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I'm going to read the twelfth chapter today. We read it last Lord's Day morning, and uh, I must say I was well pleased with uh, the offering that was given last Sunday by you to the uh, get work of the Gideons. I believe it was the best offering that they ever received from us. It was twelve hundred forty three dollars, and we praise the Lord for it. It will be well used in providing the word of God for those who, uh, uh, need it, or all need the word of God, but, uh, they put it in unique places, and we thank God that he has used it in the way that he has.
The twelfth chapter of Acts, uh, deals with the subject of prevailing prayer. And, uh, last Lord's Day morning, I gave you the outline I'm going to follow this morning. Uh, because the twelfth chapter of Acts is the great pivotal chapter in the book of Acts. Acts is a book of movements. You have the, an upward movement, the Lord Jesus to heaven. You have a downward movement, the Holy Spirit to earth. You have an outward movement, the Lord's people going out for the message of the gospel. So, uh, and then the outward movement is in a threefold way.
There's Jerusalem and Judea, and Peter and John are the spokesmen. Then there is Samaria, and Philip was a spokesman, and now we have the gospel to go out to the uttermost part of the earth, and we saw, uh, two weeks ago Antioch being brought to our attention, and Antioch becomes a new center. Uh, it is the shoot that grew, as I mentioned. Uh, in other words, Antioch becomes a principal church, not the church at Jerusalem, but Antioch becomes a church whereby the world is going to be evangelized.
And, uh, it is from that center, Antioch. And between chapter eleven and chapter thirteen, where the Holy Spirit says, separate unto me, uh, Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them, and the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, we have this twelfth chapter. In this twelfth chapter, there are four main lessons. Number 1, persecution with its problems. Then second, we have prayer with its power. Third, there is pride with its punishment. And finally, preaching with its progress.
These four things we have here in Acts chapter twelve. Now, first of all, persecution with its problems, and we find, first of all, the oppressive will of Satan. Uh, the persons mentioned in the opening chapter are Peter, James, and John, the three that appeared with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. They are being used of God, but Herod, and there are four Herods in the New Testament. I've spoken one time, years ago, on the second commandment.
The second commandment says, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or the earth beneath, and then the judgment that comes upon those visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And, uh, in applying that to the Herods of the New Testament, here we have four generations of Herods in the New Testament. They all had a visitation from God in a special way. It is one of the most diabolical families of the early Roman Empire.
There is nothing good that can be said about the Herods. It is an incestuous. Uh, first of all, there was Herod the Great. He had the visit of the wise men, and he made the statement, I want to worship him, but he tried to kill him. And that, you see, that diabolical activity you find throughout the four generations. Now, it's not father-son. It is father-son, cousin-cousin. But it's an incestuous family, and the line of iniquity runs through that family, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
And then, of course, you have Herod's son, who was ra- Herod Antipas, who was reigning at the, uh, when our Lord was crucified. He would have liked to have seen, uh, a miracle that our Lord performed, but John the Baptist had preached to him, and he even liked to listen to John. But he had him beheaded. And then his cousin, here's a man, Acts chapter twelve. He stretches forth his hand, and he takes Peter, uh, James, and he kills James with a sword, and he puts Peter in prison, and he would also take John.
He was going to, uh, n- nullify the witness of John as well. The oppressive will of Satan. There are those whom Satan can work with, and he found a ready-made tool in the Herods. And finally, the last Herod of scripture is in Acts twenty six, where you have King Agrippa, and he had the witness of the Apostle Paul, and Paul had to say to him, or he said to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. But you find that they all turned from God.
The oppressive will of Satan, and Satan's objective is to silence the witness of believers. The Word of God tells us, Peter is a writer, and he says, says in First Peter chapter five, Satan, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Now, I'm not as scared of Satan as a roaring lion as I am when he appears as an angel of light. You can hear a roaring lion, and you can detect him. You know a lion when you see him.
He's out to devour. But an angel of light is difficult to detect. And the language that Paul uses in First Corinthians eleven, Second Corinthians, where he speaks of Satan as an angel of light. Uh, he mentions how deceptive he was when he approached Eve in the Garden of Eden. And we had a ministry on this by our brother Dunbar. But Satan is acting in Acts chapter twelve as a roaring lion. But we not only have the oppressive will of Satan, we have the permissive will of God in this passage.
When we talk about the will of God, there is a directive will of God. Uh, in other words, that which God directs and that which he reveals in his word. Therefore, we have the specific statements of his word, and he expects us to obey them. We don't need to pray about the direct commandments of God. They're in the word. All we need to do is obey them. We don't need to pray about being baptized after God saves us. The Word of God tells us to be. Period. And, uh, we don't, there's some things we don't need to pray about.
