Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your warm welcome. Good to be with you this morning.
A long time ago, I used to live just two streets up from here. Well, roughly two streets, Montpelier Park.
And I don't think I appreciate what a great church there was just down the road.
But lovely to be with you today and to be able to open God's Word.
So if you've got a Bible, it'd be great if you'd open it at Acts chapter 12 that we just had read for us.
That's what we're going to be thinking this morning.
So as you get to the end of chapter 11 in Acts, we're told there's a famine coming.
And when you get to chapter 12, the problems for the church there are not that there's going to be no food,
but rather that there's no protection.
They find themselves in this war zone here.
And if you've been working your way through Acts, you know that Acts is full of this kind of opposition and persecution.
Largely coming from the Jews, the Sanhedrin, the kind of leaders who put Jesus to death.
But then now Herod, the kind of politician, is getting involved in the act.
Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.
He killed James.
He proceeded to seize Peter also.
This is the decapitation of the church that you're witnessing here.
Now the obvious question to ask is, why is God allowing these things to happen?
You might have the same question when you watch the news.
Afghanistan, Myanmar, Yemen, Syria, the Ukraine.
Why is God allowing this to happen?
And Acts chapter 12 does give you a moment's pause, doesn't it?
David Attenborough, who's the great naturalist, was asked if he believed in God.
He answered tentatively.
He said, sometimes I stand beside a termite mound,
and I wonder what knowledge they could have of me.
Now it's not a ringing endorsement of the reality of God,
but you can see what he's edging towards.
The Bible opens with this statement.
In the beginning, God created.
And in that statement, you get a gulf that is far vaster than termite to human being.
An infinite, eternal, omnipotent God.
And my tiny, little, microscopic life,
what knowledge would the termite have of God, of a human being?
What of my knowledge of this infinite, eternal being?
I've called this first part of the sermon today,
The Uncertain Will of God.
Now, if you want the kind of more classier description,
it is the unsearchable will of God.
But let's just talk about uncertainty for a moment or two.
It doesn't mean that God's unpredictable, or that he's fickle,
but it does mean we are not able to second-guess him
when the Bible hasn't told us what to expect.
Will he heal?
Will he not heal?
Will he intervene?
Will he not intervene?
James was killed with a sword.
Peter was seized.
Now, notice, will you, that we've given the time of year.
Luke's a kind of precise historian, isn't he?
And he just kind of puts in this date for us.
He tells us that it happened, end of verse 3,
during the festival of unleavened bread.
And then he goes on to tell us that Peter's trial
is slated for after the Passover.
This is Easter.
That's where we are.
We're 12 years previously.
This is AD 44.
Maybe 14 years previously.
Jesus was on trial.
And prior to his trial, this is how he prayed.
And going a little further, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
And he said,
Abba Father, all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but what you will.
Now, you can hear the tension in those words, can't you?
If it were possible.
All things are possible for you.
If the Son of God in his humanity struggled,
how much more us?
How much more people like us?
And this passage poses two questions we're going to think about this morning.
And the first question is this.
How does it look, what does it look like to trust an unsearchable God?
Or maybe put it slightly differently.
What does faithful Christianity look like in a world where evil is real
and you are uncertain of what God is planning?
That's our world.
That's where we live.
Okay, look at verse 6.
Verse 6 states, doesn't it?
The night before Herod was to bring him, Peter, to trial,
Peter was pacing the floor,
trembling with anxiety,
filled with fury at what happened to him.
Not any of the above.
Peter was.
It's one of these great anti-climaxes in the Bible, isn't it?
Sleeping.
And I think you could almost insert the word soundly into that sentence
in the light of the effort that has to be made to wake him up.
It has to be slapped in the side to bring him to consciousness.
Now, here's the thing.
How can you sleep soundly when you know you're going to die?
I think a lot of us would really like to know the answer to that question.
How can you sleep soundly when you know you're going to die?
Now, very helpfully, Peter, when he talked to the children this morning,
took us back into that incident that took place in the Gospels on the boat.
And we've had it unpacked for us.
