saved passage we read this morning we read all the chapters of the night however oftentimes i jot little things down and put them in my bible sometimes they're there for years before i have to turn to that page surprising how they seem to get hidden but this happened a number of years ago my lady's seventy five years of age She came up after meeting over here, and she said, how do you get into this thing? I want to join. I just accepted Christ. Night of a lot more, said that. Quite simple. And she was seventy-five years of age. Verse one of chapter twelve of Acts. Now about the time Herod, the king, sped forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. Because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. When he had apprehended him, he put him in prison. and delivered him to four fraternions 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. That's a very important part, isn't it? 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, Rise 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, Pass thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out and followed him, and wished not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he saw vision. When they were past the first and second war, 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 assuredly that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of heaven, 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 marked, where many were gathered together, prayed. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, the devil came to Hockham 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. But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But he beckoning 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. I may not have time to make mention of this in the message, but that verse is very important to me. When I was exercised about coming south many years ago, the Lord was urging me day and night about letting my exercises be known to the brethren, the elder brethren, I was praying one night about the exercises that I had, and this verse... almost felt that someone was in the room and quoted it behind me. It just came so emphatically, go show these things unto James and to the brethren. One of our elder brethren was James Me. So I thought it was very appropriate. And then I did make known the exercise of my heart. And he departed and went on to another place. And as soon as it was day, there was no small stir. among the soldiers what was become of Peter. 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 and there were both. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon, But they came with one accord to him, and having made last us 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, that not a man, and immediately The angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the goats. But is another wonderful but. But the word of God grew and multiplied, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. This is the fifth persecution in the Acts. As we've been going through the Acts, and the Church of Antioch was started because of bitter persecution. And today there are some churches started this way because of persecution. Some are started out of strife. There's difficulty. There's division of church. And some will hive off and go and start another church. But I do believe that a church that started by strife will die by strife. But a church that is started by persecution, for the namesake of Christ, will be solid and it will last. Another noticeable thing that the church has never prospered under prosperity. The early Christians were poor. They gave practically everything they had. to the cause of credit. And they prospered. They not only prospered because of persecution, they prospered too because they were out and out. They were committed to Christ, willing to be poor in this life, in order to be rich in eternity. Prove few Christians to prosper spiritually in earthly prosperity. Think of the case of Laodicea. the Lanner Church, and the church is in that age today, and they said, We are rich, and increased with good. We have need of nothing. That's what they thought. They had plenty of this world's goods, and God says, No, it's not, that thou art wretched, thou art poor, thou art blind, thou art naked. They saw themselves rich in this life. We are rich and increased with good. We don't have a need of a thing. We want to be fine. God says, yes, but you're awfully poor. You're skeleton spiritually. And the Spirit of God is not working among you because you're rich here. You're not rich in spiritual virtue and values. This, too, was true of Israel. The more that Israel... was persecuted the more she multiplied and grew. You read that in Exodus one. The more Israel was persecuted, the more Israel was afflicted, the more that nation multiplied and grew. And so it has proven down the church age. The blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church. Many times in going through church history, you read a case of a group of Christians. being fed to the wild beasts in the great amphitheater. And it says in some of those records that for every one that was devoured by the beasts, five stood up in its place. If five were committed to the beasts, twenty-five stood up in the audience and claimed allegiance to Jesus Christ. They were so impressed with the faith of these people that were willing to be fed to the beasts, rather than give up their faith in the Savior. This is the fifth persecution that we're reading about tonight in chapter twelve and one, first one. The first one was in chapter four. The second one was in chapter five. The third one was in chapter seven, the persecution about Stephen. The fourth one was the persecution began by Saul. in chapter nine, and this is Herod's persecution in chapter twelve. Five persecutions to which the Christians have passed in a period of approximately about twelve or thirteen years. And so he killed James with the sword. And he killed James, the brother of John with the sword. How are we going to