i invite you to turn in your bibles this morning as we continue our study in the book of acts to acts chapter 12 acts chapter 12 and we have been studying uh remember some of the the wonderful things that were said in the previous section here that the hand of the lord was upon them and twice it was said that the lord blessed them and that the lord grew them great they were growing by great numbers as the word of God was flourishing but what happens when everything changes what happens when everything goes wrong what happens when the enemy comes what happens when society turns does that change a thing will that change the Lord's purposes will it frustrate the hand of the Lord this is Acts chapter 12 this morning let's give our attention to his word about that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison. But earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now, when Herod was about to bring him out on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and sentries before the door guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell he struck Peter on the side and woke him saying get up quickly and the chains fell off his hands and the angel said to him dress yourself and put on your sandals and he did so and he said to him wrap your cloak around you and follow me and he went out and followed him he did not know what was being done by by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision when they had passed the first and second guard they came to the iron gate leading into the city it opened for them of its own accord and they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel left him when peter came to himself he said now i'm sure that the lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of herod and from all the jewish people from all that the jewish people were expecting when he realized this he went to the house of mary the mother of john whose other name was mark where many were gathered together and were praying and when he knocked at the door of the gateway a servant girl named rhoda came to answer recognizing peter's voice in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that peter was standing at the gate they said you're out of your mind but she kept insisting that it was so and they kept saying it's his angel but peter continued knocking and when they opened they saw him and were amazed but motioning to them with his hand to be silent he described to them how the lord had brought him out of the prison and he said tell these things to james and to the brothers then he departed and went to another place now when day came there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter and after Herod searched for him and did not find him he examined the centuries and ordered that they should be put to death then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded Blastus the king's chamberlain they asked for peace because their The country depended on the king's country for food. On an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, The voice of a God and not a man! Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. And there ends the reading of God's Word. Well, I have repeatedly said this when we did the book of Revelation and went through the book of Revelation. I felt like I was saying the same thing all the time, and so I'm saying it again, that everything is upside down, at least how we see it, in the kingdom of God and how we think it should go and the way things should be and what we think would work. The things that we think must be in place for the success of the church. The success of our mission. The great commission. The things that must be there and there are certain things that could never happen if we're going to obtain what are the desired results. But when God is working, the things we think would make a situation impossible are the very things that God loves. Are the very things that God loves to intervene and show His wisdom and show His power and overturn and in all the areas that we are most afraid and are areas of greatest fear, then He shows real wisdom and real power to deliver. He loves those circumstances. This has been shown to us constantly and we have here in the book before us, Acts this morning, one of the most intense periods of opposition that we have seen so far in our study of Acts. Oh, there were points of opposition, but nothing this big so far. This is big. This is a hard moment for the church and it leaves us on the edge of our seats as we study this for the whole thing is is is sort of framed if you notice as a contest the church versus the world the king versus another king each having their own weapons one having the sword in prison the other having as a people the word of god and prayer who can stand up to the sword and prison this is what's before us this morning and i thought to myself is there not a greater passage that shows the truth of what jesus said when he said to peter the gates of hell will not prevail against my church i don't know if somebody were to ask me and say well what does that mean show me a passage that really demonstrates that after studying this i'd go right to acts 12 i don't know that there's a better passage that demonstrates this truth at work. It's really powerful. And it has a profound message to us in saying, don't be anxious about what's happening. The Lord is on your side. What can man do to you? So then pray, pray. And we'll see how this all unfolds this morning as we watch him work what we have uh before us then is a great crisis that comes upon the church a moment of great crisis and then the contest that follows and then god's utter crushing of the enemy you can look at it that way the the great crisis the contest and the crushing that occurs and we see this here as everything has been set up and now barnabas and saul have left for Jerusalem to deliver the aid that we studied last time from the church in Antioch who had become a great blessing to send relief to these saints in Jerusalem. Jew and Gentile