Well, good morning, everyone. If you would care to open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. We'll read the first three verses. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to reclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness. the planting of the Lord. Now, why'd the Lord do all this? Why did he promise all this?

That he might be glorified. I pray that's what will happen this morning, that he might be glorified. Now, as we stand to sing our call to worship, Sean leads us in it. That second verse, that last line is all the way, it is supposed to be over there. I didn't notice that. So don't miss singing that as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship, okay? Let's stand together.

Christ bears the name of all his saints. Deep on his heart engraved, attentive to the state and wants of all his love has saved. In him, a holiness complete, light and perfection shine. and wisdom, grace, and glory meet, a Savior all-divine. The blood which as a priest he bears For sinners is his own. The incense of his prayers and tears perfumes the holy throne. In him my weary soul has rest. Though I am weak and vile, I read my name upon his breast and see the Father smile. Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 443, There Is No Name So Sweet on Earth. 443. There is no name so sweet on earth, no name so sweet in heaven.

The name before His wondrous birth, to Christ the Savior given. We love to sing of Christ our King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. "'Twas Gabriel first that did proclaim "'To his most blessed mother "'That name which now and evermore "'We praise above all other "'We love to sing of Christ our King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. And when he hung upon the tree, they wrote his name above him. That all might see the reason we forevermore must love him.

We love to sing of Christ our King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. So now upon His Father's throne, Almighty to release us. From sin and pain He ever reigns, The Prince and Savior Jesus. We love to sing of Christ our King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus.

O Jesus, by that matchless name, Thy grace shall fill us never. Today as yesterday, the same, Thou art the same forever. We love to sing of Christ our King and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. To Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess Him. And we unite with saints in light, our only Lord to bless Him. We love to sing of Christ our King, and hail Him, blessed Jesus. For there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet as Jesus. All right, let's open our Bibles now to Acts chapter 12. Acts, the 12th chapter. Now, about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, He proceeded further to take Peter also.

Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarterians, 16 of the soldiers, to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in the 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 he 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 wist 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 unto the iron gate which leadeth unto 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 has sent his angel and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many people 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 not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.

Then said they, it's his angel. It can't be Peter. It's his angel. But Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened the door, they saw him. They were astonished. But he beckoning unto them with his hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, go show these things unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went into another place.

We'll end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we're so thankful that you've given us one more opportunity to meet together and to worship your matchless name. Father, I pray that you'd not allow us to take this blessed privilege for granted.

The privilege of being able to worship you, to hear your gospel preached, to hear one more time of your son, to hear of his sufficiency, to hear of his love and care for his people, to hear of his blood which cleanses us from all sin, to hear of his obedience, which is our righteousness. Father, I pray that the name of your son be glorified this morning. Let him be lifted up on high so that all we see is the Lord Jesus Christ, to see him in his glory and his majesty, to see him as the savior of sinners, and that, Father, you might cause us to run to him. Father, I pray this morning that through the preaching of your gospel, the preaching of your son, that by your power you'd be pleased to set your people free from the prison house of sin, the prison of your law and justice, and give us freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That you'd set us free to serve him, to follow him, to love him, to be with him always. Father, I pray you'd bless us for Christ's sake. Bless us, Father, as we attempt to worship. Enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth. For it's in Christ's precious name, for his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. Now, I've titled the message this morning, The Opening of the Prison. This story that we just read actually happened. It happened to real people.

And it ought to show us so clearly, the Lord is able to deliver. Isn't that what Daniel and Darius learned in the, Daniel down there in the lion's den, Darius said, told Daniel before he went down in there, now, your God's able. He will deliver you. But then when they rolled the stone off the next morning, Darius looked down there, he said, is the God who you worship able to deliver you? Yes, he's able.

He's able to deliver us from every trouble, from every trial, from every storm, the Lord's able to deliver us. But the real blessing and the way we ought to look at this scripture and every scripture is to see salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. What happened here with Peter in this physical prison is what the Lord does for all of his people spiritually. He sets us free from the prison. And I want us to look at this whole passage in light of Isaiah 61 verse 1 that we read to open the service. This promise, this prophecy that Christ is coming to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

And if you've been delivered, the Lord's delivered you from the prison house of his justice, from the prison house of sin. You know who did it, and you know how he did it. You can be like Peter at the end of this story. I can tell you how this happened. The Lord delivered me. And that's why I want us to look at this passage this morning. But the first thing we have to look at is this.