identify James when you've got three James in the New Testament? You have James, the son of Zebedee, plainly taught in Matthew four twenty-one. You have James, the son of Altheus, also given in Matthew chapter ten and thirteen. Then you have James, the Lord's brother, given you in Matthew thirteen and fifty-five. Pre-James, which one was the one that was put to death here? It was the first one. The last one was James, the Lord's brother, They call on camel knees. He was a man of prayer. He spent his time upon his knees, meditating and studying in the scriptures and helping the people of God. And he's the one who wrote the book of James. And if you want some sandpaper to get the rust off your faith and your soul, just read the book of James. But here we have James, and he was a son of David. but he was his father. The second one, James, the son of Alphaeus. Alphaeus was his father. And here you have the third one, then the third one, James, the brother of our Lord, Joseph, was his father. But it was the fisherman's son who was put to death on this occasion. And that's very significant because he reminded the Lord. When the Lord speaking to James and John, when they wanted to be one on his right hand, the other on his left and his kingdom, he said, are you able to go with me into prison and into death? Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink of? They said yes, and James did exactly that. James was put into prison, and James went to his death. He said he would, and the Lord took him out of his word, and he did. And so we have this James identified. I want you to notice the prayer that was prayed in verse, that is, prayer that was prayed in verse one and five. It gives you in verse five. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. This prayer was instant prayer. Because there was a someone in peril. Who was in peril? Peter was in peril. Peter was in prison, and was the danger of him being beheaded, as was James. And because of this instant peril, the Christians engaged in instant prayer. And if there's anything we need today, it's to realize the peril that's all around us. The peril of the sinner Everywhere we see sinners in peril, peril of perishing in their sins. We see young Christians and the peril of young Christians being attracted to the world and losing their joy and possibly their testimony. We see the peril of Satan tripping up God's people, the peril of hurliness among the saints. There are many perils. And there's a lot of need for prayer because of the peril that exists. Perils that confront every Christian every day. And there's need for prayer. And here we see it was the peril that Peter was in that brought these Christians together for prayer. And their prayer was earnest prayer. No cold, formal, lifelike, flightless prayer. prayer. No, no. Their prayer was very earnest and sincere. The life of Peter is of faith. And I tell you, they resorted to instant earnest and persistent prayer. It tells you that without ceasing in verse five, the Bible says that we are to pray without ceasing. But it's not to think this was a whole week's prayer meeting. It tells you it was in the days of unleavened bread, and that the feast of unleavened bread lasted a week, and it was after Easter when Herod decided to kill Peter. In other words, in the days of unleavened bread, seven days this prayer meeting had been going on. The last night came, the next morning. Peter was to be the head. I'm telling you, they spent a week of persistent prayer. Pray! Hour after hour. Day after day. What were they praying for? For Peter's deliverance. It takes something to spend time in prayer. You know, you can read your Bible by the hour. You can write letters by the hour. You can visit by the hour. And you may talk to many women by the hour. You may read other good books by the hour. You may listen to taste by the hour, but I challenge you to pray by the hour. Prayer is the hardest, most difficult thing to do, for the devil trembles when he sees the weakest thing upon his knees. Unless we give ourselves more to prayer, unless we talk to God more about men, will not have much sense of death talking to men about the need for persistent prayer. You'll notice also it was united. The word many is seen in verse twelve. Many were gathered together, prayed. It was a united prayer meeting. It was very definite, very specific. What did they come to pray for? They came to pray for Peter. It was very specific. Oh, yes, very definite. They had one thing before them, and that was the expression of every heart. Peter, Lord, remember, Peter, Lord, Peter may die in the morning. Lord, Peter, we need them. And they prayed for Peter, and they fled with God to deliver Peter. They were encouraged, too, because in chapter five, Had the Lord not done a similar thing? I think we mentioned that this morning in Chapter five. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prisoner's door and brought the disciples forth. I can see them claiming that before the Lord. I can see them laying hold upon that and reminding the Lord, Lord, you remember what you did only a couple of years ago. You brought the disciples out. They were in the same predicament as Peter. They were in prison. They were facing the possibility of death. And, Lord, you said to your angel that time, you brought the disciples out. Now here's Peter. Will you do the same, for Peter? Will you answer our prayers? Will you? I know that encouragement. I don't know anything more encouraging in the life of prayer than to be able to recall. and remind God of definite answers you have received in the past. Lord, you answered my prayer then. You saved my loved one then. Will you not save another one of my loved ones now? And it's the answers of our prayers in the past that give us encouragement for prayers in the past. If one were to say God doesn't answer prayer, a million told with trials of answered prayer and condemnment. What Christian can't point to many answered prayer? When God came in and gave the answer, it may be that very day, but