This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment because they don't
believe in Jesus. So whenever you get the people
and you begin to tell them about the gospel and they start
getting uncomfortable and all that, that's the evidence of the
work of the Holy Spirit. That's what he does.
But the only way the Spirit can really convict people of the
things that they need to be convicted of is to hear the
truth, and the truth only comes by the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who can turn people to Jesus,
but he needs believers to share the gospel and be bold for their
faith because there's still so many who don't know the truth
they think they know. But if they fully embrace the
saving work of Jesus Christ, there should be an evident
shift. In today's message, Pastor Clark
encourages you to continue sharing the truth.
It will always make people uncomfortable because they will
begin to see that what they were living for was empty.
Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts chapter 24 with today's edition
of Living Waters of Grace. He was in a really plush palace
in this area of the empire. He was given freedom to eat and
to hang out. It was nice atmosphere.
He was allowed to have friends come in and hang out with him
and visit him. So this really wasn't
imprisonment. And if this leader, Felix,
thought that Paul was really guilty, he wouldn't have given
him all these liberties. So what happens here Now in
verse 24, after some days, Felix comes down with his wife
Drusilla, who was a Jewish. She was sent for Paul and heard
him concerning the faith in Christ.
So she already knows what's going on and what's being
communicated to all the people in the land at the time
regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She's certainly not a believer. She's a very young woman,
supposedly around 20 years old, very attractive.
This couple together is not a really good team together,
godless, but anyway, they're there and they're going to have
this conversation. Now is he reasoned about
righteousness? This see Paul right away the
opportunity. Drusilla is here with Felix
again, neither among believers. What are you going to do?
You're just going to say, hey, let me go free because I'm
innocent? No, right away.
He starts the gospel again. He tells them about the need to
be righteous. They're not righteous, They're
unrighteous. They're godless.
They're sinful Pagan people. So he's communicating what
righteousness is versus what unrighteousness is.
Then he talks about self-control.
They have no self-control. They're just doing what makes
them feel good and what makes them happy, which human race has
a tendency to do. No issues of self-control.
And then not only that, but the judgment that's eventually to
come. So it says Felix was afraid, so
he's under conviction. He's bothered by what it is that
Paul's telling him. Just like you and I should be or
anybody should be. The Bible says that the Holy
Spirit convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment because they don't believe in Jesus.
So whenever you get to people and you begin to tell them about
the gospel and they start getting uncomfortable and all
that, that's the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit.
That's what he does. But the only way the Spirit can
really convict people of the things that they need to be
convicted of is to hear the truth.
And the truth only comes by the Word of God.
You can have conversations about religion and spiritual stuff all
day long, but if you don't give them the pure teaching of the
gospel that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, that he was buried in the third day he rose again
from the dead. You haven't given him anything
to think about or anything to be convicted by.
Honey, the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from our sins.
So Felix is afraid and he says go away for now.
When I've convenient time, I will call for you.
In other words, like he's bothered.
The day's a day of salvation, right?
Like if you're an unbeliever and you're like, hey, I, I'm nailed
here, man. I got to make a decision.
I have to believe this. And if I don't, I'm in trouble.
I mean, when you start thinking that way, that's good news
because this is the day that you want to be saved, the day that
you get it and you're convicted of it and you know you need a
savior. You don't want to put it off.
Paul says today is a day of salvation.
Behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is a day of salvation.
And in Acts 1730, it says God commands all men everywhere to
repent. So this not here in Macedonia or
Jerusalem or the Roman Empire. Greensburg, Latrobe, Irwin,
Pittsburgh, Ligonier, you know, California, Texas, South
Carolina, Pakistan, Africa, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine.
Everybody needs to hear this, right?
And we're the ones that are supposed to tell them.
And if we're afraid because, well, what if they fire me from
my job? Or what if they put me in jail?
Or what if they make fun of me, or what if they don't like me
anymore? Or what if they don't invite me
to their house anymore? All these thoughts that get in
our head, you know, 'cause us to be afraid of sharing the truth,
right? But this is supposed to be told
to everyone, everywhere, for all times and all places.
This is not here and Acts, but right now we're hearing this
stuff. So meanwhile, he also hoped that
money would be given to him by Paul.