The storm.
The disciples think they're going to die.
Jesus is asleep.
He gets up.
He tells the wind to be quiet.
Now, if you're reading Matthew's Gospel, just before that incident,
Matthew tells us that a man came to Jesus and said,
I will follow you wherever you go.
And Jesus said to the guy,
foxes of a hole, birds of the air of a nest,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
My home,
my family,
my money
are the reassuring
facts,
factors about my life
that gives me a sense that I'm in control.
I've got a place to live.
I've got some people that quite like me.
I've got some cash we can manage.
Right?
I'm in control.
Jesus takes his disciples
onto the boat
and into the storm
to the place
where it doesn't really matter
if you've got a great house
and loads of money in the bank.
You are not in control.
But hey,
Jesus is in control.
He can control the storm.
He can keep us safe
in the storm.
That's a great bit of news.
Jesus leads his people
into the storm.
Make no mistake,
he will lead his people
into the storm.
Undoubtedly so.
It's part of God's
unsearchable ways.
Illness
or redundancy
or bereavement
or discrimination
or whatever else
you might like to think of.
But Peter,
Peter can sleep
in the storm
because he knows
as Jesus
has led him
into this place.
He will lead him
through this place.
You see,
the thing about death is
death is that
terrible,
terrible
dead end.
That horrible,
horrible cul-de-sac
that nobody knows
what it's going to be like
except Jesus
who says to us
even though
we walk
through the valley
of the shadow of death,
we should fear no evil
for he will be with us
and his rod and staff
will come for us.
Peter knew that.
Now there's a second
little aspect
to this.
Living in
these unsearchable
ways of God
and it's the church
that prays.
Don't say Peter here
as a solitary hero.
Peter struggles with fear
all the days
of his life.
It dogs his life
verse 4.
Herod sees Peter
and put him in prison
verse 5.
Ernest prayer
was made for him
in the church
and those two things
are,
they are closely linked.
Peter slept
because the church
didn't sleep.
Now this is not
a perfect church.
This is not a church
that's kind of
oh,
we know what's going
to happen here.
That's why we're praying.
You can see
there's this
lovely irony
in the passage
isn't there?
Where this
iron gate
in the prison
just kind of
opens by itself
but Peter
can't get into
the pyramid.
Can't get the door
to open
because the people
inside are not
you know,
they're not tuned in
to everything
that's going on.
But make no mistake,
their praying
makes a difference
and above all
it makes a difference
to Peter.
Peter,
or Jesus
urged his disciples
to pray with him
and sadly
they left him
to sweat
and agonise
and wrestle
alone.
And I suspect
there's
a lot of that
going on these days.
These are not
good days
for commitment.
People choose
churches on the
basis of the music
or the preaching
or the kids' work
and feel liberty
to opt out
or in
as these things
are or aren't
being delivered.
Now that is
a bad plan.
Sooner or later
you and I
will find
ourselves
in the storm
and we will
need people
to pray for us.
Now this may not
be the best reason
for church membership
but this much
is true
that the more
deeply woven
into the fabric
of the church
family we are
the more we will
benefit from the
prayers of God's
people.
Not the best
reason for being
a church member
but it's certainly
an important reason.
So here's how you
trust in an
unsearchable God.
You trust him
to lead you
through the storm
and you join
the imperfect
prayers of his
people.
Now let me
switch your
attention from
the uncertainty
to the certainty
in this passage.
So Acts 12
is about
powerful people
pursuing
their agendas.
Herod,
the Jews,
increased their
grip on power
by raising
their approval
ratings.
And that's
what we see
around our
world,
isn't it?
Leaders and
regimes
squashing
dissent,
locking up
those who
don't agree
with them.
And it could
be all those
places we
mentioned at
the beginning.
It could even
be Scotland
with its
woke agenda.
You don't
want to upset
these people.
And these
kind of
pictures all
too easily
fill our
minds with
fear.
You don't
want to
follow Herod
or any
of his
many
successors.
But notice
in this
passage that
there are
two agendas,
not just
one.
