Acts 12 - Part B

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And be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. That's Connect with Skip Heitzig on YouTube. Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Herod probably knows Peter had been in prison in Jerusalem once and escaped, right? They were put in prison, then all of a sudden they're out there in the temple preaching, and it's like, you know, I'm going to make sure.

I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen again. So 16 soldiers are given to him, intending to bring him before the people, that is for an execution, after the Passover. Now, that's interesting. Why after the Passover? Well, because Herod knows Jewish law. And Jewish law mandates that you cannot kill, you cannot have capital punishment. First of all, the capital punishment was taken away from the Jews during this time.

They had to go through Roman channels to execute somebody. But it was against Jewish law to do that during a high festival, during Passover. Now, you're thinking, wait a minute, Jesus was killed during Passover.

Exactly. And the trial of Jesus has been shown and proven on a number of occasions by books and research as being illegal on many fronts. However, it was necessary that Jesus die on Passover to fulfill the Passover. The Passover lamb, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Even though it was never done, and even though it was highly illegal, it fulfilled the type. It fulfilled typical prophecy. So Jesus was killed at Passover, going against all of the laws intact. Herod wanted to make sure that doesn't happen. So, James is dead, and Peter's in prison.

Now let me throw something out at you. Peter is going to escape out of prison. If you've read the Bible, you know that's going to happen. James was as dedicated as Peter. I think he loved Jesus as much as Peter loved Jesus. I think he was as godly as Peter was godly.

On some fronts, maybe more. Why is it that one gets killed and the other doesn't? Both dedicated men of God. Now I bring that up because sometimes we're mystified, and I am too. When I see good and godly men or women of God suffer and die, and I see so much potential in them, and I think of great years of service and ministry and influence they could have, then it seems like they die an untimely, foreshortened death.

Foreshortened life and an untimely death. And I go, oh man, I know you're sovereign, Lord, but. And honestly, I have to deal with it. It's not easy to deal with.

At the same time, God said my ways are not your ways. They're above your finding out. I have to rest right there. I have to stop right there. You're sovereign. You're God.

I'm not. So you have one who gets killed and one who does not. Do you remember, though, when James and John came to Jesus? They had a request, and actually they didn't have enough guts to ask it themselves. They had their mom ask. Right? She said, you know, my two boys would really love it if in the kingdom one could sit at your right hand, the other could sit at your left hand.

That'd be really cool. So Jesus said to them, the boys, James and John, are you able to drink the cup that I drink and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Now, they didn't know what they were saying. They didn't exactly know what Jesus meant. He meant his suffering and death. And they said, we are able.

And you remember what he said to them? Indeed, you will drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. Now we're seeing that come to pass. I believe this. I believe as a child of God you are invincible until God's done with you. And then when God is done with you, who wants to hang around anyway?

It's over, it's over. When God says I'm done, okay, then I'm done. Now the trouble is I don't always know when that time is.

I'd like to think I do. I wonder at God's timing sometimes. But the Bible says in Revelation 11, there were two witnesses or there will be two witnesses on the earth during the tribulation period, it says this, when they had finished their testimony, the beast rises out of the abuso, the bottomless pit, comes against them, overcomes them, and kills them.

Really? When? When they had finished their testimony.

That's when. So evidently, James has finished his testimony. And Peter has not.

That's how God saw it. James is done. Now you go, oh, that's so sad for James. Are you nuts?

Are you kidding? He beat Peter to heaven. That's bragging rights right there. You remember when Jesus rose from the dead that Peter and John, James' brother, ran to the tomb and one outran the other? One got there first. And in heaven, it is James, the brother of John, that got there first. Peter's there now, but... So look at this, verse 5. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

How about taking that verse and applying that to your situation? Here it says Peter was kept in prison, but constant prayer was made by the church. Joe lost his job, but constant prayer was made by the church. Glenda has cancer, but constant prayer was made by the church. Whatever your problem is, have the other part of it do, but constant prayer was made, because that will change the outcome.

Doesn't mean that it'll change God's mind, but God somehow loves to partner with his people to get his will done on earth, and does operate mysteriously, I don't quite get it all, according to our prayer. So Peter's in prison, but prayer is made by the church, and it will change the outcome. Okay, so, and when Herod, verse 6, was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. How do you sleep chained to a guard? How do you sleep chained to two guards? Goodness, how do you sleep chained to two guards when you're going to die the next day? It's interesting, you know, Peter never seems to have a problem with insomnia.

That was never his issue. That boy seems to be able to sleep just about anywhere. Mounted Transfiguration, it says Peter is sleeping. You know, there's the Transfiguration taking place with Jesus and Moses and Elijah, and Peter, it says, and it does say Peter fell asleep, and then the others did too, but he was like the guy saw logs first.

