"Patience in Prayer" (Acts 12:1-19)

Trascript:

Praise the Lord. If you will remain standing for the reading of God's word this morning, our sermon passage is from Acts chapter 12. We're looking at verses 1 through 19. If you're using a pew Bible which is in front of you, you can turn to page 1094. 1094.

Hear now the word of the Lord from Acts 12:1 19. About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, and intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now, when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains. And sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, get up quickly. And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, dress yourself and put on your sandals. And he did so. And he said to him, wrap your cloak around you and follow me.

And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice in her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, you are out of your mind. But she kept insisting that it was so.

And they kept saying, it is his angel. But Peter continued knocking. And when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to Be silent. He described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

And he said, tell these things to James and the other brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. Now, when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated.

And as you're taking your seats, let's join our hearts together this morning in prayer. Gracious heavenly Father, I pray that as we study this passage that you would remind us of your great power, the great power that we access mercifully when we look to you in prayer. I pray that as we study this great story of your answer to the earnest prayers that were offered by the church for Peter, that you would make us patient in prayer as we wait upon you to meet the needs that we have in our own lives. And we pray, Father, that as we study this great text, that you would give us hearts to understand, eyes to see and ears to hear everything contained in the good news, the gospel of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. In Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Well, last week, the theme for the sermon was Bear Fruit with Patience. And last week, as I was preparing that sermon the whole week and was thinking a lot about my own need to grow patience on that Saturday. So last Saturday, the day before last Sunday, I was headed to Indianapolis with my wife Allison, and my daughter Evelyn. My daughter Evelyn was going to the Indiana State Music association competition to sing a solo.

She did very well. She won gold. I was really proud of her. But on the way down there, we were talking about things and talking about patience and the need we have for patience. And my daughter said, boy, I need to grow a lot in patience.

And again, I was swimming in all of this, and I said, oh, sweetheart, that makes two of us. And then I paused a moment and said, you and your mother, I got a well deserved glare for that. And the joke of that, because my wife is indeed a very patient person, and my daughter is also a very patient person. But the joke of that is that patience is something that we all need, but it's also something that's maybe a lot easier to see in other people than in our own lives. And yet, how does the Lord teach us to be patient?

I'm sure you know to be careful with praying directly for patience when you pray. For patience. The Lord tends to bring things into your life that will teach you patience. And that can be a frightening proposition because we don't need extra things. In fact, in the very normal things that happen in the course of our lives, we are always tested in our patience.

And one of the main areas that we are tested in our patience is as we learn to bring these issues in our lives to the Lord in prayer. Because the Lord does not typically answer prayers immediately. We pray, answer. We pray, answer. That's not the way that life works.

The Lord teaches us patience in prayer as we bring to him our needs and he doesn't answer. And we bring to him our needs and he doesn't seem to answer the way we hope he will. And we do this again and again, and we come to him in prayer, waiting on him in faith that he will ultimately answer us according to his will. And as we do this, the Lord is teaching us to be patient in prayer. But it's a back and forth, back and forth, back and forth journey between our needs and the Lord.

And through this, he teaches us to pray with patience. And that's going to be our theme today. Pray with patience. And so three sections this morning. Patience for the world.

Patience for the world. Second, patience for the Lord. And then third, patience for our week. Faith. Patience for our weak faith.

So let's start with patience for the world. And we are immediately in this story brought to a great need for patience with the wicked world that is raging around the church. We read here that Herod the king at that time was laying violent hands on some who belonged to the Church. This Herod properly is known by the name Herod Agrippa the First. He was the grandson of Herod the Great, who was in power when Jesus was born.

This Herod, Herod Agrippa I was a very politically insecure man. His position depended a lot from the favor that he had from Rome. And the Roman Emperor at the time was on a little bit shaky ground. And to make sure that he would be in the best position possible. Historians tell us that Herod Agrippa I was constantly trying to cater to the Jews and those in the region over which he exercised his dominion.

And now we are not told why this original uprising of violent hands from Herod the King was laid upon those in the church. And we are not told specifically how James the brother of John was caught up in all of this, but we are told very matter of factly by Luke, that in this persecution, James the brother of John was killed by Herod with the sword. Now, previously, when we saw the martyrdom of Stephen, the first martyr in the church, Luke shows us exactly what came of this, exactly what arose from this, exactly what effect this had in the church from the blood of the martyrs, which is the seed of the church in the life of Stephen. And indeed that happened, indeed because of the scattering from that persecution, Christians went up into Samaria and then went up as far as Adam, Antioch, which we studied last week. And that's where Christians were first called by the name of Christians.

