and apprehended him, he put them in prison, and delivered him to four companions 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 there it would have brought him forth, same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and the light shined in the prison, and he spoke Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands. The angel said unto him, gird thyself and bind on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy ground about thee, and follow me, and he went out and followed him, and wished not that it was true, it 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 but when peter was come to himself he said now i know of a surety that the lord has set his angel and has delivered me out to the hand of carot and from all the expectation of the people of the jew 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 trade. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate a damsel came toarken 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. They said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then he said to David, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astung. but he beckoned unto them with a hand with all their peace, declaring 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. Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter. Read the remainder of that chapter tonight, Lord willing, as well as taking up some points in the passage we've read. It will not take up the swamp. The request will be out. You may mention why we think that God spared Peter and didn't permit James to be killed. There are some strange things in the Bible, but I believe the Bible gives the answer. Why was James allowed to be killed and Peter... his life was spared. God has a purpose. We have in this chapter, as we've already mentioned, the power of God, the power of Satan, and the power of prayer. Or you could look at it in another way. You've had the soul's danger, the soul's deliverance, and the soul's delight. And that's exactly true. The soul is in danger. Your soul, if you're not a Christian, but there is available to you a deliverance, and when you experience that deliverance, you'll know something of delight, delighting in the fact that you're saved and going to heaven. You also have man's intentions, and with Herod's intention to kill Peter, but you have also God's intervention. God intervened, and the church's intercession. So you have man's intention and God's intervention and the church's intercession. Very remarkable points. You can also summarize the chapter in that fashion. First of all, you have the power of Satan. Peter is a type of the sinner, and I want to give that application this morning. Peter, you'll find on this occasion, was in prison. He's a prisoner. And so is every unsafe person. You're a prisoner of sin, Satan, and self. And back in those days, prisoners had a big ball of iron and chain attached to that iron ball and also the chain around his ankle. In other words, he was hoped. And on this occasion, Peter was extremely hopeless because... He had sixteen soldiers guarding him. Not to mention the gate of the cell and the three big gates leading on out to the outside. He was well guarded. And so is the sinner today. He is well guarded. Not only are you bound by the chains of sin, the sinner is held or bound by the courts of sin. We don't realize how strong those fours are. Not only are you held by the chain of sin, you're held by the chain of Satan. Satan suits you as a whole upon you. And yourself. There are certain things that hold you. And you can't get loose from those things unless you are a prisoner of sin, Satan, and of self. who was in this case the guards always on duty we're not told much about these guards but here is peter and he was held by two of them one on each side and the other fourteen were surrounding his cell seeking to prevent him from being disturbed or taken out of the prison i wonder if herod had in mind a previous occasion when the disciples were put in prison for preaching the gospel, and an angel by night came and got them out, and left the guard there, and the guard did not know what had happened. And in the morning, while the authorities were persecuting Peter and the disciples, they sent to the prison to have these disciple brought, and the guard came back and said, they're not there. and they found them in the market space reaching away. We don't have any detail as to how they got out on that occasion, but I wonder if Herod had that in mind when he put such a guard, sentinels, all around Peter. Had all special precautions, the doors and the gates and the locks? He wasn't going to have this happen again, but the Lord paid little attention to what the devil wants to do. God has a way of getting people out of these jails and these prisons. So you have the guards around Peter, and they're always on duty. What are some of these guards represented at all? Here is the guard of Christ. Whenever the gospel is being preached and God is trying to reach the hearts of men, women, here's a guard he's always on duty. try and prevent that sinner from humbling himself before God. And how loyal that God is at every gospel meeting. Whenever God is working, there is that God, one of Satan's sentinels, and he's right at the sight of every man and woman, then the Spirit of God, who called that man the humble and simple. for that woman who humbled herself before God, and take the place of a sinner before him, the devil is right there with his blood. You're not so bad. You live a grace with a life like the next one. And you don't have to humble yourself anymore. You've got some dignity about you. Why, that kind of gospel is all right for the man in the cell, or those in the gut, but you. You're educated, you're conscious, and you don't have to