Well, if you've been with us on Wednesday nights, we have been going through the New Testament, one book each week. And this past Wednesday, we were in the book of Acts. Now, by virtue of the fact that it is a New Testament survey that we're doing, that means that we're skimming over a lot of stuff, trying to just kind of hit the high points, the major themes and big ideas. And so Wednesday night, as we were going through the book of Acts, We said that one of the major themes, if not the major theme, of the book of Acts is the Word of God spreading throughout the known world, beginning in Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And so we saw, as we worked our way through Acts, multiple different verses that spoke of the Word of God growing, multiplying, triumphing, those sorts of things. So, one of the passages that I mentioned Wednesday night in our survey, and we had to skim over it by necessity, was Acts chapter 12. And so I thought this morning we would turn and examine Acts chapter 12 and just see how that idea of the Word of God multiplying and triumphing throughout the known world is demonstrated in this particular historical event that happens here in Acts chapter 12. So if we look at Acts chapter 12, it begins by introducing us to a particular character, a Roman governor. It says in verse 1, now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. We have to ask ourselves, who is Herod? We should not make the mistake of thinking that this is the same Herod that's at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. This is not that Herod. This is his grandson. So the Herod there in Matthew chapter 2 is known as Herod the Great. There's also another Herod, Herod Antipas. He's the one who had John the Baptist beheaded. He is the uncle to this king here, which is Herod Agrippa I. So that gives you kind of an idea of the family that this guy comes from. His grandfather had all the young men, all the young boys killed at the time of Christ's birth. His uncle had John the Baptist beheaded. And now we're told here that he has stretched out his hand to harass or to persecute some from the church. So, not a great guy. But let's read chapter 12 in its entirety and then we'll take a look at some of the details here. Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of unleavened bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod 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. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the prison and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up saying, arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, gird yourself and tie on your sandals. So he did. And he said to him, put on your garment and follow me. 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. When they were past the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people. So 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. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, you are beside yourself. Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, it is his angel. Now Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Then he said, Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren. And he departed and went to another place. Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. and he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus, the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the king's country. So on a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, the voice of a god and not of a man. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John, whose surname was Mark." So, what we have here is the martyrdom of the apostle James, He was one of the three who were kind of in Christ's inner circle, Peter, James, and John. He's also known as one of the sons of thunder. His death comes in the midst of Herod harassing the church or persecuting the church there in Jerusalem. So this persecution has taken place. One of the key apostolic leaders of the church is killed by this Roman governor. Then the apostle Peter himself is arrested, and then an angel leads Peter out of prison, delivers him out of the hand of Herod, and Peter goes and reunites himself to the church who was praying for him. Herod is not happy about this. He puts the soldiers to death who were guarding Peter. He then leaves town. He goes down to the seacoast there in Caesarea for this extended holiday. But he's unhappy with the people of these two cities, Tyre and Sidon. We're not told why, but we know the consequences of making this king unhappy. He's already put to death James, So when he's unhappy, people end up dead. So the people of these two cities, they get the king's chamberlain, his chief of staff. Probably through bribery of some sort, they make this man their friend. They befriend him. He puts in a good word for them so that they get an audience with King Herod. On the day that they're to meet with him, Herod then makes this speech. And then seeking to flatter him, to get in his good graces, they proclaim his oration so majestic and wonderful that they shout out, it's the voice of a God and not of a man. Herod's ego likes that, right? So he doesn't correct him, he doesn't humble himself. He swells up with pride, he enjoys the glory, and God strikes him dead. So, what are we to learn from this chapter here in the book of Acts? Well, let's begin with Herod and what the things that he does here in chapter 12. Verse one tells us that he has stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. In other words, he's persecuting the believers there in Jerusalem. He laid his hands on them violently. He may have beaten them, whipped them, had their possessions taken from them. He's persecuting them. Not the population at large, right? He's not just persecuting everyone. He's particularly targeting the Christians that are there in town. not the Jewish people who are worshipping in the temple, but the church specifically. So