And there we read about the story of the gospel extending. Well, here we don't have quite the same thing. We really read that the only thing that happened from this immediately is that Herod saw that what he had done by killing James, the brother of John, pleased the Jews. So he proceeded then to persecute more apostles. He proceeded then to arrest Peter also.

James was an apostle. John, his brother, was an apostle, and Peter is an apostle. We don't know where John is in all of this, but James is dead and Peter is now in prison. Now, as we think about this story, I think it's very important to remember some of the background, particularly between James, brother John and Peter. After Jesus was raised from the dead in John, chapter 21.

And he's interacting with Peter and John. Peter, or James, had told Peter something about what Peter must suffer for his sake. Jesus told Peter, he said, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. And then John, the brother of James, the author of the Gospel of John, John, adds this comment.

He says this. He, Jesus, said to show by what death he, Peter, was to glorify God. And after saying this, Jesus said to Peter, follow me. Now, if you remember that story, that makes Peter curious. And so Peter then asked Jesus about John again, the brother of James, who's just been killed here.

And he points to John and says, lord, what about this man? And Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. Now, as we think about that story, it heightens a little bit of the drama here because Peter, as he is arrested, knows that eventually he must die for his faith. He must die bearing witness to Jesus.

As an apostle of Jesus, he knows that he must die with outstretched hands. And tradition holds that Peter was crucified upside down because he did not count himself worthy to die in the exact same same manner that his master had died. And so the real question is, will that be right now or will that be at a later time? It's not clear when. And so Peter is in the middle of this uncertainty.

He's sleeping, seemingly quite peacefully, and he's wondering what's going to happen to him the very next day. But the second part of the drama is in the interaction between Peter and John, the brother of this James, who has just been executed by Herod. Jesus warned Peter against comparing himself with John. He said, what is that to you? What is John's ultimate fate to you?

You follow me. But James, the brother of John, preceded Peter in his death as a martyr. And John has to be swimming with the grief over the loss of his brother, even as he is also worried and concerned about Peter, who's now been arrested as well. Now, as we look at all of these three individuals, it's tempting to say that John was better off with Peter and that Peter is perhaps better off than James. But Jesus warns us not to compare.

Jesus tells us, what is that to you? You follow me. Jesus in this is calling us to remember his love for us, his sovereignty over every detail of the course of our lives, his wisdom. He's reminding us that we can and that we must trust him as we follow him in life. But he doesn't tell us or doesn't ask us or even suggest that we must follow him silently.

In fact, he invites us to bring our fears, our concerns, our needs, our doubts, our distress, our desires to him in prayer. And in verse 5, we read as Peter was kept in prison. At the same time, earnest prayer for him was made to God by the Church. They weren't fatalistic. Well, whatever is going to happen is going to happen.

K sera sera. Whatever will be, will be. They don't do that. The Church makes earnest prayer on Peter's behalf. Not knowing which direction this is going to go, I want us to consider from this how we need to pray with patience as we live our lives in the midst of a wicked world.

The Lord's providence is mysterious to us. Some of you will live to very old age. Others will die far sooner than you could even imagine. As we think about evangelists, Charlie Kirk was murdered in the streets. But other bold evangelists like Billy Graham live a very long time dying of natural causes.

We live in a world or in a country with vast freedom especially to practice our faith. But we have brothers and sisters in Christ who live constantly under the threat of intense persecution. Some of you have grown up in families or have had teachers and bosses and co workers who have been a great support and blessing to your faith, whereas others of you are in similar relationships. Yet in your relationships you are constantly belittled, reviled and looked down upon and passed over because you believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. We are constantly tempted to compare ourselves to others.

Why can't I have your life? Why can't I have your situation? Why can't I have your job? Why can't I have your parents, your siblings, your friends, your co workers? But Jesus reminds us, what is that to you?

You follow me. And he doesn't say that harshly. He just says it truthfully, honestly. He's calling us back to a relationship of patience with Him. He's reminding us that we can trust Him.

And as we trust him through bringing our needs and our concerns, through all of that, he is teaching us patience. Will you be patient in a world that is filled with hatred for Christ and a world that therefore hates those who are called by the name of Christ, by the name of Christian? Are you willing to be patient in a world that is filled with suffering in a veil of tears? Will you trust that our Lord remains in control, working out his will, even in the midst of your suffering? You see what's happening.

What we have to recognize is that our Lord is so kind, he is so patient, but he also understands accurately, more than we do, our great need for sanctification. He is a great physician, he is a gentle physician. But he also knows the pain that you will encounter in the treatment that you need to address those hard to reach portions and corners of your heart. He knows that the cancer that lies in your heart needs surgery, that that sin and unbelief needs to be brought out of you. And he knows how difficult it's going to be.