So it's not
just Herod
playing out
his plans.
We read
of an
angel.
Well,
maybe two
angels,
but there's
certainly two
incidents that
concern angels.
One who
facilitates
Peter's release
and the other
that brings
Herod to the
end of
his life.
And this
section of
Acts that
was not
written in
chapters but
in chunks
runs through
from 932 to
chapter 1224.
And there's a
woman who's
raised from
the dead and
there's a man
who has a
vision and
there's a
prophet who
predicts that
there's going
to be a
famine.
And here's
Luke's
summary of
what is
really going
on.
So you
look at
verse 24
and this
is his
little,
let me tell
you what's
really happening
here.
But the
word of
God continued
to spread
and flourish.
Here's the
certain plan
of God.
Okay.
So,
which of
these agendas
has got
your attention?
Who's,
which of
these agendas
are you
investing in?
there's one
that's visible
and you can
see it around
us here in
this country
and you can
see it as
you switch on
the news,
the agendas
of the
world or
there's an
agenda set out
here in the
scriptures.
Now,
let me draw
your attention
to a few
aspects of
what is true
of God's
agenda.
Let's start
with the
grace of
God.
Now,
one of the
strange things
about this
chapter is
why does
Herod last
until verse
23?
Or,
let me put it
to you another
way,
is enjoying
people's
flattery worse
than murdering
somebody?
Oh,
why do you
get struck
down when
he just
kind of gets
a bit carried
away with
the audience?
Now,
I made
the point
at the
start that
God's
ways are
not our
ways,
and that
passage we
read,
we heard
from Isaiah,
Isaiah 55,
is probably
the clearest
passage in
the Bible
that makes
that point.
For my
thoughts are
not your
thoughts,
neither are
your ways my
ways,
declares the
Lord,
for as the
heavens are
high above
the heavens,
high above
the earth,
so are my
ways above
your ways.
Now,
what you need
to know is
the for,
for my
ways are
not your
ways.
So,
what has he
just said
that shows
that his
ways are
not our
ways?
Listen to
what it
says,
seek the
Lord while
he may be
found,
let the
wicked forsake
his way,
and the
unrighteous
man his
thoughts,
let them
return to
the Lord
that he
may have
compassion
on him,
and to
our God
for he
will
abundantly
pardon.
What's
God been
doing in
Acts chapter
12?
He's been
saying to
this wicked,
unrighteous
king,
seek the
Lord.
He's been
saying it
through his
involvement with
people like
James and
Peter and
seeing the
way they
are,
but above
all,
he's been
doing it
as he
researches,
as he
scrutinizes
this escape,
as he
thinks.
It's got
God's
fingerprints
all over
the thing.
The door
just opened,
the chains
fell off.
Do you
hear?
God is
speaking into
his life.
Oh my
goodness.
God has
been holding
out his
hands to
this evil
seek the
Lord,
turn,
repent.
so what
is it
that
distinguishes
God
from
me?
The
measure of
his
grace.
If you
listen to
this and
you're not
a Christian,
understand
that your
past,
whatever
your past
has
involved,
does not
disqualify
you from
knowing God
as your
father.
let
Herod
encourage
you to
see that
if God
pursued
this evil
king,
he is
inviting you
to seek
him.
But let
Herod also
be a
warning.
The window
of opportunity
does not
remain open
forever.
Seek the
Lord while
he may be
found.
When you
go to
24,
you can't
find him
anymore.
It's too
late.
There is a
too late.
And if
you're a
Christian,
remember,
it's not
for us
to decide
who God
is going
to hold
his hands
out to.
In Luke's
first volume,
Luke 23,
Jesus shows
mercy to a
criminal who's
dying beside
him.
In Luke's
second volume
in Acts
chapter 9,
he shows
mercy to the
chief of
sinners.
It kind
of blows
away the
whole idea
of worthiness,
doesn't it?
God's
ways really
aren't our
ways.
The gospel
is God's
unstoppable
mission to
deliver compassion
and pardon to
the wicked and
the unrighteous.
Are you in
step with
that?
