles arrested, and that didn't work. So in Acts 5, he came as the serpent, not to devour, but to deceive. And you've got Ananias and Sapphira inside the church creating a problem, but that didn't work.

Then in Acts 6, he came as the accuser bringing division. The Grecian widows were unhappy with the Hebrew widows. The Grecians were being neglected. So, he had division, and he tried to divide the church and hurt the church. That didn't work. Then he— Chapter 7, he shows up with this sorcerer who was trying to deceive people, and that didn't work. And, of course, there was Saul who was trying to persecute everybody and stop the growth of the word of God, and he got saved, so that didn't work. And now in Acts 12, the devil says, "Well, I'll get rid of Peter."

Satan comes as a lion to devour, as a serpent to deceive, the power of Satan. And Satan uses people. Just as God uses people to get his work done, Satan uses people to get his work done. He likes to use people in high places. We need to remember that we have to pray for those who are in authority. Whether they're believers or unbelievers, we have to pray because the devil can use people in authority to stop the work of the Lord.

I note here that it was a Herod who was at work. Wherever you look in the Bible to the Herods, you find problems. They were Edomites, you know. The Herods were not Jews, they were Edomites. They were descendants of Esau. The Jewish name for James is Jacob. So here you have the old conflict of Esau and Jacob again. And that conflict is still on, the flesh versus the spirit, Jesus Christ versus Satan, the power of the devil.

We must never take our ministry for granted. We are on a battlefield. And the battle is going to get worse. I'm glad we sang "The Banner of the Cross" today as well as "The Star-Spangled Banner." Thank God we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory. But if we aren't careful, Satan can go to work. The power of Satan.

Now, there's a second power I notice here, the power of dedicated Christians. There were thousands of believers in Jerusalem. The number had come to be about 5,000, and then there were more being saved regularly. And when the devil wanted to go to work and oppose the work of the Lord, he says, "Let's get James and let's get Peter." Spurgeon used to say, "Satan never kicks a dead horse." There's a lot of truth to that.

You know, I've heard some saints say, "Well, the devil never bothers me." I'd be afraid of that. Now, I'm not out asking for Satan to do anything. But I would be really afraid if our ministry was not making him angry enough to want to do something. Now, if we fear the Lord, we don't have to fear the devil, but we better respect him. Peter wrote and said, "Be sober," be serious, "be vigilant, for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion." And he knew what he was talking about.

Jesus had said to Peter, "Satan's asked to have you, that he might sift all of you like wheat. I'm praying for you." Peter said, "Oh, well," (you know, Peter), "I'll manage." If everybody else fails, Peter won't." And just about the time I think I'm strong, that's when I turn out to be weak. Just about the time I think I'm going to handle this thing, I fall flat on my face.

But here you have the power of a dedicated Christian. Why James? Why Peter? Well, the Holy Spirit was using these men. The Holy Spirit was was using them to win souls. The Holy Spirit was using them to minister to the church. Here were spirit-filled people who were dangerous to the devil.

It's an interesting account over in Acts 19. You remember when these these Jewish exorcists were trying to duplicate the ministry of Paul there in Ephesus. The devil's an imitator. The devil hasn't got one original thing, he's a counterfeiter. And these exorcists were trying to to cast out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus whom Paul preaches here— here in Acts 19. And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know," I can believe that, "and Paul I know. Who are you?" I wonder if any of the demons in the world today say, "Oh yeah, I know her. I know him. Yeah, they give us trouble."

The power of a dedicated Christian, spirit-filled, soul-winning people. Now, if you and I are trying to serve the Lord, and do His will, the devil's going to fight us. If we compromise, if we get lackadaisical, if we don't spend time in prayer, if we ignore the Word, he's already got us. And instead of being a part of the answer, we'll be a part of the problem. Instead of being a part of the victory, we'll be a part of the defeat. The power of a dedicated Christian, even one individual.

Now, there's a third power at work in this event. That's the power of the Word of God. Let's look at Peter for just a moment. They'd killed James. James, you know, had come one day, and asked for a throne. Remember that? James and John with their mother came and said, "We'd like— We just heard what you said. You said we're going to sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Marvelous, we believe it. Now, James wants to be on one side, and John wants to be on the other." And Jesus said, "Are you able to drink the cup I'm going to drink?" "Oh, yeah."

Yeah, we sing that so glibly in church. "Are you able," said the Master, "to be crucified with Me?" "Lord, we are able."I wonder. "Are you able to drink the cup?" "Yes." "You able to have the baptism I'm going to have, a baptism of suffering on the cross?" "Oh, sure. Yeah, we're able, sure." He said, "You will." And they did. James was the first apostle to be slain, to be martyred. John was the last one to die and he went through serious, intense persecution before he did. I think it was Martin Luther who said, "Ask God for anything you will, and be prepared to pay for it." There's a lot of truth to that.

