I ask you to turn with me in your Bibles or follow along up top to page 1171, Acts chapter 12. And I'm going to read five verses and then pray. About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. May we pray. I want to talk to you for a moment about what it is to be a martyr. I want to say to you the meaning of the word martyr is witness. Andrew Brunson, right now, is a faithful martyr. And so the real title of this sermon is, Andrew Brunson, Faithful Martyr of Jesus Christ. If we look at our passage, we see in verse 2, Acts 12, 2, that King Herod killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. James was a martyr. He was a martyr who sealed his martyrdom with his own blood. However, There's another martyr here who did not, at this point in time, seal his martyrdom with his blood, and that's Peter. So what is the reaction of the church when it comes to grips with the reality, marvel not if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. What's the reaction of the church? These things are a wake-up call to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they gathered together and prayed. If you read the first chapters of the book of Acts, you realize that there are literally thousands of Christians living in Jerusalem at this time. This took place somewhere before 44 A.D., when this King Herod died. And so by this time there are thousands of Christians. That's the only error. I haven't seen the movie in the movie Paul. By this time there are thousands of Christians and they weren't all gathered in some big cathedral somewhere praying. They didn't have the freedom to do that. They're like Christians today throughout much of the world who do not have the freedom to worship. What is the nation in the world today with less religious freedom than any other in the world? It is Saudi Arabia. There's not one single solitary church in Saudi Arabia. There's not one single solitary synagogue in Saudi Arabia. So I want you to understand something. Christians in Turkey, not just Andrew Brunson, are up against something very ominous and every bit as much as hateful of Christianity as what you find here in Acts chapter 12 with Herod the King. The church's reaction is that they gather throughout the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas to pray. These are house churches. They're not independent. They're connected together through elders who lead them and connected together and are very concerned about the original leadership of the church. The original twelve apostles, they're very concerned about that. And so they plead with God and that's what happens. What happens as a result of that? Verse 5, Peter's kept in prison but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Verse 6, and we need to plead with God for just such a supernatural intervention in the case of Andrew Brunson, who is already a faithful martyr of Jesus Christ. Now when Herod was about to bring him out on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and centuries, centuries before the door were guarding the prison. Pretty secure. Why was Herod making sure that he was kept very secure? Lee, sorry. Why was he doing that? Well, he had experienced earlier how the apostles came out of prison. And what were they told to do when they came out of prison? Go and preach in the name of Jesus. And so Peter is being guarded securely. You can't get more securely guarded than this. Chains, two soldiers, four squads of four soldiers each, an inner room, outer room, and so what happens? He's sleeping. How well would you sleep? How well would I sleep? How could he sleep so securely? You know why? Because when you are in the center of God's will, you're as secure as a little baby being held by his mama. You belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will never let you go. You're securely held by him, and Peter is aware of it. Peter is already probably resigned to the fact that not only is he a martyr, but he's going to be a martyr who's going to seal it with his blood. There he is in a sound sleep. Verse 6, Peter is sleeping so soundly in verse 7, Behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly, and the chains fell off. Do you notice the angel said, Get up quickly? Do you know the world we live in, we tend to want to divide it into a natural world and a supernatural world, but the Bible doesn't know anything of that kind of division, because the Bible is a both-and book. It's both a natural book and a supernatural book, and there are natural means to supernatural ends. Get up quickly. Well, I was enjoying a good sleep. Get up quickly. It's time to move. And so what happens? The chains fell off his hands. That's clearly supernatural, isn't it? But there are actual chains. And the angel said to him, dress yourself and put on your sandals, and he did so. Now he was dressed, he just wasn't dressed for street clothing. So he girded himself, then he puts on his outer robe, and he follows him. Verse 9, he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. Now what does that mean? Well, Peter had had visions before. Remember the vision he had in Acts chapter 10? He dreamed about a great sheet coming down. He was hungry. He had gone up to take a nap while lunch was being fixed. And he saw these wild animals in there, a lot of unclean things. And in a great visible vision, transforming the New Testament church from the Old Testament church, where you can now eat boudin, Peter was told that he could kill and eat. This was not a vision. This was real in the sense that what he saw with his eyes and heard with his ears was actually something physical and tangible. Verse 10, when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left them." You need a miracle today? You know, God still is in the miracle working business, but the moment I see that hand, God is still in the miracle working business. There's a story told of an evangelist in the early 20th century, and a lady came to him wanting to be prayed for, for her ears to be opened and unstopped. And you know