and needing help of the Lord
in speaking and in hearing, we would direct your prayerful attention
to the chapter we read, Acts chapter 12, and we look at verse
16, and really that first clause, which is just the four words
there, Acts chapter 12, verse 16, but Peter continued knocking. And the whole verse reads, but
Peter continued knocking and when they had opened the door
and saw him, they were astonished. We seek with the Lord's help
to perhaps open the word up in three separate ways. Firstly
friends that we might look at the background here of this wonderful
deliverance of Peter, that we might be able in looking at the
background here consider our own impossible matters in soul
and providence. Then friends to think of this
knocking and that we might be helped to knock on in prayer
and Finally friends, to see the Lord Jesus Christ in these things
in a saving way as the Lord himself knocks at the heart of a poor
sinner. And really in that sense that
we see Peter here as a type of Christ. And so friends, we would
come then to consider a little of the background. Herod was
like many leaders even that we see in the world today. They
want to man please. They want to do that which here
the Jews would have been pleased with which is some of the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ at this time. Now this would have been
after obviously the death of Jesus, but these followers, they
were close Christian followers of him and the Jews wanted, in
a way, to see them come to grief. And indeed, we read only in the
second verse that James, the brother of John, had been killed
with the sword. And so, because it pleased the
Jews, Herod proceeds further in what he thinks he's going
to do. And isn't man proud in so many ways? You know, friends,
we've had this record-breaking summer. And you hear man saying,
well, this is all down to this and it's all down to that and
we're destroying the universe and all these things. And we
must do this and we must do that. But there is no looking unto
God in these things. And man is making his wisdom
and his judgment and basically he wants to please other man
because they want to, as it were, have this green agenda. Now I'm
not saying that's necessarily a wrong thing but you just see
men wants to please man all the time. Now with Herod of course
this is a different thing. It was more dramatic, but nonetheless,
we all in our flesh want to be men pleasers. But God has the
ultimate say. God is in control. And what a
sign there is of it in this wonderful deliverance. But you see, friends,
Herod in some ways was unsure here. Why was he unsure? He put Peter in prison, but look
at it, there's four quaternions of soldiers. That means four
soldiers, four separate lots of four. And they would have
no doubt done a six hour shift and they would have all kept
a very close eye on Peter. And the intention was to keep
him in prison so that after Easter, or you will find the margin says
Passover, because this was the time of the Passover. But after
that, to bring him forth to the people and to say, look, we're
now going to destroy this man too. But Peter was therefore
kept in prison. But how beautiful is this clause
in verse 5? Friends, it exhorts us to look
at that corporate prayer of the Church. That, in other words,
not just prayer of individuals, yes it is prayer of individuals,
but prayer of the Church together, and different churches, but prayer
was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for Him. That
prayer without ceasing. So friends, in a sense there's
that encouragement in our word to pray individually, but there
is that encouragement to pray collectively. I mean of course
in the prayer meetings, but also to pray for the same thing as
a collective group and yet in a sense individually yet still
part of that group because we know others are praying with
the same theme. And it is wonderful when we feel
it's rather like the couplet says, the force of their united
cries, power can no longer withstand. Almighty God seeing the prayers
coming up from various different ones. And so here prayer was
made without ceasing, beautiful, without ceasing. Yes. And then you see when Herod would
have brought him forth. Herod's timing, Herod's plan
to be put, to be thwarted by Almighty God. And Herod was even
more anxious than the four Quaternions of soldiers. We now read that
Peter's having to sleep between two of them and he's bound with
two chains. Talk about making deliverance
utterly and totally impossible to the human eye. And friends,
you know, in our dead estate spiritually, we have been sleepers
between two chains, the chain of sin and the chain of death. And we need them loosened. And
only God can loosen those chains. But you see, naturally, there
were those chains. And you will have your matters
today in Providence, in the family, in various different matters
in your life, where there seem to be chains round about these
matters, where it seems the door cannot be opened, the way cannot
be unlocked, you are stuck in by chains, you are bound down
by them. And the Lord brings us into these
places that seem that there's utterly, totally no way of coming
out from them. Well, that's where Peter was. But in God's time, he knew the
time that he would need to deliver him. We read in verse seven,
the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the
prison. Do you remember the day when
a light shone in your heart? Do you remember the day when
you believed that darkness that was there is now changed by the