Now, we're in prison. How did we get there? How did I get in this prison of sin so that I can't quit sinning and I can't get out of it? How did I get in this prison of God's law that requires a ransom to be paid, but I can't pay it, and I can't set myself free. How did I end up in this prison? Well, we got in this prison because we're born there. Adam condemned us to it. We're born in the prison of sin. We're born in the prison of God's law.

Verse one says, in Acts chapter 12, 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 they'd apprehended him, he put him in the prison and delivered him to four quarterians of soldiers, 16 soldiers, to keep him. You know, I'm sure Herod had heard Peter was in prison once and had been miraculously, you know, delivered. He wasn't gonna let this happen again. 16 soldiers were guarding this one man. And to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. And Peter, therefore, was kept in the prison. Peter was kept in that prison. He was held fast, surrounded by guards.

He's chained. Both his hands were chained, one guard on this side, one guard on this side. And there's no human way out of this prison. There's no human way for him to escape the walls of the prison, the doors of the prison, all these soldiers guarding him. And really, Peter wasn't even trying to get out, was he? He's sleeping.

Now, if you knew that the next day, you know, that you were going to be beheaded or however they planned on killing him, you'd think you'd have a little trouble sleeping. I mean, I had trouble sleeping most nights. I had trouble sleeping last night thinking about the joy of being able to come worship. I mean, I didn't have any troubles or anything. And I still couldn't sleep. Peter's sleeping on a stone floor. Knowing he's going to be put to death the next morning, sound asleep. That's trusting Christ, isn't it? He trusted the Lord. Whatever the Lord's providence is, Peter was fine with it. He was fine with it. But isn't this a picture of us by nature? Not to trust in the Lord so much, I'm fine if somebody kills me in the morning, but being in the prison. That's a picture of us by nature.

We're born in the prison house of sin, and we can't get out. We can't quit sinning. We can't do it. And I'll tell you the reason for that. Our nature is totally depraved. That's all it can do is sin, and we can't get out of this prison house of sin. We're born in the prison house of God's justice. Now, if you pay the price for justice, you go free. But we don't have anything to pay the redemption price, do we? We can't pay the price that's required to God's justice to set us free.

And truth be told, we're not even trying to get out of the prison. We're not trying to get out of it. By nature, we're happy to be there. Now, we're very happy. We might be trying to earn our own righteousness, thinking somehow we'd be set free from this prison. But we're constantly trying and failing to produce a righteousness that'll please God so that he would set us free. We're more than happy to try and fail to earn our own righteousness. We're happy to be there.

We're not seeking another way out. And we're like Peter, we're asleep. We're not just asleep, or we could be easily woken up. We're dead. When the Lord talked about Lazarus, he said, we're going to go see our friend Lazarus. He's sleeping. What he meant was he's dead. He's dead. You and I are born dead in sins. So we don't have the ability to do anything to set ourselves free. We're spiritually dead. And we won't ever be delivered from the prison until we see ourselves as helpless. This is something I cannot do for myself.

Now don't make the mistake that flesh always makes. The flesh mistakes physical life for spiritual life. The flesh says, well, you know, I have spiritual life. I can move. I can choose to raise my arm and lower my arm. I can choose to go here or go there. I can choose to do anything that I want. So I can choose, whenever the mood strikes me, to let Jesus into my heart. I can make that choice. I can make the choice someday whenever I want to be saved and be set free.

That's a great error. That's mistaking physical life for spiritual. Yes, we do have physical life. And yes, we have a will, but our will is enslaved by sin. Our will is in the prison house of sin so that we can't choose to do anything but sin. Because that's all our nature does.

It's just like a tiger or a lion. I like going to the zoo and seeing those big cats, you know. I mean, they just fascinate me. Just seeing the king of the jungle, you know. Well, a tiger or a lion could choose to eat grass like a cow does. They could choose to do that. You know why they don't? It's not their nature. And you and I cannot choose to be righteous because that's not our nature. We're in the prison house of sin where all we can do is sin. And if we're gonna be set free, somebody else is gonna have to do it, aren't they? Well, here's the second thing.

When the Lord sets his people free, he always sends them an angel. Verse five says, Peter, therefore, was kept in the 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 he smoked Peter on the side and raised him up saying, rise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself and bind on thys angels. And so he did. And he saith unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. Now, as soon as this angel appeared to Peter, his chains fell off and he was led to freedom. The angel said, follow me. I'm going to lead you to freedom.

