The Answer Came Knocking

Hands, nothing control. Even though he's flexing every muscle he can. The church is not in control, even though they are fervently praying. Peter's not in control. He has to be held by the angel now. Your sandals and now your cloak. And he's in a daze. He's not in control.

This is so clearly God managing God, moving God ordaining God, controlling every step of the way. This is God in total sovereignty over the events of life.

What happens when you try the. Well, you know what happens?

There's simply too much that's outside of your control, so you end up frustrated and perhaps even missing what God has for you and wants to teach you. God is sovereign and he's in control of your life and all the events of your life. We're going to see today that yielding to that and simply placing our faith in God is the way to experience God's best for us.

This is wisdom for the heart. We're working our way through a section of acts in this vintage wisdom series. Stephen Davy first taught this series many years ago. But we brought it out again now because it's so relevant to our lives today. Now, here's Stephen.

The 18th century poet William Calver penned those famous words, God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. He plans his footsteps in the sea and he rides upon the storm acts. Chapter twelve. Where we pick our story up again, we have both panic and Providence like a Chapter twelve of the Book of Acts, verse one. Now, about that time, Herod the King laid hands on some who belong to the church in order to mistreats them. And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword. Now, the main point of this chapter is obviously the deliverance of Peter. And it's kind of a footnote here. This mention of James being put to death with the sword. This is kind of like a place it struck me like a brief obituary in the in the inspired record. And I couldn't help but think that you would expect James, one of the 12 apostles, to get a little bit more of a reading than one sentence of an obituary. In fact, I. I counted the words in the Greek text. There are only seven. And I thought this is awfully abrupt. But the more I thought about it. As with any obituary, it isn't necessarily what is said about them or not. But whether or not you knew them, then it really doesn't matter what is said, except that they're gone. For those in the church that were now scattered reading this book of action. They could read enough to begin to grieve and for the tears to be experienced by the entire church. I thought of who would have grieved for James and immediately thought of his brother. You never read of these two men individually. It's always James and John and James and John, the Sons of Thunder, sons of Zebedee. In fact, you throw Peter into the mix and you have the three closest friends of the Lord Jesus. So you often read Peter, James and John. Now, James has been the first of the apostles to die a martyr's death. John, his brother, will be the last year later. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us much. Obviously, just a few words. But history records all the way back into the early second century. Clement of Alexandria recorded how a trial had taken place. Basically, James was brought in being treasonous to Caesar before he was put to death or was a trial of sorts. And James evidentally declared his faith in the only king, the king of kings. Clement tells of how James, on his way to the place of execution, was escorted by a soldier.

And that soldier had been so deeply moved as he had observed the trial that in the course of leaving the courtroom to the place of execution, that soldier professed faith in Christ as well.

And not one man, but two men were executed on this day. But this is tragic news to the church. James, one of the three closest apostles to the Lord, had been killed, but the news only grows worse.

First three, when Herod saw that it pleased the Jews tell some people live whatever pleases others. He proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread. Let me interrupt our study again here. Well, there must be something here that he wants us to uncover by digging about what this time period meant. I dug up a couple of things. I'll share them with you and you can take it from there. But a couple of things that would would seem significant to me about this time is that, first of all, the days of unleavened bread were the days of, of course, surrounding the feast of of Passover or the Passover celebration. It would be during that time that these Jews, the Jews who hated Peter, who hated James, who hated Christ and the church, it would be this particular period of time in which they are ridding from their homes any sign of leaven, that symbol perhaps of evil or rebellion. They were removing it from their homes. They were scouring their floors. They were dusting and sweeping. They were removing the leaven from their homes. And what struck me is that sort of in a symbolic way, they are purging sin from their homes, but they are allowing the sin to reside in their hearts. The nation Israel is getting rid of the outward symbol of evil, but they are cherishing the inward secret of murder and hatred.

The second thing that comes to my mind is I thought about the timing is how must have affected Peter. You go back to John. We don't have time. But in the last chapter, we study the link, we're told, of a conversation. We read of a conversation between Peter and the Lord and. Basically predicts Depinto that will die a martyr's death. They'll bind your hands and they will leave you where you know, where you do not want to go. He said when you're an old man now, this is about 15 years later. I don't know if Peter thought he had arrived at an elderly stage, but I'll bet he was thinking this must be it. In fact, when you consider the timing, you recognize the fact that as Peter would follow Christ, here is the anniversary of Christ's own death. Passover. I say all of that to say that I believe that Peter believed that this was it. And that'll be important later. But look at verse four.

