And we're beginning at verse 1. Acts 12, verse 1. 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, 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 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. Amen. Well, every Christian was at one time in chains. That is, they were born as sinful people into a sinful world. And of course, I mean a spiritual type of imprisonment. Then they were liberated and they were set free because another, Jesus, had paid the price to secure their release. So Peter had been uncuffed and set free in that way himself. He'd been an object of God's grace, but now he finds himself in a literal prison. Now God could have left him there for his good purposes. God frequently does leave people in jail and allows them to go through terrible tribulation, but The time of Peter's departure from this world had not yet come and the Lord wanted him for other tasks. God had more for him to do and so an escape plan was set in motion. God is not always predictable really in how he deals with the righteous, with his people. You'll notice at the beginning of our reading, it says that James was killed. James. This wasn't something that took God by surprise, but James was killed. And it's sad when we read that. I mean, James has been at the center of the activity of the disciples, really. This James, by the way, he's the brother of John, as it says, and the son of Zebedee. And it's a different James than Jesus' brother. Jesus had a brother called James. It's not that one. This is the brother of John. In fact, they were called together, James and John. They've been with Jesus from the start, together. The Herod that it mentions, well, that's not the same Herod as in Jesus' day. In Jesus' day, the one, you know, the one who had all the babies killed, that was Herod the Great. That's different. So this one's Herod the Gripper, and he was a grandson of Herod the Great of Jesus' childhood. But this James, it's sort of sad in a way to see him go, because he's been so involved. Between him and Peter and John, we had an inner circle of Jesus's. Quite a privileged little trio of people there, because it was James with Peter and John, who alone were allowed to witness the raising of Jairus's daughter by Jesus. It was the same three that were allowed to see the transfiguration of Jesus when his face lit up for a few moments. And it was those three that were allowed to go with Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane for that really important prayer before his death. So you might read it and think, well, that's sad to lose James. And truth is, it doesn't matter, really. It doesn't matter if our visit to this world ends now, or next year, or further down the line. It doesn't really matter. And in the future, I promise, you will all look back on this little sliver of time that you spent in this world and wonder why you thought it was so important. The fact is, we will all be raised up at the last day and we will see not only each other but we will see James and we will see Peter and everyone else. I think because You might remember that in chapter, back a few chapters ago, chapter five, we saw that Peter had been freed miraculously. And I think that's why they guarded him so closely. So picture this, if you will, you've got this dungeon. you've got Peter there sitting up against the wall and he's got a chain on this hand attached to one soldier whose job is just to sit there with him and his other hand's connected with the chain to the other soldier and then just down the corridor you've got two guys watching to make sure no one gets past either way so he's heavily guarded in other words And it says four squads. So there's probably four soldiers at a time on rotation, on a rotor basis, on shifts, if you like. We see this angel. We see this angel of the Lord. not a ghost, effectively like a person, standing there like a normal person, if you like, and giving him detailed instructions. I wonder whether the angel was being very specific, you know, he was almost holding his hands, he was saying, get up, now put your coat on, Follow me. And I think it's because Peter was in a bit of a daze. He was a bit, he didn't know what was going on. He thought, he thought it was a vision. Remember he'd had a vision recently and a really ultra realistic, this vision he had of the animals and stuff. So he probably thought this is, this is top quality, this, but it's probably still a vision. And so he's virtually led out by the hand, by this angel. Because in verse 11 there, it says he came to himself and he went, wow, this is actually real, this is happening. He realized it wasn't a vision or a dream. So briefly today, what I want to do actually is I want to use Peter being sprung from jail to talk about the experience of the Christian being set free from sin. Because that's an infinitely more important event than anything that might happen in our day on this earth. Because that type of spiritual release, it doesn't just affect our lives now and give us a better life now, but it gives us freedom that will extend into the endless ages of time. Let's consider first that Peter was imprisoned and see how that compares with our situation. The fact is, all people are in chains in this world. That's how they come here. When they are born, they are born manacled in sin, in prison. And as they grow up to toddlers and youngsters and teenagers and adults, their commitment