They are directives of God's will in his word. We don't need to pray, uh, concerning, uh, living a clean life. He says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. If I want to know what the will of God is, I'll tell you one thing it isn't. It isn't living in sin. It's our sanctification. This is the will of God. I don't need to go to a Bible conference to learn it. All we need to do is open the word of God. And when I read, uh, Ephesians chapter five, he says concerning God's word, that we understand what the will of God is.
It is something that the people of God understand. But there's something about the will of God that sometimes surprises us. It is what God allows, the permissive will of God, that which God in his wisdom allows to happen to us. James was beheaded by King Herod, and Peter is put in prison. Does God allow these things to happen to his children? No matter what our circumstances are.
First Corinthians chapter ten and verse thirteen is always there for the child of God. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful in that he will not permit you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with a temptation provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear. It happens that way. Romans eight verse twenty nine says that God is conforming us to the image of his son.
And when we look at a man by the name of Job in the Old Testament, the trial of his life was far more severe than anything I have ever endured or ever will endure. But when we think of the triumph of his life, the triumph of faith, it certainly was there. Now, you have the oppressive will of Satan, you have the permissive will of God, what God allows the, uh, to take place in the life of his children, but we also have in this passage the submissive will of believers.
And this is beautifully illustrated by Peter. You see, he was asleep. He wasn't biting his fingernail. He wasn't biting his fingernail. Now, it's not easy always to go to sleep. Uh, one year ago, this week, I was in Pennsylvania, and I got the phone call to come home, and you know, all know about it, uh, what was taking place. And you talk about the oppressive will of Satan. There's a mudslide on the, on the, and the permissive will of God.
There was a mudslide on Route fifteen where they were working on the road, and the mud and rocks caused me to have to spend an hour doing nine miles when I wanted to, when I had five hundred to do to get home. And all we, I could do was submit to God. Submit to God. And when I finally got to a place where I needed to sleep, he gave me good rest. And I could get before the Lord, and we could fellowship together, and I could ask him to- for rest.
And I'll tell you, he gave it to me. I woke up at two o'clock in the morning. I asked him to wake me up. So I said, Lord, I'm not ready to go. I'm too sleepy. Give me a couple hours yet. And you want to know something? I went right off to sleep. And I woke up at three exactly. And I was as wide awake as I am this morning. I said, okay, Lord, I'm going. I tell you, the submissive will of believers. Peter was not biting his fingernails. Peter was asleep. And later on, Peter could say, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Now, I know that verse, and you know that verse. And you could say this morning, well, if I would have been Peter, I could sleep too. After all, the Lord told him in John chapter twenty one, I was going to die. He was going to die an old man, and he wasn't an old man yet. You know, he could easily say that. And you know how we rationalize when we want to have our own way. But you see, uh, I consider myself a young man too. But I'll tell you this, I shook in my shoes a year ago. When they called, when I, Paul called, uh, I was in pretty bad shape, I'll tell you that.
I couldn't pray. I asked David Morris to pray, and David prayed. And I thank God for David and Tony, who packed my cases, for I had gotten my stuff out, and I had my bed made, you see, and all these things for the night. They took care of that for me. And I took off. I got a motel down somewhere in Virginia in order that I could get with the Lord, alone with the Lord. Friends, there is this thing known as the submissive will of the believer.
We bow before the Lord. Now, Romans eight thirty one says, what shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? And no matter where I am, no matter what situation I'm in, and this is true for you, God is never against you. God is for you. And I tell you, this stabilizes the heart. This gives peace to the child of God. God is for us, and if he is for us, who can be against us?
That brings us to the second thing we want to talk about this morning, and that is prayer with its power. And this twelfth chapter of Acts is a challenge of prevailing prayer. The challenge of prayer. The scripture says, prayer was made without ceasing to God for Peter. The church realized that they were in trouble. They were being oppressed by the enemy, and prayer was made without ceasing. Peter says, later, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. What is God doing?
God puts us in a hopeless situation in order that he can show what he can do. And that's what God does to us time and time again. And we have the accounts in the Word of God. And God had Peter in a hopeless situation to show what he could do. And of course, connected with prayer and his power is a ministering angel that was sent. Uh, first, uh, or Hebrews chapter one verse thirteen says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation?
The ministering spirits that we don't know about. John Wesley, in his diary, he talks about riding through a difficult place alone on his horse, and there were, it was known for its many robbers, and as being exceedingly dangerous. And he says, another horse with a rider, never said a word to him, rode up alongside of him, and rode with him through this area and left him. Never knew who he was. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation.