So he's thinking, hey, maybe Paul, give me some money and
then I'll let him go. Bribes are illegal.
This guy has got problems, right?
That he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more
often and converse with him. So he keeps having him come
back, but not so much to hear the gospel.
He's hoping eventually he'll give me some cash, right?
He wasn't looking for money. So Procus Festus succeeded
Felix. Felix is done with the deal
here. They got a new guy now that's
going to come on the scene, and he wants the Jews, Jews a favor,
and he leaves Paul bound. So chapter 25.
Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days, he
went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed
him against Paul, and they petitioned him, asking a favor
against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem while
they lay an ambush among the road to kill him.
So this is a setup again. They're trying to tell this
governor, hey, you know, send Paul back to Jerusalem, we'll
try him there, and that's the best place for him to be.
Well, fortunately, this governor didn't listen because they're
going to plan to assassinate Paul and that's not going to
happen. This isn't the time.
So Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea in
verse 4, and that he himself was going there shortly.
Therefore, he said, let those who have authority among you go
down with me and accuse this man to see if there's any fault in
there him. They keep trying to find fault
with this guy. It's impossible.
He's done nothing wrong. It's just a real setup.
You know, it just continues. It's a joke.
And so he remains there with them more than 10 days, goes
down to Caesarea the next day, sitting on the judgment seat.
His guy's all in this pomp and circumstance.
Now is a big authority. He commands Paul to be brought.
When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem
stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul.
This is going on all over again, which they could not prove,
while he answered for himself. Neither against the law of the
Jews, nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar have I
offended in anything at all. But Festus, wanting to do the
Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up
to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these
things? Paul said in verse 10, I stand
at Caesar's judgement seat where I ought to be judged as a Roman
citizen. He doesn't need to go back to
Jerusalem. And if he did, he knew what
would happen to the Jews. I have done no wrong, as you
very well know. For if I'm an offender or if
committed anything deserving of death, I don't object to dying.
But if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse
me, no one can deliver me to them.
I appeal to Caesar. So this is Paul's right.
He knows the law is a Roman citizen and he's going to
eventually get to Rome. It was prophesized that the Lord
would give Paul to Rome. Then Festus, when he had
conferred with the council, answered, you have appealed to
Caesar to Caesar you shall go. So after some days in verse 13,
King or Grappa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.
When they had been there many days.
Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying there's a
certain man left a prisoner by Felix, about whom the chief
priests and elders of the Jews informed me when I was in
Jerusalem asking for a judgment against him.
To them I am answered, It's not the custom of the Romans that
deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the
accusers face to face, and his opportunity to answer for
himself concerning the charge against him.
Therefore, when they had come together without any delay, the
next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be
brought in. When the accuser stood up, they
brought no accusation against him of such things as I'd
suppose, but had some questions against him about their own
religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul
affirmed to be alive. This is sort of funny because
these people think like, when I heard about this, this sort of
like, doesn't seem to be true. But there's this guy supposedly
by the name of Jesus that died and was killed, and he's alive
again. Obviously, this doesn't connect
with a lot of people back then, and it certainly doesn't connect
with a lot of people today. So Paul firms this guy to be
alive. And because I was uncertain of
such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to
Jerusalem and be judged according to these matters.
But when Paul appeared to be reserved for the decision of
Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to
Caesar. Then Agrippa, said the Festus, I
also would like to hear this man myself tomorrow.
He said you shall hear him so. The next day Agrippa and Bernice
come in this great pomp. Enter the auditorium with the
commanders and the prominent men of the city of Festus.
They command Paul to be brought in Festus, said King Agrippa,
and all the men who are here present with us.
You see this man about whom the whole assembly petitioned me,
both at Jerusalem here and crying out that he was not fit
to live any longer. But when I found out that he had
committed nothing deserving of death, isn't that interesting
that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him.
I have nothing certain to write to my Lord concerning him.
Therefore I brought him out before you, and especially
before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has
taken place I may have something to write for.
It seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to
specify the charges against him. Talk about a waste of time, a
waste of talent and resources. And trials that go on and on and
on. And they, they never come to any
kind of resolution, you know, even when there's evidence that
there's nothing illegal going on here.