he's targeting them because they're Christians. Now, we don't know exactly why the Christians become the target of his malice, but we see that throughout the book of Acts. Jewish leaders, the leaders of various cities end up persecuting the Christians. It's not uncommon. In fact, Christ told us that we should expect this sort of treatment. John chapter 15 verses 20 and 21, remember the word that I said to you, the servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know Him that sent me." So Jesus told us to expect this sort of persecution from the world because they don't know God, so they're going to persecute God's people. And throughout the last 2,000 years, Christ's people have continued to experience persecution. Even today, we have brothers and sisters in the Lord in other parts of the world whose lives are threatened because they believe in Christ, because they gather to worship in his name. In other places around the world, perhaps their lives are not on the line, but they're still suffering some sort of persecution for being Christians, even here in America. We currently face a different kind of persecution. There's a cultural anti-Christian sentiment. that seems to be growing. Christians are increasingly vilified, spoken ill of, considered to be out of touch with the moral standards of our society. And why? Because we believe that God is the one who determines morality, not the culture. And so that puts us out of step with an ungodly culture who does not know the Father. And so they vilify us and they persecute us, maybe with their words. They're not threatening our lives at this point, but we are facing some form of persecution. You know, there was a time in the early days of the English Reformation when Baptists were persecuted by other Christians, even. They had to meet in secret. There are accounts of Baptist churches meeting in upstairs buildings and women and young children would sit on the staircase in order to make it difficult for the authorities to get up the stairs quickly and they would have an escape route where the pastor could get out the back somehow to escape if the authorities came upon them and recognized that they were a Baptist church that was meeting. The freedom that we have to gather to worship this morning is something we should not take for granted. It's something we should continually be thankful for. But the church here in Acts 12 is suffering persecution because they're the church, because they are worshiping Christ. Some years earlier, a Pharisee by the name of Saul had terrorized the church and then he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and been ended up becoming a preacher of the gospel and he's actually here in Jerusalem while this event is occurring. We saw that at the end of the chapter that he returns from Jerusalem back to Antioch at the end of the chapter but but he's here. But he's no longer persecuting the church, he's become a part of it. And so a new enemy has arisen, one that has political power. Saul as a Pharisee had religious authority from the high priests and the Jewish leaders, but Herod has the authority of the government behind him. And so he's persecuting the church. And it seems that after some success, harassing and persecuting Christians in general, he has decided to pursue a policy of singling out the church's leaders. And so he begins with the Apostle James, and he has James killed with the sword, we're told. This must have been quite a blow to the church. I mean, think about this. James was one of Christ's inner circle. He's one of the three that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. who heard the voice from heaven speaking and telling them to trust and believe in the Son. Can you imagine how James must have preached the glories of Christ? You can only imagine. It's probably that preaching and that leadership of the church that caused Herod to single him out. Remember in Matthew chapter 20, James and his brother John Their mother came with them to Christ with a request, and she asked that her two sons be granted the privilege of sitting on his right hand and his left hand in the kingdom. And Christ responded to this request in chapter 20 of the book of Matthew, verses 22 and 23. But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to him, we are able. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father. Well, James did drink of that cup. The son of thunder, who I can only imagine was a pretty fiery preacher of the gospel, went to his death for preaching in the name of Christ. Because of that name, his head is severed from his body with a sword. If you put yourself in the position of a Christian in the church in Jerusalem in that day, one of your most revered leaders, one who had walked with Christ, had been in his inner circle, has just been put to death. But Herod's not done. He sees that the Jews approved of this action in killing James, so it says that he proceeded further to seize Peter. He has Peter arrested. Peter, of course, is one of the primary leaders. He's the big fish, we might say, and so Herod is going after the big one at this point. And this is how sin works, right? It starts small. Not that persecution is a small thing. I'm just saying it starts with the smaller things. He's persecuting the church and then he moves on. He grows in boldness. He persecutes James, puts him to death. Now he's going after Peter. Sin works that way. It grows and it gets bolder and it reaches new heights of wickedness. You don't just wake up one morning and decide to commit murder. It begins with anger that turns to hatred in your heart and you entertain thoughts in your mind that you shouldn't and then actions follow on that. The same with any sin that we might pick out. Adultery. You don't just wake up one morning and suddenly decide to commit adultery. It begins by entertaining thoughts that you should have taken captive to the obedience of Christ and instead you