have come together at Antioch. It's a beautiful beginning where they were first called Christians there to show the design of the church and the Lord uniting together the nations, the Lord bringing together a people and how they care for one another how they loved one another that's what we studied last time but as we come to chapter 12 we get the sense that all of this positive momentum came to a screeching halt screeching it just stopped look at verse one about that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He cruelly and violently started singling out and persecuting members of the church. And wanting the favor of the Jews, as he did, it ignited an excitement by all the Jews that Herod was doing this, which then fueled the fire even more and he continued with vicious assault attacking and wanting to put out the entire project in Jerusalem. These Herods just don't go away, do they? I mean, these guys, first guy, first Herod the Great, Jesus called a fox. The second, you remember, Herod Antipas killed John the Baptist. Great-grandson here, Herod, agrippa is killing christians what a mess of of of a family isn't it all from the line of esau there's a lot to talk about there you'll have to feel how awful this must have been to the church you're making great progress and then what happens it's shocking it seems to come out of the blue completely unexpected Herod rises up and begins to attack and kill members of the church it's almost a rule of life it seems that we've come to know right that with any progress in the Christian faith with any advancement we're almost hit with immediate discouragement all of a sudden if you can say that things are going great don't say that too quickly because tomorrow they might not be and what does it make you feel as you're going through this it it has the whole force and a feeling of wanting to give up this is no ordinary assault in what's in front of you it's easy to read these passages and and not to really stop and think about what just happened and what was said that just happened everything was booming the church is going strong the whole culture all of a sudden turns on them radically in jerusalem it's ignited a sweeping jewish response of praise think about this for a minute this is a big moment for the early church a big struggle for the early church you know this is the only recorded death in the scriptures of one of the apostles as i studied i'm trying to think if i found another i can't it doesn't come to mind one just got hit and one just got taken out we read that herod killed James, John's brother. It's right there in verse 2. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, meaning he chopped off his head. He was probably no more than 30 when this happened. You know? 30. He was one of the most energetic young leaders of the apostles. huge influence in Jerusalem, they looked to him. What is that? It's absolutely perplexing, isn't it? It's something that if you're standing there in Jerusalem and you're a church member, that makes no sense what just happened. As many noticed and have pointed out, the whole life seems like a complete waste. He barely got out of the gates and he's gone. If you're looking at it from the early church's perspective, you're going along, you're making initial great progress, and now you get hit with something that leaves you disoriented, confused, and questioning. You know this in life. You know this experience. How many of us have gone along, and things are going well, and the strangest and most difficult of deaths comes upon us in the community. Somebody young, a child. And it absolutely stops us in our tracks. Things get real somber real quick, don't they? You stop, you're confused, the pain of it all. It's terrible news and it makes no sense to the project. it makes no sense to the project. If you look at the circumstances and you look at how they often happen, the conclusion, it seems, is that God is not in control of any of this. How could it have happened like that? Why would God raise up an apostle only at 30 years old to have his head cut off? Do you feel it? Do you sense the struggle of these Christians? You've known this. in life somebody so energetic somebody so useful gone tomorrow this was jane this was jane i'll tell you the feeling is your heart sinks and you really don't get over the question of why in the world would that life be snatched from us what good was that it stops it And in our communities that are so close, just like the Jewish communities, the pain of it, you know it. James, dead at 30. John will live to be an old man banished to the island of Patmos. Who knows the ways of the Lord, right? Who knows the ways of the Lord? But it gets worse. It gets worse. Herod, seeing the applaud he received from killing James, now goes after Peter. And we read that he captures Peter, and Peter's next on the chopping block. In fact, Herod, if you put it together here, now he's going to make a big scene on this one. He is going to reenact the crucifixion of Jesus. This is why the detail is given that it's at the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. He wants it all to coincide at the same time to make the point. Do you guys believe in a resurrection? Watch what I'm going to do. We're going to take this whole thing up again. So he binds him. Now everything has turned, and this is the perplexity of it all, that then it's harder because for them and for us, when you're in a project and you're in a faith that you believe the God of heaven and earth is in control of and holds all things and holds everything in his hand and you confess a king who is seated on the throne. This is these perplexing moments that nothing seems to make sense. If God is God, what in the world is this? I was thinking this week, if you were to imagine a scenario like this in our day, how far off would it be? maybe years ago I couldn't have asked that question. It wouldn't have made a lot of sense to you. But does it a little bit now? If I were to put down how all of your