So we'll finish in this section here and I'll read this quickly.
It's tough when you're teaching these kind of chapters because
you got to read the history in order to understand what's going
on in any way you're going to understand is if I read it
right, I can't give you the Cliff Notes version of this.
I mean, just got to. But that's why we're a church
that goes through the Bible and we literally go through the
Bible, don't we? The stuff that's really
interesting and sometimes the stuff that puts you to sleep,
like in Leviticus, but we go through it all because it's all
God's Word, right? So chapter 26.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak for
yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand
and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King
Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you
concerning all the things at which I am accused of by the
Jews, especially because you are expert on all customs and
questions which have to do with the Jews.
Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
My manner of life. I love the testimony here.
He doesn't hide anything. My manner of life for my youth,
which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at
Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, as
if they were willing to testify that according to the strictest
sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.
So Paul was a Pharisee, hated Christians, hated anything other
than strict Judaism. And now I stand and I'm judged
for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.
I'm being judged for something that the whole Testament taught.
To this promise, our 12 tribes, earnestly serving God night and
day hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King
Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.
Why should it be thought incredible by you that God
raises the dead? Why should it be a problem?
Why can't you see this? Indeed, I myself thought I must
do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
So the very things he's going to say that he did at one time,
they're doing to him. This I also did in Jerusalem.
And many of the Saints I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priest. And when they were put to death,
I cast my vote against them. And I punish them often in every
synagogue and compelled them to blasphemy.
I mean, he forced them to deny their faith.
And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them
even to foreign cities while thus occupied, as I journeyed to
Damascus. And then Paul's doing all this
persecution stuff. And we read about this earlier
in the book of the Acts. He's heading to Damascus with
authority and Commission from the chief priests to persecute
Christians. At midday, O king, along the
road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining
around me and those who journeyed with me.
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice
speaking to me, saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me? And of course, this is Jesus
speaking to him. It is hard for you to kick
against the goads. So I said, Who are you, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for
this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of
the things which you have seen and other things which I will
yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the
Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send
you to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to
light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may
receive forgiveness, His sins and an inheritance among those
who are sanctified by faith in me.
Isn't this beautiful? So he gets to give this
testimony of what he was like. And you and I all have a
testimony. It's not like it's something
you're proud of, but it's part of your legacy and your life
and, and God gets glory from saving you from what he saved
you from. That's what makes a testimony
wonderful thing to tell people because lots of times people
meet you and I and they think, oh, you were always good, you
were perfect. You never did anything wrong.
Let me tell you what I did. And they look at me and they
say, wow, man, you were bad, you know?
Yeah, it was. That's why I needed to get
saved, right? That's why you need to get
saved. We're all bad.
We're all sinners, right? So therefore King Agrippa was
not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to
those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the
region of Judea and them to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God and do works befitting repentance.
So not any getting saved and getting born again and knowing
that your sins are forgiven, but living a life now that shows you
really repented from your sin. You're not living the same way
you used to live, right? You're not perfect, but you're
certainly not living the way you know you used to live.
That was wrong. For these reasons, verse 21, the
Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand
witnessing both to the small and great, saying no other things
then those which the prophets and Moses said would come.
So he's not giving them any new information.
He's using their own Bible, the Old Testament at the time to
teach them and proclaim to them the things that now he believes
and understands that the Christ would suffer, that he would be
the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the
Jewish people and to the Gentiles, the gospel he's giving
them verse 24. Now as he thus made his defense,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself.
Much learning is driving you mad.
He thinks he's crazy, but he said I am not mad.
Most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.
For the king, therefore, whom I also speak freely, knows these
things. For I'm convinced that none of
these things escapes his attention, since this thing was
not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the
prophets? I know that you do believe.
So here's the king. I mean, he already can
understand what Paul's saying here.
He's not at the point he's ready to to become perhaps a believer
or to admit that he believes these things.
He's sort of in a catch 22 here. And Agrippa says to Paul, you
almost persuade me to be a Christian now.
