The Privilege of Prayer

We turn to the twelfth chapter of the book of Acts. I'd like to read part of this chapter. Verse 17.

Acts chapter 12, verse 1. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with a sword. Because he sought to please the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread.

And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarterlions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

And he went out and followed him, and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out, and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him.

And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, 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 damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.

And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.

Then said they, It is his angel. And Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

But he beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go show these things unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went into another place.

This is a wonderful chapter that I'm sure every one of us know. We always can learn lessons that are fresh from the word of God, because the Bible, being the word of God, is always fresh to our souls. Now I believe, dear brethren, that we live in days when we need to pray.

I wonder how much we have prayed today, how much I have prayed, and how much you have prayed. The world is a busy place. And just as in the days of Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, when they took the straw away from the people and commanded them to make bricks, the same number of bricks as they did when they had the straw, so the devil today is taking away the bricks, the straw from us, and trying to keep us so busy we have no time to pray.

Isn't that true? We have no time to pray. Now if we were going to have a topic for these words, these verses, we might say that God is over everything. How nice that is.

God is over everything. Even though as we can see the day in which we live and see how Satan is making inroads among the people of God, let us never forget that God is over all. That Satan can only go as far as God allows him to go.

And so I believe we find that in the connection here with Herod. Notice that Herod stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Well, the enemy is trying to do that today.

We know that the church is the assembly here, really. When we speak of the church, it's really, I believe, the word could be translated as assembly, and this is exactly what the devil is trying to do. He's trying to vex the people of God today throughout this world.

Well, in the second verse, notice, he killed James, the brother of John with the sword. While I was meditating on this verse, it's very nice to notice how God takes notice, first of all, that the man's name was James. Then also, he was the brother of John.

Well, that was a wonderful thing to be the brother of the beloved John, and God takes note of that. He says he was the brother of John. Then he tells us how he killed him.

He killed him with the sword, the very instrument that Herod used to kill the servant of God as marked out by God. He took notice that Herod used a sword to kill his servant. Isn't that nice to think that the Lord is taking an interest in you and me, everything that happens to us? The Lord knows how it happened and why it happened, and he allowed it to happen.

Isn't that nice to think that God is over all? Well, now he goes further in the third verse. Because he sought to please the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread.

Now you see God allowed Herod to kill James. He gave him authority. He allowed, he actually allowed James to be killed.

James' time on this earth had come to an end, and he was taken home to be with the Lord. But when Herod put forth his hand to take Peter, God said no. God said no.

This shows again that God is over all. The Lord Jesus had said in John 21 that how Peter was to die, he was to be old and be girded and so on, led by another. The Lord Jesus had said those words, and Herod couldn't change them.

Herod could never change what the Lord said. Isn't that nice to think again? Let us remember those words. God is over all.

So when he touched Peter, he failed. Why didn't he succeed? He took James, he killed him. Well, again we say, because God wouldn't let him.

Peter's time had not come. His work was not over. Peter still had work to do for the Lord, and the Lord was going to take care of him.

Well, in verse 4, when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four Quatorians of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. In the fifth chapter of this book, we know Peter was in prison again with some of the apostles, and the angel of the Lord opened the door and brought them out of the prison. This wasn't the first time Peter had been in prison.

He was in prison for Christ. What a blessed privilege to be a prisoner for Christ. I remember when I was a young man giving out gospel tracts, and a policeman caught me, and he took me by the arm and asked me to follow him.

He brought me to one of those boxes where they phone to the police station, and he told the chief that he had arrested a man for giving out little papers. Well, the chief wanted to know what kind of papers they were, so he said, Give me the paper. It was a scripture verse called The Salvation of God, and he read some of them over the phone to the chief.

Well, the next day I phoned up a Christian who is now with the Lord, and I told him, I said, Last night I was giving out tracts, and a policeman arrested me. You know what he said? He said, What an honor to be arrested for the gospel. I never forgot that.

What an honor to be arrested for the gospel. So this was an honor for Peter. He was arrested for Christ, and he was put into prison, and he was guarded very carefully.

Oh, how the world hates Christ. How the world hates Christ, and how they love to stop the mouth of anybody who speaks well of Jesus. And so Peter was put in prison.

Now, notice what happened in the fifth verse. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now, in the margin of my Bible, it says, Instant and earnest prayer was made.

How wonderful it was. You can imagine these brethren getting the message that Peter was in prison. Just like we had our prayer meeting here last night, and different requests were made for prayer, we can imagine one of the apostles saying, Our brother Peter is in prison.

Well, immediately they started to pray. Earnestly they prayed to God. I wonder now if that's how we pray.