it may have been a few weeks, but he gave the answer. Yes, there's nothing more encouraging and nothing more to labor before the Lord than the fact that God has He's done it in the past. He can do it now in the church. But at the same time there's room for chastening here and submissiveness. Why is that? Well, why was James killed? Could it be that James was killed so quick they hadn't time to gather for prayer? On this occasion they did have time because Herod decided to wait till after Easter. What happened? Why didn't God intervene with James? That kind of sobering, I wonder if God will intervene on behalf of people. There are always those things that cause us to be chastened and exercised and submissive. Lord, it was not your will to say, James, is it your will this time to save people? This causes exercise of heart before the Lord. And then again you'll find how their prayers were tested. The answer was not given until the last night. How full we went by. And the last night came. I know you can see how passing of the time and the drawing near the bone when Peter was put to death would but add sincerity to their prayer. would only add permanency to their prayer. And so the last night came, and their prayer was answered. God sent his angel, as we noticed this morning, and Peter was fast to sleep. You know, that's really interesting. How could Peter sleep under such circumstances? I don't know if I was going to get my head taken off tomorrow morning. I don't know whether I'd be some sleeping pills to get sleep tonight or not. I think I will. Unless the Lord in some way would come very close to me and give me a deep conscious peace, or unless I had a promise from God that I was hanging on to, like Peter. What about John chapter twenty-one? John told Peter concerning Peter. When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hand, and another shalt be seen. Peter's in prison. I'm not an old man. I'm young. God told me before he went to heaven, the Lord Jesus told me, before he went to heaven, that I was going to live to be an old man. Peter says, well, I'm going to live to be old. Herod may plan to take my head off in the morning, but I'm going to go to sleep tonight and pillow my head. Upon God's promise, I'm going to live to be an old man. And he went to faith. With his hands and feet chained, with two soldiers right there chained to him, and the prison around him, and sixteen soldiers, fourteen outside to inside the cell, and those massive gates, and those massive walls, how in the world is Peter going to be to them? Peter said, I don't know how it's going to be done, but I'm going to sleep. That was Peter's faith. Peter had a faith in God and a deep, settled faith. And thus he was fast to sleep. But the angel came in and smote him and told Peter, rise up quickly and the chains fell off from his hands. He said, put thy sandals upon thee, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And Peter was laid out. And when he got outside, the age of the potter, Peter, you're on your own. And away Peter went, I wonder why he went to the prayer meeting. How did he know they were having one? I presume that when he was taken to the jail, he didn't know anything about a prayer meeting going to be held on his behalf. He expected undoubtedly to get what James did. But here, a whole week's gone by, and he gets worried he should be put to death. After Easter, the morning after, I wonder why he went to this place. Was it a place he was accustomed to go to? The house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered together today. Undoubtedly, there was a prayer meeting held there quite frequently, possibly a Bible study. We don't know. But he went, undoubtedly, the Lord led him to go there. And here were these Christians praying into the hour till the morning, the early hours. And Peter comes and knocks on the door. And of course, Rhoda, she ran, and she listened. Because it was dangerous in those days to open the door, lest it be one of the Roman government, a soldier, a representative of that power, come to apprehend followers of the Nazarene. And he nods. Could it be he said, who she said, who's there? For she heard his voice. And when she heard that voice, she was so excited, she ran and said, Peter is not the next door. They said, you're mad. Now, isn't that just like human nature? They've been praying for a whole week that God would deliver Peter. And when God brings the answers to their very door, they won't believe. God brought the answer. There stood Peter. And so the hesitated robot. She opened not the door for gladness. She was so tight, this old girl. She just left Peter standing outside. He ran and overcome with gladness. So many today have overcome with sadness. she was overcome with dread. And they said, oh, you're a man. I'm not a man. I'm glad. And so finally they cracked the door. He said, oh, Peter, come on in. And there he was. And what did he do? He declared unto them how the Lord had delivered them. My what a wonderful, wonderful deliverance. Peter is delivered. And so there's the prayer and In person, you can deny it. Here you have the power of Satan in this case. And don't forget that Satan is real. Satan was behind Herod. Satan knew that God had a future for Peter. And Satan is leading Herod to put Peter to death. It was a real sin. A planned sin. of God intervened. Let me tell you, Christian, Satan is real. Very real. I've heard a lot of people in my life, especially those who are given to the emotional religion, say, say, well, I beat the devil around the stump. I'd like to see them cry. You don't beat him around the stump. First thing you know, you'd be going around the stump and him after you. Satan's too powerful for you. and you've got to realize that. Here you have the reality, the power of Satan in this incident. But you also have the feast of the believer in Peter fast asleep. Also you have the prayer of the church. The church is interceding. The church is prevailing with God on behalf of Peter. Then you have the power of God