tolerate that sin, you feed it in your heart, you dwell on those thoughts and eventually it works its way out in action. Christ warned us that the thought itself, the seed of the sin, is the same as committing the physical act because the seed, if it's not uprooted, grows into the act. And so, as John Owen once famously said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. So Herod begins by persecuting some in the church. He moves on to killing one of their leaders, James. And now he's proceeded further, he's stretched out his hand to take hold of the more well-known leader, Peter. Now if you're in the Jerusalem church, things have just gone from bad to worse. James is dead, and now Peter is in prison, and his death seems imminent. Now the only thing that seems to have caused a delay was the timing of his arrest. There is a feast coming up, the Passover, it tells us in verse four. So when he had arrested him, He put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover. So the Passover meal kind of puts a halt to the execution, so Peter's going to spend some time in prison. The church knew as soon as this Passover feast is over, Herod is going to bring Peter out and probably kill him in the same way that he had killed James. What does the church do? How do they react? In verse five, Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. So during this time of crisis, the church goes to the Lord in prayer, and they pray intensely for Peter. They're praying for him as he lies in prison awaiting his death, but God intervenes. He sends an angel to deliver Peter out of prison. The angel wakes Peter up, leads him past the guards and out to freedom. Peter thinks that he's seeing a vision. He doesn't realize that what's happening to him is real. He thinks it's just a vision that he's having. But then he finds himself standing in the street by himself, the angel has left, and he realizes that God has delivered him. And so he goes where he knows that the church has gathered. He assumes that the church has gathered in this location, which is John Mark's mother's house. The problem is, when he gets there, they're so intent on praying for him that they don't believe that it's him knocking at the door. The girl that hears him at the door runs to tell them, the ones who are in the room praying for him, that God has answered their prayers. He has delivered Peter. Peter is standing at the door, knocking, and they just tell her she's crazy. Right? She says, hey, I'm sorry to interrupt your prayer meeting, but God has answered your prayer. Peter is standing at the door and they say, girl, you're crazy. Quit bothering us. We're praying for him here. This is serious. And he's standing there knocking at the door and she keeps insisting that it's him. And so they say, well, it's probably just his angel. Now what they mean by this is disputed. Some commentators say it means that Peter has sent a messenger to them from prison. The word angel and messenger is the same word in Greek. Some commentators think it was his guardian angel who, for some strange reason, sounds just like Peter when she hears his voice. Others say that it was his ghost or his spirit, but whatever it means, they didn't think that Peter was actually standing at the door knocking. They were hesitant to believe that God had answered their prayer. Peter, on the other hand, you'll remember, had been sound asleep in the prison. So while the church is praying for him and not believing that God would answer the prayer, Peter is so fast asleep, sleeping so soundly that the angel, we're told, had to strike him on the side to wake him up. Peter was just trusting in God. Whatever comes, comes. He's not anxiously sitting in prison worrying about what the next day brings. He's asleep. So Peter is exercising faith and the church that is praying for him is not believing that God is going to answer their prayer. And so this angel appears to Peter, there's light shining through the prison and Peter's just sleeping right through that until the angel strikes him to wake him up. Now Herod has heard about this miraculous escape the next day and he's not happy. So he interviews the guards and then he has them put to death. So Peter has gone into hiding. The rest of the church is keeping a low profile. Herod decides, I'm gonna get out of town. Now, he's probably in a foul mood. Judging by what we have seen of this man, his plans to kill Peter have been interrupted. He enjoyed the praise of men that he got when he killed James. He saw that the Jews approved of that, and so he wanted more. And so he was expecting more of the same when he put Peter to death. But Peter slipped through his fingers and now he's embarrassed and humiliated and so he leaves town. He goes to the beach for a while. What comes next then in chapters verses 20 through 23 is interesting to me because this has nothing to do with the church. This is to do with Herod. And so when I see something like this in Acts and I go, why is this included? Why does God include this narration about Herod when it has nothing to do with the church? So why is this included here? Well, I think there's a good reason for it. In verse 20, it says, Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus, the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's country. So Herod is upset about something with these two cities. We don't know what, but the point is that these cities are dependent for their food on territory that Herod controls in Judea. This is their main source of grain and other foods. And so these are seaport towns. They're on the coast. So they did a lot of shipping and trade, but their food, their wheat, honey, oil, meat, all came from local areas of Judea and Galilee. And since these people in these two towns are like people everywhere, they like to eat, they're worried about upsetting this man Herod and what he might do. Maybe he'll cut off their food supply. He's done worse, right? So they decide they're gonna cozy up to the chief officer in his court, probably bribed him to make him their friend, and arrange this hearing with Herod. So it says in verse 21, on a set day. So they had an arrangement made when Herod was going to come meet with them on a set day. Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. So the day comes and Herod makes a show of it, right? He's dressed the part in his royal apparel. He's looking quite splendid. He sits on a throne designed to lend weight and authority to his presence. The throne is likely arranged so that Herod is elevated, looking down on the gathered crowd. He's lifted himself up above his audience and he makes this speech. Not recorded for us what he says is not important. I'm sure that it probably involved his own greatness and magnificence and in some way his benevolence toward them because what he said was acceptable to them. They're pleased with what they heard from him. And so in verse 22 the people kept shouting the voice of a God and not of a man. Now that's some pretty high praise. I don't know if they really meant it, or if it was just simple self-serving flattery, but Herod likes it. Herod enjoys the praise of men. He has a track record of liking the praise of men. Back in verse three it had told us, and because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. So he enjoys having the praise and adoration of others. This is what led him to go after Peter in the first place, And so here, he's very openly sought their praise. He's arrayed himself in his royal gowns. He's sitting on a throne. He's giving this fine speech. He wants their praise. He's expecting and looking forward to it. And so they give it to him. I don't know that he expected that they would tell him that he sounded like a god and not like a man, but when they did, he liked it. and who among us doesn't enjoy the praise of others. That's a problem. We do enjoy it. We like it when people sing our praises, tell us how wonderful we are. It feeds the sin of pride that lurks in all of our hearts. There's a story that I just love about Charles Spurgeon, that famous pastor, even in his own day, he's famous, he's in London, the big city, but occasionally he would go on these preaching tours throughout the rest of England. And there's a story that at one day, he was out preaching somewhere in Northern England in a small country church, but the building is packed. People have come in from all over the countryside to hear the famous preacher. He gets up, he preaches. At the end of the service, he stands in the back to greet people, and a woman approaches him, shakes his hand, and says to him, Mr. Spurgeon, that was a wonderful sermon. And he responds and says, yes, I know. The devil already told me. Pride. I mean even Spurgeon felt it. We all have to deal with pride. Pride sneaks up on us. It's subtle and it feels good. We like to hear how great we are. We like other people to praise us. But this creates a difficulty for us as Christians because we are commanded in the scriptures to encourage one another. We're supposed to build one another up. Tell each other when we've done a good job. Parents want to tell their children when they've done a good job to encourage them to do more of the same. So how can we go about encouraging people without watering the seeds of pride that are in all of our hearts? Well, the answer to that question is a whole other discussion, but I want to share one thing that I think would be helpful. As we read through the New Testament, particularly Paul's letters, Paul is writing these letters to the churches. more often than not, in order to correct problems. There's difficulties in the churches. There are problems there. He's correcting bad theology. He's correcting bad practice. Sometimes his letters are even a little bit harsh with people. He's correcting them. He often begins by encouraging them before he begins to correct them. And note what his encouragement sounds like. Romans is his letter to the church in Rome. Romans chapter 1 verses 7 and 8. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Then his letter to the church in Corinth, which we know had significant problems, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul writes this, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus that you were enriched in everything by him and all utterance and all knowledge even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that you come short in no gift eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ who also confirmed you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. to the church in Philippi. He writes, Philippians chapter one, verses three through five, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace." In his letter to the church in Colossae, which he had never even visited. He writes this, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Throughout Paul's letters, we could just continue and go on and on, this is what his encouragement to the churches sounds like. And I don't know if you noticed, the common theme in all of that, but Paul praises and thanks God for the good things that he sees in other people. He encourages them with these words, but he attributes the praise and the glory for their spiritual growth, for their generosity, for their brotherly love, for their good reputation in the world, for their faith, for their giftedness and the gifts of the spirit, which they were grossly misusing if you continue reading the letter to the Corinthians. But he praises God for these things. He thanks God, not men. He doesn't say, Philemon, you're doing such a great job Right, when he writes his letter to Philemon. If I can find it here. It's so small, it's hard to find. He doesn't tell Philemon, he doesn't say to Philemon, you're doing such a great job of keeping the faith and loving other Christians. I'm so encouraged by you. Keep up the good work. That's not what he says. Instead