And that's on page 1,109 in your church Bible, Acts chapter 12, verse 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Friends, we're looking at this chapter today, Acts chapter 12, and my subject is the weapon of prayer. the weapon of prayer. Now, you know that over the last period of time before this chapter begins, the church in Jerusalem and in Judea, they've been experiencing a time of peace and a time of great blessing. The church has advanced beyond Samaria to Tyre and Sidon, and up there, as we saw last week, into Antioch in Syria. God has been doing great and wonderful things, and they've been able to do it in a very a peaceful environment, and the believers no doubt must have been greatly rejoicing in that fact, but things take a turn for the worse once again. And here we see in chapter 12 that Herod begins to persecute, to stretch forth his hands, to vex a certain of the Church. Before that, the church had rest, but here he becomes the instigator again, and his target is the church. By that time, Herod the King. This is Herod. Which Herod is it? You often read the Gospels and you get confused. Which Herod are they talking about? Well, this is Herod Agrippa, and he is the grandson of Herod the Great. Nothing really great about him except that his building work but he's certainly not great for what he did to those babes in Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth. He was responsible for their death, but he was the grandfather of this Herod, Herod Agrippa, and he's really not much better, only in it for himself, only in it a power, a hungry person, educated as he was in Rome, He made friends with some of the emperors-to-be, like Claudius, and he was a man, really, a very ambitious king, power-hungry king. This is what most dictators are like, isn't it? They're only concerned about power, even modern-day ones, the same thing. And they'll do anything, they'll kill anybody to retain their hold on power. And this man is no different, Herod. But he stretches forth his hand to vex, to persecute the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. One of the two sons of thunder. This is the first apostle to be martyred. We had Stephen, the first martyr, but James here is the first apostle. And Herod seems to be getting in his way. Because, verse 3, he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended Peter, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter, after Passover that is, to bring him forth to the people. Quaternion is a group of four soldiers. So here we have 16 soldiers assigned to look after a fisherman, a fisherman turned preacher. Is he so dangerous? Maximum security prisoner. That's how he sees it. You see more and more police officers, more dangerous, more violent criminalists. And this is what Herod is giving to this prisoner. Maximum security. What has he done? Has he incited violence? Has he risen up against Herod's authority? Is he inciting the people to protest and to overthrow the government there? Not a thing of it. He's just getting on the other church members with preaching and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ and how preaching the gospel of peace. There's absolutely no reason for this attack. upon Peter and upon the church. So the church once again finds itself in a place where it is under severe persecution. This is in the church at Jerusalem. And friends, we shouldn't be surprised that it's happened again. The church again under attack, this is the pattern that we've been seeing all through Acts, and this again comes through. There's the preaching of the word, the souls are saved, a multitude of souls are saved, then the devil is unhappy, the devil is mad, persecution begins against the church, and then God intervenes in answer to prayer and on behalf of his people. We saw that right at the beginning. The very first persecution, which happened after the healing of that lame man, and Peter's sermon, and multitudes were saved, we read, many believed on the Lord. And they were arrested by the Sanhedrin, and they were brought to testify before them. And at that point, they just were let off with a mild warning. God intervened for their deliverance. But remember how the believers, when they went back and they told The fellow believers, what had happened, they prayed and the place where they prayed was shaken and they were given boldness to continue to speak the word and to preach the gospel in spite of the persecution. Later again, many believers were added to the Lord as a result of preaching and this time the 12 apostles are all arrested and brought before that Sanhedrin. But then they are let go. So the persecution has intensified with the beating. But are they embarrassed? Will they keep quiet? No, they rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And then we had the death of Stephen, the first Martha. No doubt he was having a big influence and people were being converted under his ministry and we saw how After he was put to death, Saul went on a rampage against the church and was destroying the church with all his heart and all his soul. He put everything in it to kill the church, as it were, to make an end of the church. And God intervened in a marvellous and wonderful way. How did he do it? How did God change that situation? How did God bring that persecution period to an end? by saving Saul and bringing him to himself. A wonderful conversion. And now here we have, in Acts 12, another, the fourth period of persecution. And again, God is going to intervene. Things are happening and the persecution begins. Now, another reason, of course, why we shouldn't be surprised that the church is under attack is because it has an adversary. The Church is not just going through doing its own thing