his word. I just wanted to mention to some
of the young people a couple of things from this chapter 12
of Acts which we've just read together. And to just point out,
as it were, the way in which the Lord was pleased to look
after his servant, Peter, even although he was in such a dire
situation. And it is something for us to
remember that even although our circumstances may seem to be
very terrible and very frightening, and to cause us a lot of worry
and concern, the Lord knows, and he knows exactly where we
are, and he knows exactly what we need. There were several Herods
in the Bible, in the New Testament here, and it seems as if each
one of these Herods, these men, was as cruel as the next. This one that we read of in Acts
chapter 12, killed James. And we discover that he killed
James the apostle, that was the brother of John, because he thought
that it pleased the Jews. The Jews were opposed to the
apostles, they were opposed to the gospel. And this wicked ruler,
this wicked king, he put pleasing these men, before the truth. Being a man pleaser before doing
what was right. Doing what was right would have
been to leave these people in peace because they weren't harming
or hurting anyone. They weren't a problem in their
society. But because Herod wanted to ingratiate himself, he wanted
to please the Jews. He took James and he killed him. He killed him with the sword,
sending one of his soldiers, no doubt, to execute this disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we find this happening in
the Bible and we find it happening in the world. And such corrupt
leaders are a disgrace in the world. and they will be judged
by God as Herod was at the end of this chapter. He saw how much
James' death pleased the Jews and so he decided that he would
kill Peter as well. And that was the simple motivation
that was in his heart and he planned to kill Peter, the Lord's
disciple too. Peter's imprisonment is an amazing
account of God's deliverance. These four quaternions of soldiers
probably meant that he had 16 men guarding him. Some seemed
to be at each side of him, holding him in chains, and others at
the door of his cell, and perhaps it was a group of men who took
it in turns to watch him, as it were, by shift. but there
were always plenty of people looking after Peter. Herod wasn't
going to let Peter slip out of his hands. And he planned to
wait until the Passover was over. We're told that this was the
time of the Days of Unleavened Bread. A little reference to
Easter there in verse four, but that's really speaking about
the time of Passover. And Herod planned to kill Peter
when the Passover came to an end. And the night before Peter
was due to lose his life, he was asleep, chained between these
two guards. And it's lovely that Peter was
calm at this time. He was calm enough to sleep,
even although his execution was due for the next day. And as
he lay asleep, we're told that God sent an angel. Peter's chains
fell off when the angel came into his prison cell, and Peter
was freed. The angel had to, as it were,
knock him, give him a little punch, a little dunt, and say,
say, Peter, waken up, get dressed, put your coat on, put your shoes
on. We're going out into the cold
night. And Peter, it seems, wasn't sure
what was happening, and he wondered if he was having a dream. But
soon the angel was leading him out, past the soldiers, past
a large iron prison gate, which opened of its own accord without
any help. It was a miracle from God. And then Peter was left in the
street and the angel went away. Having freed him, he left Peter
to decide where he would go. And we're told that he went to
the house of Mary. And there are a lot of Marys
in the New Testament. And this one was a sister of
Barnabas. We remember Barnabas. He was
the one who had gone and got Paul from Tarsus and brought
him back to Antioch. Well, this was Mary's house in
Antioch. in Jerusalem, and it must have
been quite a big house because there were a lot of people there
using it for a prayer meeting. And Mary was the mother of John
Mark, and all of the people were there praying for Peter's deliverance
when Peter went up and knocked on the door of the house. And
there was a little girl called Rhoda and she could hear something
at the door. So she went to the door because
she could hear Peter knocking the door. But it seems as if
she was afraid or concerned to open it. And then she recognised
Peter's voice. But instead of opening the door
for Peter, she ran back into the house and said, Peter's at
the front door. And it's almost an amusing story
how Peter's standing there at the door, waiting to get in,
and all the people are arguing inside about whether it's really
him. I found it quite funny. These people were praying that
Peter would be released. And when he was, they couldn't
believe that it was actually him. Well, it wasn't funny for
the guards. And we discover that when Peter
was discovered to be freed, that the guards were all killed the
next day. They thought they were going
to kill one man, but instead they killed 16. It shows us just
the kind of wicked man that Herod was. And next we're told that
Herod went down to Caesarea. We know where Caesarea is because
that's where Cornelius was and Peter had been down there just
shortly before at Cornelius' house. And Herod, perhaps on
a feast day or for some special occasion, was all dressed up
in his fancy clothes and he made a speech and all the people that
were there listening to him flattered him and said that he was more
than a man, he was a great man, he was an honourable man, in
fact they said he sounds more like a god than a man. Oh, it's
a terrible thing when people have pride and when people allow
flattery to enter into their hearts and their minds. We all
need to remember that we are only, all of us, sinners before
a holy God. And we are just like little worms
as far as God is concerned. And we should not think of ourselves
more highly than we really are. And the angel of God came down
at that moment and slew Herod. And we're told that he died there
or shortly afterwards. The church grew and prospered
and multiplied. And then we discover right at
the end of the chapter that Barnabas and Paul took this young man,
John Mark, who was actually Barnabas's nephew, and took him with them,
probably back to Antioch. And from there, they would all
go on the missionary journeys that we'll read about shortly.
But I just wanted to touch one thing on this story before we
left it. And I think that the picture
of Peter's release here is a lovely picture. It's a fact. This is
what happened. We believe that this actually
happened in Peter's life. But it's a picture also of what
happens to every sinner. Because as a sinner, we are bound
in our sins. We are chained with our sins
and with our guilt and with all of the fleshy nature that is
part of our lives. But this shows how when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes, when he comes in power into a person's life,
it's like they are set free. It's like they are liberated. Their chains are taken off. The
chains of sin and the chains of guilt and the chains of the
old nature and the old man are taken off. And we are no longer
ruled by the passions of our wickedness. but we are ruled
by a new King, King Jesus, who lives in our hearts and in our
lives. It doesn't mean to say that everything
goes great after that because there are always problems and
we find that Peter had to go away and hide because there were
those who still wanted to kill him and to hurt him. But spiritually,
Here is a picture of a believer being released from captivity
by the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ who died upon the cross, who shed his blood, who gave
his life, that we in turn might have the benefits of his great
salvation. And we have life because the
Lord Jesus Christ died for us. A messenger comes preaching the
gospel, just like that angel came to Peter's prison cell.
And when we believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
chains fall off, the doors of our prison cell are opened. and
we can go free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening
and for hearing that little account from Acts chapter 12, and I trust
it will be of benefit to us.