The Gates Of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against It Series

THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT

Text: Acts 12:1-4

Introduction

1. “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” (Matt. 5:10-12).

2. Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were the two American Christian aid workers being held by the Taliban under threat of death during the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America and the resulting U.S. attack on Afghanistan. They open their book, "Prisoners of Hope" with these words, "To the Afghan people whom we so dearly love." These words reflect the heart of Christians who are willing to risk persecution and perhaps death for the sake of taking the gospel to the lost, those who are without Christ as personal Savior and Lord. They also wrote; "To our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your everlasting love healed our hearts and set us free. May we honor and love you with all that we are for all of our days."

3. It is no over-exaggeration that the church of orthodox, conservative, Bible believing Christians is under attack all over the world…including here. However, the Bible that we stand on tells us, “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

4. Read Acts 12:1-5

Transition: Scripture is clear that there is…

I. The Victory of the Martyrs (1-2).

A. Began to Persecute Some Believers

1. This chapter begins with, “About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church.”

a. The church was growing dramatically, especially among the Gentiles, and this made the Jewish leaders upset.

b. So, the king began to persecute the Church. This king was Herod Agrippa I.

c. His family background was a little sketchy to say the least. His grandfather was Herod the Great; you might remember him from the Christmas story as the one who had all the male children three years and younger murdered.

d. His father, Herod Antipas was involved in Jesus’ trial and the execution of John the Baptist.

e. His mother was the one who asked for John the Baptist head on a platter. Now, isn’t that a lovely family?

f. Following in his family’s footsteps, this Herod began persecuting the church for political gain.

2. Herod wasn’t content with going after just any Christians, no, he went after to leaders of the church, the apostles. In v. 2 Luke tells us, “He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword.”

a. The first thing that we’re told is that he had James, not James the half-brother of Jesus, but James the Son of Zebedee, brother of John, killed.

b. Luke really doesn’t give us much information here about James’ martyrdom other than his being killed by the sword.

c. However, tradition tells us that while he was in jail James led his jailer to the Lord. Even in the face of death the apostles never lost sight of the great commission.

d. But this raised the question for us; why Peter got rescued twice (as we shall see later in the chapter), while James is killed.

e. Luke doesn’t tell us that, but he tends to leave out details that aren’t a part of the bigger story.

f. Sometimes we just need to trust God for these smaller details in life.

g. Since there have been so many martyrs in the history of the church, does this mean that Jesus was not with them in their hour of need? Absolutely not! They will all receive the ultimate victory!

B. Washed Their Robes

1. Illustration: Did you know that in 1959 there were 1 million Roman Catholics and 600,000 Protestants in China? That may sound a lot but compared to a population that was approaching 1 billion; it was tiny seed. Then in 1959 China closed its doors to the outside world. Many people began to wrap a burial shroud around the Christian church in China. They said it would never survive. Then in 1979 China again opened its doors to the West and to the rest of the world. And a strange thing had happened. That tiny seed 20 years earlier had taken root. The number of Roman Catholics during those dark years rose from 1 million to 3 million and the number of Protestants rose from 600,000 to 3 million. The church during persecution and hardship had grown 53% in twenty years. Today, the fastest growing Christian church is in China, which is estimated at over 300,000,000!