The twelfth chapter of the book
of Acts. I've preached from this chapter several times. I want
to look at it tonight in a little different light. I hope the Lord
will come and bless His Word. Acts chapter 12. I want to read
this account where James was killed and Peter was put in prison.
Then I want us to look at it for a few minutes. Acts chapter
12. Let's begin reading in verse 1. Now about that time, Herod
the king stretched forth his hand to vex, to harass and trouble
certain of the church. And he killed James the brother
of John with a sword, and because he saw it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded further to take Peter also. These 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, intending after Easter 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. 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 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, knew 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 that 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 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, to answer, 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 is his angel,
his spirit, his ghost. 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 unto James and to the brethren. And
he departed and went to another place. Now 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 boat. And Herod was highly displeased
with them of Tyre and Sodom, 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 Herod arrayed
in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto
them. 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 was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the word of
God grew and multiplied." Now I know this is a true story.
It's a literal story. I preached on this before, and
we preached it as a literal story. This really happened. This really
happened. James, this great apostle of
our Lord Jesus, was slain, probably decapitated with a sword. Peter
was apprehended and put in prison under guard. Sixteen soldiers
were guarding this man. Can you imagine that? Sixteen
soldiers. He was in the innermost prison. There was an outer gate, and
then a prison yard, and then another door, and behind that
was the inner prison. That's where you put your maximum
security criminals, the chief offenders. And he said, after
Easter, we're going to bring him forth, we're going to give
him to the people, and if they say he's to die, then we'll kill
him. We'll kill him like we did James. But on the very night,
the eve that he was to kill Peter, This angel came, light shined
into his prison house, he smote him on the side, raised him up
and delivered him, and he went back to the church. Now that
was a great miracle, wasn't it? And it literally happened. It
literally happened. But I want to look at it tonight
as an illustration, maybe an allegory. Maybe you could call
it an allegory. The condition of poor sinners. Hear Peter, and I don't think
Peter would mind if we used him as an illustration of poor lost
sinners. What is the condition of a poor
lost sinner? And I think tonight we can see
from Peter's situation, and I think if we'll use it for sinners'
good and for God's glory, I don't think Peter would mind. Do you?
Let's do use it that way. And we'll try our best, and I
think we'll stay in the Scriptures to look at these things. So let's
look at this, let's look at Peter's condition, and we'll see here,
illustrated in this man's imprisonment and bondage, we'll see what kind
of condition is a lost man in. And if we'll see this, it'll
help us in the latter part of this message to see some things. First of all, what was Peter's
condition? Well, we're told here in our
text that he was kept in prison. He was kept in prison. Verse
4, when they had apprehended him, he put him in prison. Now there's the first thing I
want to say about a poor, lost sinner. What's his condition?
Well, he's in prison, isn't he? He's in prison. In prison. And Peter here was in prison,
and not just in a prison, but he was in that inner prison,
as I said, where they put the maximum security offenders. He was in the inner ward. But you know something, brothers
and sisters, Herod's prison, though he made it as secure as
he could make it, It's nothing to compare to the prison of original
depravity. That's the prison that a sinner
is in, original depravity. A sinner is bound within a fallen
nature. That's a prison, isn't it? He's
bound within himself and cannot get out. I fear that some people
think when mankind fell back in the Garden of Eden that he
was put on house arrest. And he had one of these bracelets
put around his ankle that he can take off and escape. But
that's not the prison we're talking about here, is it? What is the
condition of a poor, lost sinner? Well, he's in such a prison that
he can't escape by himself. I mean, the Scripture talks about
the Ethiopian not able to rid himself of his blackness, or
the leopard not being able to rid himself of his spots. I tell
you, an Ethiopian could do that, and a leopard could do that,
sooner than a prisoned sinner could deliver himself from this
prison house of depravity. It's a prison. Now, you look
yonder at poor Lazarus laying in that dead tomb, and he's been
there so long that he's stinking. Now, isn't that a picture of
a lost man? He's dead in sin. Now, that's a prison. That's
a prison. And the longer he lays there,
if anything, the worse he gets. He's just like poor Lazarus that
lays in that prison, and he's stinking, and who could ever
dream that Lazarus could bring himself forth from that tomb?