I ask myself this question. Do we really pray? Do we really expect God to answer our prayers? Do we really believe when we're praying, we're actually talking to one who is almighty, all-powerful, and yet our Father, and he knows all about us? How nice that is. Well, here was Peter, and back in the little meeting room, wherever it was, his brothers were earnestly praying to God for this man in the prison.

Maybe you're praying about something tonight. Maybe there's something that you're earnestly praying for. Maybe you prayed for a long time, and the answer hasn't come, and you're waiting and waiting and saying, Why doesn't God answer my prayers? A sister was here last night, and she gave me a nice thought about Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, and how the angel said, Your prayer has come up before God.

In other words, he brought, the angel brought the answer to John, that Elizabeth was to have a son. Now, this sister said, I noticed in reading that chapter today, surely Zachariah didn't pray as an old, old man to have a son. He must have prayed when he was a much younger man, and when his wife was a much younger woman.

But when he was an old man, years later, God answered his prayer. Isn't that encouraging? God answered his prayer. We don't have to be afraid to pray, brethren.

We can really pray. Don't let the devil discourage us by saying, Well, what's going to happen is going to happen. That is fatalism.

I'm sure that each one of us, including the speaker, by the grace of God, rejects that as of the devil. God answers prayer. How blessed.

Let us never worry about praying. And so, it tells us here what happened. And the sixth verse, And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, well, it was the night before what Herod thought was going to be the execution of Peter.

God waited until the last moment. Often God waits until the last moment. He would not only let us wait his time, but he would exercise us, and he would keep us in the attitude of prayer.

How often we're driven to our knees in prayer by the circumstances in our lives. When everything is going well, we say, Well, I haven't got to pray. But, oh, do we pray for the people of God.

I like to think of Colossians 4, verse 12, where Epaphras was called a servant of Christ. And it's nice to notice that that servant of Christ was a man of prayer. And the Apostle Paul, he prayed for all the different assemblies.

And he mentioned, we believe, in Colossians, he prayed for them every day. Daily he prayed for those people. What a long prayer list the Apostle Paul must have had to pray for all those saints and all those different assemblies.

And I suppose there were many of them in those days. And yet, the Apostle would pray for them. And the blessed Lord Jesus, when he was here, he prayed all night.

He prayed all night. And then, the next day, he chose his 12 Apostles. I like that, to think that the Lord would pray all night before he chose his companions.

And how often we find in the Gospel of Luke the blessed Lord as the perfect, dependent man in prayer. I think we used to say seven times. I think it's really eight or maybe nine times the Lord is found in prayer in the Gospel of Luke.

What a wonderful example the Lord has left for us to be men and women of prayer. Then it tells us in this verse, verse 6, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Oh, what peace he had.

What peace he had. Think of sleeping between two soldiers. Well, it wasn't like it is today in our jails and the soldiers of today.

These were cruel men. These men were exceptionally cruel and awfully wicked men. And I suppose it would have been a great delight for any one of those soldiers to kill Peter on the spot.

They would have probably been glad to kill this man. Yet, there he was. He was sound asleep, lying between these two soldiers.

Well, we say he was a brave man. Why was he a brave man? Oh, because the peace of God. The path of all understanding filled the dear Apostle Peter's heart.

He had nothing to fear. He knew his life was in God's hands. He was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison, and yet he could sleep.

I will both lay me down in peace and safety, for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety. How wonderful was the confidence that Peter had in his Lord that he would sleep during during this time. I suppose it may have been possible that Peter thought of a day that had passed by when the great storm came to the lake there, and the Lord Jesus slept on a pillow at the back of the ship.

Oh, I like to think of that. He was at the back of the ship. That's where the captain was.

That's where the captain is. That's where the person who operates the ship is, at the back of the ship. And that's where the Lord Jesus was, in the hinder part of the ship.

And he was fast asleep on a pillow. And Peter saw the Lord stand up and say, peace be still. And there was a great calm.

And I suppose that Peter thought, my blessed Lord could sleep in the storm, and I can sleep in the storm, too, for the same one who said, peace be still, that day is able to say, peace be still today. Well, as he slept, we notice in the seventh verse, Behold, the angel of the Lord came unto him, and a light shined in the prison. Oh, when God comes, there's light.

Isn't that nice? The God who is light. God is light. And when God comes on the scene, then there's a light shine, a light shine into the prison.

And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, rise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. Peter didn't have to take his chains off, but he had to put his garment on and put his sandals on.

But the chains fell off. Isn't that nice? Well, he had to put his own sandals on. The next verse, he said, gird thyself and bind on thy sandals.

And so he did. And he said to them, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And when it came to the chains that the enemy put on his hands, why, they fell off.

When the angel came, the angel from God came, why, what were the chains to the angel? They just fell off the apostle's hands. He was in the presence of God. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself and bind on thy sandals.