to sin Their utter dedication to sinning keeps them chained. And you know, when you speak to people, they don't even realize that they are chained. They won't accept that they have chains on at all of any type. We might say Satan is involved as well. So there is our own sin within, but Satan has a hand in this as well. We might say he's the jailer, the taskmaster, and they're in his service, and all he wants from them is more and more and more. That's, Satan is never satisfied with the service that people give. If you were to, you had some, you had some weakness with sexual lust, for example, and you went out and fulfilled that, He would encourage you to do more. If you were a covetous person and you fulfilled that covetousness and you got that thing that you wanted, He says, no, no, no, you still don't have enough, you need more, you need more. And so each time these people sin, you find that they still want to sin more. And I was telling Karen about a program I'm watching on the telly about the Mexican drug cartels. And one of them asked another one, you know, you're a multi, you've got hundreds of millions of pounds. You've got everything a person could ever want. He says, yeah, but I want more. I want more. Never satisfied. And every time they sin, every time they sin, those shackles tighten a bit more and they continue to tighten. Charles Spurgeon, that famous Victorian preacher, said, of all the bondages of slavery in this world, there is none more horrible than the bondage of sin. He understood the seriousness of me. There's none more horrible than the bondage of sin. So let's look at the second part of this. There's an infusion of something, of light. Now, I want to make it clear, the Lord has no obligation whatsoever to intervene and secure the release of someone who's imprisoned in sin. And the truth is, for most people, He doesn't intervene. He doesn't bust them out of that prison cell of sin. He doesn't do that for most people. He could save all people. He could break them all out of jail, if you like, and forgive their sin. He could do that, but He doesn't. And knowing that, friends, knowing that, that you're in this small minority, how grateful should we be? How grateful should we be that we've been delivered from sin? It's a great, great thing that most people will not experience. An angel turns up then and it says, a light shone. In verse 7 it says, a light shone there into the dungeon. From what I can make out, to the best of my knowledge, this was an underground pit. There's no sunlight in here. just maybe the faintest of lights coming down the hallway and into the cell. There's no light here, but this supernatural light floods the cell. Peter's still fast asleep here, actually. He's still asleep. Presumably, the soldiers there are fast in a deep sleep too. And so, speaking of in terms of sin and salvation, we find that although all people in this world are in this dungeon of their own making, the dungeon of sin, for some, a strange light is directed their way. A strange light from God is directed their way. We might say that one day, the sun rises within their soul. And on the horizon, the sun rises in their soul. The Lord has, it turns out, turned His attention to that person. Now, here, as I say, Peter is asleep. He doesn't know about this yet. And that's a little bit like the sinner in whom God is working. Because at the very beginning of this salvation of your soul is this unseen work of God. It's a work of the Spirit. We often call this regeneration. Regeneration. And my view anyway is that this is the very first thing that happens. The Holy Spirit moves in. He's come to live in you. And you might have no idea that that's happened. There might be no awareness of it or no change in your behavior at first. But that's the beginning of a change. The Holy Spirit takes residence in your soul. And it's just one event. It's just one event, but it has lifelong effects. In fact, it has eternal effects. So what happens next? Peter was awakened. And so, the time comes for the sinner to be roused from their sleep and the Lord does it. The Lord prods them. What do you do when you want to wake someone up? You could, they're in a deep sleep, you could maybe stand there saying, now we need to leave now. You need to wake up now, you need to leave. Now, that might not work because they're fast asleep, especially if it's me. At the same time, it would be a bit weird if Karen stood over me one day, shaking me to wake me up, and just stood there, shaking me in silence as I woke up, and she's just standing there shaking me and standing there. That would freak me out a bit, wouldn't it? So, we do both. So, we'd go, we'd hit them and go, come on, it's time to leave. And this is what the angel does. And the Lord, we could say, does the same thing. Isaiah 60, the very first verse of Isaiah 60 says, Arise, it says to Israel, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Arise, shine. So, the angel wakes him, tells him what's happening. And for us, we're woken up by God and inwardly it's revealed to us what exactly is going on here. This converted sinner becomes aware of their sin and thinks, I believe I'm a sinner and I believe in these consequences the Bible talks about. I believe that. And then they get to realize that there's salvation for them in Jesus Christ. So the one who goes to him, he will give them this as a gift. Well, the next stage in our account is