The Last Hour

Sermon Title: “The Last Hour”
Sermon Text: Acts 12:1-25
Sermon Date: May 30th, 2010
Worship Scripture: Rom 8:38-39

Introduction:
(Opposition that we face…) Movie Clip from CNN

Background:
Over the course of these past months we have sort of taken your hand and walked you chapter by chapter through the book of Acts… You have seen quite a bit, and I can’t help but wonder if after all these sermons… you are a bit overwhelmed by all the content and sort of lost in what is going on with this book…

So before we go forward lets do something that I love to do… and that is review where we are at… while I walk with you through these chapters… watch the progression of the gospel of Christ, like a snowball that first gets rolled down a hill… it gets bigger and bigger as it goes down…

Lets start in Acts Ch 2… Right after the ascension of Jesus the Holy Spirit poured out to believers at Pentecost
Following this event, all the way to the end of chapter 4 there are a succession of three speeches made by Peter all centered on Christ and all focused on the spread of the Gospel
Chapters 5-6 deal with the protection and building of the church, while in Chapter 7 Stephen calls out the Jews for missing Jesus as their Messiah altogether..
By the time we reach ch 8, we speed up quite bit and Gospel begins to grow… from Jerusalem to the rest of the world.
In Acts chapter 8 Gospel going to the Samaria ,
In Acts chapter 9 Paul is converted and given the mission to preach to the Gentiles,
In Acts chapter 10 and 11 the conversion of the Roman centurion and the dream that results from this event gives the key to Gentiles to Peter…

And finally the church in Antioch established in the latter section of chapter 11 which we will see next week as the launching point of team Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

Now if you remember last week there was a main character that was in constant contact with Cornelius… Who was that? (Peter) Now Pastor Chan made a comment and reference that Peter was given the keys to the gentiles in Matt 16:19 could be a reference to the dreams of chapters 10 and 11. Regardless if there is a connection or not, No one would disagree that there is a movement in the Gospel and it only can be the power of God which is propelling it…

Yet all of a sudden there is a stall in the plan... (a time out you could say) and as it happens the main leader… the main preacher up until this point is put in prison. Today’s sermon will directly deal with this event and passage!

What we will do today is very simple. We will first…

Outline:
Introduce you to a reality in our lives… (Then we deal with…)
What this reality can actually do to us… (Then refreshingly look at…)
What God can do… (And finally…)
How is this possible…
One more time… we will be…

Introduce you to a reality in our lives…
What this reality can actually do to us…
What God can do…
How is this possible…

Ultimately it is my purpose and mission to solve the dilema

THQ: How should I react when facing opposition in my life?
In other words, what should I be reminded of when facing that which is dead set against me in this world?

To start us off lets flush out the reality of the opposition that is out there in the world…
The reality is simply this…
THT 1: There are people and circumstances bent on opposing you for their own personal gain.

In other words, there are good people just like you that are facing trouble within this world to which the reason for that opposition could not care nor about the outcome of his or her victim.
Call it a parasite, call it chaos, call it evil, even call it sin… it is out there today in a fallen world.
Trip to the beach…

READ with me Acts 12:1-2, Acts 12:1-2

“Acts 12:1-2 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.”

What we know about this situation is that this is not crazy Herod the Great, rather this is his grandson, born and raised in Rome, good friends with the crazy Roman Emperor Caligula. Now while it is very difficult to pinpoint exactly why Herod went after the apostle James, it is fair to say that the praise he received from the Jews spurned his motivation to execute more Christian leaders. The reason for this praise though from the part of the Jews is sort of understandable. Only ten years ago Stephen gave his condemning speech to the Jews which got him stoned, and it would seem that the Jews even after ten years do not care much for Christians at all…

The reality is that a large part of being in a world fallen in sin is that there are people and circumstances bent on opposing the good for their own gain or accomplishment….

In this case it was persecution… it could be sickness… it could be death… or even loss… In all of these cases it would be naïve for you to think that you are above this world, that somehow bad things could never happen to you… No matter how much insurance, equity, stocks, or securities you might have, life has a way of catching up to people… and some of you here in this room know exactly what I mean.