And he has compassion for your suffering even while he insists upon the treatment. And one of the ways he has compassion on you is inviting you to bring to him all of your questions. A couple of years ago, my father had double lung transplant. His lungs had become so hardened that he needed an intense amount of oxygen, 15 liters of oxygen. Just when he was sitting still, his lungs were slowly dying.

And so soon so would he have unless he got a transplant of lungs. And in this process, we were very involved as family to all the litany of tests that he had to go through. But there was one day where we were all called in, because that's when the parade of doctors was going to come through. He had his pulmonologist, his pharmacist, his dietician, his psychologist to make sure that he'd be able to get through the tough times of his treatment. And the surgeon and they all came in and they were very brutally honest about what he was going to undergo through this, but they also compassionately yet honestly answered every question we had.

He was going to go through a massive life altering treatment, but it was the only thing that would save his life. And his physicians were so caring as they answered every earnest question. How much more is our great physician patient to answer our questions as we bring them to him? But what if you have been praying earnestly but you still don't seem to get the answers you're looking for? Well, this comes to the second section where we are called to have patience for the Lord, patience for the Lord, to work and to act in verses 6.

The drama is high in verse 6 as we read that when Herod was about to bring Peter out on that very night. Now this is about to be like James was about to be when he would be brought out to be executed. And we read at that time that an angel comes and the description of this angel is, namely, he's somewhat violent. We read that he strikes Peter on the side. He's urgent.

He tells Peter, get up quickly. He's demanding, dress yourself and put on your sandals, wrap your cloak around you and follow me. He's powerful as the iron gate opens for them of its own accord. And then he's gone as quickly as he appeared. When he immediately leaves Peter.

Now, Peter had been, as one commentator points out, passive through this entire experience. He thought he was seeing a vision, but when he comes to his senses, he realized the dramatic thing the Lord has done for him. And again, we have to remember what's been happening this whole time. Well, what happened is directly connected to the earnest prayer that has been offered by the church for Peter's deliverance. But that doesn't mean that earnest prayer was not effective for James.

It doesn't mean that there was a lack of prayer. If they had prayed, James would still be alive at this time. The thing that we are seeing in this passage is that the Lord's providence is so mysterious. We pray and we ask these questions, but we pray not knowing what his ultimate will is going to be. And again, as we pray, we are brought back to the only option we have, which is to wait for the Lord in prayer.

A dear saint came to my office this week to share a reflection on the sermon about patience from last week and reminded me of Psalm 27, verse 14. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. I thought about that verse a lot this week.

I read it in a couple of hospital visits this week because it's hard to wait for the Lord. But he is so patient to teach us patience. So often we must wait to the very last minute, just as Peter did on that very night before he was going to be brought out to be executed, as had already happened to James. And we know that he could miraculously deliver us. But we don't know what ultimately is going to happen.

And thereby the Lord treats us with our need for patience. So what if we must wait long for deliverance? What if, like James, deliverance never comes? What if you're in a situation where the friend and the relative that you have been praying for never trust Christ, at least to this day? What if still another month has passed and your finances are continually in worse shape than they were the last month?

What if your prodigal child never comes back to the church? What if a particular conflict lingers, seemingly never to resolve? As we ask these questions, they swirl in our minds as we continue to bring them to the Lord. Christ teaches us not to focus on those questions which deal with our problems. Lord, what are you going to do with this or with that, or fix this or that?

Christ is teaching us always to remember his promises now. His promise is that he will never leave us or forsake us. That doesn't mean that we will always be delivered from everything. Even Peter knew that he would eventually die, even if he escapes this time. But the promise is that the Lord will be with us through all of it.

And he teaches us to depend upon him and to trust in him and to wait with him as we await through prayer and meditation on the promises that he lays down for us in His Word. But prayer does something else. Prayer not only teaches us patience, prayer is constantly exposing the weaknesses of our unbelief as we pray. So let's look to the third section, patience for our weak faith, in verses 12 through 19. Patience for our weak faith.

And as we come to this last section, we read that while the church was continuing in earnest prayer, they've been gathered at the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark. This is the John, Mark, who writes the Gospel according to Mark. This is his mother's house. Many were gathered here and many were praying. And it's kind of a statement that has an ongoing thing.

It's like they were in the middle of this prayer meeting, continuing to plead for Peter, when Peter shows up at the doorstep. And it's such a delightful scene because here the very thing they have been praying for is answered. But when it is answered, they do not believe that such a thing would be possible. As Peter stands knocking outside, they are debating whether this could be his ghost. What this is showing is the weak faith that they have.