with no opposition. The Church has a very active adversary. Satan is against the Church as much as Jesus Christ is for the Church and for its building up The adversary, the devil, is opposing his every move, opposing its every progress, and seeking to bring it down, seeking to destroy it, seeking to put an end to it. He cannot do it because the Lord has said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. All the counsels of the evil one that they have, all the schemes that they come up with to put an end to the church, they cannot ultimately prevail. have an effect and they do. but it cannot prevail because the Lord God is with his church, and he cannot be destroyed. But Satan is continually, perpetually on the warpath, and he's behind Herod here, stirring him up to destroy the church. The devil never stops. He's unrelenting in his pursuit of believers and the church. He may leave for a season, but he'll come back. He may go away for a short time, but he always returns in some other way to seek to pull the church down. So we shouldn't be surprised that persecution happens and God allows it to happen. But why? You may ask, why does God allow it to happen? Here we see that James, the apostle, one of the twelve, was killed and it seems like God did nothing. I'm sure the church had prayed for him as well once he was arrested and taken, but God didn't intervene. Why does God do something on certain times and yet with Peter, He does intervene and he does save him, does rescue him, but James is killed and martyred, dies by the sword. Well friends, one reason is to remind us that the whole theology about persecution would take us a whole sermon or two to go into these things, but one reason Why God allows the enemy, as it were, to have its own way is to remind us of the hatred of the world against him and against his people. The world is not Christ's friends. The world, essentially, is not for the Savior. It's the enemy of God. The world hates Christians. because it hates Christ. The world hates the believers because we proclaim that there's only one way of salvation, because we say there is always do not lead to God, only through faith in Jesus Christ. The world hates believers because it reproves the world of their lifestyle that they're living. It says that your immoral lifestyle is wrong, it's sinful, and the world doesn't like to hear that. You're living in rebellion. You're living in unbelief. It's offensive to God. You're a stench in God's sight. You need to repent. That's a message that is unwelcome by the world and hated by the world. The church reminds the world that salvation, if you desire it, is of grace entirely. You cannot earn it. You cannot merit it. And the righteous, the self-righteous, the proud person says, well, I can do it. And the Bible says, and believers say, no you can't. You must come as a beggar to Christ and ask of him and receive from him a free salvation. And the world doesn't like these things. So sometimes God removes his restraining hand from the unbeliever and men are permitted to do what they want to do, which is to persecute. This is what they would do if God doesn't hold people back. Naturally speaking, the world is so much against the church and wants to get rid of it. Why? Because they love darkness. People naturally love sin and love darkness. They don't want the light to shine upon their lives. They want to carry on living as they do, and so to get rid of it, well, that is an option for them. That is their desire, rather. So let's continue, verse three. And here we see something very important. Because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. But these words in brackets then were the days of unleavened bread. These words are important. Herod had killed James very soon after he had been apprehended. Killed him with a sword, as we saw. And he would have done exactly the same thing with Peter, but for these words. because he had apprehended and arrested Peter during the time of the Unleavened Bread, which is the seven days after the Passover, so it was during the feast time. And the Jews were opposed to anyone being killed during the feast time. Herod himself is a professing Jew. And he's aligning himself with the Jews. He's trying to curry favor with the Jews as much as he can. The last thing he wants to do is to go against them and to make them to be unhappy with him. So he abides by this rule. No one is to be killed during the feast. So some time is afforded to Peter. And here we have not a coincidence, friends, but a providential arrangement of God. Herod's hands are tied. He's biding his time. He's waiting his time. As soon as the feast is over, that's it. He's going to go after Peter. He's going to lay hands upon him. He's going to put him to death. That's his intent. As soon as the feast is over. But for now, providentially, he can't do that. What is the church going to do? Peter is in custody. How can the church respond? James has been killed. What can they do? Quaternions of soldiers looking, guarding after Peter. He's away in probably Fort Antonio in the northwest of the temple. He's secure there. How can they get in? They've got no money. They've got no resources. They've got no one in the royal court who can go in and to speak to King Herod and to speak on behalf of Peter. They've got no advocate for him. They've got no army. of their own with which they can rush into the fort and overpower the soldiers and rescue and deliver Peter and set him free. They haven't got any of these things. What can they do? What can the church there do? Verse 5, they got something. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. They had the weapon of prayer. That is more mighty than anything that Rome had or Herod had. The weapon of prayer. They had access to the courts of heaven. They have access to the Almighty, to God, who can do anything. The God for whom nothing is impossible. They have access to Him. the powerful, sovereign Lord and Creator of all the earth, the heavens and the earth. He is on their side, not on theirs. And they have access to Him. And they have, through prayer, the ability to bring down answers to prayer, changes in the circumstances through their prayer and through their intercession. And they know that He is a God who is not so far away that He cannot hear prayer. He hears prayer. He's answered prayer. He's got a record of being a God who answers prayer. This is who they're praying to. He responds when His people pray. He's not deaf to their calls. This is the God that they are praying to. And so the whole church, they resort to prayer. The church was so big, they couldn't meet in one place. Well, in different houses, they got together, and groups of believers are praying to God. We read here, without ceasing. In the Greek, it actually means earnestly, ardently, fervently crying to God for praying to God for His release. On fiery prayers, we could say they were. Because this is something they really wanted. They needed Peter. They have a chance. They have an opportunity to save his life by prayer. And they will get together and they will pray to God for his release. And that's what they did. Our friends, the church's weapon is prayer. We have the sword or the spirit, but we have this other weapon of prayer to the world. We are weak, we are irrelevant as a church, we are out of date as a church, we are pathetic in people's eyes as believers. But if we are in contact with the living God, we are different, we are not so. We have access to Him, as these believers did, who answer God, who answers prayer. And we can call down blessings, as it were, from God. We can obtain, rather, blessings from God in answer to prayer. Then we are strong. We are strong in God, not in ourselves, when we have the Lord. If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be against us? and triumph over us. Do you remember in the Old Testament that time when Israel was battling with Amalek? And what did Moses said? Moses said to Joshua, you go down into the battlefield with the army. You go down there and you fight on the battlefield with Amalek and their army. I'm gonna go to the top of the hill. I'm taking Aaron and her with me. I'm going to the top of the hill. You'll see me at the top. I'll be there. I'll be lifting my hands up. I'll be praying to God. And as he did that, we read that Israel prevailed. Israel was making advances. It went against the Amalek. It managed to defeat. It was gaining the ascendancy in the war. And Moses can see that from his vantage point. But when he grew tired, his hands began to lag and go down. What happened when that happened? Well, the Amalekites began to win. They began to gain the ascendancy and Israel began to go backwards and he needed Aaron and her to come on either side of him to lift up his hands and so that the victory came for Israel. That's what it signifies, friends. The victory was won where? On the battlefield with Joshua and the army. That's necessary. The victory was won on the top of the hill where Moses was interceding with God. the weapon of prayer. And dear friends, this is where battles are won in the church. The battles are won in the church prayer meeting. That is where our power lies. That is where we get our spiritual energy from. That is where souls are really won. It's not the eloquence of the preacher, if he had any. It's not that. It's the way believers are getting together in the prayer meeting and crying to God. Oh Lord, that person needs saving. Those children need to hear your word. Their hearts need to be open. We can't do it, Lord. But you can. You've done it before. Oh Lord, come and answer our prayers earnest. hearty, ardent praying to God. This is what's behind the power source, the energy of the church. This is where the ministry gets its sanction from, people praying in the church prayer meeting. No prayer, no power. Defeat. Much prayer, much power, victory. Oh friends, this is dependent on prayer. Individually, of course, we must be praying. People, if we omit prayer in our personal lives, we will be weak, we will be defeated. But if we are praying, people, depending upon the Lord, day after day, The Lord will strengthen us and give us power over our sins, and all the help that we need. But if we desire God to work, we must pray, friends. The disciples here, they didn't resign themselves to the situation, oh, we've lost Peter now, okay, surah, surah, whatever will be, will be. We can't do anything about it, we just have to move on from here. No, they knew, we've got a chance, let's pray to God. God hears prayer. They knew and remembered on that previous occasion how those twelve apostles were delivered from prison in a miraculous way. And here again they believe, or they ought to believe, that God could have done the same thing again. does change things. Oh friends, let us not resign ourselves to a fatalistic attitude. But this is how things are. We cannot change them. Realize that your prayers do make a difference. Did God answer the prayers of his people? Of course he said. Of course he answered. We can see it here. He answered. He answered in two ways, actually. Do you know what the first way is? The second way is obvious. The angel bringing Peter out of prison. But there's another answer here. And this is actually in verse six. When Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. It's the last day of the feast now. The feast of unleavened bread is almost done. Tomorrow everything returns to normal. Tomorrow is the day of