Sermon.966
“Breaking The Chains To Set You Free!”
Acts 12:1-19a
Sometimes, life holds more bad news for us than good news!
Today’s text from the Bible in the book of Acts lets us know very quickly that our perspective on life makes all the difference.
Like the 96 year old man who was asked what it was like being 96.
He said there were some bad things and some good things about being 96 years old.
He said, “What I don’t like is that I can’t see very well anymore. In fact, I can only see about 15 yards in front of me, and that’s with my glasses on.”
“I can’t hear very well, even with both my hearing aids, and my joints don’t work very well.”
“My reactions are slow and I have to take both hands and pick up my right leg just to get it moving in the right direction.”
After all that, somebody said, “Then what’s so good about being 96 years old?”
The man replied, “Well, I thank God every day that I can still drive my car!”
In our text we read about the Apostle Peter in prison, we find that Peter had some bad things going against him, but he still rejoiced.
Wicked King Herod had already put James, the brother of John, to death with the sword (verse 2).
Now he has seized Peter, sent him to prison, and placed him under guard by 16 soldiers (verse 4).
Peter wasn’t pacing the floors and neither was he pleading for a pardon.
He’s sound asleep in an undisturbed slumber in the prison cell, not questioning or blaming God for his circumstances, fully expecting to be executed in the morning.
He’s sawing logs, cool, calm, and collected when the pressure’s on, knowing that he will be rejoicing in heaven with his Savior and Lord the following day.
How can that kind of peace and joy be happening in Peter’s life?
How can Peter be calm and cool in the face of his troubles and adversities?
How can we stay cool and calm today amid our own troubling circumstances of life?
Let me give you a couple of suggestions that I learned from our text in Acts.
I. First, Peter feared God instead of fearing man.
This is the main contrast between Peter and King Herod.
Peter feared God.
Herod feared man.
How do we know that?
Verse 3 says that Herod was into “pleasing the Jews.”
An English translation from The Nestle Greek text says Herod "...seeing that pleasing it is (was) to the Jews he added to arrest also Peter."
Herod, the true politician, played to the crowds as his popularity rested on keeping the masses happy.
Herod feared men!
Peter, on the other hand, was in prison because he wasn’t afraid of man.
Peter feared only God.
On an earlier occasion in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts chapter 4, Peter was beaten by the Jewish religious authorities and told to keep quiet about Jesus.
Peter asked his persecutors a question, “Is it right in God’s sight to obey you rather than obey God” (paraphrased, Acts 4:19).
Then Peter went right on preaching about Jesus!
All of us today are under one of two primary influences in our lives.
We either fear God or we fear men.
We either do what is pleasing to God, or we attempt to do what pleases men.
Here’s the key:
We won’t be totally and truthfully free until our fear of God supercedes our fear of men.
Peter was in prison, but he was much freer in prison than Herod was in the palace.
That’s one of life’s great ironies.
People work their entire lives to impress others, and while you’re working so hard to impress others you never have peace of mind and peace of heart and soul.
If you want to be free from the things that grip and bind you, be advised that the first step is to fear God more than you fear men.
II. The second key to freedom from the things that bind you is to not forget to look at the things you cannot see.
That’s the spiritual dimension to this story that’s amazing and exciting.
You see it clearly in the prayer meeting and in the angel.
Verse 5 tells us that prayer was earnestly being made by the church to God concerning Peter.
Basically the church was in a nonstop prayer meeting at the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, praying that Peter would not be martyred like James was.
The Bible teaches us that through personal prayer, nations rise and fall, wars are won, lives are changed, and problems are solved!
When was the last time you prayed in such a way about your situation that you agonized and stretched yourself to the breaking point in your prayer life?
When was the last time you passionately gave yourself over to the labors of prayer?
Now look how God blesses a praying church!
Peter was sleeping soundly between two soldiers.
He was bound with 2 chains, and there were guards standing watch at the gate.
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and woke Peter up.
The chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
Jail breaks seem to be angels’ specialtys!
Peter put on his coat and shoes, he and the angel walked over to the iron gate leading to the city, the angel opened the gate with his remote control, (the first remote control was invented here) and they walked together for about a city block before the angel left him.
When God sends one of His messengers to minister to us, it’s as though Christ Himself is there with us in all of His authority, power and glory!
I really believe that many times angels have watched over me.
Although I’ve never seen one, I would probably be totally shocked as to know how involved they are in my life.
Perhaps they have helped to spare me from some serious injury, or even death in a car accident.
I know they help my prayers get through to God when the devil tries to block them out.
Peter could hardly believe what was happening to him, and the Bible says he had to come to his senses over the matter, for at first he thought it all might just be a dream.
Once Peter came to himself fully, he went straight to where the prayer meeting was being held.
And here God has a sense of humor!
A young servant girl named Rhoda (not the same Rhoda who starred on the TV show) came to the door and recognized Peter’s voice, but she was so excited that she forgot to unlock the gate and let Peter in.
Here’s a preacher who broke out of prison, but he couldn’t break into a prayer meeting.
The participants at the prayer meeting were so skeptical of Rhoda’s story that they left Peter knocking at the gate for some time.
The lesson here for us is that many times we’re like those folks at the prayer meeting who were shocked that God actually answered their prayers.
The point I want to make is that the more involved in spiritual things you are, the less imprisoned you’ll be by your troubles, which leads us to the third key to the freedom from the things that bind us:
III. And that is, Always begin with the end
results in mind!
Look at verses 23, 24 & 25:
Three important things happened after the miraculous escape of Peter from prison.
1. First, wicked King Herod lost his life: The Bible says, “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down (Nestles Greek text translates, "And at once smote him an angel of [the] Lord because he gave not the glory to God and becoming eaten by worms he expired." verse 23).
Folks, that’s a terrible way to die, to be eaten by worms first and then die.
2. Second, the Word of God continued to increase and spread.
3. And third, Barnabas and Paul took John Mark with them on their missionary journey
Today, old Satan may be telling you that there’s no way out of your difficulties of life, but that’s a lie he would hope you would buy into and believe, for if you buy into his lies, then satan has won the first round of the fight.
God is always there in your life with an answer; a solution to the adversities of life.
Satan tries to get us to focus upon our physical circumstances, so we cannot see the spiritual realities that are all around us.
We often get so wrapped up in our world of troubles, despair, depression, sufferings, and sorrows that we forget that we serve a mighty and powerful God who protects us and delivers us from the chains that bind.
But the good news from God is that Christ is always knocking upon our hearts just like Peter was knocking on the gate at the prayer meeting.
When life has a tendency to beat you to your knees, Jesus is always standing there knocking at the gate of your heart, he’s saying to us, “If you hear my voice, let me in” (Revelation 3:20).
My prayer for you is that God might surprise you with the solutions and answers to your prayers as your surrender your life to Christ and allow Him to freely give you His gift of Light and Life!
Heavenly Father, if there is one here today reading this sermon who has not yet come into a personal saving relationship with you, I pray this miracle of salvation be present in his or her heart, and you, Dear God, will take up residence in the holy temple of his or her heart. Amen.
Rev. Jimmy Davis
Bayview Baptist Church
BayviewBaptist@aol.com
5300 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204
Telephone: 803-754-8690