So, James had been killed, and here's Peter, and a week has gone by, during these days of unleavened bread, and the soldiers come in and say, "Well, your last night of sleep, tomorrow you've had it." Peter says, "Good night." Turns over, goes to sleep. And I've asked myself the question, how in the world was Peter able to sleep so soundly, the angel had to hit him to wake him up?

And the answer, of course, is Peter believed the Word of God. Peter knew he would not be killed. And you know why he knew it. Jesus had said to him, in John 21, "When you're old, others are going to carry you whither you would not." He said, "Peter, you're going to live to be an older person, and one day you're going to be crucified."

So, Peter knew they weren't going to get him. He looked at the 16 soldiers, and he looked at his two soldiers that he was he was sleeping between, and he had these two chains. Be awfully hard to sleep with chains on. And he just said, "Well, good night men. See you in the morning." Went to sleep.

Whenever I read this, it reminds me of something that is back in the book of Proverbs. And you know this passage, but let me read it to you. Proverbs 3:21, "My son, let not them, wisdom and knowledge, depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion." That comes from the Word of God. "So shall they be life unto thy soul, grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, thy foot shall not stumble."

Here's the Word of God controlling the whole body. Proverbs 3:21, the eyes; Proverbs 3:22, the neck; Proverbs 3:23, the foot. Now, the backbone. "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid. Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh, for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken."

Now, that was Peter's experience because he believed the word of God. As he went to sleep, he said, "Well, thank you, Father. They aren't going to kill me. Thank you for that word that I can believe. You've told me what is going to happen. It's going to happen down the road, and so I'm just going to go to sleep."

I think, too, of what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 4. When we were little children, we were all taught, "Now I lay me down to sleep." Listen to what Psalm 4 has to say. "There are many that say, 'Who can sleep?', for thou, Lord, only make me to dwell in safety.'" In the previous Psalm, he says, "I laid down and slept. I awakened, for the Lord sustained me." So, when we believe the word of God, we don't have to be afraid of sudden fear. We don't have to be afraid of circumstances, just trusting the word of God. The power of the word of God.

Now, there's a fourth power here, and that's the power of a praying church. Acts 12:5, "Peter, therefore, was kept in prison." Now, the church did not have any influence in high places. I know organizations today that brag about their influence in high places. You know, "We can walk in here. We can walk in there." The greatest influence in the highest place is prayer.

I was reading about Nehemiah and preached about Nehemiah. We were out in Pennsylvania with the quartet. I like that fellow. Here he stands before the mightiest ruler of that day, Artaxerxes, and the king says to Nehemiah, "What is it you want me to do?" "So, I prayed to the God of heaven." Now, some of us would have said, "Boy, this is great. Man, I'm getting an open opportunity with the king. Here's the wisest— here's the strongest man, and the richest man. He says, 'What do you want me to do?'"

Woe be unto us when we start trusting people. Woe be unto us when we start trusting creatures of clay. Now, God can use the king, just like God can use Peter, but Nehemiah just lifted up his heart with one of those quick telegram prayers and said, "Oh, Lord, guide me now. Give me wisdom before this man." And God answered prayer. The power of a praying church.

Now, I'm interested in these people. I really am. I notice in Acts 12:12, "Many were gathered together praying." That's unusual. You can tell it was in the book of Acts. That wouldn't be happening today. You announce a prayer meeting in the average church and you're fortunate if the ushers show up, really. You announce a banquet, everybody comes crawling out. But, you announce prayer, oh, no. "Well, I can pray at home, you know." Here were many people gathered praying.

Now, does God's answers to prayer depend upon how many are there? No. But, it's good when you've got many people who are agreed to pray. So, many were praying. They prayed earnestly. I notice that in Acts 12:5, "But prayer was made without ceasing," which carries with it the note of earnestness and persistence. They were praying all week. They were gathering together in the house of John Mark and his mother, Mary, and they were praying persistently. They were praying earnestly. There were many of them praying, and they were praying specifically.

So much of our praying is very general. That shows our unbelief. I'm sure they weren't saying, "Oh, God, bless Peter." They were saying, "Oh, God, here is your servant, and we pray that he will be delivered and that your name will be glorified."

Now, James wasn't delivered. It's rather interesting to note that James also wasn't replaced. When Judas died, they replaced him. Got another apostle. When James was killed, they didn't replace him. Now, why did God save Peter and allow James to die? I don't know. God has his ways. God has his plans.

I'm sure that they prayed for James when James was taken, but God, in his own sovereign will, deigned that James should be killed. So, we can't always say now, "Lord, you did this for so-and-so, and this for so— Therefore, you must—" Oh, no, we don't tell God what to do. Prayer is not getting man's will done in heaven. Prayer is getting God's will done on earth.