light of the Lord Jesus Christ revealing himself to you, poor
sinner? Wonderful, isn't it, when the
light goes on. I know naturally they call it
a light bulb moment, but my dear friends, don't we remember this
time when the Lord shone in, perhaps for the first time, and
it may be we were Shown a little of our sins and as he shone in
there was such fear in our heart. Because we saw the chain of sin
and we realised that it would take us through the chain of
eternal death into hell. But anyway, the light shone,
shined in the prison. There was no waking of the enemy. There was no waking of the guards. How wonderful to keep in power
of Almighty God. that the enemy could not touch
him. You know, we think of the three Hebrew children in the
fire, and it slew the very, the king was angry. There was a fourth
there, like unto the son of man. And the king was so angry that
he asked the fire to be heated several times more. And it even
slew the men that put them in there. But you see, the wonderful thing
was that there was that presence of the fourth there. This is
the God whom we hope and do believe we serve, friends. And he's no
different in August 2022 than he was in AD 50, 52, that this
would have been. No, friends. Yes, it's a wonderful
thing to consider this, the same God. reigneth and sits upon the
throne. Well, as we try to follow through
a little of this background to help us before the text, we come
to this word, the angel said unto, we rise up quickly and
we read this lovely word. And friends, what a blessing
it would be if some of those chains that are around us, those
things that trouble us in providence and grace were to fall off even
this day. and his chains fell off from
his hands. They just fell off, the chains,
the power of Almighty God. The angel said unto him, gird
thyself and bind on thy sandals. And wouldn't that be a beautiful
thing if we put on the sandals of faith this day to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those sandals that are fit Friends,
they're fit for each of our feet and they're just right. It's
this, thy shoes, or in this case sandals, but thy shoes should
be iron and brass. And as thy days, so shall thy
strength be. The wonderful blessing of the
Lord to his dear people. These promises, friends, we may
not feel them at the moment, but we can plead them. We can
keep knocking for the promises, can't we? There's nothing in
here that tells us, that prevents us from doing that. Well, they,
and he said, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. He
went out, followed him and so on. He didn't realise at this
stage that which was being done. He was in a trance really. Well,
they went past the guards and they came to the iron gate. Prayer
can force a passage through iron bars and brazen gates. When the
Lord's people have need, his goodness will find out a way. Oh, you and me with our lack
of faith, friends. Well, so the gate opened of his
own accord. the door to open before you without
you doing anything for it friends, you don't know what the Lord
will do. You know you walk to those doors
in these places, aren't they good? You walk towards the door,
it's an automatic door and it just opens and you go through. I've set before thee an open
door and no man can shut it. It's so beautiful you know. but
you see we have to approach the automated door till it senses
we're there and this is prayer friends for a matter that we
approach the door that the Lord then opens it whether it be the
door of his mercy or whether it be the door of his deliverance.
We have to approach before the sensor knows naturally so it
is spiritually to approach his throne of grace humbly as helped. And so when Peter was come to
himself, oh, we've jumped there slightly, then we read, the gate
opened, they went through one street, the angel didn't leave
him immediately. How beautiful. Didn't leave him
immediately. Wanted to be sure that he was
safely away. What a kind and gracious God
we are. He goes one street further, friends,
than what we realise. So much in this, you know. Oh, we would be softened under
it. And then forthwith, once he passed
on through one street, forthwith the angel departed from him.
And then Peter was come to himself. But the Lord hasn't stopped off
helping him because he firstly acknowledges that the Lord sent
his angel and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod. And
then he goes on in verse 12, when he considered the thing,
he makes the right decision as led of the Lord to go to the
house of Mary, where many were gathered together
praying. And as Peter knocked at the door,
the damsel came, and she said, she doesn't, obviously she heard
the knocking, but it was Peter's voice, he must have called out.
And friends, I wondered as I read this, I wonder what did dear
Peter call out? We don't know, do we? But he
called out, she heard his voice and she was so struck by it and
so delighted to hear it, the answer to prayer, but she ran
in and told how Peter stood at the gate, before the gate. And
this, friends, doesn't this say so much about you and me in our
prayer life? This, when she knew Peter's voice,
She opened not the gate for gladness, she ran and told them, and this,
they said unto her, thou art mad. The very thing they were
gathered in prayer, praying for him, thou art mad. Yes, but she
constantly affirmed it was so. How long was poor Peter left
there waiting? We know not and do not read,
but it must have been some time while she deliberated with them.