take the place of a lost sinner. And that guard is always on you. And so there's another guard, and that's the guard of pleasure. Yes, the guard of pleasure. He's always there to suggest. The pleasure of the world, a good time, when God would try to treat the sinner with those pleasures which are forevermore. And so that God of pleasure is stationed right beside the sinner, and keep him from accepting heavenly things instead of earthly things. And then there's the God of procrastination. Putting this off, putting this off. A colored woman went to a meeting one time, and the preacher fixed on procrastination. She took the streets of our home. and said to the doctor, the advisor of the streetcar, he said, I want to procrastinate at the eleven thousand. At least she got the meeting. Put me on. Go on. Go on. And the devil's always got that guard, that sentinel, sentinel right there when the spirit of God is working with us, so that it's all right to be saved. One the more you're going to have with the dropboxes like that. Just Put it on. Put it on. Put it on. Yes, that God is like on duty every moment of every day. And of course, earthly possessions. It's another God. You're interested in buying things. You're interested in gathering a certain amount of this world's goods. Possessions, earthly possessions. All you want is you need them. And you can put this on a Christian. Never mind about these heavenly riches, but later on, you want earthly riches. And so, man, he locked your mind with earthly possessions. You know, of course, that guard your pet, your pet. And he's there, telling the sinner, well, now if you get saved, what will your pals do? What will they say? Well, I can tell you what they'll say. They say you've gone off the rocker. Did you just save and live it? Or did you just go on the church? Well, we're all right. That's not the bad. Possibly a man should do that. At least he'll have the screen we'll take care of. For this business of giving save and becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus. Oh, no. Don't go for that. You better wait until you die or think they're going to die. Then you settle this mess. oh, you're a worldly companion and associates. They don't want you to get saved now. They don't want you to leave their crowd. They want you to stay as you are. They'd like to use you a little longer than the enjoyment and pleasures of this life. And so the guards are stationed all around the sinner to prevent him from coming to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the next thing you'll notice about Peter, he was under the sentence of death. Not only was he a prisoner, Not only was he pardoned, but he was under the sentence of death. He was to die the next morning, have his head taken on. Jesus, Elijah, you are under the sentence of death. People think they have to wait for the rest of the day to find out whether they're going to be sentenced to eternal punishment or not. No, you don't have to wait for that long. you are sentenced right now to the matter of the day you are not sentenced to be carried out he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of god is high upon him right right now god sent the vessel upon me from him already says god from him already waiting the day when that day will do the rest of the day. And so you're under the sentence of death. You'll repeat the fortune of the chapters of Phanon's descendants and the day of the day. That's where you live, right now. All who are unseen right here in this word under the sentence of death, that is true. You have people on this of day. Another thing connected with Peter, he was in the dark, because you'll notice when the angel came in, a light strong in the crystal. He was in the dark. And many women today are in the dark. Darkness in Scripture speaks of an ignorance of God. You can say of a personality through certain things in his life, well, he's in the dark. He doesn't know what he's talking about. There are lots of things that I'm in the dark about them. I've never studied them. I've never been into that realm where that feels. And so I make them of things pertaining to those things that I've never studied or investigated into. I'm in the dark. I do a lot of things. Friend, if you're not a Christian, you're in the dark. And then, well, darkness dwells in light because there are various kinds of darkness in the Bible. This natural darkness that we experience every night when the sun was on, natural darkness on man is born in sin, and shaken in it. Man is born in the darkness, hatred of God. That we understand as to God from the Holy Spirit. Within this willful darkness, Christ said, you will not come to me, but that you might have life. I am the light of the world, half of you will not. You want to stay as you are in the dark, little will not. Then there is judicial God. A person can reject the light so long that God says, all right, but he holds the blind. He gets in the spirit of slumber eyes. When God and they say, Satan hath blinded the mind of them who believe not, let the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them, and they should be saved. Willful God, judicial God. The time does come when God pronounces judicial, that person too, even for the libel. Here, I believe, is apostasy. They've rejected the light so long that God says from now on, you're living God. Then he's turned on the earth before you. He turned on. Then he did not come to the light. You're the learning aid as you were born in your sin, and I don't mean by that the baby stood the kettle. The blood of Christ takes care of him until the age of the for if you persist in living as you were born in your city, if you're going to remain in willful darkness, running the list of the beautiful darkness, God's Spirit sees you describing