Point number two…. The reality is that…

THT 2: There will be instances when this opposition may reach you and overwhelm you. No matter how paranoid you might be, no matter how strong your castle, fortress or home is, sin and evil has a way of sneaking into the cracks. Some of the most unhappy people I know seem to have it all, and some of the satisfied people that I ever met in college seem like they don’t have anything compared to myself.

READ Acts 12:3-5… v. 3-5

“Acts 12:3-5 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

If every story has a problem, this is certainly the problem for Peter. With the response that the Jews gave to Herod with the execution of James, it was almost a green light and open season to strike against Peter as well. It made sense that since Herod had grown up in Rome and had crazy Roman friends, that he would arrest and hold Peter for execution in a very Roman way. In Herod’s mind he wanted there to be absolutely NO WAY for Peter escape! Look at v. 4 how there were four shifts of four soldiers. Traditionally two soldiers would be shackled to either side of the prisoner, and the two other soldiers in six hour shifts would be guarding the entrance. This all takes place for just one prisoner and is equivalent to maximum security prison Roman style. Finally in v. 5 you can’t help but notice that the church was “earnestly” praying for Peter. This word “earnestly” probably represents one of two things… the first, is that they are in utter desperation. They know that there is no way for Peter on his own to “break out” of prison. The second suggests that the church might have thought that Peter was already dead. Their prayers in that sense were cries of grief rather than pleas for escape.

The truth is and the simple fact remains that no matter how well you try to protect yourself… some day you will get hurt some day you will feel pain, some day you will get burned. Someday you might even meet your match. We will all face death unless Jesus comes back, and in that day that we meet death… some of us may be able to cheat him, but most of us will not. But the plain fact is that as the world turns opposition can easily become overwhelming and completely out of your control. In your desperation and in your grief… what should you remember? One thing…

THT 3: No matter how strong the opposition, God can break the chains!

No matter how locked up you might be… God can set you free!

READ Acts 12:6-11, v. 6-11

“Acts 12:6-11 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."”

I love this passage because every time I read it, it makes me smile… God seriously has a sense of humor, v. 6 tells us that it was the last night of Peter’s life here on earth, and on that night almost mockingly against the powers of Herod, God sets Peter free. This adds to the saying, that God is never early, God is never late, he is always on time because he is who he is!

V. 7 is the real cool part, even with the bright entrance of the angel in the jail cell, the angel still has to strike Peter to get him to wake up. This is not just a supernatural tap on the shoulder, this is a forceful smack. Now if I was in prison awaiting my execution, I would not be sleeping, I could tell you that right now. I would be tossing and turning, thinking about what I might say or do. Instead Peter is so calm, so relaxed that he is making it a point in enjoying his last night on earth.

This is from the same man that in Matt 16:19 was given the keys to the kingdom… this is from the same man who was standing on the verge of the most evangelistic era of the Early Church. And yet he seems to willfully accept the fact that this is the end.

It reminds me of General Patton who invaded the Palermo in Sicily, but because he smacked a cowardly soldier was put on probation during the invasion of Germany…

Patton who loved war, he loved the thrill of battle and some could argue that is what made him such a great general… but to be on probation… to be put on time out… during the largest invasion in history (D-day), you could understand his pain when he exclaims… “A whole world at war and I am left out of it!” Peter is the exact opposite. Did he probably feel regret, did he feel left out on one of the greatest opportunities of evangelical conquest the early church had yet to see… sure… but Peter knew he was going home… Peter knew he was always with God, and he knew at anytime at any moment God could break those chains if he ever wished. Long story short, Peter had nothing to fear no matter how strong the opposition of Herod actually was.

You have to wonder also, why was Peter so at peace on last day of his life, at the very last hour? He probably knew that just as James was executed so he would also be executed in the morning. In a only a few moments he would “be with God.” No force from this earth could break him out…

Would you be as calm… as Peter was… if you knew you were going to meet God in a couple of hours? Sure Peter knew that God was in control and that he could break the chains as He wished… but there was a sense I think that Peter was satisfied with his spiritual life. There was a sense that he walked with God, he did his best, sure he made mistakes, but all in all he knew he was in good standing with Jesus when it came to following Him.