And they said it's his angel, but this lovely word, that we
come to then of our text and friends I realised it's been
a long introduction but there's some wonderful thoughts in that
not of mine but I mean in the word here that the Lord brings
out but this beautiful word then but Peter continued knocking
and I believe this because she'd gone back in because he still
wasn't fully 100% safe he was in the street I believe his knocking
would have become more urgent. I believe his knocking would
have been more determined. I believe his knocking would
have been done with more natural power and might, as one might
say. And friends, in prayer, there
are those times of real urgent prayer. The hymn writer says,
mine's an urgent pressing case. Do not turn away thy face. And so it is at times, both in
circumstantial and soul matters, we sang in our first hymn of
God's mercy. and indeed how we need it when
we're brought to that need of his mercy you know. There is
that time that we have to prove this, the door of thy mercy stands
open all day to the poor and the needy who knock by the way. Now Peter here was amongst the
poor and needy in that sense because he needed a refuge from
the street and he needed to be with his friends. but he needed
that full deliverance. Friends, are you poor and needy?
Because if you are, and I do hope you know what it is to be
poor and needy, I don't mean financially, you know that. In
spiritual things, it may be, it is financially, it may be
there are those that are listening that do tremble when they look
at the winter of discontent or whatever you might term it ahead
that we know we have with the energy bills and inflation and
all the rest. And friends, we must be up to
date in our preaching. But nothing's changed with God
that's on the throne. My times are in his hand. Oh, Lord, I leave them there. Friends, family and soul entirely
to thy care. And so that will be knocking,
leaving our times in his hands, friends, in prayer. And it will
ever be the case that he will have us to pray. Well, that has
come on to the second part then of how we saw the word really,
which is that encouragement to continue in prayer. And it may
be there's a particular matter, a particular exercise, spiritual
or providential, you're carrying at the moment and it may even
be that the enemy, you see the enemy is, Herod here is the type
of the enemy and the enemy is very good with bounding us in
the chains and one of those chains also is unbelief and oh how tight
that chain is. Blind unbelief is sure to her,
though, says the hermita. Scan his work in vain. God is
his own interpreter. He will make it plain. Pray on,
dear soul, in that matter, whatever it is. Oh, that you might be
even like dear Elijah's servant. Elijah was given such faith he
overcame many concerns. He spoke to Ahab. He said to
Ahab, who of course was his enemy, wasn't he really? But he said
to Ahab, get thee up, there's a sound of abundance of rain. Now Ahab could have said, what
Elijah? It's not rain for three and a half years. What are you
on about? Get thee up, Ahab. Then he goes up into Mount Carmel
and he takes with him his servant. Yes, go up, look toward
the sea. Yes, looking for the sign of
the cloud because the cloud naturally comes in, of course, does it
not, from over the sea, comes in over land, looking for the
cloud. Yes, wonderful, you know. I think when he says these words
each time, what a discouragement that must have been in a way
to Elijah. There is nothing. Three words,
there is nothing. Friends, we had to speak from
that in one place. There's nothing. And how often
it is when we go to the throne of grace it feels like this,
there is nothing. No answer, the heavens are as
brass. There's no easy believism to
get to heaven, is there? We can think, and I know in the
early days the Lord does encourage us often with answers to prayer,
but it's when we come to those times, when we cry and shout,
and there's a hymn that says it really, covers it in a way,
And I think it's 749. And it says that I cry and I
hear a righteous man in deep distress complain. I call on
God and cry and shout, but all my prayer he shut it out. And
that's how it can feel to be. And of course the enemy loves
it when it's like that, this chain of unbelief you see, oh
we don't believe that God can hear and answer our prayers,
we don't believe that he can do what is the very exercise
of our heart. We come there, we will have our
faith tested, we must have it tried. And so it is that we come
into those situations but, but, he said, Go again seven times. Go on, dear friend, in prayer,
that perfect number, when the Lord will appear, when the Lord
will deliver, when the Lord will give you that answer of peace. Go again seven times. I read the story, an obituary
of a lady that attended I think it was St. Albans Chapel. Her
name was Mrs. Whitbread. She attended the chapel
and then later in life went to Clifton Chapel, but it doesn't
matter where it was. And it was in the earlier part
of the 19th century. But this lady, she really had
a burden for her husband. She married someone who was outside
of religion. He knew nothing about it and
he had no desire for it whatsoever. And she was so burdened over
several years, many years indeed. And there was one day when she
was really, really troubled and praying so much for him. And
she realized that that was the day of their anniversary services. And she felt that she had such
a desire to be there in the afternoon, but she couldn't go because she'd
got no money. no money to put in and she said,
I can't go and not give to the collection. Oh, what a gracious
lady. So friends, once more she got
on her knees in prayer and I don't know literally, but she begged
that the Lord would, if it was his will, that she would go hear
the word and that she'd have some money to go with. Well,
she had to go and get some coal from the cellar. She went down
into the coal cellar And she thought she could see a gleam
of something down there. So she got closer and looked
at it and it was a coin. And it must have, her cellar
was off the main street and it must have rolled down a grill.