he says, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints. that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother." That's encouraging. All the saints are refreshed by you because of what God is doing in your life. And I thank him for that. So Paul didn't thank Philippians for their generosity towards his ministry, he told them that he thanked God for their generosity. That encouraged them. It gave the glory to God where it belonged. That kind of praise draws people into worship with you. As you point the finger up towards God and say, This is where your generosity comes from. He's the source of your faith, of your love, of your good works. It's His grace at work in you. Let's give thanks to Him together. There's no room for pride in that kind of praise. It's encouraging. It doesn't water the seed of pride in our hearts because it points us away from ourselves and towards Christ. So that's my short little aside on how we should properly encourage others without contributing to the sin of pride in their hearts. But that's not what happens with Herod, right? Herod, whatever he says to them that they find acceptable, they don't thank God for it. They praise Herod and they say, the voice of a God and not of a man. And Herod didn't stop them and say, oh, no, no, wait a minute. You know, I've got kind of a quick temper and I've made some mistakes in the past. If I'm being generous or forgiving in any way here, that's not me. That's God at work, so you should thank Him. That's not His reaction. He doesn't say that. Of course not. Herod has been persecuting God's church. He's not going to give the glory to God. So how does he respond to this lavish praise that they give him? Well, in verse 22 it says, and the people kept shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. He did not give the glory to God. This ill-tempered, violent man was incredibly narcissistic as well. They called him a god, and he accepted it. He didn't correct him. He didn't say, well, I'm not a god. He gloried in that. He didn't give the glory to God. He kept it for himself. He liked the idea of people thinking that he was a god. Have any of you ever heard of the term stolen valor? It's when you claim some sort of military service or something that you didn't actually do. The valor that rightly belongs to veterans of the military and you claim it for yourself because there are personal benefits to you of doing so. You know, that's a crime. We take that seriously in the United States. It's a crime because we rightly honor our veterans. And so for somebody to claim that when it's not theirs, we call that stolen valor. And it's a federal crime. It has been since the 70s. That is essentially what Herod is doing here. He's claiming for himself, accepting for himself glory that rightly belongs to God and not to him. And so because he did not give the glory to God, God strikes him dead. God says in Isaiah chapter 42 verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another. God will not give his glory to another. So he judges Herod in a very dramatic way. It says, then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died. The angel of the Lord struck him and he dies this horrible death. He's eaten from the inside out by worms. That's pretty disgusting. So why did God kill him? Well, he killed him because of his pride. He didn't give God the glory. So the manner of his death then makes visible to men the reality that was visible to God all along. His inward corruption was vividly portrayed outwardly. Visibly to them, he had come across as noble, kingly, regal, eloquent. The crowd hailed him as a god. His royal appearance, lofty stature, soaring oratory. But inside he was anything but glorious. He was corrupt of heart, prideful, wicked, violent, persecuting God's church. He was no God. He was nothing more than a corrupt piece of worm-ridden flesh. So God kills him in this dramatic fashion in order to make that visible. But why did God kill Herod in this particularly gruesome way when there are plenty of proud people walking around out there that God doesn't strike dead. Thankfully, otherwise this room would be empty, right? We'd all be struck dead. Well, the Roman emperors were called gods. So were the pharaohs. God didn't strike them all dead when they accepted that for themselves. So why Herod? Well I think to answer that question we need to examine the situation here in chapter 12 a little more. Remember that the church is under great stress here. They're being persecuted. There's a famine in the land. Paul and Barnabas have been sent from Antioch to Jerusalem. with an offering of money in order to aid the distressed church here in Jerusalem. And then Herod begins to persecute them. He kills James. He arrests Peter. Herod is the big bad guy in all of this. He's controlling the food supply. We just read that. He's kind of feeling his oats as the saying goes. So God humbles him by snatching Peter out of prison, taking Peter out of his hand. And Herod doesn't learn that lesson. He doesn't humble himself. Instead, at the first opportunity, his pride rears its ugly head again. Meanwhile, Peter is still in hiding. The church likely is as well. Yes, there are plenty of prideful people walking around out here, but God hasn't struck them dead the way he did Herod. He killed Herod at this point in history to make a point. The point is that the church in the first century needed to be encouraged. And I believe that the church in the 21st century needs this same encouragement. And this is the point, that even in the face of this persecution, even in the face of death, even the death of men that we believe to be key leaders in the church, and we see somebody like R.C. Sproul pass away and we go, Who is God gonna raise up next? We don't have another R.C. Sproul. It seems that the whole world has turned against us. Christians are the bad guys in the eyes of the culture. Yet in the midst of all of that, in spite of all of that, God will be glorified and his gospel will triumph. Notice in verse 23, it says, then immediately the angel of the Lord struck him. Because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. The angel of the Lord struck him. Where have we seen that before? Here in chapter 12. Who else did the angel of the Lord strike? We'll look back at verse 7. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison. And he struck Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. I find it very interesting that the same language is used in both cases. In Peter's case, the angel of the Lord strikes him in order to deliver him from death. In Herod's case, the angel of the Lord strikes him in order to deliver death. The same angel, the same action, different outcome. The hand of the Lord that delivers his people is the same hand that destroys his enemies. It doesn't mean that things are always going to be Sonny, James died. James was put to death by Herod. The church suffered real persecution and hardship. But the final outcome is God strikes down Herod and then in verse 24 it says, but the word of God grew and multiplied. Notice it doesn't say that Peter's influence grew or that the political influence of the church grew in the city. It doesn't say that the elders of the church had sway over the town council. It doesn't say that the church triumphed over the secular government. It says the word of God grew and multiplied. God got the glory. God grew his church. God's word multiplied as more and more people came into submission to it for salvation. Herod didn't have the last word. God did. Later in the book of Acts, Paul is in Corinth, and he's having kind of a rough time. It's a wild, worldly city, and it seems that there was some sort of threat of bodily harm against the apostle himself. There often was for Paul. He's stoned, he's beaten, he's whipped. But God speaks to him in a vision there and tells him to be bold in proclaiming the gospel. And he gives him two reasons. First, God promises to protect him. And second, he says that there are many people in this city who belong to God. many who had been elected to salvation. And so Paul was to boldly preach the gospel. And so he stays another year and a half preaching the word of God among them. The word goes forth, it conquers the hearts of men and women, souls are saved, lives are changed, and the grace of God is glorified in it all. So I think we can be encouraged that even when the situation in our culture looks bleak, and sometimes it does, we can remember that, as Paul wrote to Timothy, the Word of God is not bound. In the book of Hebrews it says, the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and morrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Christ has triumphed. Paul tells us in Colossians that Christ triumphed over our sin, over our guilt and condemnation, over principalities and powers. He triumphed over all of them in his death on the cross. And then he triumphed over the last enemy, death itself, at his resurrection. So that at the end, as Paul writes in Corinthians 15, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death's already been defeated, but at the resurrection, at the final judgment, death itself will be destroyed. Remember back, I mentioned earlier, James and John and their mother coming to Christ and making this request of him, and remember Jesus' response. He told them, you will indeed drink the same cup that I drank. You'll be baptized with the same baptism with which I am baptized. Well, what did he mean by that? Well, we know the cup represents the cup of God's wrath, which Christ drank in full for us. But then when we partake of communion, which we will later this morning, we drink of the cup as we partake of the supper. It's the cup of Christ's blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. So he's telling them, you will taste death for my sake. You'll be persecuted for my name. But then he says, you'll be baptized with the same baptism with which I'm baptized. And what does he mean there? Does he mean they're gonna go down in the Jordan River and be baptized by John the Baptist? Well, surely not. He's talking about his death again. He was baptized into death, buried in the ground so that death itself could be defeated and then raised to new life so that death could be destroyed. Our baptism is a picture of that. It's a divinely instituted drama that's acted out before the watching eyes of the church and of the world in order to declare, I find my identity in Christ. I am united to him. Watch as I am buried and resurrected, dead to sin and alive to God. That's why we're Baptists, because we believe that that's the picture that is represented by going beneath the water and coming back up. And that only those who have actually experienced the new birth should receive the waters of baptism. So listen to how Paul describes this in Romans chapter 6. He says, Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. As Paul proclaims to the church in Galatia, he says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And again, in Colossians, he says, for ye are dead, your life is hid with Christ in God. Death has been defeated, and at the last day, Christ will raise up all those who are his, and death will be finally destroyed. In 1 Peter, we're told, for we have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. For all flesh is his grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached to you. So when hardship comes, and it will, The church was persecuted in Acts 12. James was killed. When men of this world, like Herod, puff themselves up, seek glory for themselves, and harass God's church, despite their pride, despite their violent and wicked deeds, despite their oppression and persecution, the word of God will grow and multiply. For God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble, and he will not share his glory with another. Let's pray.