that Peter was loosed. And so it reminds us of this point when the chains are spoke about at the beginning, the manacles, they fall off. These chains just fall off. And so the person now has an ability to do something. They're not shackled anymore. What does the Lord give them the ability to do? He gifts them with repentance. So the person is able to have this different attitude towards sin. I'm fed up with sin. I want to go a different way. I want to go God's way. I don't like sin anymore. I just want it to go. And I am going to do whatever I can to walk away from it and take a different path in life. There's that repentance. There are also these sinners who are now saved, they're given this gift called faith. Faith, it's just a belief. It's this absolute belief, this conviction, not only does Jesus exist and that he's alive now, but that he remains the savior of mankind. And faith enables you and I to have this connection with God through him. It is a belief that Jesus, in history, did die on a cross, that He did go into the grave, and that marvelous event afterwards when He was raised from the dead, this is all real and this is what faith enables us to believe. And so, the sinner, as the chains fall off, they're able to repent and put their trust in Christ And just that's the beginning of this lifelong awareness of the great love of God towards them. The great love of God towards them. The fifth thing we notice in our account is Peter getting dressed, clothed. Now, we can rightly say that the new saint the newly converted man or woman is said to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ Himself. And we've spoken about this recently. We said that God's righteousness is uprightness, is moral perfection, is that high standard that we need to have, that we need to reach if we want a relationship with him. Otherwise, because of who he is, he can't allow impure, filthy things or people in his presence. The two do not go together. It's impossible for them to co-exist. So, It's a very high standard. And to be honest, we can go far in righteousness, as we call it. We can be upright people, can't we? A man or a woman can really focus and they can become an upright person. Well respected for their integrity. People who don't lie. They are humble. They are charitable towards others. And by any measure you like, These are upright people, and that is nothing less than righteousness. That's what it means. And honestly, God would rather you did that than not, because you're sinning less. If you're not a liar, then you're sinning less than if you were a liar. And sin is an offense to God, so it's a good argument for people to behave themselves. But the problem, as I repeatedly say to you, is that they cannot go far enough. They cannot be good enough. They fall short by a long, long way. In fact, God reveals that when He looks down at men and women who are trying their hardest and thinking that they're upright people, when God looks down at their behavior, He says, in the Scriptures, God says, All your righteous acts, all your righteous attitudes are like filthy rags in my sight. It turns out that they are worthless. Can you imagine dedicating your life to trying to be a good person and then being told that the Lord sees all your efforts as filthy rags? You see, that might seem unfair. That might seem unfair of God to dismiss our best efforts. But the point is, For the person who doesn't really belong to God, who doesn't have faith in Jesus, when they do all these wonderful things, it's tainted. Everything they do is tainted with sin. And the Bible says that every good thing you ever do must be mixed with, not sinfulness, every good thing you do must be mixed with faith. It's only when you have faith in Christ that those actions are, if you like, sterilized and sanctified and made acceptable to God. So if you don't have faith in Christ, you can do the exact same thing as me, the exact same behavior, and it won't be accepted. But when I do it, it will be accepted by God. It's all to do with having faith. The sinner needs to go to God and say, okay, I realized that I can't do this through my own efforts because I'm chained up, I'm stuck in sin. And he goes to God and he requests that he be forgiven and saved and receive the clothing of the righteousness of God. So this guy or this woman, is walking around thinking themselves upright, a person of integrity, and yet God looks at them and all their clothes are filthy. They're like a vagrant, a tramp. Filthy clothes. And he goes to God, she goes to God, and begs forgiveness. And in that process of submitting to God, what happens is God takes the rags off them, burns them, and gives them a brand new white piece of clothing, if you like, the very righteousness of God himself. And now God looks at you and sees you as pure and white. Can you believe that? How he did that is for another time. But the fact is, God looks on you, if you're a believer, he looks on you as being perfect in righteousness. And that is the only way you can ever Be heard by Him in prayer and never go to live with Him. Isaiah, a bit further on in the next chapter, 61 verse 10 says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exalt Him, my God, for He hath clothed me. with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. That's what has happened to us. You, friend, if you're a believer, that's how you are clothed. The next stage we might say in