demonstrated in bringing Peter out. And there you have the praise of the saints. They're so happy they're rejoicing their prayers are answered. And Peter is alive and continued his ministry. So you have these various things relative to the prayers of God's beloved people. In Christians, all I can say is, let us give ourselves more prayer. We need it. You don't think you need it? I know one thing, I know I need. And I've been preaching now for forty-five years altogether, and I need prayer today just as much as when I began. The world seems more weak, the devil seems more troubled, and the evil nature within me is just as vile, just as sinful and reckless as ever. It'll never end. And if ever there's a day when the Christian meets the grave, it is today. Well, I trust you to realize that. Zion Lourish the punishment of the blasphemer in verses nineteen on to the end. In other words, you have heaven, and he was a blasphemer. It goes to show you how wicked those things were back in those days. What did he do to those keepers that were watching Peter, those sixteen soldiers? They had absolutely nothing to do with Peter being sentenced. They had nothing to do with Peter being put in that prison. They were carrying out orders, and presently had nothing to do with Peter's escape, because the soldiers themselves were puzzled the next morning looking out, what happened that man? And yet this wicked terror had all of them put to death. That is one of the problems of the ages. Why should innocent people be made of such? Here are sixteen men, all their life snuffed at by this wicked king, because Peter had escaped the prison, and they didn't have a thing to do with it. And we think today of the innocent that are suffering. Look at the war of the Libyan Party. Who are the sad victims of all this bloodletting, this carnage, this suffering, women and children and old people? And so it'll be to the end of the age as long as Satan rules, or as long as Satan's at large. Going the earth, he's a murderer from the beginnings of the Lord Jesus' sight. And he loves the shed blood. And nothing delights the devil more than to shed the blood of the saints. And you find that in the revelation. And so you find this wicked king. And he's killing these keepers who are not responsible. It was just presumption on his part. goal things, and he was punished for it. You know, pride goes too far when it reaches the throne, and on this occasion the pride of Pharaoh has something to do with the throne of God. The people said it's the voice of God. Here it is, here it is, and he delivers a great oration, and he was so brilliant, and eloquent in his oration. people cry, that's not the voice of a man, that's the voice of a God. And evidently Herod soaked that up, cried God. And the moment he did, the angel of the Lord listened. And when cried, which is the throne of God, it's gone too far. How did Satan enter into this world when Satan aspired to the throne of God? He was the anointed cherub the one that covers that beautiful creature, undoubtedly the most beautiful creature God ever is, and he covers it with the throne of the earth. And when crying into it and into his heart, the Lord Jesus said, I saw sinning as lightning fall from heaven. Satan's pride reached the throne of God and that he was the end. He was hurled out of heaven. And here the angel that smoked Peter had awakened them and saved them from the prison and death is the same angel that smoked this thing. And he died and was eaten the world. Yet when this pride in our heart that aspires to the gold of God, when we seek to take credit for things that God has done, if we elevate and exalt ourselves and our pride touches the throne of God, robbing God of the glory that erodes his kingdom, we're going to die. And we'll have to pay for consequence. This is the pride that goes before destruction and the pride that goes before the fall. And that happened in the case of this wicked king. And so he's smitten with worms, and he dies. A very same angel in verse seven, that saved or delivered Peter, but one smite the blasphemer on little feet in verse twenty three. Josephus, that great historian, and Jewish historian, comes out with this, and I didn't know until this week, I have his book, that Jewish historian, not a Christian. And yet, he gives us details about those days that are amazing. He speaks eloquently of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives a chapter on hell that makes you shudder, and yet he was not a Christian. He was a brilliant Jewish historian. And he says it, that other great men kings were stricken with the same disease as this king had it. Whatever the disease was, it possessed them immediately and they were eaten of worms. And he says that herds of grief, the one who slaughtered the innocent, the children, he was eaten of worms, that is, he died with this same disease. Also Antipas, the one Antipas who slew John the Baptist. According to the Euclid, he had the same disease and died with it. And Antiochus Epiphanes, the one who defiled the temple, those terrible days under Antiochus Epiphanes, he died with the same disease. And Pellipas of Spain, the perfect uterus, and the subjector of the Netherlands. He died with the faith he was, and his hero died on. It seems a special judgment from God upon these mourners who made it their decision to defile the temple of God when slaughtered God's people. And so you see God in his judgment upon this manhead. What a horrible disease. find yourself swarmed over with worms and they're eating you up. They're eating you up. You know the amazing thing about all this persecution and the acts? Why persecution? Eleven times over we see what happened following these persecutions. And it was the Word of God who has spread the more. The Lord added to the church. Many people were added unto the church. The word of the Lord multiplied. And the people of God whenever we're preaching the word. There's always something successful after each persecution. Those persecutions had a salutary effect