The ministry of the angel. Now, I want you to notice a number of things concerning the ministry of the angel. You see, the angel did for Peter what Peter couldn't do for himself. Peter's hands and his feet were bound in the stocks with chains. Now, the angel took them off, but the angel did not do for Peter what Peter could do for himself. He did not dress Peter. He said, Peter, you put your clothes on. And God is not going to overrule the wisdom he's given to you in creation by redemption. He doesn't do that.
Redemption, he provides what you can't do for yourself. In other words, God is not going to brush my teeth for me. He's not going to do it. And there are a lot of things that God is not going to do for us, because he's given us the ability and the capacity to do it. And here is what we have in Peter and the ministry of the angel. But I want you to notice, remember when Satan took our Lord up above the Kidron Valley to the pinnacle of the temple, and then he quoted from the Psalms. You see, he giveth his angels charge over thee.
He could say to the Lord, you're the Messiah, aren't you? Yes, I'm the Messiah. Well, the people are down there waiting, and they believe, according to Malachi three that Messiah is going to come suddenly to his temple. They're waiting for you. Jump! And they'll believe you. But our Lord did not submit. The temptation of Satan is one of the most cynical that is recorded in the Word of God, and he reveals himself for what he is when we truly study it.
Now, this prayer meeting was still in progress when Peter was released, when Peter got to the home of John Mark. I'd like to ask you the question, what do you think they were praying for? I don't believe they were praying for Peter's release. I don't believe they were. The text doesn't say they were, but I would believe they were praying for something that's much more important. That Peter's faith would not fail. That's what our Lord prayed for. He said, Simon, Simon, son of Jonas, Satan desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat.
But I prayed for you. Why? That your faith wouldn't fail. And you remember how Peter failed. He told the Lord, Lord, if they all forsake you, you can count on me. And he's the one father they couldn't count on. He told the Lord he knew better than he did. For if he would have believed the Lord, he would have said, yes, Lord, I know how weak I am, and thank you for praying for me. But he said, Lord, no, you don't need to worry about me, Lord. You can count on me. See, I believe they were praying that Peter's faith would not fail.
And I tell you, Peter asleep with a guard on each side and a few more at the door in case he tried to get through there. You see, Peter's asleep. He's not weeping as he did in Luke twenty two. In Luke twenty two he went out and wept bitterly. No weeping here. We have submission. What a difference. But oh, when we come to this story, they're surprised by answered prayer. How God answers your prayer is amazing. You see, they're surprised by answered prayer and all the foolishness of it. Rhoda is so excited that she sees Pete- Peter at the door, she never opens it.
She never opens, and he just has to keep on knocking while she's in there trying to convince him that Peter's at the door. She had- wouldn't have had any problem if she would have just opened the door and let him in and walk in there with her. But oh, surprised by answer. Are you ever surprised? By the way in which God answers prayer. I had a good letter from a prisoner that I've been dealing with over the years. And in this letter he said to me, he said, I've been angry with God. He said, I was angry with God because he wasn't doing what I wanted him to do, and now I've learned that all the time he was working for me, all the while I was angry with him.
How true that is in our lives. They were surprised by answered prayer as they prayed without ceasing. For Peter, God was at work. He answered their prayer in his way, according to his will. And here we find the foolishness of rationalism. They said, oh, it's his spirit. Like the people that you meet, you know, and they say, preacher, I'm with you in spirit. I'm there in spirit every meeting. I don't like to preach the spirit. I don't like to preach the spirit. You see, and here we see the foolishness of rationalism.
And of course, you have the declaration of Peter. He said, it was the Lord who delivered me. He delivered me from Herod. The Lord, who opened those prison doors? They opened of their own accord. They were opened by prevailing prayer. God in answer, in his way, in his, according to his will, to the prayers of the people who were there. Now notice, tried with his punishment. You can't get away from this in the chapter. You see, Herod is called the king in verse one, and then, of course, he makes an oration to the people. There's a problem between, uh, another section of Palestine, and they were at odds, and now things are going a little better, and he makes an oration, and the people cry, it's a shout of a god and not of a man.
And boy, that just filled Herod with cries. But while an angel of the Lord delivers Peter, the angel of the Lord smites Herod, and he's eaten the worms because he doesn't give God the glory. God had given Herod a definite visitation. Herod knew how Peter got out of jail. Oh, you can punish the keepers of the prison all you want, but King Herod knew it was God who had delivered Peter, and he had put forth his hand against one of the lords, and here we see King Herod in the same position that Pharaoh was in the book of Exodus.