I would argue many in this church would feel just like Peter if they knew it was the last hour. If they knew that they were dead men and women. While dying is bad, and this life is precious, at the same time they know God is in control and that all in all they follow him and there is nothing to really to worry about.

On the other hand I would assume there are those in this room that may be panicky if they knew it was the last hour. In all honesty there may be many in this room who have not been guarding their hearts like Phil 4:7 encourages us to do, or preparing for the arrival of our Lord, which is the main message of the Book of Revelation… In this panic you realize that you are like a dead man walking towards your execution because the life that you thought you lived wasn’t real and the past was catching up to you…

There is another type of person which I pray is not in this room today, this is person that is neither at peace with the Lord nor in fear… This is the person who does not care either way… apathetic if you might say. To them life is good and because life is so good (for them at least) they could care less either whether or not Jesus is coming, whether by their death or arrival. I would prefer that this message of “the last hour” to either encourage you or warn you… but if it completely flies over your head, if you completely miss out on the importance to be a peace with God trust that he could always break those chains, then there is a veil of deception indeed over your eyes that only the Holy Spirit and the Word of God can break…

But if you rescognize with me that there is sin, evil and chaos… if you will agree that at times opposition can be overwhelming and completely out of our control. If you would agree that with me that evil is evil and while evil revolves within the permissive will of God, it is certainly not something that God desires to be in this worls…

For as my Sunday school class knows all too well that evil is objectionable because it goes against his … Character! Then fortunately I will not leave you with this depression thought of that’s all she wrote, rather, I will say that…

THT 4: Every Christian in this room has a reason to rejoice for none can compare to the power of God! In other words God is indeed the God and your God, and there is none above him otherwise he would not be who he is…

Look at the facts of our narrative… step by step…
In v. 12-17 it is the weak little early church that gets to have the party in the morning not Herod.
In v. 18-19 it is the guards who get executed not Peter for by not protecting their prisoner they would have to share in the fat
Finally in v. 20-25 it is Herod that is struck dead by the hand of God to which Luke only tells us that Herod, “did not give glory to God.”

I can tell you this day based on this one story alone (you have to hold me back from the OT) that truly none can compare to the power of our God.

When I had cancer, I was overwhelmed…
When I was teased at school for my faith, I was overwhelmed…
When I first entered into seminary, I was overwhelmed…
When I realized that the English ministry at my church was headed down a rapid downward spiral, I was overwhelmed…

When I first arrived here, (of course I could literally feel the love and your prayers) but it was tough and at times overwhelming…

In all of these cases I have to trust in God that he was in control and that he could indeed break any and all chains in my life that caused me to fear… I can say now with a clear heart, while at times life is still tough (as it ought to be) Christ has set me free…

Otherwise I would not be here today…

Judging from the countless testimonies we heard almost two months ago… you would not be Christians if God did not break the chains…

This ought to give you a reason to worship… a reason to praise him today!

THT: So… (How should I react when facing overwhelming opposition?) Take courage when the opposition becomes overwhelming, because God can always break the chains and none can compare to his power.

In other words do not be afraid of anything in this world because big daddy has your back! (pardon the modernization of language) but he is not just a God, he is the God and your God… None can stand against him

Application: Why do we need to be reminded of this unobjectionable theological maxim…?

Because whether we live or die from overwhelming opposition we will all be with the Lord forever…

Some of you see a sickness a death, a relationship in you life as an overwhelming event in your life…

Maybe your in the thick of understanding the re-zoning process… and all the hoops that this church will have to jump through, many of you are not sure if we can make it.

You want to move forward for the Lord in your life but all the opposition and chains of this world are holding you back, slowing you down and it is REAL not hypothetical for you…

Now I don’t want to be insensitive… because I know this may take time…

For some of you it may take a week… for some a month… for some a year.
You may have to move through the doubt, the realization, the grief, and eventually the acceptance… it may take time… for you to catch up to Peter’s peacefulness in his relationship with God, but you will get there… No matter where you are in this journey called lif