upon God's people. And where they went, prepared to die at need be for the Christ who died to them on the cross. and through their persecution, the word of God spread it. The church grew, it multiplied. Could it be Christians, we have it just too easy? If we have it so easy, we get so smug and complacent and satisfied. What would we do if we knew we only had twenty-four hours left? And then the Lord would come. Well, I'll tell you one of the first things I would do. I'd go to the phone and try and get my unsaved brother on the other end. And I'd pour out my heart to see if I could win it for Christ. And I'd put down the line of my loved ones in love. I'd try my best to win them to Christ before the time is up. And the church came. to attend out of the age of the church. What would we do? Would we run around praying? Would we run around crying? I don't want to go. I don't want to leave my loved ones. Would we get all excited? Or would we put in twenty-four hours of the most active service for Christ of our entire lives? Well, he may come before twenty-four hours. Shouldn't we live in the light of that? And if all these things are to happen here, even in what manner of people thought these are these? Assuring that these things are not dripping our hearts as they should. And so the word of God was multiplied, and friend, let me tell you this, it is multiplied, and it blessed. when God's people are willing to pay the price. It cannot be bound. Flames cannot burn. Neither can prisons contain it. Shames cannot bind it. Let me tell you this. The word of God survived from the very ashes that burned its little pain. And from the ashes of Bibles and scriptures and all that had been burned by enemies of the two thousand years, when they've gathered Bibles together in transcripts and manuscripts, burned them together. Ah, yes, if they burned every Bible in the world, in every New Testament, God says, my word is written in them. And you'll never destroy that. God's word liveth and abideth forever. He can't destroy God's precious word. These are some of the lessons we have from Acts, the early Christians, and the persecutions to which they passed, and how the work of God prospered, and the saints were multiplied, and churches multiplied in those places during those days. And in closing, I just want to say something to the unseen. As Peter was in peril, If you're not a Christian, so are you. You're in dreadful peril. I wonder if you realize you're being prayed for. Yes, you're in peril. You're a sinner. Your wife saved, your husband saved. You're not saved. Maybe your parents are saved and you're not. Oh, think of your peril, your peril. Maybe someone's praying for you. Mother's praying for you. Father's praying for you. Other Christians are praying for you. Your name's mentioned here on Wednesday night. And God's people are praying for you. But still you shake it off. You shake it off. You're being prayed for. Maybe you've been awakened and you've gone back to sleep. Can you think of Peter as we pointed out this morning? There he is. fast asleep. Found with those chains he couldn't feel those chains as long as he was asleep. But when he was slitten by the angel and was awakened, he became conscious of those chains and his circumstances. The Spirit of God sometimes quite frequently awakens a person up and they see their danger. Suppose then Peter had said to the angel, don't bother me. I'm going back to But Peter, don't you see your vision? Don't you know that things are praying for you? Don't you know that our mothers are not praying for you? Peter, don't you know that your head is coming off of the morning? Well, just let me alone. I'm going to go back to see you. Can that happen? Yes. I've known men and women to be under deep conviction and told God they were not ready to be afraid to lift them alone. And they've gone back to sleep. And that's sadly possible. The power of God and the affairs of the saints of God are powerless until you accept Jesus Christ. And Herod signed his own death warrant when he decreed the death of James. And you sign your death warrant when you reject Jesus Christ. It's just that simple. And as the worms of the earth, and of that dreaded disease, said on Herod's body, there's another worm in the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the worm that's never died, a fire that never shall be set. Oh, the worms of eternal rebirth. The worms of anger and eternal pain. worm shall never die. These things will knock at your soul forever and forever. You will wake up one of these days to realize this, that life was your one grand opportunity and you missed it. I don't know anything that could alarm us so more than that, that God gave you twenty years. Thirty years, forty years, fifty years, to accept Christ, to get saved, be ready for eternity. And then through slippant eternity without it. Realize when you wake up in hell, life is one grand opportunity to prepare yourself for heaven. And you miss it on no second chance. May God speak to your heart tonight and cause you to come hurriedly to Christ. And those of us who were saved, may God speak to us also as to the urgency of the hour and the peril that's all around us. And above all, don't overlook the peril of spiritual slumber, spiritual flaw. As Paul said to the Ephesians, Awake thou that sleepeth, and arise from the dead, and God shall give thee life. Oh, it's so easy in these days, these closing days, to drift off into a building, into a spiritual stupor, doing nothing for God. I trust God will speak to you, and speak to me, shall we pray. Our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. How searching thy word is. Father, thou wouldst have us fated and give us the wisdom to face it. We ask thee to speak to any unsaved who may be in our audience. O God, we trust that thy power and the prayers of thy people will not be in vain, because the prayers will be answered and thy power manifested in the salvation of some soul in this meeting tonight. We ask it in our Lord Jesus' precious name. Amen.