liberties, at least in our national scene, have been taken away in the country and the basic right to life is under an assault, I don't think any of you would disagree that liberty is under an attack and that freedoms are going away in this country as we knew them and are in our Constitution. All of it, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, all of that is under assault right now coinciding with all freedom to speak what christians believe is under assault if things stay on their current course if things stay like they're going and and continue to flesh out that it continues to go in the course that it's on your children and your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will certainly at some point be living in a world that will ban their christianity you understand that i don't see how you can come to any other conclusion with the course it's on if it stays like this that's where it's going it's not going to be any more gray area christianity i promise it's not going to be the the compromise forms that we know it you are either going to make a decision and you're going to lose or you're going to dump it you understand that's that's the the path and if you make the decision to stay with it you're going to be fined you may be persecuted that's the course it's on how can anyone be missing that if you can say that things are moving that fast in that direction i think you know all it would take is one leader to rise up who utterly hates christianity hates what we stand for to begin putting it out like this and do you think the masses would get behind that do you think you think you'd have support of the masses a leader who was doing this would have support today of the masses again where are we and what time and what day am i asking this question you'd have said i'm crazy if i said that 15 years ago what do you do what what emotions does this conjure up fear this is where the christians in jerusalem are right now you understand that this is not we're praying against their threats no we're praying now against their murder that's the progression of that the bigger question is what does god do in these moments that's the the bigger challenge of acts chapter 12 unless the lord intervenes they will be crushed that has to be the conclusion unless the lord intervenes christianity would have been crushed under herod's sword and i think this is where the heart of the palette passage challenges us the intention of the passage really challenges us it gets us to this point to come to this this this point of there's nothing that we can do to get out of this mess so what will the lord do because if it continues like this we're we're going to get crushed and that's where we see something very powerful unfold here in terms of the contest that is shown to us you really can't miss it a king has challenged the king see it they keep calling herod the king the world has challenged the church the one who holds the sword and prison stands against those who hold the word of god in prayer and if you're looking at those things outwardly you're going to say they don't stand a chance and you would be right unless the lord intervenes and this is uh what the passage is challenging us with to ask what is god doing and that's where it takes us now peter is now in prison and all these christians know that he's next then you come to this powerful verse that it says here, so beautifully and powerfully in verse 5, Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. That seems to me to be the highlighted verse here in the whole passage. You don't consider prayer a weapon, do you? You don't consider it much of a weapon. Part of the reason is because we put so much emphasis on it, and it's important, of course. That's why we did the study in the Lord's Prayer. So much emphasis on it privately, and so much onus on you privately, but that's not what Acts is showing us. In fact, I never find private prayer meetings in Acts. I just don't find it. There are all sorts of things we learn here when everything in a culture is turning against the Word of God. One of the things is, the great thing is, the church united together in corporate prayer. Peter had taught them this earlier. These Christians knew this earlier. Remember when Peter and John had been arrested by the Sanhedrin, the religious authorities back in chapter 5, the the the level of the threat at that point was just threats they threatened them they threatened them not to speak the word of god and and remember the first thing they did right after was get together and they were scared so they prayed and said they raised their voice to god together you made everything lord in heaven and on earth you formed it all you created it you installed your king on Zion. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that we with all boldness may speak your word. Not being fearful. And then they ask something very specific in that prayer, which you should pick up on from last sermon. Now stretch out your hand, O Lord. What did this section say in the previous section? That the Lord was stretching out His hand of blessing on the church and the thing was flourishing. The thing was growing. But they were praying when they were under threat that the hand of the Lord would fall on the masses and calm them. And that the hand of the Lord would stop the persecutions and reroute and turn them. What do you think their prayer was that day? As they got together for a prayer service. They're not just praying about threats now. They're saying, Lord, James is dead. They've killed one of your servants. Peter's in prison. He's next. There's no way out. We see what they're doing. Can you feel the pain in the prayer? Can you feel the tears in the prayer? as this service happened? Can you feel them uniting with tears? Lord, stop their killing. What are we praying now? I don't know that we are. I don't know that we're praying, Lord, stop their threats. Are we? They're happening all the time. And it's moving. Lord, you're the creator of