what? Prayed, nothing happened. And then she went to the doctor and she just needed to have the wax cleaned out of her ears. The point is, when you need a miracle, you can look to God for a miracle, but you need to clean your ears out. So Peter needed a miracle and the angel immediately left him when he no longer needed a miracle. And then he has to act. He has to do what he's been told to do. And so he goes. He says to himself, he came to himself, you ever thought about it? We'll come back to that thought in a moment. And he said, now I'm sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this, verse 12, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. Many, but not all, as we'll see again. Verse 13, and when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer, recognizing Peter's voice. In her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, you are out of your mind. This is the word from which we get the word manic. She was so excited, so overjoyed at this miracle of God, at this answered prayer, that she runs in and forgets to open the door. You see, Peter needed to get inside quickly because it wasn't safe on the streets. You're out of your mind, they said. But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, it is his angel. Now I want you to notice again, they said she's out of her mind. Notice that Peter, when he realized that a miracle had occurred, came to himself. And I simply want to say this, we live in a world that is governed by such secular thinking that we're shocked when a miracle occurs. They were shocked when a miracle occurred. But how much more are people shocked today when a miracle occurs? See, they were shocked. Oh, you got it all wrong, Rhoda. That's not Peter, that's his angel. Anyhow. Verse 16, Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison, out of the prison, and he said, tell these things to James and to the brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. Tell these things to James and to the other, and to the brothers. which is a way of saying sisters and brothers in the New Testament. Go tell this stuff to James. Who is the James who's in view here? That is the Lord Jesus Christ's half-brother. He didn't believe in Jesus. Until what? Until after Jesus rose from the dead. Have you ever wondered why when Jesus was dying on the cross, he looked at one of the disciples who was part of the inner circle, Peter, James, and John, and he said to John, you take care of my mama. Well, that's my paraphrase. He gave custodial care of his mother to Mary. I mean, excuse me, to Apostle John. That's what I have for the Yule children. I'm responsible for them. We signed legal papers on Friday. They belong to me temporarily. And Jesus is concerned about his mama. He loved his mama. He wanted to make sure that she was taken care of. Well, why not to one of her children? You know why? Jesus lived in a house where his mother was a believer, but not fully on board as a disciple. But his brothers and sisters didn't believe in him at that point. But you know what? By 44 A.D. they did. Why? because they saw him. Waves from the dead during those 40 days when he walked the earth and he ate food and he talked to people. They're there with him. They see it. They believe him. This is James the Just who was the leader of the Jerusalem church, not part of the original group. Notice he's not gathered in this group. He's got his own group to tend to, and others have other groups to tend to. And that's how the church has got to learn to function unless our Lord sends great revival to this country. Without great revival to this country, the things that are happening in other places will happen here. Does that motivate you to pray? To find solidarity with Andrew Brunson? Then he departed and went to another place. Why does it record where he went? Because by the time the book of Acts was written and finished, Jerusalem still existed. It didn't fall until 70 AD. And so, you don't want to let certain information out until it's safe to let it out. Now verse 18, what are the consequences to unbelievers? And here's where you see that life is not fair. You know it's not fair for me because God doesn't deal with me the way I deserve. God deals with me solely on the basis of His free and sovereign grace that I receive through faith alone in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything I've got in life I've gotten from His grace. I'm very happy with my life. Having retired as a pastor, I now work for our presbytery and travel. I'm responsible, Woodland is not one of the churches, for 29 churches and mission fields that we have throughout the western part of our denomination, of our presbytery. I'm happy. God's been good to me. Why has He been good to me? Not because I'm a good man, in the sense of being a perfect man, but because of His amazing grace. I'm struck at it. Amazing grace. My wife and I have never been happier than we are today. We enjoy our lives. Why? His goodness. But you know what? God isn't fair with us because we don't get what we deserve. But there are other people who don't get what they deserve either. We think that the reality is they do get what they deserve. When Herod, verse 20, then now Herod was angry with the people, excuse me, I'm sorry, Verse 18, now when the day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after their Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the centuries and ordered that they should be put to death. Now, he examined the centuries. Centuries, I'm sorry. What does it mean? Did he go and, did he have, like, the representative of the district attorney sit down in a room and there's a lawyer present, you know, wait a minute, I object? No. They tortured them. They tortured them. They tortured them. They examined them by torture to get them to fess up. And when they couldn't reveal what had happened because they didn't know they'd fallen asleep, and they fell asleep for one reason. It was a supernatural sleep, the same kind of supernatural sleep that fell on King Saul and all his soldiers in the Old Testament when David was able to go down and fetch his spear and his water thing. Supernatural sleep. You know, when God sends supernatural sleep, you can't stay awake. It's not their fault, is it? And here's the thing I want to say. The real loyalty in this world is not to your country. It's to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the key. They were serving Herod. They were doing their duty as they understood it. But their duty was to the wrong kingdom. And what happened to them? He ordered them to be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Verse 20. Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food." I want to say something that's an eye-opening verse, isn't it? It tells us that the world we live in is not the way it appears on the news, whether it's The left-handed news or the right-handed news or the news from another country. There's always an ulterior motive with nations. There's an economic motive here. They're going to starve to death without Herod because they're on the coast of Lebanon and they are dependent on the grain fields that come from Herod's domain. Verse 21, on the appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes and took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them. Your pastor and I were at that very spot in February of 2000. February of 2000. Sat there. That place is still existing today in Caesarea by the sea. And Herod came out to deliver an oration. And boy could that boy speak. I don't think it was really the case. I think what it was is that people were flattering him because they wanted to get in his pockets. They wanted his grain. And so they begin to, he delivers this, and the people, verse 22, were shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man. Wow. Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. What a horrible way to die. Did the worms just come at that moment? I think they did. And that was due perhaps to natural things, perhaps simply to supernatural things. But he was struck by the angel of the Lord and he began to be eaten alive from the inside out. And this occurred in 44 AD. So, I've got to say one thing. Where's your loyalty today? I'll tell you where Andrew Brunson's loyalty is, and if he were hearing this, he would say, oh no, I'm not a faithful martyr of Christ. He would think of all of the things he's ever done in his life that don't measure up. He would think of all of the duties in life that he hasn't quite fulfilled. He would think about the people he had failed to witness to and the imperfection of his work. But I want to say to you that Andrew Brunson is a faithful martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ who is prepared to seal his martyrdom with his blood and come to be what we call in modern times a martyr. What happens to those who persecute believers? Someone has said, the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Sooner or later, everyone who opposes the church of the living God will come to an end. In Herod's case, it is the worst of all, worse than what happened to those soldiers, worse than what happened to the Apostle James. He's eaten by worms and he dies. And the end result of this, as we see in the last verses, verse 24, the Word of God increased and multiplied. If we were to be able to interview Andrew openly now and say, Andrew, what is your desire? I have no doubt that Andrew would say, I want the Word of God to increase and to multiply. That's what I want. And if it cost me my life, so be it. So be it. This life is so short when you look at it in light of eternity. And whatever suffering you suffer in this life, it's nothing to compare with the suffering in hell of many people, or the joys of heaven that a multitude whom no man can number are enjoying now and will enjoy for all eternity. When you look at the outcome of life and you understand there are two destinies, And you understand the wonderful destiny of the one and the horrible destiny of the other. No matter what you're going through, it's nothing. So I close with this thought. Please pray for Andrew. I'm praying for his release. I believe that it is possible at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, Turkish time, that they will simply release him as they did release his wife Noreen, 13 days after they imprisoned her. And were we to ask Andrew, is that what you want? I think his answer would be, I just want the Lord Jesus Christ to be glorified. I just want the Word of God to be spread in the darkness of the radical element of Islam." That's what he would say. I believe he would. I believe that he would say that. So will you pray? Will you stand in the gap for Andrew Brunson and for all of those Christians in that part of the world who do not enjoy the liberties and freedoms that we have enjoyed in this country since our founding and going back far before that? Will you stand in the gap? Will you plead with the Lord Jesus Christ, the King and Head of the Church? to do for Andrew what he's done for the faithful martyrs of Jesus throughout history? And would you make sure that you are a faithful martyr for Christ right here in New Orleans? And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, would you close with Christ today? Would you commit your life to Him? Because in the final analysis, whatever you have of honor and wealth and health. It's all fleeting. It's all fleeting. Would you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ from your sins and embrace Him as He's offered to you in the gospel? May we pray. Lord, we thank You for Your amazing grace that is always what we do not deserve. In a very strange way, The only people in this chapter that got what they deserved were those who had persecuted the church, the soldiers who were simply doing their job under Herod, and especially Herod himself. Lord, when we pray, we simply plead with you that you would deliver us from getting what we deserve and grant that we may get what Christ deserved for us. For we pray in His name. Amen.