When Herod had seized him, he he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, contending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church of God, by the church to God. And on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and guards in front of the door, were watching over the prison. I think Luke adds all of these details basically to show the reader then and now that this is a hopeless situation. The executioner is sharpening his sword. It's only a few hours before dawn. But I want to encourage you to take your pen or pencil or highlighter and highlight or circle the hinge of phrase of this entire narrative. I read it quickly because I didn't want to give you the clue. But there are two words in verse five that everything hinges upon. Circle those two words. Do you know what they are?

But prayer and I don't think the Holy Spirit through Luke wants us to miss the contrast. Peter has been intercepted. Oh, but I want you to know the church is interceding.

Peter is in prison. The church is in prayer.

And that makes all the difference in the world. Herod thinks he's bigger than the church. Herod doesn't know the church.

Herod thinks he's more powerful than God. Herron does not know God.

And Luke is going to give us the details about the revelation of who God is on this, see? Well, look at verse seven.

Behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shown in the cell. And he struck Peter's side and roused him, saying, get up quickly. A very nice thing to do. But he got poked and told to get out and his chains fell off his hands. And the angels said to him, gird yourself and put on your sandals. And he did so. And he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me. That just stop a second. Why in the world would we have an entire verse on Peter getting dressed?

Why? Well, for one thing, it informs us of the fact that Peter's sort of in a daze. He's in a fog. He thinks he's dreaming and won't be until later that he realizes he's he's involved in a miraculous escape.

Yeah. I think there's another point to be made that several authors that I had been reading made, and that is this, that even at the point when God performs a miracle, he will not do what that person can do.

Why not just automatically dress Peter? He can slip chains off. Surely he can put sandals on because Peter can put his sandals on. Peter can put his cloak on. And so God will not do what Peter can do in this scene.

You know, as I thought about this, that my mind went to a Friesians Chapter six where we are told that we have been provided with the armor of God.

We have every piece that we need. And yet you read through each piece of armor that we need to fight the battles of life and remain distinctive and pure. And then the interesting words that precede the entire description are the words by the apostle Paul, who says, now you put it on. And the tense indicates it is not a once in the Christian life. It is an everyday occurrence. You get out of bed, you put the armor on. He will not put it on you. It's available. It's yours. I'm not talking about becoming a Christian. I'm talking about behaving like a Christian.

You do what you can do and then leave to God when only God can do. You say, you know, I just don't understand why God doesn't take that habit away from me.

I don't understand why God doesn't just remove that that pull to that addiction. I don't understand why he doesn't just give me a new mind set. Why? Why doesn't he just change my thought patterns?

He wants you to dress. He's waiting for you to turn the TV off or throw the magazine away or quit listening to that music or whatever it might be. There's no telling. Ladies and gentlemen, if we would be willing to put the sandals on and the breastplate on and the helmet on, what kind of deliverances we would experience?

Well, let's go on to verse nine. And you any went out and continue to follow and he did not know what was being done by the angel was real. He's sort of in a daze in a in a fog here, but thought he was seeing a vision. And when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city. This gate, by the way, took several soldiers to open. This was the large. This was the huge iron gate. Historians tell us, with a massive bolt that took several men to operate. They arrive at that last stage. That stands between Peter and freedom. They came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself.

The original word is automatic, which gives us our word automatically. Whenever I read this, I think of the wonderful testimony of an African student I knew in college. Its name was Solomon, and he left his village, was accepted in the university and came to prepare for ministry and he would see things and experience things he had never seen or experienced before. Roommates took advantage of and they convinced him that spray starch was was any perspiration. Just one time, though, that that only worked one time. He was a great fella. In fact, he's still preaching today, serving the Lord. I remember him telling the story about when his plane touched down in the states in hand. He had been given directions to go out of the terminal and catch a taxi.

And so his his bags were all in his arms and he was loaded down with everything he owned. And he was approaching those glass doors and the outer or the exit to the to the sidewalk outdoors. And he was afraid to take a few bags out and leave them there and come back and get the rest of his bags. He was afraid somebody would take them. And so he all loaded down and and as he got to those doors. He just he didn't know what to do. He said, Lord, help me. And about that time, he stepped on the rubber mat and the doors opened up.