Really?
Or are
there some
people that
you go,
nah,
not him.
Second
thing,
the
pastor of
Jesus.
verse 17
ends by
telling us
that Peter
departed and
went to
another place.
Now,
as you know,
up to this
point,
Peter has
been the
leader of
the church.
He's the
rock that
Jesus spoke
of.
He's
preached
those great
sermons
in Acts.
He's
operated the
keys that
let the
Gentiles
into the
church.
But now
that's it.
You almost
hear nothing
else of
Peter in
the rest
of Acts.
get a
glimpse of
him in
15.
But he's
getting off
the stage.
He's
vacating the
platform.
He's
stepping down.
Another guy
called
Saul,
Paul,
is going
to become
the main
person
from here
on.
And
Peter's
okay with
that.
He
leaves
for another
place,
a less
significant
place,
a less
prominent
place.
here's
how life
normally
works.
Okay?
You would
describe it
the normal
direction of
travel is
to be
upwardly
mobile.
You get a
slightly better
house.
You might
get a
better car.
You get a
little bit
of a step
up at
work.
You have
a little
bit more
dough.
You go
on slightly
better
holidays.
That's
the usual
direction
of travel.
Though
he was
in the
form of
God,
he did
not count
equality a
thing to
be grasped,
but emptied
himself,
taking the
form of a
servant.
Do you
see where
Jesus is
going?
Downward
mobility.
So he
associates
with the
marginalized,
the lepers
and the
beggars.
He mixes
with the
despised
tax collectors
and prostitutes.
And these
things trash
his reputation.
They
ultimately,
they give him
a place
among the
criminals to
die.
But of
course,
you see,
this is the
thing,
isn't it?
Jesus is
not pursuing
his own
agenda.
He isn't
asking what
he would
enjoy doing.
What would
I like to
do?
He's
serving his
father's
plan.
He's
looking for
his father's
approval.
And Peter
is heading in
the same
direction.
Out of the
limelight,
off the
platform,
down into
some less
prominent but
no less
significant
ministry.
the
progress of
the
gospel or
the
progress of
me,
my agenda
or his
agenda.
Those are the
kind of
choices that
we have.
Now,
it's about
our thinking.
It's about an
attitude in
our minds.
So we're
all used to
seeing the
images of
the Ukrainian
president,
Zelensky,
with his
kind of
five o'clock
shadow and
his battle
fatigues as
if he's just
come off
patrol.
And there's
something entirely
appropriate about
that, of course,
isn't there?
There's a war
on.
You don't
expect to see
him walking
down a red
carpet to get
into a big
stretch limo where
somebody opens
the door for
him.
You think,
no, no, no,
that's all
wrong.
Peter had
that wartime
mentality.
As he heads
off to play
a different
part that
his commanding
officer has
just assigned
him to,
and
consequently,
the word of
God increases
and multiplies.
I'm going to
say one other
thing.
This is the
certain plan of
God.
This is how
it happens
as we start
to get in
step with
the grace
of God
that reaches
down to
the wicked
and the
unrighteous.
As we
start to be
ready to
step down,
down,
down.
And then
clearly,
as we
cooperate and
participate in
the prayers of
the church.
So twice in
this chapter,
we're reminded
of the prayer
meeting.
Verse 4,
verse 12.
And we
are most
certainly meant
to make that
connection
between the
prayer of the
church and
the progress
of the
gospel.
Listen to
what Jesus
said on
those two
subjects.
truly I say
to you,
whoever says
to this
mountain,
be taken
up and
thrown into
the sea and
does not
doubt in
their heart,
but believes
that what
they say
will come
to pass,
it will be
done for
him.
Therefore,
whatever you
ask in
prayer,
believe that
you have
received it
and it
will be
yours.
Now,
Jesus spoke
those words
just after
he had
driven the
traders out
of the
temple and
he had
pronounced
judgment on
Jerusalem's
religion by
means of
the fig tree.
Curse the
fig tree,
died,
withered,
boom.