It's impossible, ain't it? It's impossible. Not to the Lord
Jesus Christ says, Lazarus, come forth. For a man to come out
of this prison, I tell you, the Lord has to come down from heaven
in the Holy Spirit and shine into His cell and bring him out
of that prison house. We look at poor Peter Lamb there
and we'll say, my goodness, he's in jail. He's fast in prison. Is there any way he can get out?
And we look at the condition he's in and what conclusion do
we come to? There's no way he's going to
get out of this prison. No way he's going to get out. That's
nothing compared to the prison of original sin, total depravity. And when we realize that, I tell
you what, it just makes us rejoice when we remember verses like
this. I want you to hold the axe because
we're coming right back over there. But look over in Isaiah
chapter 61, a couple of places here. 61 and Isaiah chapter 42.
Look at Isaiah chapter 61. What the Holy Spirit tells us
concerning our Savior, our Deliverer. Isaiah chapter 61, and look at
verse 1. The Lord Jesus quoted this verse
when He was here upon this earth. Look at it. This is Him speaking
here of Himself. Isaiah 61.1, The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach glad tidings to the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound." So this is a good description
of a lost man, isn't it? He is indeed in prison. Now somebody
would probably say, Bruce, he comes and opens the door But
He don't get you out. The door is open and you've got
to bring yourself out. Well, look back in chapter 42.
I mean, when the Lord Jesus comes and delivers us out of our prison,
I'm telling you, He must do more than just open the door. He's
got to bring us out. Look what He says in chapter
42. And we know who this is speaking of. Look in verse 1. Behold My
servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I
have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up
his voice, lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break, aren't you thankful
for that? And smoke and flack shall he
not quench? He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall never fail, nor be discouraged,
till he have set judgment in the earth, and the owl shall
wait for his law. And look what the Father says
to him in verse 6. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness, my son. I will hold your hand and keep
thee. I will give you for a covenant
of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, look, to open the
blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that
sat in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is
my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images." So here we have a sinner, and his condition
is he is in prison, in the prison house of sin, in the prison house
of total ruin. And somebody must come and open
the door and bring him out. That's the first condition of
a sinner. We see that in Peter. But look
back at our text again. Look in Acts chapter 12 again
and look at verse 6. We see something else about 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. The second thing we see about
a sinner, he's in darkness. Peter was in the dark. The lights
had been turned down, the lamps had been blown out, and now it
was dark in this prison house. If Peter opened his eyes, what
did he see? He saw these faint images of
the prison walls. and the bars of the doors out
in front of him. That's all poor Peter could see.
And there's a darkness more dreadful and more blinding than this natural
darkness Peter lay in. What could be more dark and blinding
than the mind that's blinded by sin? That's a true blindness,
ain't it? The Lord Jesus said this is the
condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness
rather than light. A love of sin, a love of darkness. That's awful. That's awful to
be in prison and now to be in the dark where you can't even
see how to get out if you could. What a darkness those are in
who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what a darkness
many remain in who have heard it because they've only heard
it with their natural ear, but they're blinded to the glory
of Jesus Christ as the Savior of poor sinners. They can't see
that, can they? They can't see that. How often
do we tell people of the redeeming grace of Jesus and their need
of it? But they can't see it. I have
talked to people, and some of you mentioned it just the other
day. You talk to people and you try to tell them their condition,
and you try to tell them of Christ and His saving grace and His
glory, and you see this film. It's almost like a film that
goes across their eyes. And they're smart people. They're
educated people. But when you talk to them about
spiritual things, they can't see it, can they? There is this
darkness in their mind. Darkness. Just like Peter was
in. Only a spiritual darkness. And
you know what has to happen, brothers and sisters? They have
to be given light to see. Just as angels' mercy came down
from heaven and shone in Peter's cell, that has to happen in the
mind. There has to be light given us. I love that passage of Scripture.
where the Lord Jesus came into the coast of Tyre and Sodom in
Matthew chapter 4 and it said, ìThe people which sat in darkness
saw a great light. And to them which sat in the
regions and the shadow of death, light is sprang up.î They sat
in darkness. Thatís the sinner, isnít it?