There was no hurry. There was no need to rush. Bind on thy sandals.

And so he did. And he said, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. Well, the Lord would put sandals on his feet to protect them, and he put a garment on them to keep them warm.

How nice it is to think how God provides for every one of our needs sandals for our feet and a garment to put across to keep them warm. And he said, follow me. And he went out and followed him and wished not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision.

When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city. Well, this is nice to consider, this iron gate. I suppose it was really a problem to the beloved apostle when he came to this iron gate.

What would happen now, the iron gate? Well, each one of us have got iron gates in our lives. Someday, each one of us, even those who are young, when you're young, everything looks rosy and happy. And you say, well, I haven't got any iron gates in my life.

I'm young. I'm strong. I got a good job.

I got money. I got a home. I got a car.

I got a bank account. I got no iron gates. But sooner or later, there'll be an iron gate come into your life.

But, oh, how nice it was that when they came to this iron gate, which opened to them of his own accord. Why, God doesn't stop by iron gates. He can open iron gates.

This is the same God who made the chains fall out of Peter's hands, was able to make the iron gate open, and Peter's problem was answered. Now I know that some of us in this room have got problems tonight. Some of us have got exercises.

Some of us pray for our loved ones, and there's iron gates. Oh, we say, how in the, how is it possible for this iron gate to open? What can God do for us? And the devil tries to discourage us. He said, it's no use.

You might as well give up praying. Why, you've been praying for a long time now. What's the use? But the day is going to come when God is going to open the iron gate.

How nice it is. The iron gate, beloved brethren, is going to open. Whether it's in your home, or in your business life, or your school life, or whether it's in the assembly.

Thank God that God is able to open the iron gate. And then it tells us, when they came out onto the street, the angel departed from him. Well, isn't that nice? Peter didn't need now the angel to take him out of the prison.

He was out of the prison. He was on the street. Now apparently he knew where he was, and the angel departs from him.

But I want to draw your attention to what happens in the 11th verse. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel. Notice he didn't give the angel the credit.

Isn't that nice? How often we give man the credit. How often we hear people say, well, I was saved through brother so and so. How nice it is to say, I was saved by the grace of God.

I was saved through a servant of the Lord's preaching, not saved by any man or anything he did. Peter gave the credit to the Lord, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The Lord has sent his angel, and it delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

I notice here that he doesn't mention anything about the prison. He says, He delivered me out of the hand of Herod. Oh, there was somebody greater than Herod.

Herod the king disfaded away when the God of the Bible came unto him. No matter how great he was, or who Herod was, the king, when it came to God, while Herod was no obstacle, God just moves aside. Oh, isn't that wonderful? You know, we've sometimes read or seen people playing chess, and we see these men as they move the man across the board, and isn't that exactly what God does? Are not all these different things that come, just like those chess, when it comes to God's hand? He just moves them wherever he wants.

He moves them wherever he wants. In the Romans 8, it says, All things work together for them, to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose, and so on. And so God just moves everything.

Now, we don't profess tonight to stand here and pretend that we have great faith, because often we do get afraid. We have to confess, I speak for myself, we get afraid. But isn't it nice to consider that God is for us? And if God be for us, who can be against us? There's no weapon, God said about Israel, that is formed against thee shall prosper.

And so God has ordered your life and my life with the skillfulness of his blessed hands. He just leads us through this desert world. Now, there's young people here tonight, a few young people who go to school, and in your school you will have to face these problems that all the young people have to face, but God will be with you.

God will be with you if you stand for God. I could mention the name of a young man who is very well known among us, and I heard this, I presume it's true, that in the school where he was, the teacher in those days used to try to tell the pupils about evolution and how the Bible wasn't true. And this young man, why, he stood against the teacher.

He just stood up against that teacher. He said, I will not accept that. I will not accept that.

Now, God has honored that young man, for God honors those who honor him. Oh, dear young people, we don't have to apologize for believing in this book. This is the book that's true.

All other books in the world will disappear off the face of this earth. It'll all be burnt up, but this book's going to stand the test of God's eternity. This book has been exalted higher than the very heavens themselves, purified seven times the word of God.

It's not going to fail if the whole country turns to infidelity and the whole nation turns to atheism. The book wouldn't change. It's the word of God.

It's settled forever in heaven, God's word. It's a mighty, powerful weapon. Oh, how blessed.

I remember just yesterday we went to visit our brother and we talked together, and then before we left, we took the word of God and we read it. What a difference. Oh, how that just about five or six verses at the end of Romans, and the first chapter, the first verse of the chapter five, how they changed everything.

The word of God, there's power. It might tell stories to children to illustrate the gospel, but it's the word of God that has the power. It's the word of God.

One verse in the scriptures, the precious word of God.