Now I wonder what them soldiers were doing. Those 16 soldiers. I mean, You know, were they so, they saw the angel. Maybe they were so scared they didn't do anything. They were cowering in fear. I mean, I don't know. But they didn't follow the angel to freedom, did they?

But Peter did. Because that angel came to fetch Peter. Now, an angel, the word angel. Angels are, like I said in the lesson this morning, they're real beings. Gabriel, the angel, he's a real being. Angels serve the Lord and do his bidding. But the word means messenger. And angels usually, in scripture, are a picture of God's preacher.

When God is gonna set his people free from the prison house of sin and the prison house of his justice, he always sends us a messenger to tell us about Christ so that we believe him. You know how you're set free from the prison house of sin? Trusting Christ. You know how you're set free from God's justice and condemnation? By trusting Christ. Well, if we're gonna trust Christ, somebody's gotta come tell us about it. So God sends us a messenger. Look at Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sinned? And if you've heard that preacher, you've heard his message, and you've trusted on Christ, this is what you'll say. It's written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. It's pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe. Could God save his people another way? Could he reveal his son to his people another way? I'm sure he can. God can do anything that doesn't violate his holy character. But it's pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

If God's gonna set you and me free from this prison that we're born in, he's gonna send us a preacher with the message of Christ. Now I know that there are a lot of men, women I guess nowadays too, who call themselves preachers. How can I tell if I'm hearing God's preacher or not? Well, there's some telltale signs that you can tell if you're hearing God's preacher or not. He's really preaching the same message as this angel preaches. God's preacher, number one, always has a convicting message, convicting message.

This angel came, the first thing he did, Peter, sound asleep. And there's no gently waking him up. Peter, Peter. First thing he did is smote him. He just smote him right on the side. I don't know if he kicked him or had a staff or whatever. He smote him. Told Peter, wake up. That's a rude awakening, isn't it? That's worse than an alarm clock. But that's the message of the gospel. It always smites the flesh. Believer or unbeliever alike, the gospel always smites the flesh. If you're going to tell the truth, and God's preacher, this is the way he tells the truth.

If you're going to tell the truth about the flesh, you're going to have to say, our flesh can't do anything but sin. We can't do anything to please God. We cannot come to Christ, and we will not come to Christ. This flesh is a rebel against God. It's enmity against God, and it always will be. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. There is nothing you can do with the flesh but kill it. Even when God saves his people, he doesn't change the flesh. The flesh has got to be killed, because in our flesh, we cannot please God. Because of the sinful nature of this flesh, we are completely dependent on God to do all of the saving for us. I don't know about you. I don't like being completely dependent on somebody else. I mean, I don't like it. I found people aren't trustworthy, so I don't like it. I'm a do-it-myself kind of guy, you know. The flesh doesn't like that.

But the gospel says you and I are completely dependent on God. to do all of the saving for us. He's got to do it all from beginning to ending. The flesh has to be smitten. It has to be killed. The power of the flesh has to be taken away or we'll never be set free from the prison house of sin. And we won't be set free until all hope in the flesh is gone.

I can't tell you how many times people have told me over the years. I mean, I'm talking about believers now. Been trusting Christ a long time. Been hearing the gospel a long time. And they tell me, thank you for reminding me again that I'm a sinner. Thank you for insulting me again this morning, because that is the only thing that will make me trust Christ. The flesh must be smitten. Next, God's preacher always preaches an awakening message.

Wasn't it? Whitfield, the priest at the time, they called that the great awakening. This angel told Peter, he smote him, he said, wake up, wake up, quit your sleeping. It's time to be awake. And the spiritual awakening that we're talking about here is the new birth. That's how God wakes his people, it's with the new birth.

You know, when you're asleep, you don't know what's going on around you at all. And by nature, that's us. We don't know anything. We don't know anything about ourselves. We don't know anything about God. We don't know anything spiritual whatsoever. We're dead. So we don't know we're dead. Somebody's got to tell us. Somebody's got to insult our flesh and tell us we're dead. We don't know the trouble that we're in. We don't know the... What's the right word? The frightening? To hear the prophet say, prepare to meet thy God. If I'm preparing to meet God in myself, outside of Christ, what a terrifying prospect.