Over in the Old Testament where this is first quoted, it said
they walked in darkness. Here it said they sat in darkness.
I imagine they got tired of stumbling around, don't you? So they just
sat down. They said, there's no use. We
can't get out of this darkness that we're in. So they just sat
down in despair. And there they sat until Christ
came. Then lights sprang up. Lights
sprang up. Paul says it like this, you were
sometimes darkness. You not only were in darkness,
but you were darkness. But now you are light in the
Lord. And Peter says He has called
us out of darkness and translated us into His marvelous light.
His light. So what's the first two things
we see? Well, He's in prison and now
He's in darkness. The poor sinner is in prison
and he's in darkness. He could not redeem or deliver
himself if he wanted to, can he? He can't. Here's the third
thing that Peter tells us about a poor sinner. In verse 6, he
was sleeping. Did you notice that? He was sleeping. And when Herod would have brought
him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping. Now, if it ain't
bad enough to be in prison and in the dark, It makes it even
worse when a man's there and sleeping, doesn't it? Maybe it
shows how comfortable sinners are in sin. He's sleeping. He's sleeping. Now, I'm glad
we've looked at this before in the natural sense, and it's a
wonderful thing that Peter could sleep the very day that it had
purpose to kill him. But we're using it tonight in
a little different way, aren't we? This sinner is asleep in
jail and in the dark. And what does the Bible say,
brothers and sisters? The angel smote Peter on the
side and woke him up. He smote him on his side until
he came somewhat to himself and said, Arise! Arise! You know I wish God would do
that here, don't you? Isn't that what we long for the
Lord to do? We long I know it hurts. It hurts to be smitten. But would
you rather, you've got a dear loved one, would you rather God
come and smite his conscience and wake him up, though it may
hurt him for a while, is to let him sleep on? I talk sometimes about awakened
sinners. Well, here is why I talk about
awakened sinners. A sinner is asleep. He's asleep,
and he has to be awakened. What did the Apostle Paul say?
Let us not sleep as do others. For they that sleep, sleep in
the night, and they that be drunk are drunken in the night. Boy, some people don't like to
be woke up. You go try to wake a sinner up,
and it's like waking one of the kids up on a school day. And it's just difficult to get
them awake. And when they wake up, they're so grumpy, aren't
they? You ever seen somebody, you wake up and they're just
grumpy? And you can't deal with them. You know? And you let them
alone and what they do? Go right back to sleep. You come
back and say, Hey, it's time to get up. Oh, leave me alone. You ever seen anybody that way?
That's the way sinners are. That's the way sinners are. I
remember teaching a boys class of teenagers. in the church where
we used to go. And this one kid in there professed
to know the Lord, but he was just an ungodly rascal. And I
was teaching to him, and he got upset. He really got disturbed
and was doubtful about his condition. And I'm glad he was, because
he's in a bad condition. And he went and told his dad,
he said, that's bothering me. What he's saying is bothering
me. And his dad came and got on to me and said, you're disturbing
my son. And you know what his problem
was? He didn't want to be woke up. He was asleep. That's what happens to sinners
if the Lord doesn't come and smite their conscience and wake
them up. They'll sleep the sleep of death.
How many do we know of, brothers and sisters, have died in their
sleep? They've died in their sleep and
they woke up in eternity in misery and ruin. Oh, thank God when
He comes. Thank God when He finds His people,
and they're in prison, and then they're in dark, and they're
sleeping. And He spots them and says, it's time to get out of
here. And He wakes them up and refuses to let them go back to
sleep. That's where they are. That's
where they are. Asleep. Asleep. In prison, in
the dark, and asleep. But boy, it doesn't stop here.