And he said, Allah Lord. Thank you. This is a miracle. He would learn later that it's electricity wired in a certain way. But for the moment, he thought it was. Well, you know what our trouble is? Our trouble is we we explain everything away. We we attribute everything to chance or luck or it was this or that. And we miss seeing the hand of God. We ought to have on the tip of our tongue the words. Thank you, Lord.

Throughout the day, I'm afraid, Peter was a little too days to even see the wonder of those doors opening automatically. Well, it opened for them by itself and they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter came to himself, you said, now I know for sure that the Lord is sent forth as Angel rescued me from the hand of Herod. And from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

Now I see he's fully awake now and he's just musing over this whole thing. By the way, what happened to the angel? You know, that the rude one that poked him and told me, get up. Well, if you read this texts of scripture, all angels appear. He's that he's acting like most of them. They come in a hurry. They deliver their message. They do what they're supposed to do. And now he's he's disappeared. He didn't stay and have a cup of coffee with Peter. He didn't tell them some some interesting news about heaven. He didn't offer Peter counseling on some issue or or help them make a make an important decision.

That kind of stuff only happens on television.

In real life, those are the ministries of the Holy Spirit through the word. Not that you would believe what you see in prime time.

First twelve. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together. And we're praying that we're back to this Perman. You remember they're praying for the deliverance of Peter first 13. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the Greek as Rose. We might have called her Rosie if she lived today.

And when she recognized Peter's voice because of her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. And they said to her, You're out of your mind.

Did you get the picture here?

Rosie rushes back into the prayer meeting. He's here. He's here. Who's here? Peter's here. Peter? Yeah. I heard his voice. He's outside the gate. Peter's. Peter's been delivered. You're crazy. No, I'm not.

I heard his voice. Are you're out of your mind? By the way, this is a prayer meeting. You interrupted us. Not now. Where were we? OK, Lord, please deliver, Peter.

It's encouraging to know that people who hung around the apostles who hung around the Lord still hadn't figured prayer out yet.

They were intense, but they were also convinced. About what they assume God would do. But she kept insisting, the verse says the word is leaning on them. I like this girl. You can translate it, nagging them.

She kept nagging. He's out there. He's he's out there. And they kept saying it is his angel. Now, that is his guardian angel. The Jewish Talmud about this time was teaching rather superstitiously that that people had a guardian angel who could assume their physical appearance to serve as a double in order to protect them, which I find fascinating, that they come out with us because since they won't believe the truth are left with nothing other than a superstitious explanation.

But you have to ask the question. I have a feeling that that Rose might have even asked it because what happened next? Listen.

OK, I see where with Hanaa hit. If if it's an angel, why does he bother to knock?

They must have quieted down and stopped their praying or getting on to her because they heard Peter Peters out there. Verse 16, continuing to knock. The answer to their prayer is knocking on their door.

And when they had opened the door, they saw him not notice the change from singular, plural. First it was Rose going to the door. Now they so they all they hear the knocking. Maybe there's a little scary here. Or maybe it. Maybe it's a ghost vision, an apparition. Maybe it's something. Maybe it's a Roman soldier and your miss your your misinforms. So they all you get the picture of the entire church body they're meeting. They'll go to the door and they all open the door and they all see Peter. And it says they are all they were amazed.

They were shocked. I probably feel apologies in that church before they left for the night.

But they all begin to praise God and shout and cry all at the same time. Verse 17. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, Report these things to James.

By the way, this is obviously not that James had been martyred. This is the half brother of Christ who is emerging as a leader in the Jerusalem church, who will also write the epistle of James. Go tell James and the Brethren. And he departed and went to another place. Now, when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers. I like the way that's put as to what could have become of Peter. And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and then assuming or implying there was a conspiracy. He ordered that they be led away to execution. Let me make some application from this passage. There are a number of of people in the scene. And so I've divided our thoughts along those lines. What can we learn from Peter? Let me give you a couple of thoughts. Number one, in the in the midst of impossible circumstances, it is possible to be content. I just wanted to rush by because I felt like I was interrupting the text enough as it was. But I found it interesting that on the night before, Peter is going to die. What was he doing?

He was sleeping. It reminds you of what David wrote when he was running from his power hungry son, Absalom, who would kill his father should he catch him. David wrote, I lie down and I sleep and I rise again, for the Lord sustains me.