So it's like, really? You're sleeping now, Peter? Now, he does wake up, but he's late to the party, right?

So that's the Transfiguration. Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is there praying, and he says, watch with me one hour, and there's Peter. He's sleeping. So this boy does not have an insomnia issue. But this is not just Peter snoozing.

This is a rest of peace. This is a sleep of confidence and faith and peace when it says there were the guards that were watching him in prison. Now, when I asked the question, how do you sleep the night before you're going to be executed, here's the answer to that question. Peter went to sleep because he knew he wasn't going to be executed. He said, well, how would he know that? Herod said he's going to kill him. He killed James. He's going to kill Peter the next day. Ah, because he remembered Jesus gave him a promise.

Let me read it to you. I'm reading now the last chapter of the Gospel of John, just not the whole chapter, but one little section. After the resurrection at the Sea of Galilee, John 21, Jesus says to Peter, most assuredly I say to you, Peter, when you were younger, you girded yourself and you walked where you wished, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God, and when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Now, Jesus used some interesting language that Peter never forgot. It said when you are old, you're going to die this way. Well, that was just a few months before Peter's now in prison that Jesus spoke those words to him. It's been a few months. So Peter goes, good night. If I snore, just nudge me, soldier, but I'm going to sleep because I know I'm not going to be killed in the morning because Jesus said I'm not going to die until I'm old.

That was just a few months back. So Peter goes to sleep, and he can rest because he believes in a promise Jesus gave him. How about you?

How about us? Can we rest in the promises that Jesus spoke to us? Are we going to live lives that lack confidence and certainty because we won't believe the promises of the word? When you believe them, you can go, good night.

It's going to be good. God's in charge. He's on the throne. I don't know how, but I'll get out, and I'll have a long life, and I won't die until I'm an old codger. So I love that.

When you are old, they will take you. One of my favorite scriptures, and it's one that comes to my mind and that I throw around the walls of my head a lot. In Isaiah 26, it says, You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you.

And it was J. Oswald Sanders who said, Peace is not the absence of trouble. It's the presence of God. And Peter's living in the presence of God. It's happy hour for Peter that night. Jesus is there with him, and he's going to spring him out of jail the next day. He knows it. He's living by faith.

Now, the doors of that prison are shut, and it would seem impossible for any other outcome other than death to ensue. But though the doors of the prison are shut and though the doors of justice have been closed by the king, there is one door that remains open, and that's the door of prayer. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, in his Jesus Loves booklets, Pastor Skip Heitzig shows you God's radical love for all people and challenges you to love all people like Jesus did. And when you give a gift of $50 or more today, we'll send you four of these booklets in our Jesus Loves Them bundle. Our thanks for your support to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig. You'll fall more in love with your living Savior as you see just how much he loves all people and calls you to do the same.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your bundle when you give. Let's get back to the teaching with Pastor Skip. So again, I take you back to that verse, Peter was kept in prison, but constant prayer was made by the church to God.

It's their secret weapon. Now let me tell you, because some of us over time, we believers, we know prayer, we hear that prayer is important, but we don't engage much in it with real faith because we fail to believe it really is our secret weapon. You know, when you pray, you know, when you go through stuff and you struggle and you work and you talk to people and you get all flustered and you try to work it out yourself, devil loves that. When you pray, it's like bringing a gun to a knife fight.

Now he is outgunned because you are calling on the one who spoke him into existence, made him. And I love that old poem, it might have even been a song, Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. So prayer is going to change the whole outcome. It's unfortunate that it takes prisons to bring prayers. Sometimes we don't pray, tell, somebody's in prison, we got to pray for Peter, man. And suddenly we're in an extreme situation, we're up against the wall and there's just nowhere else to go and all we have left is prayer. And too often we live that way. There was a sign in a principal's office that said, you know the whole issue of prayer in school, it said, in case of nuclear attack, earthquake or fire, the ban on prayer is temporarily lifted.

And too often people live and think that way. It's only in an extreme situation like that that I'm going to really pray. So I'm glad the church is praying, but my question is, were they praying all along or is it just Peter's in prison, we better pray? Nonetheless, they were praying to God, good thing.

Things will change because of that. It says, verse 7, Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by Peter. Now Peter doesn't know this yet because he is sleeping. Yeah, he's just like, there's an angel standing by him. And a light shone in the prison, and now Peter's sleeping really well because the light doesn't wake him up. If a light goes on in the room, my wife will wake up.

She's just very sensitive to just a little bit of light. An angelic light shows up in his cell. Peter doesn't wake up.

So the angel has to resort to, well, look what it says. He struck Peter. That's our boy. That's Peter.

That's a guy we know. Struck Peter on the side and raised him up. So he's not just sleeping. He's groggy. This angel has to help this boy up.