And we don't know the trouble that we're in. We hear God saves sinners, but we don't know how. We make up our own way, but we don't know how God saves sinners. We don't even know who God is. The error in false religion all stems from this fact. They don't know who God is. They don't know God's holy. They don't know anything about his nature. They don't know how God saves sinners. They don't know who the Lord Jesus Christ is.

You know, they think he's a weak, effeminate man who wouldn't harm anybody. They don't know he's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the king of a kingdom. He's come to save his people from their sin, and only his people. They don't know who he is. They, the dead, think I'm something else. I'm something else. We don't know we're nothing. We don't know that we're just a speck of dust in God's creation. We don't know that we don't deserve the least of God's mercy. And I tell you why we don't know that is we're dead. We're dead.

And the Lord uses the gospel to wake his people up, to give them life. And if God's given you life, now you see. Now you see. Now you're aware. Now you're aware of your sin. You never saw your sin before God gave you, caused you, gave you a new man, a new nature and the new birth, because only the new man can see the sin of the old man. You didn't see your sin. You didn't see your rebellion. Now you're aware. You're aware of your sin. You're aware of God's mercy. Oh, it's sovereign mercy. You're aware of his grace. It's sovereign grace. You're aware. How God saves sinners is through the doing and dying of His Son. And if God's woken you up and given you life, you know how you can tell if God's given you life or not?

You run to Christ. I mean, you run to Him as fast as you can, and you don't ever want to leave Him. You don't ever want to quit trusting Him. That's how you know that God's given you life. And if God's given you life, you're going to be like Peter. You're going to get up, and you're going to follow Him. and you don't ever want to leave him and you don't ever want him to leave you. And why would you? If you know him, if you know his mercy and his grace and his person, why would you ever want to be separated from him? Of course you're gonna follow him. That's the evidence God's given you life. And even now for the believer, we get like the bride there in Song of Solomon.

We get a little drowsy, don't we? We think, it's too much trouble. I've washed my feet and put my nightclothes on, and I'm under the covers all toasty warm, and the Lord's gonna send His messenger and say, wake up! Wake up. He wakes us up with the gospel. He wakes us up with another sight of Christ. We're like that bride, it's like, oh, I smell Him. I smell the myrrh that drips from his fingers and the mercy and grace that drips from his lips. He wakes me up. Got to be woke up sometimes, don't we? The gospel is an awakening message. If we ever hear of Christ, oh, he wakes us up, doesn't he?

Being God's messenger, he always brings a message of light. It's not a message of darkness, not a message of trying to scare you into something. It's a message of light. And our message has to be a message of light because we preach Christ. We preach Christ, and he is the light of the world. We don't preach, and I think this is a very important distinction, we don't preach how to get light. We don't preach how to get light. We preach who the light is.

Because if we know Him, we'll have light. Because He is light. And you know, light and life are really the same thing, aren't they? The first thing God said in creation was what? Let there be light. Let there be light. And that light was His Son. And if He ever speaks to you through the preaching of the gospel, and in your heart says, let there be light, now you're gonna see.

You're gonna see. You're gonna see who Christ is. And if you see Christ, the light, you're going to see everything else clearly. If you see Christ, you're going to see yourself in the light of who he is. And you're going to be like Joe saying, well, I've heard of you, but now I see you. You said, let there be light, and now I see you. Wherefore, because I see you, I abhor myself, and I repent in sackcloth and ashes, because I see myself as I am in the light of who Christ is. If I see Christ, if I have light to see him, you know who I'm gonna see?

Oh, now I see how God saves sinners. It's in him. Salvation's in him. He is the salvation of his people. If I see Christ, if I have light to see Him, to see Him, to see myself as I am, to see how God saves sinners, it's gonna be so abundantly obvious to me, I need God to choose me. There's gonna be no more arguing about election and no more arguing about man's will and God's will. If I see Christ as He is, and I see myself as I am, this is why I'm gonna know, I need Him.

I need Him to choose me. I need him to come die for me on purpose, by name. I don't need him to die and give me a chance to be saved. I need him to die for me on purpose. And that's what Christ came to do. He came to die for his people, and only his people, and every last one of them been redeemed. You know how I know that? I see Christ. God's given me light to see Christ. Of course he can't fail. Of course he can't fail. I need God to give me faith to trust him. I need God to, by the power of His grace, keep me to the end so that I cannot perish. I see. Now I see. Because God said, let there be light. And the way He says to our hearts, let there be light, is this way. Is He sends us a messenger to preach Christ to us.