I don't know where I heard it first. Or maybe I read it, but I've never forgotten it.

That there is no softer pillow than the sovereignty of God.

Second of all, sometimes God brings us to a dead end before he shows us the way out. And I think he does that. And he certainly had Luke include all the details here so that we couldn't miss. Who deserves the credit? There's no mistaking who the source of this deliverance is. There wasn't an option. There weren't several things to try. There was no plan. It was hopeless.

Peter, what were you doing at the moment? I can imagine. And being asked at the moment, the angel arrived. What were you doing?

Praying. I'll bet you were singing. Or maybe you were witnessing to the guards. What were you doing at the moment? The angel arrived.

Sleeping. In other words, Peter had nothing to do with his deliverance.

What can we learn from the church? A couple of things. Number one, prayer that focuses on the will of God. And this church was indeed desiring God's will to be done does not depend on the faith of the one praying in order to be answered.

And I'm so grateful for that.

Second, sometimes expecting the worst hinders us from seeing God's best.

To their credit, we have to remember now James is dead. Peter's in prison. Herod is on the throne. There's going to be another funeral tomorrow. They were they were so convinced that this story would have a tragic ending that they couldn't see that God had something else in mind.

Have you found yourself that way before?

You're convinced that there is only grief and sadness. You're convinced that this is what God will do and you overlook what he has done for you. You you forget the blessings.

You forget the answers that have come because you're so focused on expecting the worst in this situation that you you failed to see the best. God has already accomplished in your life. What do we learn about the Lord? He's the chief character in this story and every story, but he's sole parent here at any a couple of things struck me.

Number one, he is full of surprises for Herod, surprise for those soldiers when they awakened who were chained to now a missing apostle to the church that was praying with a preconceived mindset to a sad ending.

Surprise.

Why not? Why not just whisk Peter from the prison into the middle of a prayer meeting? Now, that would have been fun. That would have been a neat surprise. Why? Why take us through this entire process? Well, because God chose to perform a lot of little surprises to impact a lot of people. And that all added up to one big surprise. So instead of surprising the Saints with one miracle, only one facet of the story John Calvin wrote, he. He provided several miracles. So the Saints could talk about them for generation after generation. So chains are falling off. Guards are unaware. Doors are opening by an invisible hand.

And there's a knock at the door. It's Peter. And we're still talking about it today.

The second thing that strikes me about the Lord here not only is that he is full of surprises, but he is fully in control. Oh, there is a there is a fresh grave outside the city with James name on it. The church has suffered physical abuses. A Christ hating, Christian killing King is on the throne.

And total control. Absolutely.

His plans are irreversible. His will is unstoppable. With that thought in mind, I just went back to this passage and I read it again, as if for the first time and sort of took an overview of the entire passage with the thought in mind that he is in control. And it struck me I couldn't help but notice that no one else is in control of this passage. Herod is not in control, even though he's flexing every muscle he can.

The church is not in control, even though they are fervently praying. They're there praying toward a different direction than God is moving. Peter's not in control. He has to be held by the angel. Now your sandals and now your cloak. And he's in a daze. He's not in control.

This is so clearly God managing God, initiating God, moving God, or deigning God controlling every step of the way. This is God in total sovereignty over the events of life. And it is here to remind us at this particular point in our lives as believers, he is in total control of the events of our lives as well.

In fact, if you want to underline a verse that sort of summarizes that message is look at first 24.

All of this has happened. And then you read this wonderful phrase. But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied. That's another way of saying the purposes of God for his church and for his children has not been sidetracked. It isn't derailed. It's right on track.

And have we seen that? We've seen it in a passage where it is so clearly true that God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plans his footsteps in the sea. Who rides upon the storm?

This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davy.

Today's lesson is called The Answer Came Knocking. Does life seem a little hectic and out of control at times? I want to encourage you to spend a few moments reading and thinking about today's devotional. Jesus invites those who were weary and in need of rest to come to him. You'll find the devotional for July 21 on page 25 of Heart to Heart magazine.

Now, if you don't receive heart to heart, we'd be happy to send you the next several issues for you to try for yourself. You can sign up on our Web site, Wisdom Online dot org, or you can call us today at eight six six forty eight Bible. We want to get this resource to you. So contact us today and join us tomorrow for more wisdom for the heart.