I wonder how many of these people did become Christians
eventually. We're just reading stuff in real
time here when it was written by Luke and he's given us a record
of what happened. But it wouldn't it be neat to
know like all the people that ended up becoming saved during
these times in these trials, and I'm sure quite a few of them
did. We'll get to know.
We'll meet him in heaven. We'll say, hey, remember that
Sunday that we took the time to read Acts 2425 and 26 and we
didn't skip it. We want to find out like who you
guys, you know, how did you eventually come to to become
born again? I mean, this is fascinating
stories of people will meet one day in the Kingdom of heaven.
And so Paul, this Agrippa flattering in a way, Hey man,
you almost got me here to become a believer.
Paul said I would to God that not only you, but also all who
hear me today might become both almost and all together, such as
an I am except for being in these change.
And so Paul says to us today, if you're hearing this, I'm hearing
this and his prayer was that would the God that his testimony
and the things he said would cause people to become born
again. And that's what's so wonderful
that this word that we have, that we get all to teach and to
preach and to listen to and to believe and to talk about and to
share, it has the power to save lives and transform hearts.
The gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes, to the Jew 1st, and also to the Gentile.
It's good news, isn't it? So when he said these things,
the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and
those who sat with them. And when they had gone outside,
I love this part, they talked among themselves, saying this
man is doing nothing deserving of death in chains.
He's not doing anything wrong. They're vindicating him.
But they can't perhaps do it publicly because then they'll
tie themselves into this way. And then Agrippa, said the
Festus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed
to Caesar. So what the apostle Paul did,
his faithfulness, He never stopped doing what he was
supposed to do. He preached the gospel in season
and out of season. He didn't worry about the
consequences of what would happen to him if he did certain
things. He never thought twice about
hiding the truth from anybody. He always was open with the
gospel, with everybody he could possibly come in contact with.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit would make us more with that
kind of heart that Paul had that whenever we're around with
people in life, every day in life, that we're always thinking
like, Lord, make a way that we can have a conversation about
you. Give me an opportunity to tell
someone about my testimony or give me an opportunity to let
someone know I'm praying for him.
And then they might say, well, why are you going to pray?
Because I know a God who will answer your prayers.
And that people will look at a shock or surprise or inquisitive
or curious. And they might have that same
response to you and me that, you know, you almost caused me to
consider these things and to be a Christian.
That's you get people close to that point.
It won't be too long before the Lord brings them in, right?
You get them to the point that you're almost, you almost got me
there where the Holy Spirit's really working, isn't it, When
we know that the Lord's almost got people to that point.
So let's just pray that in these days as a church, we have an
impact that is based upon the good news getting out the people
outside the four walls and whatever opportunity we have to
to take our own testimony and and use Paul as a a courageous
hero and a guy you want to be mentored by in ministry or life
or being a believer. You know, Paul said, follow me
like I follow Christ in me. So whatever he's done is a good
example for us to follow. Lord Jesus, we are grateful.
And Lord, we are so thrilled with the Bible and the Word of
God when you give it to us and we can feed on it, Lord, and we
just don't get one or two verses.
You give us chapters, Lord, You give us paragraphs.
Lord, You give us comparison of the Bible from Genesis to
Revelation, and you give us your whole counsel.
Lord, there's not one thing that you've hid back from us, Father,
that you want us to know. And we thank you, Lord, today
that Paul was in deep water. And yet, Lord, you protected
him. You promised him you would get
him to roam. And there was all these people
that were trying to destroy him and kill him so that would never
happen. But nothing can happen to us in
our lives in regard to leaving this world until it's your time
for us to leave. So, Lord, help us in these days
to live for purposes that are much bigger than ourselves.
Help us, Lord, to know that there's more to living life than
making this the living. Lord, there's a purpose behind
every relationship and every job and every community and every
family and every nation, Lord, and that's that the gospel would
get out the people. And Lord, I pray for my brothers
and sisters today when they go out into their homes and their
communities and their family and friendships, relationships, that
they have opportunity to talk about you and what you've done
for them. Thanks for joining us on this
journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living
Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most
remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the
disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet
here are very different from the often confused and fearful
disciples in the Gospels. After Jesus's death and
resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy
Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their
hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering,
and they moved forward with courage to spread the gospel
despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same
Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our
hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ.
Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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