Acts chapter 12, we're starting
a new chapter today. The name of the message is set
free. Set free. If the Son shall set you free,
you're free indeed. That's what we believers love
that verse, don't we? It's wonderful. We've been set
free from the penalty of our sin, from the power of our sin,
and one day, when we go home to be with the Lord, we'll be
set free from the presence of our sin. But there's no condemnation
for those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but
walk in the spirit. It's wonderful. Our study, our last study, brought
us down to the end of chapter 11, and now we have the honor
of going into Chapter 12. And I pray that God, the Holy
Spirit will illuminate the scriptures and impress upon us the blessed
truths contained in his word. And remember this, as we're reading
these portions of scripture, these are actual events. They're
actual events. Now, people in the world may
say, oh, you believe that book? You believe everything it says?
Yeah, everything. Absolutely, by the grace of God.
So these are actual events that occurred. It's not a fairy tale,
it's not a story, it's an actual event that occurred. And it's amazing what we're gonna
see today. We'll see our sovereign God's power on full display. Let's read the first five verses
though, which talk about James and Peter. Let's stand up and read these
first five verses. 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 the four courtons of soldiers
to keep him, intending after Easter, that's Passover in the
Greek, to bring him forth to the people. Peter, therefore,
was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him. Oh, my. So what we just read are actual
events that occurred. And remember this too, as we're
going through this passage, all this was purposed by God, including
the death of James. Because we all, everyone in this
room and everyone in this world, we have a date that we do not
know. Scripture says, it's appointed
on man once to die, but after this, the judgment. My, oh, my. And that's a sure
thing. But praise be to God, those in Christ shall never be
judged. Because there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. In the Greek, that's judgment,
beloved. We stand at the great white judgment throne, but we're
clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Our
sin's already been judged at Calvary's cross. That's why we
say, sinner friend, flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
I'm just one sinner telling other sinners where to find bread.
Salvation's in Christ alone, nowhere else. Nowhere else. So these events
actually occurred and they were providentially arranged and executed
exactly as God intended them to be. And we can look at all events
in the past, currently, and in the future, and know that all
things happen in time, they were purposed by God. We don't understand
that, do we? We do not understand that. And
if you try to wrap your mind around it, you're gonna, it just, it is, that's all, it
just is. Even the death of Christ happened
according to the foreknowledge of God. He purposed it and planned
it. The fall happened according to
the purpose and plan of God. That redemption might come in
for God's people who were chosen in Christ. What about all the evil things
that happen in the world? You know what? Man is evil. But they
don't catch God by surprise. You see? Our God's not wringing
his hands up there going, oh my, they fooled me again. No. He's the sovereign. It's hard
for us to understand that, though. But we believe it by the grace
of God, don't we? It's amazing. All things happen in time. We're
purposed by our great God, our great triune God, before time
began. And we saw that truth brought
forth when we looked and studied the life of Joseph. Remember
our study in the life of Joseph and how he was taken by his brothers
and cast into a pit? And then next thing you know,
he's in prison. He's on the slave rock. And then
he's sold to a fellow named Potiphar. Oh my, just happens to be the
captain of the guard of Pharaoh. Oh, no, that's a coincidence. No, it's not. And then Potiphar's
wife tries to lay with him and he says, this is amazing. First thing he says is, he says,
if I do that, I'm gonna sin against my God. Do you know that all
our sin is against God first and foremost? That's why we have
to be saved from our sins. And then he says, I'm gonna sin
against Potiphar and I'm gonna sin against myself too if I do
that. And he took off, didn't he? Well, Potiphar believed his
wife who said he tried to take advantage of me. And Joseph gets
cast in jail. And then he, well, talking to
a baker and a butler. Oh, both have dreams, he interprets
them. Then Pharaoh has a dream. No
one can interpret him. Pharaoh wants to kill them all.
And the butler remembers, oh, there was a fella in prison,
Joseph. And then Joseph comes, interprets
his dream, becomes the second, the prime minister, the prime
minister. Egypt second most powerful man in all of Egypt all according
to the will and purpose of God because Abraham was in it or
Isaac was in Israel there's a great famine comes over and Pharaoh
gives him the land of Goshen the best land someone says well they sure was
lucky no they weren't it was all arranged providently by God
our great God there's no such thing as luck I know I keep saying that, but
it's true. It's true. Oh, my. Our God is sovereign over all.