Now I tell you, wake up! The light's on! Wake up! Whenever we go spend the night with our Dear grandson, buddy, if he wakes up and the sun's up, he comes running into our room, I don't care if it's 6.05 in the morning, he's saying, wake up, it's morning time. That's what I'm telling you and me. Wake up, it's morning time. The son of righteousness has risen.

Now look to him, look to him, and do it quickly. The angel told Peter, do this quickly. Right now, I mean, right this instant, you come to Christ in your heart. Believe me, right now, you beg God to give you faith in Christ. Beg Him to give you light so that you see Him. Do it right now. Do it quickly.

I've never heard anybody say, oh, I wish God had waited, you know, a few years until He revealed Himself to me. I've never heard anybody say that. It's always, I wish I'd have seen him sooner. I wish I would have come to him sooner. I wish I could know him more quickly. Listen, this is an urgent message. This is an urgent message. Come to Christ and do it quickly. Then God's preacher always comes with a message of Christ our righteousness. When the angel told Peter, put your coat on. I know he did that. It's probably cold out or whatever. If you're leaving the prison, here's the other thing, you're not leaving anything behind. You come out, put your coat on. But this is a picture.

Every believer is covered in the righteousness of Christ. And that righteousness of Christ is not just a covering that, you know, over top of our sin and our filth and our guilt that's all still there. You just can't see it because it's covered. No, sir.

Christ's righteousness is through and through, completely righteous in Christ. Righteous by justification in Christ, where he put our sin away. And righteous in the new birth, where we're born with a new nature that's holy and righteous, that cannot sin. This righteousness is not a thing, it's a person. Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He is our righteousness.

And again, to you who believe to have those two natures that are fussing and fighting with one another all the time, don't you listen to that old man. Because you know what that old man's going to try to do? If he can't get you to trust your righteousness alone and your works alone, he'll say, let's compromise.

Trust Christ, but do this too in order to be saved. Do this and add to it. Do this so that you're a better Christian. Do this so that you're more righteous than someone else. If you do that, you've ruined the whole thing. Trust Christ and Christ only. He is our righteousness.

And aren't you thankful? I mean, aren't you thankful that he didn't give you a kind of sort of righteousness that you got to improve as long as you're here? It'd stay full of holes. It'd stay full of holes. If you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, you are as righteous as the son of God. the righteousness of God in him. And if you're clothed in anything else, you're naked. You're naked. Or as Brother Marvin Stoniker says, naked. You're naked, without a covering. But if Christ is your righteousness, you're covered, and you have no sin. Then the angel says, and this is the other thing that God's preacher will say, now if he's faithful to you, and he's faithful to the word, This is what he'll tell you.

Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. You know, the righteousness of Christ affects our walk through this world. If God's caused you to be born again. This is the way you want to live. You strive to live. You strive to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Follow Christ.

You're going to live a life of honesty. You're going to be a merciful person. You're going to be a forgiving person. You're going to be a loving person. You're going to be a faithful person. You're going to be merciful to others because God's been merciful to you. You're going to be gracious to others because God's been gracious to you. You're going to forgive others because God's forgiven you. You're going to be faithful because God's been faithful to you. Now, I know it won't be perfect, but put your shoes on and start walking. Walk after Christ.

Follow him. And the angel told Peter, you follow me. You know, if Peter would have started following that angel and gone out of his first cell, And as he walked down the hall, started looking at all the other cells to see what the other preachers were doing, he might would have missed that angel. Peter wasn't looking anywhere but to that angel. That's what following Christ is. Don't look anywhere else for anything other than Christ alone. Now put your shoes on and follow Christ. And then God's preacher will tell you this.

Gird yourself. Gird yourself. the angel meant was tighten up your belt. And what they did at that time, you know, they had robes on that would hang down around their feet. But if you wanted to move quickly, you had some, you know, a lot of work to do or you needed to move quickly, you tighten your belt, you gird yourself and you take those robes and tuck them in the belt so that you can move quickly. Gird yourself.

And anytime scripture talks about girding yourself, it's always talking about doing the work of a servant. Now gird yourself and serve Christ. Serve him. And you know how you serve Christ? By serving his people. Now gird yourself. You're not your own anymore. You're bought with a price. Now you serve your master.