Peter's trial and of his execution. And what is Peter doing? He's sleeping. Sleeping before his execution. Shall we criticize Peter for sleeping? Some of you who are more spiritual than Peter, you will say, Peter, you should be up all night praying. What are you doing sleeping? He's sleeping. And he's not only sleeping, he's sleeping soundly, deeply. Even when the angel came, the bright light didn't wake him up, didn't disturb him. Look, if the light goes in my room, I'm up in a jiffy. But that didn't disturb him. He was, needed the angel to give him a push on his side. He's sleeping so well. He's totally at peace. He's calm. Untroubled. He knows that he's in God's hands. He's prayed, of course he's prayed. The church has prayed, of course they have prayed. But now he has prayed, he goes to bed. He sleeps. God gives him peace. We read it in that Psalm, David, in Psalm 3. It's something very, very similar. His enemies had multiplied. His enemies had increased. They were out to get him. Great number. And what does he do? In chapter 3, in verse 4, he says, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Verse 5, I laid me down and slept. I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I laid me down, and I was troubled all night, and I tossed and turned all night. No, I laid me down and slept, and I had a lovely sleep, and I praised God for it. He gave me peace, but I'm surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies. I laid me down and slept. It's an answer, friends, to prayer. We have this in church history. Latimer and Ridley, I've mentioned them before. The Protestant martyrs, 1555, burnt at the stake. Latimer, I think he was allowed, if I remember correctly, he was allowed to go to his home of a relative, his family home, and before his execution that night, that very night, his brother offered to pray with him all night. And Latimer, Ridley rather, said to him, no, no, that you shall not, for I mind God willing to go to bed and to sleep as quietly tonight as ever I did in my life. And he did. He went to bed and he slept soundly, woke up and he went peacefully to his execution, burning at the stake. This is what God does, friends. Philippians 4 verse 7, Paul again, in prison, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds. through Christ Jesus. Oh friends, life we know is full of trouble and pain and anxiety and difficult circumstances. The way to handle such troubles is to take it to the Lord in prayer. Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you and He will give you peace. The peace that passes all understanding. Oh, the blessing of prayer. But we have to look very quickly and just briefly at this miraculous answer to prayer. And I can't go into any detail here, but the prayer, of course, is wonderful. It's tremendous what God has done. The angel of the Lord. appears in Peter's prison cell, the bright light shines, the angel smites Peter on his side, the chains, he was chained to two soldiers, one on the left, one on the right, the chains fall from his wrists. And none of these things wake up the other soldiers. The Lord has put them into a deep sleep. Gird yourself, bind on your sandals, he is told. Put on your garment and follow me. And then the prison door swings open. Out they walk through the prison door, past one guard post, past the second guard post. They come to the iron gate which leads to the city. The iron gate, which is locked, swings open miraculously. miracle after miracle after miracle happening there and then the angel leads him into the street and once they pass the first street there the angel departs from him and leaves him and then then Peter comes to his his his mind is right my verse 11 when Peter was come to himself same words as like the prodigal who came to himself he said now I know for surety that the Lord had sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. He couldn't believe it. Initially he thought, I'm just seeing a vision like before I've had. But now it's dawned on him, it's really happened. And he's astounded, and he's amazed that such a thing has happened. It's incredible, he's thinking to himself, the Lord has delivered me. He knows that this is true. Oh friends, these are the kind of miracles that we need. Miracles which are answers to prayer. I think I could say every answer to prayer is a miracle. We don't need miracle workers today. We don't need people who say, I can heal you, and I can do this, and I have this ability to do this and that miracle. In one sense, every believer is a miracle worker, not in terms of healing, but in terms of praying to God and obtaining answers from prayer. Oh, friends, what a blessing this is to have prayer. Every answer to prayer is a miracle. The Lord has done something, this case, so obviously supernatural, so obviously working in a wonderful way to deliver his servant. And we see, just as Peter did here, he gave him credit and glory So we should remember after every answer to prayer, what should we do? We should think upon it, dwell upon it, observe how the Lord has helped us and delivered us, and don't forget to thank Him. and to praise Him and give Him the glory. The devil will whisper, other people will whisper, oh, it's all coincidental. It wasn't really an answer to prayer after all. It just happened to work that way. That's how things are, you know? And doubts are put in your mind. No, friends, say, the Lord has delivered me. I prayed for that. I prayed for that change. The Lord has delivered me. The Lord, give Him the glory that He deserves. This is how we should be, friends. This is not coincidental at all. Well, Peter makes his way to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where people again are praying. And he knocks, you know the