Oh, she was so encouraged. And now I can go to the service
this afternoon. She went to the service. I don't
know who was preaching or what it was. was said, but the text
was this, thy prayer is heard. She said, I went on praying,
but it was only two or three months later that her husband
said to her one morning, I'm coming with you to chapel today. He was a policeman. He'd heard
the Bible read before a court case. It touched his heart. The Lord moved him. It was a
time that he should come. And friends, what's more, two
years later, we went out into the ministry. God's work, God's
answers to prayer, it so encouraged me. When we see those things
that feel to be so utterly impossible and yet the Lord's people have
seen them before and they've seen those answers. And I believe
you and I have and will yet see them. But we need encouraging,
don't we? To encourage one another in these
things. And so we would come and pray
on. And you know, whilst we pray,
we would remember one thing. We felt it as we started our
prayer this morning. amongst you and that was, the
word says continuing prayer but it goes on and says this, watching
the same with thanksgiving and as we seek those things that
we might ever remember to lay up before God those prayers of
thankfulness for the things that we do have and to praise and
honour him in that way. I don't know about you but I
do feel to be shortcoming in that and pray that the Lord would
help me to be thankful for those things. A beautiful word, you
see again we come to Paul writing to the Thessalonians because
he says there, pray without ceasing, yes there's only three words
in that verse but the next verse says this, in everything give
thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. In everything give thanks." Everything! Friends, it comes to mind, you
know, I don't know if you've read The Hiding Place. It's a
fascinating book, isn't it, if you have read it, of those in
the Second World War in Holland and that were imprisoned and they
were believers and Betsy was one of them. She was in her 50s.
I think she died actually in, I can't remember which concentration
camp it was, Ravensbrück possibly, I'm not sure. But she was there
with her sister. And there was one day when they
had been moved to these wooden rows of bunks and amongst them
there were all these ants. And you know, she said we need
to give thanks to God for the ants. I'm thinking of this being
thankful for everything. You know, her sister Corrie Ten
Boom said to her, she said, I can't. She said, I cannot come that
far and do that. and she couldn't and she heard
her sister giving thanks. What they didn't realise was
that they'd got the word of God, they'd been able to smuggle it
in, it would have been taken by the guards but you know they
read from that every day and that was the use of saving many
souls in that concentration camp but the guards never came into
their quarters to search and to take anything like that that
they'd got, the reason was that they themselves didn't like all
these ants. And so, when Corrie came to see
that, she said how she'd had to see the wisdom of Betsy in
praying that for the ants, give thanks for everything, everything,
in everything, give thanks. Friends, what a lesson it was
to me when I read that, because we're very slow to do that. continue
knocking in thankfulness, continue knocking in praise, continue
knocking over our sins, you know, friends, for forgiveness, continually
to knock at the door of his mercy. Yes, well, may you and I then
be encouraged to continue knocking in these things. And then the
third thing that was upon us was and we felt this march, the
Peter being as it were that type of Christ here. That this encapsulates
really the theme of Christ and Jesus and how he knocks at the
soul. Perhaps summed up beautifully
in that lovely word in Revelation where he says this, Behold, I
stand at the door, this is the door of your heart sinner, the
door of my heart. I stand at the door and knock,
knock. You see there aren't many knocks
in scripture. There aren't many knocks and
knocketh and knockings, there's only about ten you will find
in the King James Version, not many. But wherever they are they
seem to be such an important word. And here he says I stand
at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, the door of his heart, I will come into him and
will suck with him and he with me. And friends, I believe it's
like this. The Lord gives us no choice but
to open the door of our heart. To welcome him in when we would
have rejected him and when in the past our flesh would have
turned him aside. No. Oh, we welcome him and Friends,
we do. I stand at the door and knock.