You look for ways to serve your master and serve his people. If God's preacher's being honest with you, he's gonna teach you that righteousness imputed and righteousness imparted It's going to affect our walk and affect our conduct with one another. Look at yourself as a servant, as the lowest servant, and look to serve your master and serve his people. And then God's preacher comes with a message that sets people free from the law and free from the power of the flesh. That angel led Peter out and nothing stopped him. They came to a door. The angel didn't wave his hand and open the door. He didn't reach and grab the doorknob or pick the lock or use a key to... The door opened of its own accord. God opened it with his hand. That's the power of God. And that's the message that God's preacher preaches to everywhere he goes.

Christ sets his people free from the law. In Christ, you're free from the law. You're free from the demands of the law. You know why? Christ obeyed it for you. You're free from the law ever punishing you. You know why? Christ was punished for you. You're free from the power of the flesh. And you know what the power of the flesh is?

Since it's dead, it cannot believe. It will not believe. Every one of you who trust Christ, you know there was a day you could not believe Christ. Not only did you not believe him, you couldn't believe him. Now you believe him and you can't quit believing him. What happened? It's the power of the message of the gospel that sets you free from the power of the flesh. So now you believe Christ. Aren't you thankful God doesn't save his people and then leave us up to our own devices? If he did that, we'd perish, wouldn't we? But Christ leads his people. Look back at John chapter 10. John chapter 10, verse one.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door unto the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. And when he putteth forth his sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Aren't you glad to be led by Christ, to follow him out? It's not we're just wandering all over hither and yon, and he's behind us. Every step we take, he's taken first. He's taken first. If there's any danger ahead, he's going to meet it first. We follow him. Now follow Christ, following. You know where he's going to lead his people? To the green pastures of his word. to the deep still waters of his word.

He's going to lead his people to the foot of his throne where they can worship him. He's going to lead his people to gather together with his people to worship him together. Public worship is so important. That's where God leads his people. When Peter came to himself and he realized none of this was a vision, but it really happened, what's the first thing he did? He went to where he knew the people of God were. That's where God leads his people.

And you know, when you first hear the gospel, it's gonna seem too good to be true. You're just gonna think, that's too easy. That can't be right. Verse nine in our text says that he went out and followed him and wished not that it was true, which was done by the angel. And he thought he saw a vision. And isn't that how it is when the Lord first allows us to hear the gospel? This can't be right. To be completely righteous. Through the obedience of another? Through the death of another without me doing something for it? God requires something to me and somebody else did it for me? That can't be right.

That I'm forgiven of all my sin, even sin I haven't committed yet? Well, yeah. Every sin you ever committed hadn't been committed yet when Christ died. They're all forgiven. You mean my sin's gone? Now, I still sin. I'm still a sinner. That's too easy to tell me my sin's gone.

You mean that God will accept me in Christ because of who he is and what he's done and not anything that I've done? That despite all my sin, God will accept me just like he would somebody else? Just like he would his son? That doesn't make any sense.

You mean that I'm adopted in Christ? That I'm a child of God? He's adopted me into my family And he's also caused me to be a natural born child. Born again in his family. That he'd treat me like a son and a daughter? That he'd treat me like one of his jewels?

Without me doing anything? You mean to tell me that I don't have to keep the law? That God saves me but now I go back to all this mosaic law and see what I'm supposed to do and how I'm supposed to live and what I should do, what I should not do? You mean I don't have to try to obey the law anymore? You mean to tell me I don't have to fear facing God in judgment despite all my sin?

You mean that God won't save me, he'll save me, and despite how sinful, despite how weak my faith is, despite how far that I still try to wander from him, that he'll never cast me out? That I can't be so sinful that God will finally just say, I've had enough with him, I'm done, and cast him out. Never? That's too good to be true. But you know what the Lord teaches his people? It's so, it's so.

Verse 10 says, and when they are passed 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 was Peter was come to himself.

He said, now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel. has delivered me out of the hand of Herod from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. Look back at Luke chapter one. You know, there are things that the Lord teaches all of his people of a certain people. Peter was certain the angel had led him out and he was free. And all those things when we first hear the gospel that seem too good to be true, the Lord's going to teach us. of a certainty that they're true. Look here at Luke 1 verse 1.

For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth an order, a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us. Every believer most surely believes these things. Even as they deliver them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having a perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. God's gonna teach us to believe these things of a surety, that they're true. And you know how he's gonna do it? By telling us over and over and over again the same old story of Christ and him crucified. of the blood of Christ, of the eternal purpose of God. He's going to tell us over and over and over again, you're free.