all. You made Jesus the King. He's exalted. He's raised. He's the King of heaven and earth. Eternal God. Look on their bloodshed. Or look on their threats. And stop it. Let your hand fall on Herod to calm the anger and the hatred against you that the Gospel may continue. For if things continue to go this way, we won't have a platform to do it. This is where I keep saying, I believe chapter 12 is pressing us on this point. What would it take for us to realize that prayer is our weapon in this way? Does it have to take the intense persecution of the church to start getting us praying? Some people say, well, there's no command for us to be in worship on Sunday twice. And I say, well, those are two opportunities for you to pray out of your week together. Does that work? Does that convince you? Jesus called this a house of prayer. I trust you're doing it so much during the week you don't need it on Sundays? Come on. That's a game playing with the Lord. What's it going to take? When we look out and see a world collectively coming as they are, Here you go. Lord, look what they've done. They've slaughtered infants in the womb. The nations are legalizing murder. Look at the foundations tottering and look at everything falling apart, Lord. And look what's happening to your church. Where is our witness? Because of the pressure of persecution we've gone silent, Lord. Because we're feeling the heat. It's not about trying to reach more numbers that we're not talking about this stuff. It's because we're feeling the heat and we're zipping it up. Your church seems completely ineffective, oh Lord, in the world right now. For the sake of your name, stretch out your hand again. Does God hear? Well, when Herod was about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping. What a dog, huh, Herod? I'll show these Christians who celebrate Jesus and the resurrection. I'm going to repeat the whole thing. So here he is. In typical fashion, they would shackle guards to the prison. They do one. He gets two on each side in the prison. Humanly speaking, there's no way he can get out of this. And what's he doing? Sleeping. You know, I have to say, if I'm going to die the next morning, I'm not sleeping. I'm just not doing that. I'm going to be a nervous wreck. They are defiant of death in this way. That does not scare them. They know their death is a victory. If you could come to the place of that in the midst of all this, you're going to really live and be bold. It's hard for us, isn't it? All of a sudden, and by the way, this has to be why Peter said, in all your distresses, cast your cares upon the Lord and he'll care for you. Right? Give it to him. You can sleep. All of a sudden, the angel of the Lord appears and we read that he strikes Peter on the side. Wake up! Put on your clothes! What I say to my kids all the time, I have to kick them and get them out of bed. Get your clothes on, get your clothes on, let's go! The angel miraculously leads them out. Past the post, past the guards, doors open. Peter thinks he's in one of these visions again. And they are led out to the street and he wakes up and he says, now I see what's happened. The Lord has delivered me. The Lord has rescued me from the, notice this, the hand of Herod. Hand keeps coming up here. This was a major theme, by the way, in Exodus, remember? When the hand of the Lord was upon Pharaoh and Pharaoh's hand would fight back, it's all right here. Which probably means a plague is coming, don't you think? They prayed for the Lord's hand to fall on the hand of Herod. Whose hand is more powerful? The contest. And the Lord just opens the doors. Peter's free. But he's not done teaching the church about prayer yet. what do i mean a strange story follows and i thought how do you what is the point of this he comes to the house of mary the mother of john and they're all there and peter knocks and a little slave girl named rhoda comes to the door and she hears his voice and she's so excited she leaves him there and she runs back peter's here peter's here you're crazy no no peter's here peter it's ghost. When they saw him, they were astonished. Why is that here? Why is that here? The church was praying, but the church really didn't believe that God would do anything about it. My guess is, is that's what's at the heart of what's wrong with prayer today. We look at the world in chaos. We look at the opposition. We believe. We pray. We believe He's the Creator. But we've come to this conclusion that God probably isn't going to do anything about all this. And that's how we approach Him. That's how we think. We just have to grin and bear it. But He's probably not going to intervene. He's probably not going to do anything about all this. And you're dead wrong. He hears the prayer of his church. He hears the prayer of his people. He told Moses, I've heard all of their cries. Every single one. I've never missed a cry. They stand armed with hate. And the authority structures of the world, the power structures of the world can come and crush you and yet when his church gathers for prayer a great weapon is used you have the word and prayer and the spirit of course but the efficacy comes what promise did jesus make in the midst to you what promise in the midst of all of this that's going on in the world right now did jesus make he said something and it cannot fail peter peter on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail you have a greater weapon than any gun in the world you understand that you have his promise and you have his word which is the promise and you have his ear and now he shows you what that means he wasn't done answering their prayer the king a king has challenged the king his subjects of the false king have in the world have challenged our king's people the church one stood with hate swords and prison the other stood with love, the word, and prayer. And now the showdown comes to a crushing end. There was no small stir among the soldiers about what became of Peter. Yeah, I'm sure not. When Herod found out, he killed