And you see, his knocking, I believe, is the same as Peter's. I believe
there have been, there are those knocks. Maybe there's those things
that things maybe in our life started to go wrong and we think,
why is this? Is it God's work beginning to
show to us? Or maybe it is different with
each case. We need to be careful. With some,
they're suddenly shown their sins. But whatever it is, is
that knocking, the voice of God. It's only the sheep that hear
that voice and know that knock. Satan knocks at the heart and
he has the soul bound in chains of the world. How sad it is. But those chains will be cut
by the Lord Jesus Christ in his salvation. And friends, they
will only be finally cut but they're loosened. All the life
of a Christian, the chain is being loosened and prepared for
glory. And then when they're finally,
because we'll have sin until our dying hour, but then, then
finally the chain is loosened and we'll be like that. And his chains fell off from
his hands. Peter continued knocking. The
Lord Jesus continually knocks at the hearts. Now for some,
such as the dying thief, that knock is done and finished quickly. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise, for others that knock is over a long period. And I
tell you this friends, if you're anything like me, you know we
need constant knocking to bring us back of the Lord Jesus, to
bring us from Bypath Meadow, to bring us from the wanderings,
to bring us from the other way that we would all easily go in. Yes. Well, he gives us a desire
after him. You know, that beautiful word,
I'm coming to my God and my sister where Christ makes his church.
He waketh the church with his calling. Yes. And then the church answers,
I sleep. That's like Peter. He was asleep
between the chains of death, you could say, and hell. And
there we are, I sleep, but this, spiritually, my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh. Friends, it's wonderful when
he knocks again. Those knocks are sometimes in
Providence. Something goes wrong, but he
brings us to pray about it. whereas we hadn't prayed before.
Those knocks are in grace where he shows us again that we've
fallen. Maybe we've been a little, how
can I put it, not quite right with something we've said. Maybe
we've hurt somebody in something we've said and it's a sin and
he's knocked and showed us our sin or some other sin that he's
shown, something we thought, something that others would be
aghast to think has even gone through our mind. Yes, it's the
voice of my beloved that knocketh. Yes, because if you didn't know
the conviction of sin, if you didn't know the beauties of salvation,
as you have had revealed to you, dear friends, and those that
haven't, may they have it. You see, if we didn't know a
little of these things, we wouldn't realise it was the Lord knocking
again, knocking again. Wonderful favour that he knocks
in our heart. Well, open, and we say this,
open to me, my sister, my love. The voice of my beloved that
knocketh, asking us to open our heart to him. For my head is
filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night. How beautiful
it is. The Song of Solomon's deep book,
friends, isn't it? But, oh, you see that knocking,
that knocking. Oh, I believe every soul will
know what it is who's going to glory to have had that knocking,
to have had that turning, to have had that moving unto them.
Yes, oh friends. So that beautiful aspect of the
word of God. But you know, oh, I love that
word regarding King Asa. And I do think it's, that one
spoke to him. A spirit of God came upon Azariah,
the son of Oded. And he says this, the Lord is
with you, while ye be with him. This is about constancy of prayer,
you see. While we're praying, the Lord
is with us while we're with him in prayer, that means. And if
you seek him, he will be found of you. But, sad isn't it, so
often this is the case. But if you forsake him, he will
forsake you. Well, and it goes on to say,
when they, that's Israel, in their trouble did turn unto the
Lord God of Israel and sought him, he was found of them. Yes, he was found of them. May we be helped to lay before
him these things. You know, friends, I tried to
speak From the same word to the dear friends in Australia this
morning, early morning. I got up just before five o'clock. Two minutes past five, I had
a text message. Would you believe it, friends?
From someone who had been praying about an affliction and the Lord
was granting them some signs of deliverance. I felt such an
encouragement that we must bring the word. about prayer and the
wonders that God alone can do. Friends, he is a performing God,
and he will yet come. And I know you and I, we feel
like this, the vision is far off, but it's lovely, really,
when we think of that beautiful word, what is it? The vision
is yet for an appointed time. Though it tarry, wait for it.
These beautiful words. for it will surely come, it will
not tarry, in God's time it will come. And we've also looked at
that lovely hymn 893 which you can read afterwards but It says this, he tarries off
till men are faint and comes at evening late. He hears and
will relieve complaint. Tis ours to pray and wait. Well, may the Lord help us with
these few things. And may we take the word away
and ponder over it. But Peter continued knocking. Amen.