story, he knocks on the door and Rhoda, the servant girl, comes to open the door. When she hears, she recognizes his voice. Instead of opening the gate, she rushes back in to tell all the other believers who are praying there that Peter is standing outside the gate. And she can't believe it. They can't believe it. You're mad. You're crazy. You're out of your mind, Rhoda. What's gotten into you? No, he's there. He's really there. And then I think then they go a bit crazy. They say, it's his angel. He's a guardian angel. The Jews believed in guardian angels. And that's what they thought. But the knocking continued. And when the door was finally open, well, there was Peter standing before them. And they can hardly believe their eyes. And he walks in, and there's a commotion, no doubt, because he has to quieten them, and he has to tell them exactly how the Lord delivered him and brought him out of the prison. And those chains fell off, and he walked free and into their home. And they are astounded. They were astonished. They gobsmacked, to put it in modern-day language, downfounded. Here is Peter? One, yesterday he's in prison, guarded by so many guards and in that fortress, impregnable. And now he's here with us by the miraculous hand of God. And they are astounded by these things. And after he had given them instructions, for James, the Lord's half-brother, and the brethren he leads at Jerusalem. Well, friends, shall we be critical of these believers at their astonishment? Shall we criticize them for being so surprised that Peter was there? Well, it was a a big thing that they were praying for, to be guarded by 16 soldiers, to have somebody in chains. James had been killed. There was probably little that they really could give them much hope. What possible chance, they must have thought, is there for his escape? But really, we have to say, they ought to have been a little bit more optimistic. They ought to have been a little bit more expectant. They had prayed. They had evidence in there before them, those 12 apostles before delivered miraculously from prison. God could do the same with just one. So they ought really not to have been as surprised as before. So I think they're deserving of some mild criticism. But they should have seen, when they should have seen Peter, they should have been, oh, praise God, he's done it again. He's done it again. Glory to his name. We knew Peter, welcome him. Maybe that's going a bit too far. But faith, friends. Our prayer must have faith as well. We pray knowing. What is it to pray in faith? Is it just to believe, believe, believe something's going to really happen? No. To pray in faith means I believe God can do anything because nothing is impossible for Him. And if it's His will, He will do it. He will do it. But I know that I come in prayer. I have that expectancy and that knowledge in my mind. It's not faith in faith. It's faith in God. And when we speak to Him, we come expecting Him to hear us and to do and to answer our prayer if it is His will. Herod, when he finds out, he's not very happy, of course. He's lost face, he's humiliated, he's embarrassed. He was going to have his own way, and now he's being thwarted. And so the cruel tyrant, instead of being, well, as the custom was, he puts to death those who have been guarding Peter. But then we see his own end. We see him at the beginning, on the ascendancy, in power, doing as he liked, persecuting the church, having his own way. And now we come to the end of the chapter, and we see him under the judgment of God. And what a sorry and sad end for somebody like that. A royal king making a great oration, a great speech to the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they all applaud him. And they say, it's the voice of a god and not of a man. Instead of giving glory to God, he takes the glory to himself. And verse 23, immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. And a slow death, I'm not sure what the name of the disease would be called, but he was eaten by worms, a painful death. the enemy of the gospel is dead. And then verse 24, but the word of God grew and multiplied. The opponent of the gospel is out of the way, but the word of God still continues. Friends, you cannot fight against God and win. You cannot. God always will triumph. As I close, what a weapon, friends, is in our hands. Do you use it? Do you pray? Are you earnest in prayer? You have great power if you're a believer here and you trust in Christ. You have this opportunity. Do you often go to the throne of grace? Daily to the throne of grace? Are you asking God, committing all your cares to the Lord? Are you self-sufficient? Even as a believer, I can do it. I can manage it. I'm wise enough. I don't need God's direction, I don't need God's help. You feel your need of the Lord. Oh friends, do you pray for his kingdom? What is God's eye upon here in this chapter? His church, his people, his cause, his kingdom. Are you and I like that? Do our prayers revolve only around ourselves or around the kingdom of God and the proclamation of that and the furtherance of the gospel? Pray always. Pray on your own, but dear friends, pray with the church. Will I see you tomorrow at the church prayer meeting? What will happen if in the notices we say no more prayer meeting? We're not only going to have Bible studies, what's going to happen to the church? We're weak. People don't come to the church prayer meeting, the church will grow weaker. More people coming, the better. More believers. Coming to pray to the Lord. This is so vital, friends. The kingdom is in our hearts. We desire, surely, for its advance. Oh, friends, come pray with us. Let's close by singing our final hymn, number 698. What various hindrances we meet. 698.