It really gets worse. Here in verse 6, we have the
fourth thing. about Peter's condition. And
when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter
was sleeping between two soldiers, look at this, bound with two
chains. He was bound with chains, two
of them. I imagine he was bound to each
soldier, don't you? On each side of him, it seems
to imply that he was. And if Peter tried to get loose,
what would happen? He'd arouse that soldier and
he would just jerk him back down and says, be still. He couldn't
get free. He was bound by these chains. You know what these chains represent
to me sometimes? It represents to me the bondage
of sinful habits. We get bad habits when we're
kids. That's why we should be careful
with our children, who their company is. They run around with
the wrong company and they develop bad habits. And boy, those bad
habits are like chains. They bind a person's soul. And he can't get loose from those
bad habits. I remember when I was young,
when I tried to get loose, I couldn't. Those habits, lust, sinful pleasures,
those people that are bound to drugs, they're bound to alcohol,
they're bound to all kinds of sinful pleasures, and you know
something, brothers and sisters, they can't get loose from them. I know some people has the willpower
and they come outwardly away from some things, but I tell
you one thing, sins, Sinful habits can bind a person like chains
tied to soldiers and people can't let loose from them. I don't
have any young people that you see that is bound by such lust. They'll tell you, there's no
hope for me. I can't get out. I don't even want out anymore.
I can't get out and I don't want out anymore. I'm frustrated.
I'm tired of fighting with this. There's no hope for me. Well,
there is hope. There is hope. A man is bound
with these sinful habits, whatever they be, and can't quit them
on himself. But I tell you one thing, there's
a Savior who comes to save us from our sins. And I don't care
how binding the habit is, when the Lord saves us, He can deliver
us from that. Can He not? Shana was praying
in his prayer tonight, thanking the Lord. In years past, don't
tell them where you'd have been, Shana. I know how that life is. I know how difficult sometimes
it is to come out of it. I had sinful companions that
I couldn't get away from. I loved them and they loved me. I loved to party. Loved that
filthy life. Using all kinds of vulgar language,
it just slips out. It just slips out. You talk about
cussing like a sailor? That's the way I was when I was
lost. I couldn't quit doing it. I tried to watch my mouth, but
it slipped out. Those sinful habits. Before you
knew it, you was telling somebody a filthy joke. But I tell you
what, when the Lord comes, He lets go of those chains, doesn't
He? And He delivers a man from those bad habits and sets him
free. He sets him free. Listen to what he said. He came
to preach deliverance. Ain't that what he said? To the
captives. He came to preach deliverance
to the captive. He came to set us free from sin's
bondage. If the Son shall make you free.
Oh, you're free indeed. You're free indeed. I tell lost
people this all the time. I tell young people this all
the time. You can't free yourself. I tell them, first of all, you
better be careful. You better be careful. You can
get in habits you can't free yourself from. Then I tell them
this, there's one who can free you. I don't care what you're
bound with, there's one who can free you. David said it like
this, God setteth the solitary in families. He bringeth out
those which are bound in chains. He brings them out. Fetters of
iron and brass is nothing to him. He breaks them, doesn't
he? He breaks them. Fifthly, look
here's something else. In verse 6 we see it again. He was guarded between two soldiers. In verse 6, sleeping between
two soldiers. And it wasn't just these two
soldiers. There was fourteen more. There was two sleeping
with him on either side of him, bound to him. And some more of
them was on the outside of that door. And the rest of them was
there guarding the courthouse, guarding the door, guarding Peter.
Sixteen soldiers guarding Peter. Boy, that's nothing to a poor
sinner. That's nothing when you consider who's guarding a poor
sinner. He don't see it. A poor lost
sinner don't see this, but you know something? He's being guarded
too. There's somebody that is guarding the heart, guarding
the door, guarding the prison house of the sinner. Did you
know that? Satan. Satan and his fallen angels
are guarding the mind. I tell you what, they guard people.
They think, boy, we don't want them to go hear the Gospel. Put
every obstacle in their way that you can imagine. We don't want
them to go hear the Gospel. And if they do go hear the Gospel,
you create such a prejudice in their mind that they won't listen
to it. I remember we had a lady come
here on occasion. And I'm telling you what, every
time that woman came here, she left as mad as... I don't care
what I preached. She found something wrong with
it. I remember one Christmas morning, some of you remember
this, she was sitting right where Wayne was sitting, her and her
husband were sitting right there. And I was preaching on Matthew 121.
He came to save His people from their sin. And one of my point
was, His people? Who's He come to save? His people?
And I made the statement. I said, do you hate God's election? And she said, yes! Remember that? Yes! And boy, when she left here,
she was mad as she could be. And what was going on in her
mind? Satan was guarding her prison
door. Satan was stirring her up to
make her mad. He didn't want her to hear the
Gospel, this good news. That's His business, isn't it?