He's sovereign over life and death, too, isn't He? Yeah, He
is. And He's always worked things
after the counsel of His own will. Oh, my. And think of this. If all things
weren't under His sovereign control, then would he be God? No way,
Brother Tom, he wouldn't be God, would he? But he's God. And so all things, I mean everything,
they're not a, ah man, I love birds. They're not a bird that
flies somewhere, like God doesn't know where that thing's going,
and where it's gonna land, and what it's gonna eat. Brother Brian, that's who holds,
that's who we've committed our souls to, Brother Brian. I know,
right? By the grace of God, we know,
that's all we can say. Glory be to God, we know who
my Redeemer is. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's wonderful, that's comforting for God's people when
we go through trials and tribulations in this world, because we will
go through them. We're gonna go through heartache, trials,
gut-wrenching things. But it's so good to know, so
comforting for God's born-again blood-washed saints to know that
our trials have all been predetermined by God. Isn't that wonderful? I remember me telling you the
story, think of this too. Every time you go through a trial,
think of this. Fellow walks into a goldsmith one day. walks in
there, he doesn't know nothing about smithing or anything like
that, and he goes over and the fella, the goldsmith, he's over
a vat of gold, and he's refining it. He's refining it. And he says to him, he says,
well, how do you know when it's all refined? And he goes, well,
I can see my reflection. Who are we being conformed to?
The image of Christ. Oh, isn't that wonderful? So
the trials and tribulations, the
first thing they do is make us flee to Christ. After we've exhausted
all our own methods of trying to get through it, right? Let's
be honest, are we honest that way? Do we try to exhaust our
way out of things? And then we fall on our face
and say, Lord, you're king. And you know, I got to keep learning
that over and over and over again, do you? My, oh my. My, oh my. Now look at this in verse one.
Look at this in one and two. 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. Now, I'll tell you what. The
death of James brought sorrow upon the church. How do we know
that? Remember our study with Stephen
when he died? They carried away his body mourning. We carry our
loved ones away. Those who die in Christ and those
who don't, we carry them away mourning, don't we? But you know
what? His death didn't bring any sorrow
to him. You ever think of that? See, we look at that and think,
oh, Stephen, or James died, oh my, it brought sorrow to the
church, but not to James. Not to James, beloved. To be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All his souls were over, beloved. All his pain was gone. He's now seeing, he's seen the
one he preached and proclaimed face to face now. My. Brother Tom, when we die, Others will sorrow for us, but
we won't be sorrowing, brother. We saints will be rejoicing. Brother Wayne's rejoicing. He's
rejoicing in glory. The minute he passed away, he's
rejoicing in the presence of the Lord. My oh my. It's wonderful. The exact moment
that he was delivered from the body of death, he'd been a prisoner
of that body, right? Think of that. Who do we war
against? Our flesh. The world, the flesh,
and the devil. You know who's the worst? The
flesh. That's our biggest enemy, beloved.
He's been released. He's been released. My oh my, he's been ushered into
eternal bliss. He's been ushered into the presence
of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He's not sorrowful
anymore. Oh my. And think of this, the
death of James didn't take God by surprise. Nope. Not only did God appoint the
exact time of Jane's departure from this life, He also appointed
that the instrument of his death was all ordained by God. I read of two hockey players
this week. Tragic. Two brothers. Did you hear about
that, sister? Two brothers. Their sister was
going to get married on Friday. On Thursday, they're cycling.
in front of two vehicles, some guy passed those two vehicles
on the right and slammed into both of them and killed them,
just like that. One was 32 and one was 29. Do you think that
they realized that that was their day of death? Vicky and I found out a friend
of ours, she used to be an assistant manager at McDonald's. Her husband
died five months ago. She died Tuesday night, just
like that. She has an aneurysm. Gone. So those kids without their
mother and father within five months. My oh my. See, today is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day to flee to Christ. Tomorrow might not come. You think our friend thought
she had the next day and the next day and the days after that?
Oh yeah. Gone. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Someone came over
and asked me afterwards, and friends of mine are sitting there,
and she was shocked, and she said,
it happened so quick. And one of my friends said, yeah,
but, you know, it happened quick for all of us, but you best be
ready. And he said, you must be born
again. You have to flee to Christ. My, oh, my. Tomorrow might never
come. Now, if tomorrow doesn't come for we believers, praise
be to God! Praise be to God. But I'll tell
you what, it comes just like that. So this wicked king, Herod,
he hated Christ. He hated the gospel. He hated
the disciples. He hated anyone of the way. My oh my. And that's why it says
vex there. Look at that. Now about that
time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain
of the church. The word in the Greek means to
entreat with an evil intent. His intent was to kill him. Now,
we know from that his intent. Next, he took Peter, right? So
what was his next intent? To kill Peter. Hey, it made the
Jews happy. Let's kill another one. My, oh, my. My oh my, do you see the depravity
and the wickedness of man? That's in all of us. We're born with that, beloved. And that old nature, that old
flesh still bothers us. Hit your hand with a hammer,
see what happens. Have someone say a cross thing
to you, see what happens. My, oh, my. Somebody used to
say, you want to see the gravity monitor on display, just go golfing. Well, I've never golfed, but
I sure have been on the highway. Have you been on the highway,
right? Someone cuts you off. If you're not saying it, you're
sure thinking it, aren't you? Right? I know I use that all
the time, but it's true. It just springs up even in us,
we who are the beloved of God. This flesh, the flesh, the flesh. So Herod, like all wicked men
and women, are pawns in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
pawns in the hands of our great God. The president, all the rulers
of this world are pawns in the hands of our great God. He turn him with the way he wills,
like water. My, oh my, he's a sovereign king. See, Christ, our King, our King
Jesus, he doesn't ring in his hands going, well, I hope they
let me save him. He saves whom he wills, when
he wills, according to his mercy, according to his good pleasure.
And the people of God, what we say, praise be to God, he saved
my soul. Because I sure don't deserve
it. But he saved us. And man, James, he went from
being killed right into glory, beloved. Just like that. Just
like that. And that's what happens. If you're
a believer, if we're believers and we die, just like that, we're
in glory. No more suffering, no more pain,
no more sorrow. And you know what? We don't care
what's going on down here either. Because if we did, then there'd
be sorrow in heaven. You ever think of that? God's
taking care of it, isn't he? Oh my. And when we get to heaven
and our loved ones who died in Christ and our friends who died
in Christ, we're going to see they're just all worshiping the
King, and we're going to join right in. Isn't that amazing? Clothed in
that beautiful white robe of righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. And if our Lord Jesus Christ
is in sovereign control of all things, and He most certainly
is, then absolutely nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing. And this wonderful, biblical,
God-honoring truth brings great comfort, again, to the hearts
of God's born-again, blood-washed people. Like James, at the exact
moment our eyes close in death, we'll be ushered into eternal
bliss, just like that. All because of the grace and
mercy of God. Nothing in us See, we're saved by the pure mercy
of God, we're kept by the pure mercy of God, and we'll be glorified
by the pure mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why I
always say it's salvation is Jesus Christ plus nothing. Nothing
we do, nothing we say. It's all Him, it's all mercy.
Otherwise, it's not salvation. If you have a pinprick of works
in there, just a pinprick, It's not salvation. It's no longer
grace. It's just being ruined. I love
Spurgeon's book. All of grace. All of grace. Salvation's all of grace, beloved.
All the grace of God in Christ. And knowing this to be true,
that no matter what we go through, that one day we'll see Christ
with with eyes to see him in glory. We'll see him in his glory
and his majesty. We can say, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. The only reason we're gonna see
Christ is because of Christ. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Let's
read verses three and four now. We'll see that Herod the king
continues to vex the church. Now he's gonna take Peter. Oh,
look at this. He puts him in jail. What's Peter
doing? He's preaching the gospel. He's preaching Christ and Him
crucified. He's preaching salvation in Christ, resurrection in Christ,
from the dead. And all them Jews are mad at
him. Those Pharisees and the religious Jews, they're mad at
him. Just like religious folks get mad at us when we say salvation's
all a grace. You ever experience that? Oh, my. Or you ever been around
a bunch of folks who the Lord hasn't saved? Steve was telling
me about this. I told him, I said, I said, yeah, I said, I said,
I go around my old friends there in Canada back in the day when
the Lord first saved me and I'd mentioned Christ and man, you
could hear a pin drop. What happened to Wayne? Well,
the Lord saved me, right? And he said he was out for lunch
with some family members and stuff. And he met some Christ. He said, Wayne, he says, it just
went silent. He goes, I know what you mean
now. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So he's in jail for preaching
the gospel. Because it makes the, the reason
he's in jail, he's gonna be put in jail, is because it makes
the unbelieving Jews happy. And you know what? Politicians
always like to make people happy, right? Remember Herod, he's like
a politician, right? He's being put there by the Roman
government. My oh my. But ultimately he's
being put there by God. But oh my. And King Herod, like
all unregenerate men, had no interest in pleasing God. None.
None at all. If it would benefit him or bring
attention to himself, then he'd do it. And because he knew that
it would please the Jews, he had James put to death, and then
he saw how much it pleased them. Well, bring another one. Let's
get Peter. Go get your hands on whoever
you can. Well, they got a hold of Peter, didn't they? Look at
verse three and four. 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 the four courtrooms of
soldiers to keep him intending after Passover, that's Passover
in the Greek, to bring him forth to the people. King Herod, again, all he wanted
to do was please the Jews. He had no care for God. Did we
have any care for God before he saved us? Or the things of
God? Marvel that we're here now rejoicing
in the gospel of salvation in Christ alone, because it's God
who made us to differ. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. These same wicked Jews were the
ones who had crucified Christ. So of course, it would have pleased
them. Go ahead, kill them all. They'd be more than happy to
have them all eliminated, wouldn't they? Oh my, the more the merrier,
they'd say. They wanted to put an end to
this sect spreading this gospel. Man hasn't changed, has he? Even
today. Believers are persecuted all
around the world. Some to the death for the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, it was against their doctrine
of self-righteousness It exposed their sin, like it exposes our
sin. And they sure didn't like it
when our king called them whited sepulchers, a bunch of graves
filled with dead man's bones. They probably remembered all
them words. My oh my. Those are so self-righteous,
just like we were before the Lord saved us. Never forget the
rock we were hewn from. Never forget the pit that God
found us in. Oh my. Oh, and let us, beloved of God,
by the grace of God working in us boldly, preach the gospel
of salvation through Christ alone. All for the glory of God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For His glory. That's what Peter, James, and
John did. They preached for the glory of God. And may we preach
and proclaim the electing grace of God, the Father. The perfect,
perfect, perfect redeeming work of God the Son. I mean perfect. for all those who were chosen
by God the Father in the sovereign, irresistible, effectual, invincible
call of God the Holy Spirit, who under the preaching of the
gospel gives eternal life to God's chosen people, who were
purchased by the blood of Christ at Calvary's cross. He came to
save his people from their sins, and beloved, he did it. I preach
a finished work. It's all done. Just look to Christ. And by God's
grace, that's how we look to him. And it's wonderful. And we see, because of King Harold
seeing the killing of James please the Jews, well, he had Peter
arrested and thrown into prison. And you know he intended to have
him killed, probably over the Passover. He didn't throw him in the prison
just to say, well, you're gonna go in prison for a couple days. He
saw that it pleased the Jews that he killed James. Here's
another one. It'll make him even more happy
when we get the head man. He didn't realize that in Christ,
we're all on the same level. Right? We're all sheep saved
by the grace of God. There's no mounds for certain
people. It's just flat like this. There's
the ground of the foot of the cross, and there we are. Saved by grace. And it's absolutely
wonderful. Wonderful. The only hierarchy
in the church is Christ. He's over us all, isn't he? He's
over us all. So Harold had them go out and
grab a hold of Peter and bring him and throw him in the jail.
Sent 16 dedicated soldiers, which is four quadrants of soldiers,
16 soldiers who had the charge of making sure Peter didn't escape. And these men would lay down
their lives. in making sure that he didn't
escape. They kept Peter under lock and
key until the appointed time of the king to bring God's ordained
apostle before those wicked, bloodthirsty Jews. And you know
what? If the Lord hadn't saved us,
again, we would have been crying, crucify him, crucify him, along
with those Jews. And we would have been happy
that James was killed, and we would have said, bring us another
one. But now, oh my, God's grace is incredible. I mentioned the
Sunday school this week. I was reading some stuff on a
page, and one person commented about sin. And I don't think
we fully grasp what sin is. Sin is so bad that the Son of
God, the Word of God, had to become a man, right, to redeem
us from that. And He had to do it by His precious
blood. And God is holy. He's no one
to be trifled with. He's holy, He's perfect, He's
righteous. And we know, we know we're sinners, the scripture
says, from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. And
we know everything we do is tainted with sin. Well, this person wrote,
Well, we sin at least once an hour. What? Well, you sinned your hour there,
right there. Beloved, everything we do is tainted with sin. But praise be to God, we're safe
sinners, right? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. My, oh my. Augustus Toplady took, he loved
mathematics, and he took to trying to figure out if we sin once
every second, I think, how many sins that would be if you lived
to 80-something. And he said, it's in the billions.
It's in the billions. Billions of our sins have been
forgiven, washed in the precious blood of Christ. And we know
who's redeemed us, haven't we? We know, Brother Tom, who we
committed our souls to. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, in
Him alone. That's by God's grace we know
that. Oh, I'll tell you, best news I have ever heard in my
life. So these 16 shoulders would have
been divided up into four soldiers at a time, each group taking
a six-hour watch, or there might have been 16 soldiers guarding
Peter the whole time. Now let's read verse 5. of Acts
chapter 12. Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
So these trials that fall on God's people are ordained by
God himself for his glory and for our eternal good. And trials are sent our way to
keep us looking to Christ, beloved. That's what they do. They ultimately
drive us to Christ. See, they'll drive a sinner away.
They'll get even more, trust me, I know, I used to get real
mad at God, did you? Oh yeah. And see, they'll drive unsafe
folks away. But God's people, it drives us
closer to Christ. Because we know. that he's in
full control of the situation. And what comfort we can get from
that. We can glean from that. And trials, trials keep the child
of God who experiences them in prayer. We keep crying out to
the Lord. We keep crying out to Him. And
a trial will also move a local body of believers to pray for
someone. Look at this. The church in Jerusalem
now has moved to pray for Peter. Now, does God count, say, well,
there's a hundred of them praying, now I can answer the prayer?
No, it's not that. You can't gang up on God. You can't twist
his eye. I remember in religion, oh, let's
get all these people praying for God, surely it'll work. It
doesn't work that way. God answers prayer according
to his will and his purpose. We offer up the prayer and say,
Lord, if it be thy will. If it be your will, Lord. verse
5 says Peter therefore was kept in prison he was really put in
prison and God's people started praying for him oh my these woes caused the believer
to pour out our hearts to God in prayer as we go through these
things now let's read verse 6 when Herod would have bought him forth
the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with
two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Now
look at this. Okay, here we go. I love this. This is amazing. Okay, so Peter's
there. He's sleeping. He might get killed the next
day or the couple days after that. He's sleeping like a log.
He's peeling his head on the providence of God, isn't he? Well, if I die like my brother
James, I'm going home. He's not full of anxiety. May
God give us the grace in a time of need to be like Peter, which
God gave him the grace to do that. By nature and by our flesh,
he'd be bouncing off them walls probably. But see, God gives
grace to his people in time of need, time of need. Oh my. It doesn't appear that
Peter had any trouble falling asleep. He's sleeping so soundly
that light from an angel of the Lord comes and lit up, I bet
you that light lit up the whole prison cell. Didn't wake Peter up, he's still,
he's out. He's out. Look at this, look
at verse seven. And the angel, he's so out that
the angel gives him a swat. Brother Tommy, get up! He gives
him a little tap. Oh my. My, oh my, look at this. And
behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and light shined
in the prison, and he smoked Peter on the side, and raised
him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from
his hands. He's bound up, beloved, in iron
chains. Now think of this. He's all bound
up. The angel of the Lord says, come
on, get up. And the chains fall off. Now
think of this. They fall and they hit. Would
that make a lot of noise when they hit the ground? Nothing happened to the guards. They didn't even move. And those chains fell off. Now,
you'd have to have a key to put in there and unlock those chains.
They fell right off. Isn't our God, our sovereign
God, so amazing? We see in this, a little thing
like this. He's in control of everything, Brother Tom. Peter
couldn't break those bonds. And they just fell off. The shackles
just fell off. And they didn't wake up the guards.
If they were sleeping, I don't know, or if they were in a daze,
I don't know. Off they go. Peter couldn't free himself.
Could he? We couldn't free ourselves from
our sins, could we? But the shackles fell off, didn't they? purchased with the blood of Christ,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. If the Son shall set you
free, you're free indeed. Oh my. Arise up quickly, and
his chains fell off. Well, one could say, how did
Peter sleep so soundly? Well, here's some reasons to
consider. He knew that he was in the hands of Jesus Christ,
our sovereign God. Remember, he had proclaimed to
Cornelius that he's Lord of all. He believed it. He rested in
that truth. And Peter knew these soldiers
who guarded him, Herod, who had tended to put him to death, and
the unbelieving Jews who wanted him dead, and the ones... the
one who would be appointed as executioner, all of them were
in the hands of our mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew
that. He believed it. Because again, he professed Jesus Christ
as Lord of all. Peter knew that his sovereign
Lord was in control of all things. He also knew that he belonged
to God by election, by redemption, and by regeneration. Because Jesus Christ is Lord
of all. His life was in the hands of
Christ. And Peter was in the hands of
God, because Christ is God incarnated in the flesh. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was made flesh. Or, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And then later on, in John chapter 1, verse 14, the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. My, oh my. That's the word of
God. That's the Messiah. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And God had promised to him that
good, if the Lord delivered him, that would be good. If he died,
that'd be good, too. So if the Lord delivers us from
something, that's good. But if we die, that's good, too.
Right? To die is what? Gain. Oh, to leave this world of woe,
this suffering. My, oh, my. So just as soon as
the angel of the Lord told Peter to rise up, our text tells us that the chains
fell off his hands. Now, what can we glean from here?
What shall we say to these things? If God before us, who can be
against us? Right? My, oh my. Peter was chained
to two soldiers. His left hand may have been chained
to one, and his right hand may have been chained to the other.
We have no way of knowing. And Peter had no way of setting
himself free. And the angel said, get up! And
the shackles fell off. The shackles just fell off. Does
this not show God's sovereign control over all things? That
which is impossible for man is possible with God. It's impossible for us to save
ourselves. God, whose, the word of God becomes a man to come
to this world to save his people from their sins. And he did it
perfectly. My. So by the power of our risen
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, these chains fell off Peter's hands,
and light filled the room. The voice of the angel and the
sound of the chains that fell did not wake those soldiers,
not at all. So again, we see that our Lord
has power, and we know this, our Lord has power to open the
eyes of the spiritually blind, right? He also has power to leave
them closed. Peter set free those men still
in slumber. My, oh my. And for the born-again
blood-washed believer, he's opened our eyes. He's given us eyes
to see Christ in him alone. to see the glory of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord. But he also has power
to close the eyes of the ungenerate natural man and keep them closed
as it pleases him. So they cannot see the glory
of God. If you're saved, give God all
the glory and all the honor and all the praise that he didn't
leave us where we were. with eyes which could not see
him, and ears which could not hear him. My, oh, my. It's wonderful. The salvation
in Christ is wonderful, absolutely wonderful. So marvel if you've been given
spiritual eyes and ears to hear and to see the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, setting Peter free from the situation he was in, a situation
that was virtually impossible, humanly speaking, for him to
be set free, this was certainly a miracle that revealed the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord. And those sleeping soldiers
were not allowed to see His glory. We dwell with a whole bunch of
people in this world who cannot see the glory of God in Christ.
And yet we can. All according to the mercy and
grace of God in Christ. And that alone. So we have nothing
to boast in, do we? We just boast in Christ. We just
boast in Him. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Amen, brother. Nothing. Leave
him alone. What does he have to do for a
man or woman to go to heaven? Everything. Amen, brother. Everything.