Saying, Arise quickly. And his chains fell off of his hand. What a way to wake up. Wake up to a miracle happening and an angel is an alarm clock.

Not a bad night's sleep. Then the angel said to him, Gird yourself and tie on your sandals. So he did. It sounds funny, but I actually love that verse because the angel is so practical. You know, God works that way. God does the impossible, but He expects you to do the possible. He does the extraordinary, but He wants you to employ the ordinary.

So, yeah, an angel could have miraculously just clothed him but didn't. It's like, okay, come on. Get dressed.

Do the ordinary. Let's cooperate on this thing together. And so he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision. You know, it's like, man, this is an awesome dream. But when they were past the first and second guard post, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city which opened to them of its own accord.

Don't you love that? The first automatic gate. The angel didn't have to push the button. It just opened up. Which opened to them of its own accord and went out and went down one street and immediately the angel departed from him.

And when Peter had come to himself, so he's now fully conscious, he said, Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel. I'm not going to comment on this. You know, it's pretty obvious. Oh, really? Now. Now you've figured that out.

Okay. Now I know the Lord has sent His angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people. So that prayer meeting worked as Thomas Watson, the great Puritan, once wrote.

I think he lived in the 1600s, maybe 1700s in England. He put it this way. The angel fetched Peter out of prison. But prayer fetched the angel.

And there is that cooperation now you're seeing. People on earth praying to God. It was God's will to deliver Peter, but God got them cooperating with His will. And it was their prayer that fetched the angel. Now again, let's just stop and ask this question.

Okay. So they prayed for Peter and God released them. Does that mean they failed to pray for James?

I don't think so. I think they probably prayed as fervently for James as they did for Peter. You'll say, well, then why didn't God answer their prayer? He did. He said no. Last time I checked, that's an answer. Dad, can I have the keys to the car? No.

You got your answer. Now one day you may ask Him for it. Dad, can I have the keys to the car?

Sure. So here's the point. God is still sovereign. He rules and overrules. So when you pray, you can't demand and I have enough faith and I claim it and whatever I say out of my mouth is what God has to do because God is a slave to my faith-formed words. That's nonsense. God has editing rights over your prayer life.

So it's like when you turn in your term paper to the teacher and the teacher takes it, looks at it, corrects it, aligns it with his or her will, changes it up, hands it back for you to resubmit it. So the answer was no when it came to James and it was yes when it came to Peter. God's ways are not our ways.

He has editing rights. Okay, so now watch this. The angel was able to get Peter out of prison. Peter is unable to get into a prayer meeting. It's easier to get Peter out of jail than it is to get him into a prayer meeting and you'll see why. So when he had considered this, it's like, man, I just got sprung out of jail by an angel.

I was touched by an angel. When he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. Now he's going to the prayer meeting itself. The house of John Mark, it is believed, became the headquarters of the early church in Jerusalem. And John Mark is probably the author of the Gospel of Mark. And it was Peter's account that John Mark writes in the Gospel of Mark. This John Mark, we know his mother's name, Mary. She was prominent in the early church.

She probably had a large house. In fact, some believe that when you go today to Mount Zion, that area that they call the upper room, the Senecal it is called, that the upper room in the Bible was Mary's house, the house of John Mark's mother. Can't be certain, but many feel that way. Maybe, maybe not. So he goes to the prayer meeting.

He's out of jail. They're praying. It says, as Peter knocked on the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda, her name means Rose, came to answer. So knock, knock, knock.

Rose answers. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness, she did not open the gate. There's poor Peter knocking. She goes, oh, it's Peter. Okay, next step, open the door. But she doesn't do that. It says she ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. Hey, Peter's outside. But they said to her, you're beside yourself.

Better translation in the NIV and the New Living Translation. You are out of your mind. Yet she kept insisting it was so. So they said, it's his angel.

Now, that cracks me up. I'm not going to go into their belief system of angels. But just to say, why would an angel need to knock? If it were an angel, angels just show up. Angels didn't have to knock on the prison door just, hello. They just, they're there.

But they came up with this excuse. Oh, you're nuts. It can't be Peter.

And when she kept insisting, no, that's Peter. He's out there. They said it is his angel. Now, let me say something about their prayer meeting. I'm glad they're praying.

And I admire a group, a kinship group, a home fellowship group, connect group, church, that gathers together for prayer. And they prayed continually. But can I just say, it seems like though they were praying continually, they were not praying expectantly. Because if they were praying expectantly, and she said, it worked, Peter's outside. They would have gone, oh, we were just figuring when we knew that would happen. Of course, God would answer our prayer.

But they go, you're out of your mind. That can't be him. What kind of faith is that? Thanks so much for being with us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you a copy of the Jesus Loves Them bundle to help you understand God's abounding love for all people. Request your copy when you call and give 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.