our story, Peter is freed. It's freedom. Peter gets freedom. And so it is with the new child of God. They escape the freedom. They get their freedom. They walk right out under the noses of their captors. Those captors cannot stop this Christian because they've been freed by God and In John 8, did we start in verse 36 today? I can't remember. But John 8 and 36 says, So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You will certainly be free. You will be properly free. The Jew, you could say, is freed from the bondage of the law. And a lot of the Old Testament, it's written by Jews and to Jews as well. And so, a lot of that is to do with their bondage to a particular problem of sin, which is that they fail to keep the law. And so, The Jew is freed from that bondage. And then you've got the adulterer. The adulterer is freed from his serial betrayal of his wife. You've got a shoplifter in Marks and Spencers. She's freed from her covetousness. The abortionists down in Liverpool, their city center, they're freed from their murderous jobs. of killing children. The evolutionist in the university, he's freed from his irrationality. His irrational thought that everything came from nothing. And people are freed in so many ways when they meet God. But the very best thing, the very best aspects of this freedom is that we are freed up to save Christ. Can you imagine that? We're freed up to serve Christ. We read this from, some of you may have heard of Augustine, Augustine of Hippo. He had a lot of good things to say. He's speaking to the Lord and he records this. He said in a prayer, Eternal God, the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you, grant us to know you, that we may truly love you, and so to love you, that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom. So, Naturally, we think of freedom as, you know, I can go and do whatever I want. That's freedom. Freedom is being able to do whatever you want. But the perfect freedom, strangely, is found in being a servant. It's what we call a paradox. It's the having been freed from the dungeon of sin, first thing we do when we get out, we don't run down the street wanting to fulfill all those carnal desires in any way. We go straight over and we sign up immediately to become slaves of Jesus Christ. It's the first thing we do. And it's a lovely type of slavery, isn't it, friends? We love it. We love being His servant, His slave, if you like. We love it. We enjoy it. We don't want anything else. We would not want to go back. The last thing we see in this account with Peter. is about him being led out. And so we see then that the one in whom God has worked a work of salvation, that person's led out into this brand new realm, the realm of God himself. He is led by the Holy Spirit this time. He's led out by the Holy Spirit. He's led out to meet a community of saints who themselves have been freed. He leads them out to living waters, and those living waters are found in Jesus. This person is led to everything that God has revealed about Himself to men and women. He's led by the Word of God. He's led in terms of how that Word of God is then preached by various people and taught. That person is led by God through valleys of great difficulty. And there's not one person here who has not experienced numerous difficulties in life. And the Holy Spirit is leading you into these situations. And the same Holy Spirit, when it's time, the same Holy Spirit leads you up the mountaintop, the mountaintop of ecstasy where you have these moments or days when you think, this is just so marvelous to belong to God, those high points. This saved sinner eventually. is led into the grave. They must taste that particular experience of death and then They're led out. They're led out on that great day. On that last day, they are led out of the grave with so, so many others in a great victory event, the biggest event of the ages, the great resurrection of the saints. All this means, friends, for you, is that if you're born again today, and each of you would profess to have been born again to have faith in Jesus, it means that you started off in jail. It means that the Holy Spirit came at some point, perhaps without your knowledge at first, but that you were awakened eventually by God. You were untied. able to have faith in Christ. You were given these new clothes, these robes of righteousness, and you were set free. And right today, you are being led by the same Holy Spirit. And when we look at our eternal future, we will see that all these things we will experience more fully, ever more fully. This passage has obviously led other Bible students to see in there some shadow in Peter's experience, some echo of our spiritual deliverance from sin. I'm sure there's been, I haven't looked, but there's probably thousands of sermons similar to this one, using Peter's experience to talk about deliverance from sin. I'm sure I'm not the first. And I'm sure also that this is what gave rise to some words in a hymn by John Wesley, the hymn writer, because he talks in one of his hymns. about being bound up in sin, about the chains falling off him and being freed. I'm going to close by reading verse 4 of Wesley's hymn, And Can It Be? Verse 4 says, perhaps some of the most wonderful verses in hymnology, and perhaps also in a way, the testimony of everyone who has ever been saved by God. He says, Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. Amen.