That's His business. Our Lord Jesus talked about that
strong man, didn't He? Lord Jesus called Satan that
strong man. And what does he do? He keeps
his goods. He keeps the heart. He keeps
it hard. Keeps it prejudiced. keeps it
with its sinful thoughts and its self-will. He keeps His goods,
and no man can enter unto the strong man's house and spoil
his goods, except he first bind the strong man. There is a strong
man. Either Satan is there or his
fallen demons is there, and they are guarding that heart as best
they can. Just like these soldiers was
guarding Peter to make sure he didn't get away. It was impossible for Peter to
free himself. And I tell you, brothers and
sisters, it's impossible for a man to free himself from the
clutches of Satan. We're no match for him, are we?
Not even after the Lord saves us. Look what he did to Job.
Look what He did to Peter. We're no match for Him. How much
more a poor lost man? This is the condition that He's
in. Satan has never willingly let
a sinner escape, and he never will. Not until Jesus comes and
says to him, let him go. Come out of him, you unclean
spirit, and let him go. Let him go. Oh, if there was
no small stirrer Major about Peter being freed from this prison.
There should be no small stir about us when we're delivered
from Satan's captivity. But sixthly, notice this. Notice
this. Tells us something else about
Peter. And this is something important. It was on the eve
that he was to die. On the eve that he was to be
murdered. And when he would have brought him forth, the same night
The next morning he was to bring him forth. That was Peter's condition. That's the condition of the poor
sinner. Not only is he in prison, not only is he in darkness, not
only is he in chains, not only is he bound, not only has he
got someone guarding him, but his time is running out. His
time is running out. His time is short. His time is
short. We just got news this week, some
of you know about Susan McDonald. She was the dear lady that we
preached to down there at the waters, the nursing home. And
she had been in such despair, and the Lord saved her. We heard
about her daughter. This week, her daughter, her
young daughter died. Wasn't that amazing? We would
have thought, you know, Well, Susan's going to die. We saw
what kind of condition she was in health-wise, but who would
have ever dreamed that her daughter would have died? A young woman
would have died. She died just this week. We don't
know, do we? We don't know. The Lord could
come to us and say, this night your soul will be required again. I was 23 years old when the Lord
saved me. But looking back now, it scares
me to death. And I'll tell you why it scares
me. Because our life is just like a vapor. From 23 years old
to 66, my life just flew by. We're on the brink of eternity,
aren't we? If we live to be 100, we're on
the brink of eternity. We're on the eve of eternity. Wayne talks about his age. And
you don't see many people your age, the Lord saves Wayne. How
old were you when the Lord saved you? Sixty-two. Sixty-two. How many people do
you know sixty-two years old the Lord saved? You don't hear much of it, do
you? Boy, you talk about late in life. Late in life. I tell you, looking back on my
conversion now, I thought, boy, I was right on the eve of eternity.
And you may be here tonight, and you may be young, you may
be old, I don't know. But I tell you, we're all on
the eve of eternity, aren't we? How many people never got out
of this prison? How many people stayed there,
was bound there, could not get out of there, this spiritual
prison? and died there. Oh, don't you thank God? Don't
you bless God that those who have been given to His Son in
elective love, He won't let them die there? I don't know. He may go deliver them the last
hours like He did Susan MacDonald, like He did that thief upon the
cross. But I tell you, if they are His,
If their pardon has been sealed, He's going to get them, ain't
He? He's going to that prison house, and He's going to bring
them out, all the way out. And I tell you, they're going
to bless the Lord for it. He breaks the power of cancelled
sins, and He sets the prisoners free. His blood can make the
vilest clean, His blood availed for us. Me. Every elect sinner
can sing that King. So there you have it. There you
have it. There He is, the poor sinner. That's where He's at.
That's where He's at. Look at verse 18 and verse 19
right quickly. Look at this. Here's the reason
that we go into detail and explain the sad and dreadful condition
and how secure He is Lostness is. Because we want people to
know that everybody that is saved from sin has experienced a miracle. What is it that delivered Peter?