But, they prayed personally and persistently and specifically. They were even praying at night. I can remember years ago, we used to have all-night prayer meetings when I was in Youth for Christ. Oh, we had some great times. Peter Deyneka, Sr. used to run these all-night prayer meetings, and it was the cross between a revival meeting and a sideshow. I mean, God just did great things for us. But sometimes somebody would just stand up and start praising the Lord, and we'd sing. It was marvelous. It really was.

And here they were praying at night, rather inconvenient and rather dangerous. You know, to come to this prayer meeting, this was dangerous. How do we know whether or not Herod's soldiers are standing watching? "Oh yeah, there's some more. Let's just round up the whole bunch." I wonder if I'd go to prayer meeting if I knew I had the possibility of being arrested. Daniel went to a prayer meeting when he knew he had the possibility of being thrown to the lions. The power of a praying church.

Well, God answered their prayer. He answered it at the right time, that night before Peter was going to be slain, and God sent his angel down to wake Peter up. This is a remarkable little episode here. The angel woke him up and said, "Arise quickly." And Peter could have said, "I can't get up. Look at these soldiers, look at these chains." You know, when God starts to answer prayer, so often I raise difficulties. Somebody said that it couldn't be done, so it wasn't.

But Peter obeyed, and when he arose, the chains fell off. But notice that the angel didn't put his clothes on Peter or put his shoes on Peter. God does the impossible, we do the possible. He said, "Okay, put your clothes on." So Peter put his clothes on. "Put your shoes on." So, Peter put his sandals on.

I have a suspicion that every time from that day on that Peter put his shoes on, he remembered this. This was God's way of giving Peter a little reminder. And so every morning when Peter put his sandals on, he said, "Boy, I remember that time I was in prison and that God is still with me."

"Put your garment on. Follow me." You ought to study the times that God said to Peter, "Follow me." And so he began to follow. He didn't worry about the soldiers, didn't worry about the doors. When you're following the Lord in obedience to His word, He opens the way. And then at a certain point He says, "All right, you take it from here." Does that mean He abandons us? No. It just simply means that we have to use our own spiritual sensitivity, our own spiritual perception.

And Peter stopped and said, "This is not a dream. I thought I was dreaming. This is for real. I'm out of prison. Where shall I go?" I'm sure he prayed, and God said, "Why don't you go to the house of Mary?" That was one of the central places, and so he did.

And this is, forgive me, it's just a little bit comical here. Here are people praying for God to deliver Peter, and when it happened, they didn't believe it. We're the same way today. In spite of our unbelief, God answers prayer. And so Peter's knocking, and this young lady comes, and she's so excited, she forgets to open the door.

Never allow some spiritual experience to keep you from doing your duty. And she said, "Peter's at the gate." They said, "Oh, it can't be. It's his angel." She said, "No, he's there." And Peter's standing there, knocking on the door, never knowing: Is somebody following me? Am I going to be rearrested?

It's really sad when you and I pray about something, God begins to answer, and we don't really believe it. Well, Peter says, "I'm alive and delivered, and you can pass the word along." And God watched over Peter for the rest of his life. He walks out of the scene here, you don't see him again till Acts 15, and that's it. Paul comes on the scene. Peter continued ministering, and God protected Peter and guided Peter to the very end.

There's one more power found in this chapter. That's the power of the wrath of God. Now Peter didn't do it, and the church didn't do it, Herod did it, but God's wrath came down upon the soldiers, God's wrath came down upon Herod. God has not given us a sword to go around with vengeance and revenge. God has given us spiritual weapons to fight with. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God." And we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we have prayer.

And as the church prayed, God worked, and God in His own time judged those who were opposing the church. And so, our job is not to be judges or prosecuting attorneys, our job is to be witnesses and to pray. But one day the power of God's wrath is going to be seen. And God is going to get glory even in judgment.

And notice the result of all this, "the Word of the Lord grew and was multiplied," and that's what it's all about. Because a man was arrested, because a church prayed, the Word of the Lord grew and was multiplied. And the important thing in our lives is not to stay out of prison, the important thing in our lives is to keep on ministering, because God can use even the wrath of man to bring glory to His name.

Father in heaven, help us to be faithful, help us to trust Your word in spite of circumstances. We give thanks that the angels of God are our servants, they're still ministering in ways we haven't even seen, we don't even know about, but they work. We're thankful that today we don't have to be afraid. We need not fear the wrath of Satan, we need not fear the wrath of man, for if we fear God, that takes care of all fear. Thank You for Your Word. May it give guidance to our eyes, may it give strength to our backbone, control to our neck, guidance to our feet, may our whole life be controlled by the Word, and may Your power be at work in and through us. We pray with thanksgiving in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen.