I want to begin reading in verse 27, Acts chapter 11 and verse 27. I want to read and make some comments this morning on this incident that took place in the early church, the persecution that had come against them here in the 12th chapter. But let's begin reading in Acts chapter 11 and verse 27.

And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great girth of famine throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt at Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. And about that time, the same time, heard the king stretch forth his hand to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with a sword, And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.

Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarterians of soldiers to keep him, intended after Easter to bring him forth unto the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and the angel smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, arise up quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

And he went out, and followed him, and wished not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came into the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed 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 people of the Jews.

And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened up the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate.

And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then they said, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But he beckoned unto them with a hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

And he said, Go, show these things to James. and to the brethren, and he departed and went into another place. Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter. And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea in their abode.

And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and But they came with one accord to him, and having made Blastus, the king's chamberlain, their friend, desired peace, because their country was nourished by the king's country. And upon a set day Harrod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto the people.

And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god. and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and gave up the ghost. But the word of the Lord grew and was multiplied." Interesting story, isn't it? That's what I want to look at this morning and share with you.

And I want to share it with you because this was the most difficult trial the early church had ever gotten themselves into. Maybe they hadn't gotten themselves into it, the Lord had gotten them into it. They had suffered trials before. You remember if you've studied the first 11 chapters of this book, they had some internal struggles. The with us wasn't being cared for as they ought to have been cared for, and they got a deacon board to take care of the with us.

They had some hypocrites among the church, secret hypocrites, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. They lied to the Holy Spirit about some land that they had sold. The Lord smote them. He killed them. They buried them. So they had some struggles within their own ranks.

But there was persecutions that came from outside of the church. The Pharisees and the scribes and the Herodians And the false religion of their day hated the early church. They hated the gospel that they preached. So often they came against them. One time they said, if we hear of you preaching in the name of Jesus anymore, we'll not only threaten you, but we'll beat you. Well, they did that, didn't they? They beat them.

But that just fell out further to the furtherance of the gospel. Persecution against the church has never in the long run worked. The Lord blesses His persecuted people. Then, of course, Saul of Tarsus. He was a young man and he became a violent man. He persecuted the church, not only at Jerusalem, but into strange cities. He's the one that got Stephen stoned in chapter seven.

So they had persecutions. They had trials all through the early part of the Book of Acts. But this was the most difficult trial that had come upon the church. And I'll tell you that for these reasons. Everything now had turned against them. I read to you about the famine that had come upon them. It was a great famine, the scripture said. The early church, especially in Judea, was spending most of their time just trying to supply daily food. There was no crops in the field. There was no gardens to glean from. There was no fruit trees. The water sources were drying up. It was a great famine. This famine was so bad that it's still written in Roman history. John Gill tells us that.

So now they're spending a lot of their time because nature itself seems like it has turned on them. But there's something else that happened to the early church that had never happened before. Now the government had turned on them. Herod had turned on them. You know, God has set up the government to punish the evildoers and to protect the innocent, the just. But this government had completely turned upside down. They were protecting the false religion who was persecuting the church, and then they turned and began to persecute the church themselves.

Herod tracked down James, that wonderful apostle, and probably cut his head off. The scripture says here that he killed him with a sword, probably decapitated. And he saw that the Jews were so tickled that he did that. So he said, let's take Peter too and let's put him in prison and after Easter we'll bring him forth and I may just decapitate him too.

Now brothers and sisters, I don't know, I've often wondered if this is just a preview of what's going to come on the church in the last days of this world. When she's all but shut down. All of these things came upon the church and it basically shut her down. There was no public preaching going on right here in this chapter. There was no public witnessing. There was no public worship like we were having here today. They were in hiding. They were at John Mark's house hiding out from the authority.

If they showed their faces, they would likely be arrested or worse. This is why I'm saying that this was the most difficult trial that the church had faced in that day. Now, I'm not going to be as bold as Peter. when he said, Lord, though all others deny you, I'll never do it. And I'm not going to be so bold before you this morning and say, if this happened to me, if this happened to the church here and the authorities come in and said, if we catch anybody here at 1806 Hunter Avenue, you're going to jail or worse. What would I do? I'm not going to say, Though ever one of you don't come here, I'll be here. I'm not going to say that. I don't know what I would do. Do you know what you would do?

Have you ever thought of that? I mean, we look back through the history of the church and there are times in the history of the church where the church was so shut down and persecuted. Some faithful men denied the Lord for a day or two. When they took Martin Luther up before the court there, the Catholic court, and they said, if you don't recant, you're going to pay for it. You know what Martin Luther said? I'm not about to recant. You go ahead and do with me what you want to do. I am not recant. That's not what he said. He said, well, you give me a time to think about it. That was the great Martin Luther.

What would you do and what would I do, brothers and sisters? if we face the trial like this. And let's just go ahead and say this. There are times in our life that we do face trials like this. It's not this extreme, but I'm telling you, it's a trial to us, isn't it?

We go through things in our life that we're basically shut down. We come to the end of ourselves. We don't know what to do. We're in a situation inside or the circumstances around us, we don't know how to get ourselves out of it. And we're almost in hiding as much as the early church was.

What did they do? What did this church do when they found themselves in this predicament? Well, there's two things I want us to look at. First I want us to look at what the church did. Then I want us to look a few minutes at what Peter did. First of all, what did they do? We find it here in verse 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

That's the first thing. That is so important. It was so important with them when they reached the place where they realized that everything was out of their control and to go out in a public worship or to go out and preach the gospel would be absolutely no use whatsoever. They'd simply be shut down or killed. And they said there's only one thing left for us to do. And that is to pray to God. That's the answer, brothers and sisters. That's the simple answer. When you have come to the end of yourself, it's time and high time just to get along with the Lord and seek His face.

I'm 75 years old now, and I have had friends, many, many friends that I met decades and decades ago. And they were somewhat older than I was when I met them. And we've been friends for years and years. And I've lived long enough, and they've lived long enough now, that I've lost many old friends. But I've lost... I still have friends that are shut up in their homes.

They're too infirm to get out. They can't travel. They can't go to the worship service. I have friends in nursing homes or in situations like that where other people now have to care for them. Sometimes I will get a call or I'll get a card from a dear old friend and they say something like this, Bruce, I can't do anything anymore. I usually get out of my bed. Sometimes we're able to fix breakfast. Or Bruce, I'm in a nursing home. I'm being cared for. But I just want you to know that I remember you in prayer. Isn't that wonderful?

When we've come to the place where we have no more physical service in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, what do we do then? The best time is to pray. Somebody told me one time, said, Bruce, it's the least we can do is pray. I said, oh brother, please don't say that. That's the most we can do. Prayer to God is the most we can do. That's what the early church did when they could do nothing else.

I don't know how many times I have sat by a dear old dying saint. I remember one especially, a dear old friend of mine, She was dying of cancer. And she would come in and out of consciousness. And when she'd come into consciousness and knew what she was doing, she had a prayer on her lips. On her dying lips, Lord, be merciful to me. Lord strengthened me in my dying hours. Lord received me. And I listened to that dear soul for a few days before the Lord finally took her. And she wasn't bitter. She wasn't mad at God. She wasn't mad at anyone else. But in her dying hour, her prayer was to God in heaven.

And I'm saying, brothers and sisters, when you've reached the end of yourself, And there is nothing that you can do. You can do this. You can pray to God. I wonder sometimes what it is to pray in faith. It is not always believing the Lord is going to do what I ask Him.

Is it? I thought I had a handkerchief. Anybody got a handkerchief? Hey Glenn, I found it. Thank goodness I found it. The Lord Jesus told his disciples one time, he said, when you pray, if you pray believing that you're going to receive it, then you'll receive it. That has happened to me. probably as many times as I've got fingers on one hand. Sometimes I have prayed, and before I quit, I realized, Lord, you're going to give me what I ask. You're going to meet this need. There was no doubt in my mind, and it happened. But most of the time, when we pray, it's not that way. There's another aspect of praying by faith, and it's this.

It's not necessarily believing that God is going to answer them. Did this church believe that God was going to answer them? Did they say, we're living this night and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Peter's going to get out of that prison, the Lord's going to deliver him, and in the morning everything's going to be all right. Did they believe that? They didn't believe that at all. They were amazed. They told Rhoda, Peter's not out there.

Oh, you've seen his ghost. He has died. The Lord has taken him to heaven and he's on his way up and he come by and paid us a visit. I don't know where that come from. But I'm saying the Lord did not give them the assurance that he was going to deliver Peter.

But I tell you, there's another aspect of prayer. And it's a prayer of faith. And it's this. Believing the Lord is able. I tell you, that's a prayer of faith. There was two blind men came to the Lord Jesus one time crying to him and he went in the house to ignore them and they followed him in the house and he said, what do you want from me? And they said, Lord, that we may receive our sight. And he said to them, do you believe that I'm able to do this? Yes, Lord, we believe you're able. And he healed those men of their eyesight.

This is the faith that Abraham had when he said that Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform. That's the prayer of faith, isn't it? One of David Monroe's favorite verses is in Ephesians, I think it's chapter 3 and verse 20, that we know. that our God is able to do exceeding, abundant, above all that we ask or think. And that's the prayer of faith, isn't it? Brothers and sisters, God is almighty.

And He has the ability to deliver us no matter how extreme our situation may seem in our own eyes. We don't see how He can do it. But that's the thing about our God. We don't have to see how He does it if we just know that He's able. Take this assurance with you, dear soul, when you feel like you've come to the end of yourself. When you feel like, Lord, if you don't share me, I can't go another step. Take this confidence with you that you believe that God is able and take that and go to the Lord and see if soon He don't honor such a prayer of faith. You believe He's able? He is able, isn't He? He is able.

I love the way David prayed sometimes. King David was a praying man because the Lord had heard him so often. And he had such confidence in the Lord. And he wanted the saints, he wanted you and me to have the same confidence that he had. And this is the way he told us to pray.

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee and send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Boy, that's saying a lot, isn't it? Help you, strengthen you, uphold you, deliver you, save you. Here's what he said in Psalm chapter 50 and verse 16. He was speaking for the Lord and he said, Call upon me in the day of trouble.

And I will deliver thee, and you shall glorify Me." Call on Me. Do what the early church did. And I'll do something for your good, and I'll do it for My glory. So brothers and sisters, what I could encourage you to do this morning, not only when you're feeling good and things are going well, but especially when you've got in a difficult place. Remember this. Don't just sit and fret and worry yourself sick. Take it to the Lord in prayer. There's the time to go to Christ all along, isn't there? Here's the second thing I want to focus on that I thought was even somewhat amusing. And it's found here in verse 6 that I read to you.

And when Herod would have brought Peter forth the same night, Peter was sleeping. Now, that's amazing to me. Peter was sleeping. I count that to be an amazing thing because I know Peter. And you know Peter. Two soldiers had him chained to themselves. There was two soldiers keeping the gate, the bars of the prison. It was the very night that Herod was going the next morning to bring him in and abuse him and probably decapitate him. And Peter was sleeping.

I just think that's funny. I think that's funny to me, Peter was sleeping. You say, Bruce, why do you think that's funny? I remember the time when a little maid, probably about four foot high and probably about 20 years old, looked at Peter and said, you're one of his disciples.

And Peter said, I'm not. I'm not. I don't know him. And another man came to him and said, Do you want to hear your speech? No, I don't know him. Another one came and said, Do you want to hear it? I know you want to hear it. Man, I don't know this man. I've never seen him before in my life. And he began to curse and swear. Peter was a man who could be intimidated by other men. You find it more than once. You find it in Galatians chapter 2 also. that he was very easily intimidated. It was just a weakness he had by his very nature.

We've all seen people that way, haven't we? Most of you know Don Fortner, big old boisterous Don Fortner. I saw a little girl back him in a corner one day, and he had no idea how to defend himself. Would you believe that? Yes, it happened. That's the way Peter was. He was the spokesman. And boy, he could be very loud and very boisterous. But I'm telling you, when push comes to shove, he sometimes backed down. But he didn't hear. That's why I say this is amazing. He was sleeping. He was sleeping. How could he do this? What was it that this man knew and this man believed that would let him give himself up to sleep? To rest? Well, I'll tell you this much. It wasn't because he was ignorant. It wasn't because he was ignorant that this life was going to come to an end. It wasn't because he was ignorant of the judgment to come, ignorant of eternity.

You can talk to some people, brothers and sisters, and this is the truth. You can tell them that it's appointed for them to die. And you can tell them that after they die, they must come before God and give account of themselves, that there's a day of judgment. That the Lord God Himself will judge every man and assign every man his long home. This world is not the last. There's a world to come. And they can hear you and go home and lay down on their beds and sleep like a baby.

And the reason for that is they're just ignorant. Peter wasn't that way. Peter knew that this world was going to go up in flames. He knew when the Lord comes, the elements were going to melt with fervent heat. He knew that if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? He knew that there was a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. He wasn't ignorant of these things and therefore just went to sleep because he didn't care. He knew all of that. And yet he slept. slept very sound that it took an angel to wake him up. What did he know?

Well, first of all, let me give you six things, and I'll do it right quickly. I won't keep you very long. Let me give you these six things that the Apostle Peter knew, and we know it because his name is attached to these things. First of all, it's not so much what he knew, It's who he knew.

You remember two times this happened. One time, the Lord Jesus asked his disciples, he said, who are these men saying out here that I am? They said, well, you're Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Some of them say you're Elijah. And he looked at Peter right in the eye and he said, Peter, who am I? And Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, Peter, my father's revealed this to you. And upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He said, I know who you are. You're Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Another time this happened, when the Lord Jesus was preaching and everybody left Him. And the Lord looked at his disciples and said, will you go away? Peter spoke up again. He said, Lord, we've got nobody to go to.

And I believe and I'm sure that you're the Christ, the son of the living God. Now, brothers and sisters, why is that important? Well, there's something about knowing Jesus Christ. There's such an excellent knowledge about knowing him. As soon as you know Him, everything changes, doesn't it? It's such an excellent knowledge. You've been ignorant of Him all your life, but now He's been revealed to your understanding. And I'm telling you, it's not only an excellent knowledge, but it calms your heart.

Our Lord Himself said, this is life eternal. If you're here this morning and you want to know what life is, what it is to have life eternal, here the Lord Jesus tells us. He said this is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ. It's not knowing about Christ. It's knowing Christ. It's not having some system of theology that we hold to. It's knowing the Son of God. And Peter knew him. And that's why he slept. Here's something else that Peter knew. He not only knew the Lord Jesus himself, but he knew what the Lord Jesus had done for him in regards to his sin. He knew what Jesus Christ had did for him.

He says it himself. He said two places in his epistle. In chapter 2 of 1 Peter, he said in verse 24, he said, Who his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree. For those who don't believe that sin can be transferred from the sinner to Christ, what do they do about that passage? Peter said, God transferred my sin from me and put it in the body of Jesus Christ. And then he went on in chapter 3 and he said this, Christ has suffered for our sins. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. So he said, Christ took my sins and he was punished for my sins.

So why can't I just sleep? I wonder, I often wonder this because I've had this happen myself and you've had this happen to you. I wonder why Peter was laying there between these two soldiers before he ever went to sleep this night. If he didn't think about that other night, just a few years before this, when he denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times.

Remember how boastful he was? Everybody else may deny you, but not me. James and John will probably do it, but not me. He was so arrogant about it. And the Lord said, Peter, before the cock crowed, before the rooster crows in the morning, you're going to deny me three times.

Don't you love the way, I wish whoever that kid was, that went in here and divided these chapters up. I wish he had left that to his dad to do it. Because it seemed like to me, just reading it, suddenly he says, put a chapter here, put a chapter there. Read the 13th chapter of the book of John, the epistle of John.

And the Lord Jesus said, Peter, before the cock crows, you shall deny me three times. And they put a chapter division. They should have never did that. What did the Lord Jesus say in this very next word? Let not your heart be troubled. You're telling me that he's going to tell Peter, you're going to deny me three times, but Peter don't let it trouble you. Peter went out and wept bitterly when he did.

And if he thought about it as he lay this night, how could he then turn around and go to sleep? I woke up this morning. I told Cindy, I woke up this morning just wide awake. And there was a sin that I had committed when I was a teenager. And my mind, my conscience was filled with shame. I hadn't thought of that sin. And it woke me up. And you know where my conscience ran? When my conscience screams at me, you know where I run to?

Yes, I'm a sinner. Yes, I have sinned. Yes, I've brought shame on the Lord. Yes, I've brought shame on myself. Yes, I've embarrassed others. But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made satisfaction for my sins. He bore my sins. He was punished for my sins. And now He tells me, Bruce, don't despair because of your sins. Don't let this trouble over your sin cause you to flee from me. Live in the faith that Peter lived in.

Somebody wrote an article the other day about an elderly lady. A preacher went to visit her and they said, we think she's Not thinking right, she's just talking out of her head. And the preacher got close to her and the dear old lady was saying, give me justice. Just give me justice. And the preacher said, dear sister, that's not what you want. And she said, yes, give me justice. I want justice. And then she quoted 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21.

God made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It is not just mercy that demands we be saved. Justice demands it. God cannot pay but twice demand. First at Christ's hands and then at Peter's hands. If Jesus Christ atoned for your sins, then you'll never face those sins again. And believe in that, you can lay down and rest, brothers and sisters. Can you not?

The third thing Peter knew, he knew that he had an advocate. He knew that while he laid there between those two soldiers, In this awful trial, he had an advocate with the Father. A very special advocate. Remember the time the Lord Jesus said, Satan, Peter, Satan has desired to have you. He wants to sift you like a bushel of wheat. He wants to blow you like husks with the wind. He wants to rob you of your faith. He wants to damn your soul, but I have prayed for you. Lord, what have you prayed for Peter about?

That your faith fail not. Now, you and I probably believe this. I believe this and I hope you believe this too. If Satan can steal a believer's faith, If He can actually rob you of your faith, if He can bring you to the point that you actually do not believe anymore, then you are gone. Paul said if we continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, and here's the thing, because we have an Advocate that prays for us to that end, we'll never fall into unbelief. Our faith will never be taken from us. We will continue in the faith until faith ends in sight. And here's why. We have an Advocate that's praying to that end.

He gave you faith. You weren't born with faith. You didn't muster it up. He gave it to you, didn't He? It's a mystery. You believe. You actually believe. But you believe through grace. And he that gave you faith can sustain that faith. And he does. He does. And that's why Peter could lay down here and rest because he had an advocate that was able to save him to the uttermost. Here's the fourth thing that Peter knew. And this is important. He knew that Jesus Christ had authority over everything. This is what he said in the third chapter of his first epistle, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, He is gone into heaven. Peter saw Him, didn't he? He saw Him go up and the cloud received Him out of His sight. Peter says He's gone up into heaven. He's on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities and powers are subject unto Him.

Well, these soldiers were powerful, weren't they? Peter couldn't get out in between these soldiers. They were powerful people. King Herod was a powerful king, wasn't he? But here's the thing, brothers and sisters. There's one over them. There is one over them. Can you imagine these soldiers?

These Roman soldiers, they were cruel. They had no mercy upon people. Remember what they did to our Lord? Stripped Him and whipped Him and blasphemed and mocked Him. Can you just imagine as Peter lay between these soldiers that one of them kept punching him and said, man, you've got just a few hours. What do you want us to do with your head? Can you imagine how they harassed him?

Well, Peter did not die the next day, but who did? Hmm? The soldiers did. These soldiers wasn't going to die. You're going to die tomorrow. No, Peter ain't going to die, but you are. You are. Peter, King Herod has the power to bring you up before his judgment seat tomorrow and sentence you to death and cut your head off. No, he doesn't. Not apart from my Savior's authority. Not apart from my Savior's permission. He can't do anything. As a matter of fact, the Lord is going to smite him and send worms to eat him.

And brothers and sisters, there are some powerful people in this world. We've got dictators. We've got presidents. We've got governors. We have all kinds of law enforcement. People with authority. People that can harm you. People that can put you in prison or worse. But let everybody realize this. That before the Lord Jesus Christ, they are nothing. And they simply rule because He set them there. The authority they have is what He's gave them. And when He's finished with them, He'll dispose of them, accept repentance for them. And He'll deliver His church.

I love the way the Holy Spirit puts this. Every time that they had a trial in the early church, here's the way it always ended. And the Word of the Lord prospered. Do you see that there in verse 24? But the Word of God grew and was multiplied. Ain't that wonderful?

A few more things and we'll close. Peter had a precious promise from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Just before Christ ascended back to heaven, He gathered a bunch of His disciples around Him. And the last thing He said to them, I just wonder if he didn't look at Peter while he was talking to everybody else. And he made this statement. I am with you. I am with you. Always. Even to the end of the world. Did Peter live in the assurance of that promise? Reckon that's why he was sleeping? I bet it was.

If you can live in the assurance that Jesus Christ was with you, would you be afraid of anything? Hebrews 13 and 5 says, Be content with the things that you have, for He hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you, so that we may say. The Lord Jesus had said something so that we may say something. He said, I'll never leave you or forsake you, so that we may say, I will not fear what man can do unto me. Would you fear anybody? Would you fear any circumstances if you knew that Christ was with you?

Well, dear child of God, He is with you. I'm telling you, He's more near to you than He would be if He was here physically. If he was here physically, he could walk along with you. But since he's not here physically, but spiritually, he is in you. You can't get any closer than that. When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they'll not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you'll not be burned. Why? I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I am with you. You live in the faith of that brother and sister. You don't have to fear anybody. We reverence people. We respect people. We don't have to live in fear of anybody. Lastly is this.

Peter had a witness. He had a witness of something. The Holy Spirit had witnessed something to him. And boy, this had to fill him with assurance. He said in the fifth chapter of his epistle, in verse 1, he said, I am a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. I am a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. He said in another place, there's an inheritance laid up for me. It's reserved for me in heaven. It's sure as God can make it. Nobody can go up there and rob God of my inheritance. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. We can't relate to that, can we? It don't yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. And you sat here this morning with me, and you feel like a dog, don't you? You feel so unprofitable. You feel so unworthy.

But brothers and sisters, if the Lord has told us in His Word, as unworthy as we are, that there's coming a day when we leave this life, we'll not only go to be with Him, but someday we'll be like Him and share in His eternal glory forever, then just believe it. If you can live here, in this world, knowing that the Lord Himself had sealed your eternal happiness." What would that do for you? I wouldn't be afraid.

It would kill me. One dear old saint of God in the Book of Martyrs, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, they kept slapping him and threatening him. And he said, would you please go ahead and kill me? He said, you're delaying my entrance into the everlasting kingdom of my Lord.

So what does Peter do? He sleeps. He sleeps. We should be resting all the time, even when we're working in the Kingdom of the Lord, be resting. But when there comes a time, brothers and sisters, that you feel like everything is out of your hands, there's nothing you can do, then that's the time to apply these things as Peter did.

Our Father, we thank you for this message. We thank you for your precious word. We're thankful for this account that you've given of this man and this church that relied wholly upon you to the point that this man lays sleeping in the face of death, resting in his Savior. Our Father, we thank You for this beautiful day that You've given us.

You've made it where we've all been able to gather here this morning and worship You. And Lord, we trust that You've received our worship. And You will forgive the iniquity of the holy things. Even in our singing and our reading and our preaching, there's enough sin to shame us. Thank you for the fountain that you opened. Bless this, dear people. Thank you for the food that we're about to receive. Bless our time as we fellowship one with another. In our Lord Jesus' name, amen.