Sermon Tone Analysis

Review

we’re coming to the end of Luke’s account of work of the HS in the Jewish world

though the HS continued to work among the Jewish people he shifts Luke’s focus to the work of Paul and his team in the Gentile world

The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to show the progressive fulfillment of Acts 1:8

in the previous chapters the HS has clearly revealed the sovereign work of the Father and the Son in establishing and building the church

Examples of the sovereign work of the Father and the Son in establishing and building the church.

giving of HS at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

the transformation of the disciples into bold preachers unafraid of persecution (Acts 2:14ff)

the exponential growth of the Jerusalem church under the foolishness of preaching (Acts 2:41)

defeating Satan’s efforts to hinder, halt or destroy the church through persecution and sin

escalation of persecution from the Sanhedrin: verbal warning (Acts 4:1-22), beating Acts 5:17-42), killed Stephen (Acts 7:54-60)

God turned each into an opportunity for the spread of the gospel

the Sanhedrin heard the gospel, the disciples encouraged each other to persevere and rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer and prayed for continued boldness, the spread of the gospel beyond Jerusalem as the result of Saul’s ravaging of the Jerusalem church

Ananias and Saphira put to death by God for attempting to deceive the church (Acts 5:1-11)

Saul’s ravaging of the church caused the gospel to go to Samaria (Acts 8:1-3)

the uncovering of the false Christian, Simon the Magician (Acts 8:9-25)

the supernatural ordering of Philip so that he crossed the path of the Ethiopian eunuch resulting in his salvation and baptism (Acts 8:26ff)

Saul’s miraculous conversion and 180 degree turn around from a murderous opponent to a preacher willing to give up his life for the gospel (Acts 9:1-25)

bringing the Roman centurion Cornelius together with the Apostle Peter to break down the Jewish wall of hostility to the Gentiles and pave the way for the gospel to go out into the Gentile world (Acts 10-11)

Jesus to Peter when he confessed him to be the Son of God

Examples of those who fought against God and resisted his purposes.

the folly of fighting against God or even resisting his purposes

Pharaoh and the 10 plagues

the kings of the Promised Land who were all destroyed along with all their people

Balaam and Balak when they tried to curse Israel

Assyrian king Sennacherib when God destroyed his army and sent him home where his sons murdered him

Herods of the NT

Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus in the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem

Jesus was already safe in Egypt

Herod Agrippa I of Acts 12

curried the favour of the Jews in order to stay in the good books of those who had power over him in Rom

declared all out war on the Jerusalem church

Peter’s Predicament

Acts 12:1-5: Herod the King attacks the Church

Herod the King

has the power of the Roman army to do his bidding

was in trouble with those in Rome who had authority over him

desperately needed the support and approval of the Jews to maintain his position so he attacked the church knowing that it would please the Jewish authorities

laid violent hands on some believers

a violent hand = punching, slapping, beating, etc

he sent his soldiers to harass and beat up Christians

Herod killed James with the sword

God permits some of his faithful servants to be killed

Stephen was the first

James the first apostle to be martyred and the only one recorded in the NT

seeing that his attack on the church and his killing James earned him favour with the Jews he arrested Peter

planed on bringing him out before the people

Herod’s initial objective was to secure the support of the Jews

his success made him think he could do the same with Peter

behind Herod was Satan

Jesus in John 8 as to why the Jews who wanted to kill him

Paul to the Ephesians about who believers are really fighting against,

Satan’s objective is the destruction of the church by cutting off its leaders

this is often Satan’s method: he thinks that if he can destroy the leaders the followers will be disheartened and scattered and made useless

he obviously had not learned from Stephen but sin does that

it makes slaves of sin think they are wise when they are in fact fools!

note that if Satan cannot destroy the church’s leaders his other plan of attack is to plant unbelievers in the church in order to lead it away from the truth!

if he cannot attack it from the outside he will try from the inside

days of unleavened bread (v.3)

James was killed before Passover

Peter was arrested during the feast of Unleavened Bread which followed and lasted a week

would have gained Herod the maximum amount of publicity as the city would be inundated with Jews from all over the world

would have brought Peter out on Sunday!

4 squads of soldiers - total of 16

Herod was likely aware of what happened the last time that Peter was imprisoned

according to v.10 the other squads were guarding the other sets of doors which led down into the dungeon where Peter was being held captive

Herod was taking no chances with his prize prisoner!

Herod’s behaviour is typical of unbelievers

when they oppose God and their efforts fail they try harder rather than admit he is the Almighty, Sovereign God

if at first they don’t succeed they try harder rather than accept that they cannot win their fight against God!

The response of the church to Peter’s predicament was earnest prayer.

the response of the church: earnest prayer (v.5)

earnest or fervent = stretch muscles to limits

same word used to describe Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane

is also used to describe Christian love and service

church responded like it always did when persecuted (Acts 4:23-31)

they got down on their knees and pleaded earnestly with God

does that characterize your prayer life?

if it doesn’t it won’t characterize our church!

why do God’s people earnestly pray even when the situation seems hopeless?

Peter’s Peace

Peter is sound asleep in spite of his awful circumstances!

the chains, the presence of the guards, the hard cold floor, the wretched prison conditions, the imminent threat of death could not keep him from sleep

a deep sleep at that!

The source of Peter’s peace: he trusted God

he was not old so he knew he would not die no matter how dire his circumstances

he had also been jailed before and God delivered him

he had already experienced God’s faithful care in the midst of trouble

this is what trials and troubles do for us, strengthen our faith

the source of our peace:

Peter’s Reprieve

Acts 12:8-11

angel leads Peter out of the prison into the city

“when Peter came to himself”

up to this point Peter thought he was having a vision or a dream

soldiers were completely unaware of the light, the angel, the chains falling off, Peter dressing, doors opening and closing as Peter walked out!

was not sure what was happening was real until he was out of the prison, in the city, standing by himself, free

“now I am sure” - before this he wondered if it was just a pleasant dream

Acts 12:12-17

Peter’s encounter with the praying church