Even as they continued to pray, and even when he finally came in, they were amazed by this. And Peter then bears witness to them about the Lord's deliverance of this. We're going to talk more about our own weakness and faith as we pray in just a moment. But before that, I also want to look in verses 18 and 19. There's sort of this postlude, an afterword in the story where we read that the next day when people wake up and they realize that the star prisoner, who's about to be brought into the public square and executed to further please the Jews, when he's no longer in prison, Herod is furious and he examines his sentries and he puts them to death.

It's important to remember that this passage really has been, in a lot of ways following the example of Jesus. If you remember that Jesus also, and the Sadducees or the Sanhedrin, intended with Jesus to delay after the Passover before bringing him out to put him to death in Matthew chapter 26. But then later the opportunity came, Judas came along, the moment came to take Jesus and execute him. And so they just went with it. Well, here again, Herod had intended to delay after Passover the same festival to execute Peter.

Well, if you remember, also in Jesus execution, soldiers had been appointed at the tomb of Jesus to make sure that the body of Jesus wasn't removed. And here there were soldiers around Peter and they were to make sure that Peter didn't move before he could be put to death. Well, in both cases, the guards cannot withstand the power of God to deliver his people. And what we are seeing here is there's a reminder here that in the previous passage, they just had to buy off the guards dealing with Jesus body being raised from the dead and what they had seen that night. But here, to make a point, the guards who had been around Peter were put to death.

We're seeing here a reminder of the incapability of the world to stop the power of God. But as we think about this passage, let's go back to the weakness of the faith of the church. The application here is that we want to have Patience, not only in this wicked world, when we are encountering all kinds of difficulties, not only with the Lord as we wait upon him to answer our prayers, but we need to have patience for the weakness of our faith and for the sanctification that God is doing in our lives. You see, we shouldn't be too hard on this church, as they are not believing the very thing that they had been praying for when Peter shows up as their door at their door, because we should remember that their faith was at least strong enough to continue the prayer vigil. How often have we cut our prayers short because our faith did not sustain the confidence that this was doing anything good?

And yet here there is earnest prayer that has been made that is continuing to be made all the way up until the point when Peter shows up on their doorstep. Jesus tells the parable of the unjust judge where the widow is knocking at his door day and night, demanding justice. Give me justice. Give me justice. And after a while, the judge just can't stand it anymore.

Not because he cares about her, but just to get her off his case, he gives her the justice that he's seeking. And Jesus says, if even an unjust judge would act that way, how much will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? But then Jesus in Luke 18, verse 8 says this. I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Will he find us continuing to pray for the needs that we have? There's a great weakness in our faith that breaks off early from the prayer that we should be offering. But a key to growing in sanctification, particularly in patience, is recognizing that faith isn't all or nothing. Sadly, many do have no true faith at all.

But for those who do have faith, all of our faith is hamstrung by weakness. To some degree or another. All of us must cry out with the words of Mark 9:24, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I do have faith, but I need you to help me with my lack of faith.

And this is how the great physician uses trials and suffering in our life to heal us. These trials and suffering are a treatment. It's almost like he's pouring ointment on us. And at that ointment, he's drawing out the disease, drawing out the poison from our souls, especially from the hard to reach places in our hearts that are filled with impatience and unbelief. And the more you see the unbelief rising to the surface in your life, particularly as you are continuing to wrestle with God in prayer.

That's a reminder that you have more to pray about, a reminder to go back to the Lord and to ask him for forgiveness for your lack of faith, forgiveness for your unbelief, and to continue in strength, his strength to persevere in your prayers. And the longer and the more painful the trials that God appoints, the more he intends to use those to draw out the poison of unbelief from our souls. Through prayer, he not only answers the request in one way or another that we are asking about, but through prayer he is active at work to heal us from the inside out, to strengthen us in the weakness of our faith, and to draw us closer to Him. Beloved, Jesus Christ himself suffered the anguish of the cross. Jesus Christ from the cross, declared my God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Because he was being forsaken in a particular way so that you would not have to be what he suffered in your place. He exhausted so that it would not fall on you who were looking to him in faith so that you would know that God has not hidden his face from you, but rather he sees you. He hears your desperate cries this morning. He knows the anguish that you are going through, and he is now even able to sympathize with you because he has gone through even more godforsakenness than you ever will. If you were in Christ this morning, look to him in faith.

Have patience in your prayers. The Lord is mighty to save. And at the right moment, even that very night when you need him, he will come. So wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.

Wait for the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that as we come to you today, you would teach us again to be patient, to look to you once again in prayer to meet the great needs that we have. Bless your people, we pray. Build us up in faith and repentance and sanctifying obedience as we follow after you.

And we pray that you would do all this for the sake of Jesus Christ until He comes again. And come quickly, we pray. Lord Jesus. Amen.