In the book of Exodus, Pharaoh could say, who is the Lord that I should obey him? And God shows Pharaoh who he is in his mighty works, and of course he drowned in the Red Sea. It's amazing. Pride with its punishment. Finally, we have preaching with its progress. The end of the chapter says, but the word of God grew and multiplied. The- this chapter opens with a mention of three men, Peter, James, and John. But this chapter closes with a mention of three other men, Saul, Barnabas, and John Mark, and they're going to make the first missionary team to go to the ends of the earth.
Peter, uh, or Saul, Barnabas, and John Mark, and here we have the launching of a great missionary movement. Now, what does this do for us? Here we are in nineteen ninety two. What does this chapter mean to us? Well, first, we have the lesson of the efficacy of prayer. Haddon Spurgeon called this, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the omnipotence of prayer. No instructions are given in the Bible on how to preach. But we have instruction on how to pray.
They said to our Lord, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And if we would take into account the Lord's prayer, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, who he is, where he is, what he is, and our approach in prayer, we would learn something of the omnipotence of prayer. Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. But then there's a second lesson here, and that is the reality of the presence of God.
Psalm one hundred twenty one says, He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. And we see that blessedly illustrated in the life of Peter. The keeper of Israel was keeping Peter. Peter was asleep. Peter was resting, resting in the knowledge that he who is omnipotent reigneth on the throne. He's in full control. I am never away from the presence of God. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
So I really believe that. The next verse in the hundred twenty first Psalm says, the Lord is thy keeper. We don't need to be, uh, uh, we don't need to wonder who keeps us. It is the Lord who is our keeper. I remember when I was in Africa one night, I was out, way out in the boondocks of Nigeria, where it was a, it was a good day's journey, about twelve to fourteen hours, depending how long you had to wait for the ferry, and if you could get on the ferry to get across the river, the Niger River. Sometimes it was a few days journey, and that night I was oppressed by the enemy.
Satan brought into my mind all the things that could have happened to my family, and I tell you, it is very real. And I said, Lord, that morning that I left to come over here, we read three times the one hundred twenty first Psalm. Your word says that you're our keeper, and my wife and children are in far better hands than in mine. In fact, if I got word right now of something hap- that happened, it would be a few days before I could ever get home.
And since thy word says that he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, I don't know why two of us have to be awake. I said that to the Lord. And you want to know something? That little verse from the Psalm came in reality, he giveth his beloved sleep. I slept. These verses are real, friends. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. But then there's a final lesson in this chapter, and that is the certainty of divine retribution. The enemy can put his hand out and think he can defy the God of heaven, but the God of heaven is in full control.
And while he sends an angel to deliver Peter, he sends an angel, and he kills the king. Let no one think that God is not in control. He is. My friend, Dr. S. Louis Johnson, who for years was professor of theology at Dallas Seminary, and later at Trinity Seminary, and now he's on the Bible conference circuit, having retired. He said they had a man come to Dallas who gave an illustration.
He said, I wrote it down in the front of my Bible. He said it was the mo- most unique illustration he ever heard in his life. He said he had a phobia of being mugged. He had a fear of someone mugging him, and one night it happened. One night it happened. He said, as he was walking home, there a few men accosted him. One man stayed on the corner, he was a lookout man. Another man shone a flashlight in his eyes. And another man started going through his pockets. And when he went through his pockets, he pulled out a testament. And when he pulled out the testament, he dropped it.
And the man, uh, being mugged, he said, he said, that's my testament. He said, what is that? He said, that is the word of God. And when he said that, the three men ran off. He just took off and ran, and he cupped his hands and he yelled, the wicked fleeth when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. For God at that moment gave him the strength of a righteous man. My friend, we serve an omnipotent God. He's on the throne of the universe. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He visits divine retribution according to his will.
But he saves his people out of their struggles, out of their problems, in his way, in his time, according to his will. Are you his? That is the God that I serve and the one that I love. Let's pray together. Let's stand for the benefits. Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the revelation of your person, for the joy of being able to draw near and say to thee, the omnipotent God of heaven, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
We worship you, and we thank you, our Father, that the launching of this great missionary enterprise is going forward in accordance to thy will, for thy glory, and for the honor of thy great name. Now take this word and bless it to every heart. Dismiss us with your blessings, and may we leave together rejoicing in the fact that our God neither slumbers nor sleeps. Thou art for us, and who can be against us? And we would submit our wills to thine, and therefore we ask that this may be the prayer of thy people and the desire