Everything. It's all him. It's all the Lord
Jesus Christ. But marvel that Peter saw it
all, and all of God's enlightened children, born-again children
in every generation since this event took place, see the glory
of God in this. demonstrated before us in the
Holy Scriptures. This miracle is recorded right
here. Now let's read verses 8 to 11. And the angel said unto him,
gird thyself up and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he
saith unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. So
it appears that Peter just took off his outer garments and laid
them aside. Right this way. He's just resting in Christ,
isn't he? He's resting in our sovereign king. He's resting
in the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. And he went out and followed
him, and it was not that it was true, which was done by an angel,
but he thought he saw a vision. So he thinks, he's thinking,
I'm seeing something here. I must be dreaming or I must
be having a vision. When they were passed first and
second ward, that's guards, they came unto the iron gate that
leadeth in unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. The gate just opened. They didn't
put no key in it. The gate just swung open, beloved. Oh, nothing's impossible for
our great God, is it? And they went out and passed
on through one street, and forward the angel departed from him. He's there, leads him out, and
he's gone. And when Peter was come to himself,
oh my! See, when the Lord saves us,
we come to ourselves. We now know that God is real. We now know that he's sovereign.
We now know what sinners we are and we're saved by the grace
of God in Christ. When Peter was come to himself,
he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel
and had delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the
expectation of the people of the Jews. Who's delivered us,
beloved? Christ and him alone. The Lord
delivered us. So we see Peter loosed his garments, he removed
his sandals, he had no idea that his Lord was going to set him
free. So he made himself as comfortable
as he could be before closing his eyes to sleep. May as well
be comfortable, right? My oh my. And this just confirms
what we've already considered, that it does not appear that
Peter was in the least bit worried about the situation he was in.
God gave him grace. Oh, my. He knew, as all of us
should know, that our tomorrows are in the hands of the Lord. They're in the hands of the Lord,
in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what our Lord
said over in Matthew 6, verses 31 to 34. He said this, "'Take
no thought, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For after all those things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first, seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Who's God's
righteousness? Someone tell me. It's Christ,
hey. Christ is, because in the gospel,
the righteousness of God is revealed. That's Christ. Oh my. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Take, therefore, no thought for the moral, for
the moral shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6, 31 to 34. That's the
words of the Master. My, oh, my. Now, this does not
mean that we're to shrink our responsibilities. That doesn't
mean that. Some people take that and say,
oh, I don't have to do any more work. I don't have to do any
more of this. Well, you want to eat? Right? We gotta work, don't we?
Right? My oh my. What it's bringing forth is that
Christ must have the preeminence in our life. That no matter what
befalls us, Christ must have the preeminence. Right? He has to be the one, the main
one in our lives. Beloved of God and sinner friends
who are not saved, seek Him. Seek His righteousness, and tomorrow
will take care of itself. And we see the angel of the Lord
told Peter in verse 8, follow me. Then in verse 9, he brings
this forth, and he went out and followed Him. He followed Him. It was not that it was true which
was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. Now, listen
to this. Listen to verses eight and nine in the Greek literal
Bible. And the angel said unto him, or said to him, gird yourself
about and put on your sandals. And he did so. And he says to
him, wrap around your cloak and follow me. And having gone forth,
he was following. And he did not know that what
is happening by means of the angel is real. He's like, this
can't be real. but he was thinking he saw a
vision. It's like, this can't be real. The chains fell off. We just walked right out of the
prison. This can't be real. We'd be saying the same thing,
wouldn't we? All of us. Peter couldn't believe what he
was seeing. Remember, he'd seen visions before. He thought he was in a trance.
Remember, he had a vision about going to Cornelius' place. Oh,
I'm having another vision. This can't be true. Is this really
happening? It was really happening. And it's a demonstration of our
God's sovereign power, beloved, over all things. So let we who
are the redeemed of the Lord be overwhelmed as we, just as
overwhelmed as Peter is. As we read this, it's amazing.
It's absolutely amazing. Look at verses 10 and 11. When
they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto
iron gate that leadeth into the city, which opened to them of
his own accord. And they went out and passed
on through one street, and forthwith 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 the expectation of the Jews. John
Gill believed that the first and second ward probably referred
to some of the quatrains of soldiers who were commanded to guard Peter. Again, marvel at God's sovereignty,
his control over all things. Peter and the angel passed right
by. Passed right by him. It's such a demonstration of
God's sovereign almighty power. Divine providence should always
be looked upon as absolutely amazing. Look at our salvation. When you look at your salvation
in Christ, be in awe of it. that God was pleased to save
me, you can say. Me. Because we know what we are. My, what a Savior. Your heart
will cry, what a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, my
Lord. He's so wonderful. And so, not a guard, was stirred, not an alarm was
sounded. This makes Peter's deliverance
even more wonderful. These are the enemies of God.