him. He was ruthless. But a strange providence now happens. Providence is such a wonderful doctrine. Remember, nothing happens by chance. Strange providences began to happen. The ordering of things. The ordering of things, how things go, and how it happens. Tyron Sidon had thoroughly made Herod mad, and he hated the people. He was furious at the people. And they tried to appease him by hiring Herod's friend and befriending Herod's friend, Blastus. There's a good name to name your kid. So they created a peace treaty. Herod would continue to feed them. He was a power-grabbing tyrant. So on this great day, he puts on his royal apparel. Josephus gives us a historian at the time, gives us, a Jewish historian, gives us an account of this. And he says, Herod wore a garment wholly made of silver and of contexture truly wonderful which shone so brightly in the morning sun the people hailed him as a god on an appointed day herod puts on this dress of silver sun is shining on him takes the seat on the throne everyone gathers around herod and they give a great oration he delivered an oration to them of his greatness and they begin to shout all of a sudden in unison, the voice of a God and not of a man, never the thing to say before the Lord. You're God, Herod. Josephus says, the king didn't rebuke them or reject their impious flattery. By the way, when Thomas said to Jesus, my Lord and my God, Jesus didn't rebuke him, did he? You know, this was prophesied throughout history. Isaiah 14 captures this moment. How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. Above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like God the Most High. As soon as they begin to shout this, we read that immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God and he is eaten by worms and dies. Josephus says a severe pain rose in his belly. I guess that's all you could say if you're looking at it from the outside. Intestinal worms were common in those days. But these were like the worms that came on Egypt. It was a plague-like worm that began eating them on the inside. And Isaiah 14 said this is how it would go for that king who did that. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with relenting persecution. Listen to this. Your pomp is brought down to Sheol. The sound of your harps, maggots, maggots are laid as a bed beneath you and worms are your covers. That's the fulfillment. To which I say this morning, what do you have to fear? You see? The nations need to kiss the son lest he be angry and they perish in the way. But that's not the best part. Just as twice in the last chapter when everything was going great, we read the hand of the Lord was upon them and great numbers believed and turned to the Lord. Did you see verse 24? It's the greatest verse here. The greatest verse of chapter 12, I believe, is so wonderful. But the word of God increased and multiplied. Nothing, nothing will stop that. nothing will stop the Word. No matter what the world does, it cannot stop His Word. And isn't it the greatest encouragement then to pray because that's true? To hold the Word tight, to speak it, to believe it, and to bathe all of what we're doing in prayer? God will show His wisdom. And God will turn everything upside down with that wisdom for the progress of the gospel. We're still here today doing this. Doesn't that prove it? The world hasn't been able to stop it ever. So when you feel the heat, which I do right now, one of you came up last week and said to me, Pastor, some of this stuff goes on the radio. Do you ever edit it because you're worried about how people will hear? I thought, yeah. I worry about that sometimes. And I thought, isn't my very point that for having a radio that we speak the truth? Do we have to live in fear? What can man do to us? So I struggle with this myself as a pastor. But the Lord has encouraged you today. Look at his strength. Look at his power. If the world turns quickly on us tomorrow, you're going to see surprising things of his providence to put down that which seeks to destroy his gospel and his word. So don't fear. Pray. Trust that you have a king who died for you, who loves you, who lives, who's resurrected, who's on the throne, who's seated. This is what we celebrate in the ascension. And what Pentecost is all about is his project is going out and not one of his sheep will be lost. But that doesn't excuse us from the responsibility to what? Pray. That's the whole point of this. He's encouraging us. Pray. Jesus said that. You should always pray and not lose heart. He said that against the backdrop of somebody suffering greatly in the world. Don't lose heart. I am for you. And I'll never leave you nor forsake you. What a wonderful Lord we have. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us this today. Thank You for calling us to be a people who rely upon You in prayer together. Thank You for uniting us. And yes, we have fears living in the world. We have fears of what's happening in our culture as it turns on us, similar to what we're reading here in Acts. It's like we're back in the first century, we feel like, and realize what could happen. But we trust You. And we're so thankful that we hold the greatest weapon in our hand, the Word of God. And that we have Your ear as we call out upon the name of the Lord. For You are our God. And we are Your people. And You've told us no matter what happens here, nothing can separate us from Your love. But we want to see that gospel go out to the ends of the earth. So, O Lord, we pray. Listen to their threats that we see happening everywhere today. And the persecutions and death that is happening all over the world today of bloodshed. And stretch out your hand again, O Lord. And bring to nothing the foolishness of leaders who revolt against the king. And stop the madness of people who want to destroy your word. May your word grow and multiply in our hearts and around the world today as the gospel is heard and your strength is shown. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.