A miracle! And everybody knew it, didn't
they? Look at what they said about it in verse 18. And as
soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers. What had become of Peter? No small thing. What has happened? Everybody, the soldiers, the
soldiers. What's happened to Peter? Where'd
he go? And even Herod was out looking
for him. Where'd he go? What happened to Peter? You know
the devils. Satan, he's not God. He's just a creature. He's a
mighty creature, but he's just a creature. Just like us, he's
a creature. And he's not omnipresent. He's
not everywhere, is he? Only God is everywhere. He's
not omniscient. He don't know everything. He's
not omnipotent. He's not almighty. Only God is
that. Satan and his fallen angels are
just creatures. They don't know everything. They
can't be everywhere. And don't you know sometimes
when the Lord saves a sinner, and they've been guarding him,
and they've had to run over here and say, well, we need to concentrate
on this fellow, and the Lord comes and saves this fellow while
they're gone, and here they come back and they say, what happened
to him? What happened to him? I can imagine when the Lord saves
Saul and Tarsus. And I bet you Satan was keeping
an eye on him. Because boy, he was Satan's little
boy, wasn't he? Satan was raising him up to be
somebody. And the Lord came and snatched him. And I wonder if
those devils weren't coming and saying, we need Saul. We need
Saul. Where is he? Where's Saul? Oh, he's gone. He's gone. Where's he at? The
Savior's got him. Jesus Christ delivered him. And
there's no small stir in hell every time Jesus saves a sinner.
just like there was among these soldiers. I bet you, I bet you, when the
Lord saves you, Shannon, I bet you some of your sinful companions
are thinking the same thing about you. What's become of Shannon?
Wayne, I bet you, you're sitting there laughing, but I bet you
some of those religious fellows in the church of God, I bet you
they're saying, what happened to Wayne? There's no small stir
among the church of God. What happened to you? And that's
the way it should be, is there not? It is a miracle, brothers
and sisters, when the Lord saves a man. It's a miracle when He
does it. Something else about this incident
here. Herod was Peter's enemy. We're
told there in verse 6 that it was his intent to bring Peter
forth. What he was going to do, he was
going to sit on his little throne, He was going to send and fetch
Peter out of prison. And he was going to stand there
in front of Herod, this king. He was going to intimidate him.
And he was going to shame him and mock him. And then he was
going to murder him. And the Bible says here, when
Herod would have. That was his intention until
Peter was delivered. You know Satan is not our friend,
is he? What would Satan do if God let him? He'd damn everybody. He hates humanity with a passion
that's indescribable. My poor little granddaughter
came the other night. She had a little white paper,
and she had a design drew on it, and I asked her what it was,
and it was a satanic design. And I said, baby, why are you
drawing that? And she said, well, I saw it
on something. She said, you know, it's a demonic
sign. And I took her in there and set
her down. I opened the Bible up to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse
8. I said, sweetheart, listen to me. You stay away from this
stuff. Satan hates you. He hates you
with a passion and He desires to damn your precious soul, to
drag you down into misery. He hates you. And I read that
verse to her, Be sober, be diligent, your adversary the devil as a
roaring lion. He walketh about. He just walks
about all over this earth. And He's got one purpose in mind.
He's given all of His energy, all of His thoughts to this one
thing, to seek whom He may devour. I tell you, stay away from Him.
Keep away from Him. Plead to Jesus Christ. Don't
mess with these Ouija boards and all this stuff that people
are messing with today. This demonic stuff. Something else here quickly.
He said in verse 5, and this is something that we can learn
from this incident. It says here that prayer was
made to God for him continually. Oh, you know what, brothers and
sisters, you know why I wanted to go into detail with this being
the condition of a lost man. Perhaps our hearts may be better
burdened to see our loved ones where they're at. We say, well,
they're lost. They have no hope in Christ.