to you is the eternal darkness. Peter was in the dark, not only so he was bound with chains, bound with sinner and golden with the cord of his sin. How sad, how solemn it is, how bound to change. The chains of sin. Do you know these chains this long week, say? The creature was trying to illustrate to his class of children how serious it was to continue in sin. So he asked the boy to come up with a little color, the one that flexes muscles. A little fellow came up and the funny school teacher said, no, I want to demonstrate to you something. And he had a cotton, some cotton that had fared with him, spooled it, and he wrapped one strand of that cotton around the little fellow's hands. He put his hands like that, he wrapped one strand. He said, you break it for me, that's easy, he did. And he put two around it. That's how he put that two. And he put three. And after he put about six or seven strands around him, he couldn't do it. Ah, that was getting too much. Friend, that's just like sin. When you're young and you get old. And the older you get, the more callous and trusty becomes your hostess. It loses that penance. And sin becomes too hard to break. I visit a lot of old folks' homes, nursing homes in my life, and I come out sometimes sick. You can't get through to some of these old people. They'll tell you when they were young they went to church, they went to Sunday school, but now those seem to be interested. Now and again you'll find one who is. But oh, sin has that hardening effect. When you're young, as you think, oh, there's nothing to it, and like the little fellow, you could break the first strand, the second strand, the third. But he finally found he couldn't break when several strands were wound around his roots. And sin can get so strong and hold on you, you can't break it. There are habits right now you can't break it. You're holding by it. sin was have us that you have. A man was arrested on a certain time when the fish put the handcuffs on, took him to jail. When he got in his cell, he began looking at these handcuffs where he was interested. And he saw something. He was a manufacturer of handcuffs. He was in that line. and he had posted that no man could break from those handcuffs that he had made, and he was handcuffed with the works of his own hands he made at his work. Yes, that's exactly it. Man today is handcuffed. In other words, these are his sins that bind him. and he can't break them once they've got too firm a hold upon them. That's the value of getting saved when you're young. Few people get saved a little. When you're young, when your conscience is tender and your heart is soft, that's the time to receive the Savior. Don't you pray, not? Finally, you'll find the sin that's got you handcuffed, that you can't break them. For few made you can trust yourself. so refined, Peter, on this occasion. He's in the dock. He's bound with chains. Just like the Mississippi River, when it begins, it's not a great big river. But it goes on. The further it flows, the deeper and wider it gets, and the strips of the current, and as it gets on, and the broth, you can't stop. First it seems sluggish as it moves along, but, oh, Finally, you can't stop that river Sluggish River. It's traveling past you now as it nears the Gulf. Many women, as they start out on life's river, well, they think they have things under control. For the longer they live, ah, yes, the sins accumulate, and their hold gets stronger on them, and finally, as they get older, ah, I can't wait. I'm pumped in the current! thought minutes to teach these things of God said, So hold upon me, I can break them, and they're swept into a lost determinants on the current of their own accumulated sins. Peter then was in this condition, and you'll notice he was sleeping. He was sleeping. That's something, isn't it? Fast asleep in this condition. In other words, Peter was not conscious of his surroundings. He didn't realize there were chains on his hands and feet. He didn't realize he was in the dark. He didn't realize that sixteen soldiers were standing around. He was absolutely unconscious of his surroundings. He was fractured. The most tragic thing to me is to see men and women. were fast asleep. You see their conditions. Just like if we be pointing out tonight, the Christian scholar is there, Peter didn't see his condition, but the Christians did. And they were holding prayer meters. Even into the midnight hours, they were still praying. I'll just let you see your condition. We realize your day You're not praying for yourself, but others are praying for you. How many a wife is praying for a husband? How many a husband is praying for his wife? How many parents are praying for their children? Some children are praying for their parents. They don't seem to realize or see the danger. They're not asleep. Sometimes it's all right to be asleep. Many a time I've gone into the room in a hospital where a patient is dying, has no hope. That's evident. Sometimes in dreadful pain, but they've given them a shock. I've gone into many a room like that, and I found the patient fast asleep, and I said to the nurse, don't wake him up. Don't wake her up. The more she's unconscious of her condition, the better. asked people to reward them for a visit from me. Then let me tell you this. That should not be so worthless, foolishly. You need to be quick enough to see your need for Jesus' life. Slumber, spiritual slumber, is dangerous. Peter, the wicked and evil is changed with man. And the sinner doesn't seem to realize the power of sin. He doesn't seem to feel his sin. You will when you get convicted. When you get awake and then you'll feel those sins, you realize then you're holding with the chains of aniquity and he was unconscious of his virtues. A man could break into your home and hold a revolver at your temple and you're fast asleep. You don't realize You're dangerous. Many women today are just like that. They don't seem to realize they're slumbering on and Satan wants you to keep in that slumber. He'll give you his sleeping pills. He'll give you sedation. The devil will give you almost anything to keep you asleep. So you won't wake up and discover your need of Christ under lost and doomed conditions. Not long ago, I read about two trains, and they had a head-on collision. And there were train that had mostly sleeping cars, and the people were fast asleep until the crash, and many lost their lives. But I thought, yes, one minute before that collision, they were fast asleep. Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight seconds, and down and here a locomotive was coming in the opposite direction, coming down those tracks, and their train was hurtling on through to that collision, and finally, unaware of them, the collision took place. And they woke up, not in time, but in eternity. It was too late there. Friend, this poor world is hurtling down the tracks of time, headed for a collision with Almighty God, that God hates him. Thank God for all the efforts of our President to have these summit meetings to try and prevent the speed of this locomotive that is taking its cargo of human vigor. Not on that track. a definite meeting with all my people. God says prepare to meet thy God. If this world, friend, is going past for every day, you might say the locomotive is dead at the bottom. Man can't stop. Man can't bring this train to a halt. No, in spite of all his efforts, did this game speak? That gave him during the time of delusion, the time of death. One final man was to be executed back when they used to execute them, capital punishment. The guard went to get him and the guard looked in the cell and he hesitated. The man was sleeping and there was a smile on his face. The guard said, how in the word that a man of a smile like that, a peaceful expression on his face, and he said, die in matters of humor. The guard stood there and finally had to make them, and he went over and tucked them on the shoulder, and he woke. When he woke, I'll tell you another look came over this countenance, a look of horror. The guard says, let me ask you, Chris, what made you? have that expression. Why, he says, you're almost smiling. Such a peaceful look, and here you're good at that. He always says, I was dreaming of my childhood days, and I saw that beautiful country of home, and that lake out in front of it, the cattle on the hills, and my parents on the veranda. My sister and I were playing up in the lawn, with our God. And he said, it was so real to me, my child of day. But then, the reality of death, I'll meet you with God. Some of us look upon life as a tree. A wonderful tree of the rest of us. When that tree was going to be a stone, and it was taken up to realize what God, further than they, this is it. Yes, Peter was fast to see. Unconscious of all this condition. Men and women are just like this. I'm amazed at times how much gospel people can be from front of it. They can be warned of world conditions, of their dangers physically, and still absolutely nothing. Their mind seemed to be almost in the sound slumber as to the dangers that had been contemplated momentarily. But you notice something happened on this occasion. Not only was he asleep, he was hopeless, as we've already said, but absolutely hopeless as to his condition, he couldn't. Take those chains off. He couldn't fight those sixteen soldiers. He couldn't open those gates. Oh, Peter was absolutely hopeless in the circumstance. And so he. You cannot save yourself. You cannot break those chains. You cannot open the door of salvation. You can't fight the guard that Satan has around you. You're just over. If you're going to be saved, it'll be by divine intervention, as it was in Peter's case, God sent an angel. And if ever you're going to be a Christian, born again, saved by the grace of God, your deliverance will have to come from heaven. Outside of you, you can do it. You'll get repentance by the people. But when you were yet without strength, In time, Christ died in this process. Oh, that feeling of helplessness. That awful feeling that sickly nauseating feeling of helplessness. I'm caught in the crunches of a deadly disease and can do things. Yes, it's something when a sinner may conduct to this helplessness. God don't save me. I'm done. God don't save me. I'm lost when I'm lost. My good life, my good works will not save me. Salvation to the Lord. Yes, exactly. Have you been awakened up to that fact? You see, the power of God here A messenger was sent, as you have in verse seven. A number of things. The messenger was sent, and a light shined in the prison. There you have the messenger, then you have the light, and the angels smoke, Peter. That's the third thing, and urged them to do something and do it quickly. He shall rise up quickly. Ah, yes, friend. First thing is the messenger with the light. Here's the gospel. When a person becomes interested, or the Spirit of God begins to deal, and the light begins to shine, are like Solomon of Israel. Peter began to see his circumstances. They began to confuse them, clear up, who are in a sin of sin. I can save myself. The light shines in the face. The light of the gospel. That's it. And then you'll notice the Spirit of God does the smite. The Spirit of God convicts me of those things that are found in the gospel. The Spirit of God rages me up as in the reality of these things, given in God's word and God cannot lie. And so you find the convicting power of the Spirit of God is working today, convincing men and women that this book... God says in ears, who in a swung out? And he urged him to do something Andrew had written. Arise up the earth. Arise up the earth. What happened? It says the chains fell off from his hands in verse six. Herod would have brought him forth. 