You're free. God set you free. Now don't go back to the prison. Don't put yourself back under the bondage of the law and the bondage of the prison. You're free. Paul wrote a whole letter to the church at Galatia to tell them, don't put yourself back under the law. Don't try to mix law and grace. You're free. Enjoy your freedom and follow Christ. You're God's free men. Now serve him freely. Serve him out of love. Serve him out of thanksgiving. Worship him out of a thankful heart.

You're free. Now enjoy that freedom. But here's the third thing. I can't go, I can't quit without mentioning this. The Lord uses prayer. In verse five it says, Peter therefore was kept in prison But prayer was made without ceasing of the church of God unto him, or unto God for him. Now the people were praying, which is exactly what we should be doing. We should be praying.

And you know when we really, really pray, just don't go through the motions of prayer? When we know we're completely helpless to affect the situation. Nothing I can do to affect it. That's when we pray, when we're completely dependent on God. And the Lord answers prayer. The Lord answers prayer. Now, he doesn't answer every prayer as immediately as we would like, but the Lord hears and the Lord answers prayer. And we know that, don't we? We know that. Every person here knows that.

But how often do we think the Lord doesn't hear my prayer, Here these believers were praying, praying that Peter be delivered, and he's delivered to come knocking on the door, and they don't believe it's him. They said, well, if somebody's out there knocking, it's gotta be Peter's ghost, because he's not free. We're praying God sets him free, but we don't believe God set him free. Boy, isn't that us? I mean, that's us, isn't it?

Now, here's what I know about prayer. The Lord has an eternal will and purpose. And everything he does is what he purposed to do before he ever created anything. And he's going to do his will and nothing but his will. And nothing we do in time is going to make God do something different than what he willed to do from all of eternity. God's going to do his will no matter what.

But somebody's going to say, then why pray? I mean, if Lord's just going to do his will anyway, why pray? Well, the simple answer to that is because the Lord told us to. The Lord taught us to pray. He told us to pray. Now look at Ezekiel chapter 36. We know the Lord's gonna do his will. We know that. We know he's gonna do his will, but before he does it, he's gonna put it in the hearts of his people to pray for it. Ezekiel 36 verse 21.

But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whether they win. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether ye win. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord. saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen. Now remember, Israel's in bondage at this time.

I'm gonna take you from among the heathen, gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you should keep my judgments and do them. And you should dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you should be my people, and I will be your God.

I will also save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn, and I will increase it and lay no famine upon you. I'll multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord.

Be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. For thus, thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by. And they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and the desolate and the ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, Plant that which was desolate.

I, the Lord, have spoken it. I will do it. Well, hallelujah. That's everything the Lord's gonna do. I'm just gonna wait till he does it. Isn't that glorious? I just can't wait till the Lord does what he promised to do. We're just gonna sit here and do nothing and wait. No, sir. Look at the next verse.

Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. See, before the Lord does anything, he puts it in the heart of his people to pray for it, and then he does it. That's the Lord's way. That's the Lord's way.

So if something's on your heart, pray about it. Pray about it. Anytime the Lord saves anybody, I can promise you this, somebody's been praying for them. Anytime the Lord delivers somebody from a trial, I can promise you this, somebody's been praying for them. Because before the Lord does anything, he puts it in the hearts of his people to pray for it. Then pray. Pray. Ask God to save you. Ask God to save your loved ones. Ask God to save people from this community. Ask God to show us his glory. Ask God to feed us and edify us through the preaching of the word. Ask God to make us faithful.

Because you know what? This is true just as much as it was in Ezekiel's day and Peter's day. The Lord's still in the business of answer and prayer. saving his people and leading them out. Then let's pray that the Lord do what he promised to do. All right, hopefully that'll be a blessing to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you for this glorious sight of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, everything that he is and everything that he's done for his people. Father, we thank you.

And Father, I pray you take this word as it's been preached and apply it to each heart here. And Father, you'd set us free from the prison of sin and cause us to trust Christ. Set us free from the prison of your judgment. Show us that Christ has paid the redemption price for us and cause us to trust him, cause us to run to him and cling to him. Father, show us your glory, we pray.

For it's in Christ's name, for his sake and his sake alone, we pray, amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 126, and we'll stand and sing Rock of Ages, 126. Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flow. Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These four sins could not atone, Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.