Yes, that's so, but look at it closer. Look at the prison they're
in. Look at the darkness they're
in. Look how they're bound by Satan. Look how they're watched
over and how they're sleeping. And I think when we realize what
a sad condition they're in, maybe it will help us better to say,
Oh, Lord, have mercy. Save them, Lord. Please save
them. Prayer was made continually, we find in the Scriptures. God's
old prophets praying for the people, don't we? Samuel said,
God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease Him
to pray for you. What a rebellious generation
he was in. But you know something? He prayed
for them. The Jews hated the Apostle Paul, sought to whip
him and kill him. But he said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God is for Israel that they might be saved. You
say, Bruce, what if they're not God's elect? Who can know that
but God? Pray for them. Lord, save them. Please deliver them from sin's
clutches and from the darkness of Satan. Oh, spend some time
in prayer. Spend some time in prayer. A couple of more things quickly.
Here's something for you that in closing for you the Lord has
delivered. If you're here tonight and the
Lord's delivered you out of this prison, here's some good instruction. Look in verse 8. And the angel
said unto him, gird thyself." What with? Well, the Bible tells
us, having your loins gird about with truth. Bind on your sandals,
the angel told him. And we're told to have our feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And the
angel said, cast thy garment about thee. There's a garment,
brothers and sisters, we're to put on. Put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provisions for the flesh." And look what
He said, "...and follow Me." That's good instruction, isn't
it? "...and follow Me." What did the Lord Jesus say about
following Him? He said, "...take up your cross daily and follow
Me." Didn't He? The only safe way out of this
prison was to follow this angel. No other way. but to follow the
angel. And brothers and sisters, you
and I live in a dark world. It's a dark world. And the only
way through this dark world is to look to the light. And who
is that light? The Lord said, I am the light,
didn't He? I am the light of the world. If any man follow
Me, he shall not walk in darkness. Oh, follow Christ. Be diligent
to follow Christ. We're in a wilderness, aren't
we? We're sheep out here in the wilderness, and there are wolves
and slime pits all around us. There's but one safe place to
get through this wilderness, and that's to keep your eye upon
the Shepherd. It's only Jesus Christ who can
lead us beside the still waters and cause us to lie down in green
pastures. Oh, follow the Shepherd. Keep
your eye on the Shepherd. And I tell you, we're in the
midst of a battle, aren't we? I had no idea when the Lord saved
me what was waiting for me, and I bet some of you think the same
thing. And boy, it seems like the battle gets harder all the
time. Hand-to-hand combat sometimes, ain't it? And I tell you, there's
only one way to get the victory, and that's to keep the eyes on
the Captain of our salvation. He's going before us, and the
enemy are falling right and left. Keep your eye on the Captain.
Keep your eye upon Him. Follow Him. Don't turn carriage
and go back. Keep your eye on the Captain.
Follow the Captain of our salvation. And lastly, I wanted to preach
on this tonight for this reason. Don't listen to this world when
they try to describe what salvation is. Don't listen to this world
when they try to tell you what it is to be saved, because they'll
lessen the miraculous every time. They'll make it out like it's
nothing. It's nothing. They'll make statements like
deciding for Christ. Where is that? Deciding for Christ. Repeating the sinner's prayer.
That doesn't cause a stir, does it? Exercise the power of your
will. You've got a chance. Take advantage
of it. turning over a new leaf, baptism, church membership, doing
the best you can, devices or creeds. Don't listen to this
world, brothers and sisters, when they try to tell you what
salvation is. Salvation is the greatest miracle
that a man could experience in his soul. It's a miracle of God's
grace. It's a miracle of heaven. And
I tell you what, When the Lord saves us, the world ought to
sit up and say, what in the world's happened? What's happened? I tell you, I'm amazed when the
Lord saves somebody, aren't you? I'm amazed when I think He saves
me. It causes stirring in my soul. You know why? I see where
I was. There's one more gate. Just one
more gate we've got to get through before we can go out into the
streets of that heavenly city. There's one more gate, isn't
there? That's the gate of death. The
gate of death. Oh, sometimes we look at it and
got a little bit of dread, don't we? But you just wait and see. When it comes time, the Lord's
appointed time, when you, dear child of God, go up to that gate,
I'll tell you what it's going to do. It's going to open to
you of its own accord. And it's then you're going to
go out into the street of that heavenly city. And you're going
to be free from these bars of bones and this clay that has
helped you and bound you for all these years. You're going
to walk on the streets of that heavenly city. You're going to
sit with the Savior in His throne. And you're going to walk with
Him in white. And you're going to say, free, praise God, free
life. Lord bless His Word.