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 them up, saying, Rise up quickly. And what happened? And the chain fell off from his head. God took care of the soldiers. God took care of the guards. God took care of those gates, those doors that were bolted. God took care of all the things which were holding Peter, but there was one thing Peter had to do. God took care of the main things. One thing Peter, you've got to do. You've got to do a lot of things. Don't be so about it. Do it not. When God has taken care of those things that now believe, Jesus Christ bore your sin with the cross. He met Satan head-on of Calvary. Jesus Christ met all the demands of the law against the men. He's taken care of those things that you couldn't get there. Now he says, will you rise up to the earth? When you come to Christ, will you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior? And it says his chains fell off from his head. The very moment you come to Christ, the moment you accept the Lord Jesus, those chains will fall. My chains have snapped the bonds of sinner Brooklyn and I am free. Let the triumph of his grace be spoken. He died for me. Likely when the chains fell off the people's hands, he could see their marks. He had left them on. He could look at his ankles and the chains had left them on. But they no longer hold them. And sins, you may not realize, but sins lose evil marks even after your sins. I know men and women. who lived wicked lives before they were saved. They knew something of crowds, grievous things of that nature. Then they got saved. God saved their souls, gave them a little life, but he didn't give them new life. The Bible says the nature of the little gift, but the gift of God is eternal life with Jesus Christ. I know man right now, in all, I know he's saved by the grace of God, but he's in very bad physical condition. He's reaping the consequences of unsaved death. If God saves a prisoner, which he has done in the penitentiary many times, he's been sentenced to life of business, They accept Jesus Christ as a Savior. He tells the God he wants to see the head man of the system. And so he has an interview. He said, now he said, I accept the Christ the other night. I'm a Savior. I'm saved. And I'm no longer the man I used to be. I've got new life. I want to let me out. Reward in the face of heaven. I'm sorry. It was happening. finish serving your eternity. We've got a new life now. You'll have a different attitude while you're in jail, but we're going to finish serving your eternity. If you live contrary to the law of the Spirit, if you live in the sick, live a wicked life, undermine your head while the sick is marked with sin beyond your body, I mean your body, that be. God's salvation takes care of the soul, but it doesn't take care of the hills in your body as a result of your having lived ungodly before you. The only one with the marks of sin upon him in heaven will be the Lord Jesus. the only man with a mark of sin for him for he will be the man who do no sin who did no sin but he was made sin for us that he might be made the righteousness of God all my sins will be gone there and any mark of sin left on a sinner's life will be done away he'll have his new body then he'll have a body like unto Christ's glorious body with this exception Only, Lord Jesus Christ, will have the marks of sin in his hands and feet and such. How shall I then know thee amidst those hosts of God? What tokens true will show me the object of my love? Those wounds, those wounds, Lord Jesus, those deep, deep wounds will tell of the sacrifice that freed me from sins, from death and hell. And that's the one thing that will make the Lord Jesus different from everyone else in glory. He didn't part from all others. He didn't bear the marks of the sins of all those they did in glory. He didn't deserve them. He didn't reap the ways of his own sin. He yet reaped the ways of your sin and by. And so the chains fell off in his hands. And he said to him, Gird thyself. And Peter speaks about girding up the loins of your mind. Gird thyself. He had a new knowledge, a new understanding. And he also said, Put on thy sandals, a new walk. Put on my garment, a new character. For the garment speaks of character. And he said, Follow me. Yes, follow me. A new obedience. That's what happens when you get Christ. When you receive the Lord Jesus, then it's a wonderful, you have a new understanding now. You know your sins are forgiven. You understand that Jesus died for you. That he paid your debt. And God has vindicated the righteous requirements of his own throne. And now you're saved and you know it by us a new understanding. And when you put the new sandals on your feet, spiritually speaking, you begin a new walk, walk, walk. They that are in Christ are a new creation, old things are passed away. All things have to become new. Then that garment that speaks of character will be a different character. Do not be the person you once were, you'll be changed. And then that new obedience, instead of following sin and Satan, you'll be following the Lord Jesus Christ. And you notice something about Peter. He was so unnatural. He thought, he saw a vision, and tells you that in verse nine. You are a fellow son of a dream. Am I dreaming that I'm a free man? I'm outside that prison. He wrote to the author of August Louise Salvation. But you'll notice what happened. Verse ten, and when they were past the first and second ward, they came under the iron gate that leaded into the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And what did Peter say in verse eleven? When Peter was counting himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angels. And that's the first, there were a few doubts he was not. He thought he was in the dream. But then when he passed through the first ward, the second ward, then he came to that iron gate. And it opened his end of his soul before. Talk about a human eye or these gadgets they've been using for the last number of years when he grew to these stores. And they catch us sometime with surprise. You walk in and they open the door. God had one of them two thousand years ago. Peter was going to walk through this big gate and it swung open. All of a sudden there was no obstacle. And so you first, second, and the third iron gate. And after that, Peter says, now I know. What are these things? Where? Where are they? carrier, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Man has something to do this day. Man has something to do as to his resurrection. Now the Lord she rolled away the throne. But Jesus Christ himself who on the road came to death with doors open. The Lord Jesus said, I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up. Jesus Christ arose in the dead. And the gate of resurrection opened at his own door. On when Peter was passed, this great gate opened at his own accord, he says, Now I know that the Lord had sent his angel and that when a young person or a person older or young who gets saved and they see the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christ died for me. He was buried for me, rose for me. Now he has to see the truth of it. And Christ is now at God's right hand, ever living for me, in possession for me. When you see the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and your identification with him, a living Christ at God's right hand, no more does. I know now, I know. Yes. All... outs from. And then you have his testimony. Because what is that? Is it wonderful testimony? How in verse seventeen he peckling unto them with a hand to hold up his feet, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said to those who have he said unto them that you have his testimony. He declared unto them how he was delivered. It's a nice thing. Know your say and know that you have won again, know you have everlasting life, and you're able to witness to that effect, to declare on the others, on the Lord's safety. And it said there was no small stir among the soldiers what had become clear. Mark Consternation the next morning when these prisoners looked around for their prisoner and couldn't find it. What became of that? That's gone. I thought of this, and by the way, we'll tell you something. This is the first sermon I ever preached, forty-six years, forty-five years ago. It's grown a little longer since then. But nevertheless, I thought about it at that time. There was no small stir among the two. And when I got saved, there was quite a stir among my buddies, occupied. What in the world happened to us? Someone said, well, he seeks the sons of God. The sons of God, the Lord lasts about three months. You give it up. No small stir among the soul is what the sweet humble people. People say, what in the world happened to him? What happened to her? There was a change, and there was a sea. Here you have the power to see, overcome by the power of God, and as a result, do of the prayers of the people of God. I will say more about you. I want to say this, friend. The power of God is hand-picked. The prayers of God's people are also of little power. Final decision rests with me. All the time you're in your sin and the truth except Jesus Christ, the power of God cannot intervene. The prayers of God's people will not avail until you say, I've got something to do. I accept Jesus Christ. Then when you accept Jesus Christ, this is your responsibility. The power of God is manifested in your salvation. And the prayers of God's people have been answered. until you make that decision. God's power has not operated the way he wants to operate. He hasn't accomplished what he wants to accomplish. And God's people, all their prayers have not availed until the moment he accepts Jesus Christ. And you're saved. Many a time I've been pulled after me. I got a lot of help out of your message this morning. Did you get saved? No. Well, I didn't help you a bit. I've only helped you. If you don't come to Christ, you're locked. When you come to Christ, you're saved and gathered. Christ will find you. You'll all go to church. All my efforts and labors are engaged. When you come to church, Will you come? Will you come? God bless you. He'll break those chains that you cannot break. He'll deliver you from that power of Satan that you cannot live your son from. This morning you'll know something of that mighty deliverance of a soul delivered from sin, circumcision, and will deliver you, be able to sing like me. Now I know. No, I'm saving the sins of the world. God save me. I'm now on the way to heaven. God granted me his soul that is named Satan. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy world. May it please lead upon it to thy glory. There are those here who know something of what we've been talking about. the mighty delivering power of our mighty blood. Grant that today decisions may be made for Christ. The prison doors may open and cap this road free, all because of the power of the gospel of our grace, which is the power of God unto salvation through every one that believeth. We ask it in our Lord Jesus, precious name. Amen. Are we singing closing a verse to let him peace? Two-seventeen, only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you. He will save you now. Two-hundred-and-seventeen, if you've trusted the Savior during the meeting, come and tell us if you haven't want to, come up and we'll try and help you to have us set. Two-hundred-and-seven-year-olds.