Jesus is
referring here
in this
section to
Jerusalem when
he says,
whoever says,
he didn't
say,
whoever says
to a
mountain,
he said,
whoever
says to
this
mountain,
the mountain
is Jerusalem.
Okay.
Now,
the book of
Acts shows
you that
Jerusalem is
a massive
obstacle to
the progress
of the
church.
They're
trying to
dampen
the
enthusiasm,
they're
trying to
kill their
leaders,
they're
trying to
crush the
whole thing
at the
outset.
Now,
if you've
been around
in Jerusalem
in those
days,
and you'd
seen the
Sanhedrin
and the
Pharisees
who control
the police
and who run
the courts
and who've
got the
ear of the
Roman
governor,
and you've
got Jesus
and his
little band
of followers,
and you've
been asked,
which one of
these two do
you think
will survive?
I don't
think it
would have
been a
hard question
to answer.
But within
40 years
of the
death of
Jesus,
the mountain
has been
moved out
the road.
Judaism
is no
longer the
threat that
it was to
the church
and the
progress of
the gospel
goes on
to the
world.
Come with
me to
the 16th
century.
16th
century,
the church
is moribund.
The medieval
church is
just a
mass of
money-making
schemes.
And a
friar called
Martin Luther
in a
backwater
called
Wittenberg
in Germany
rediscovers
the gospel
and stands
against the
Pope and
the Holy
Roman
Empire.
Not
alone,
but
pretty much
alone.
And God
moves this
mountain out
of the
way.
We've
heard today
about
Romania.
Go back
just over
35 years
and you
would not
have heard
that kind
of report
in church.
Go back
to the
bad old
days of
the 70s
and the
Soviet
Union
and Romania
under the
rule of
Ceausescu
and nobody's
setting up
these kind
of places.
It's all
underground.
Oh,
the gospel's
there,
but it's
underground.
1989,
the mountain
moves.
mountain
that you
and I
are
conscious
of
today
is
Islam.
Some of
you may
have read
or heard
of a
book
written by
David
Garrison
called
The Wind
in the
House of
the House
of Islam.
It's
quite a
challenging
book to
read because
it's got
so many
statistics
in it.
It's so
carefully
researched.
Garrison
has
noted that
there's been
82
movements
in the
entire
history of
Islam
from 600
AD
to the
present.
Now,
a movement
in
Garrison's
research
is
a
thousand
baptized
believers
or a
hundred
churches
planted.
That's a
movement,
either or.
Thousand
baptized
believers,
hundred
churches
planted.
Now,
there have
only been
82 in
the whole
of the
life of
Islam,
but 69
of those
movements
have taken
place between
2000 and
2012.
There has
never been
a time
in history
where more
Muslims are
coming to
Christ than
today.
On the
eve of the
79 Islamic
Revolution in
Iran,
there were
reckoned to
be no more
than 500
Muslim
background
believers
in a
nation of
40 million.
Forty years
later,
there are
hundreds of
thousands of
Iranian
Muslims who
have given
their lives
to Christ.
Now,
be clear,
this is
still a
small
percentage of
a huge
empire.
I think
there's
1.9
billion Muslims
in the
world.
And there
are pockets,
so he
talks about
this house
of Islam
in terms
of rooms,
different
parts of
the world,
and there
are some
parts of
the world
where there
is very
little
happening.
But
central to
that
progress
are the
prayers of
God's
people.
So let
me end,
I'm going
to finish
with this,
I'm going
to end
with this.
Here's the
question that
all this
poses for
us,
okay,
very simple
question.
Would you
have been at
the prayer
meeting?
Will you be
at the prayer
meeting?
Let me pray,
then we're
going to sing.
Heavenly Father,
thank you
for helping
us to live
in a world
of uncertainty,
to know
how to
sleep in
the storm.
Thank you,
Lord God,
that you
are
outstandingly
gracious
to the
wicked
and to
the
unrighteous.
We pray,
Lord,
that you
would help
us as we
seek to
invest in
your agenda
and walk
in step
with your
plans.
We ask
this for
Jesus'
sake.
Amen.