They want to kill him. But it's not Peter's time, is
it? My, oh, my. In verse 10, when
they passed the first and second ward, they came unto the iron
gate that leadeth into the city, and which opened to them of his
own accord. This is one of the main gates
of the prison leading out into the city. Tom, could you imagine if we
were there with him? And all of a sudden, the gates just swung open. What
just happened? Before they even got there, whoosh! My oh my. A locked, secure gate. An iron
gate. Just opened unto them of his
own accord. So this iron gate was for the security of the prisoners.
And our text tells us the gate opened to them of his own accord. In other words, man had absolutely
nothing to do with it. just like our salvation, just
like our deliverance from the prison house of sin. Man has
absolutely nothing to do with it. It's all the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. And all done according to God's
almighty power. It says, verse 10, they went
out and passed on through the street, and forward the angel
departed from them. Gone, just like that. He's delivered,
his mission's over. He's gone. My, oh my. The Lord Jesus sent
his angel to take Peter out of prison. The angel went and did
it. Mission's over. I'm going home. Oh my. This doesn't mean Peter
was left to fend for himself, does it? No. The Lord said, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you to his people. He's still with
him. He's still watching over him. Now let's read verse 11
again. And when Peter was come to himself,
he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord sent his angel
and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all
expectation of the Jews. Peter followed the angel of the
Lord as he thought he was in a vision. He thought, this can't
be real. I must be dreaming or I'm in
a vision. And then he continued walking down the streets of Jerusalem.
He came to himself. He's outside. And there's no
guards around. He's walking freely. He realized this ain't no vision.
This is real. If the Lord saved you, marvel,
it's real. If the Lord's delivered you from
your sins, marvel, it's real. And heaven is a real place that
we will one day be in, all because of the grace and mercy of God
in Christ. It's real. Ah, it's amazing. Let's read verse 11 again. And
when Peter has come to himself, He said, now I know of a surety
that the Lord has sent his angel and hath delivered me out of
the hands of Herod from all the expectation of the Jews. My, oh my, Peter marveled as
he looked and saw he's no longer chained. He's no longer got bonds. There's no more soldiers who
are against him there. He was in prison and now he's
walking down a dark street in Jerusalem saying to himself,
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 Jews. Who's he given all the glory
to? God. Brethren, let me bring this simple
question before all of us and answer this question with a simple
answer. that the word of God plainly
reveals. If God so miraculously delivered
Peter from being executed by Herod, why didn't he deliver
James from being put to death by that wicked king? And the answer is found in Psalm
115, our God is in the heavens and he had done whatsoever he
pleased. It was time for James' homecoming. It was time for him to be delivered
from this body of death, beloved. God wasn't pleased by anything
about the wicked king, by the... Herod had no faith, and the scripture
says, without faith, it's impossible to please God, Hebrews 11, verse
6. However, let us remember this.
about James' death, and about the death of loved ones who've
died in Christ, and about the death of friends who've died
in Christ. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. Precious. James' death was precious in
the eyes of the Lord. Therefore, the death of the beloved
saint of God did please our sovereign Lord. He took him home, beloved,
took him home. But it's not Peter's time for
his departure. Therefore, it's God's good pleasure
to deliver him from the prison that he was in. And may we who
are the redeemed of the Lord see what a valuable lesson we
have before us in this text. A valuable lesson for all of
us to lay to heart. The fact that God has not changed. God has not changed. He's right
now seated on his sovereign throne of power. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the risen, exalted God-man. Right now. Jesus Christ, our
risen King, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There has always been only one
true living God, and God has always done that which pleases
Him. What is our Lord Jesus Christ
doing right now? That which pleases Him. and let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord marvel that it pleased God to save us from all our sins. It pleased him. My, what a Savior. Praise the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit. What a great God we have. Brother
Dan, can you close us in prayer?