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.
Paul says I did not know, brethren, that he was the high
priest. For it is written, you shall not
speak evil of a ruler of your people.
So regardless of what Paul thought about this man's
leadership and his call and his ability to lead, the people at
this time didn't like him. Hypocrite, scoundrel, Pagan, all
the different names you could put on him.
He knew the scripture said you're not to speak evil of a
ruler of your people. There are some pretty wicked
leaders all around the world, men and women, who have risen to
the top because of how low they were willing to stoop to get
there, to be transparent. It's really pretty upsetting to
think that these people are in charge.
Well, in his message today, Pastor Clark teaches that
despite what you might think of those in authority, you are to
respect that God has placed them there.
You don't have to like or agree with those wicked rulers, but
you are to trust that God knows what he's doing.
Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts chapter 23 with today's edition
of Living Waters of Grace. We are in the book of Acts
chapter 23. Today's message is based upon
being in a situation as the Apostle Paul is in trouble in
prison and a lot of hassle in Jerusalem because he sort of
blew through the the red lights, a warning that the Lord had
given him as to what he was to do in the days ahead in his
ministry. And something we all can relate
to. I think all of us have blown
through red lights in our lives, literally.
And the police pull us over when we do it, if they catch us.
And also situations in life where we're going to make a
decision and we have a decision to make.
And sometimes we think we know what the right decision is and
we just make it and we find out later on it wasn't the right
decision. Has that ever happened to
anybody? Happened to me numerous times.
And we're supposed to get counsel at times, you know,
whenever we have a decision that's sort of difficult.
First of all, if you're married, you ask your spouse and pray
about it. That's the best place to start.
And then you might have some friends, some Christian friends,
brothers and sisters that you can ask to pray and tell them
you have a, a decision to make and it's difficult.
One, you don't know what to do. Paul, in this situation, as
we've been studying in the book of the Acts, he was told by some
close people that were in ministry with him that he
shouldn't go to Jerusalem. He's going to have a lot of
problems up there and have a lot of headaches.
And then a prophet told him as well that he shouldn't go, but
he decided he was going to go anyway because his motive to go
was good. He wanted to go share the gospel
with Jewish people. But the timing wasn't right and
the way he was going about it wasn't correct.
And so when we study this this morning, you'll be surprised.
I think it's some of Paul's responses.
I'm glad these things are in the Bible because it makes us
understand that we're all human no matter what we are, pastor,
apostle, whatever gifting that we might have, none of us are
beyond making mistakes, right? Because we're human.
And we'll see how he did make mistakes and how God still used
him. But in Psalm chapter 19, and
this is something to think about all of us as we study this
chapter in Acts today, it says in verse 12, who can understand
his errors? Question mark, cleanse me from
secret faults and keep back your servant also from presumptuous
sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. The presumptuous sin is to
assume that what it is you're going to do is OK, no problems.
You can't see your heart or the outcome ahead of time.
And so you just forge ahead thinking that everything you're
going to do is going to be cool and it's going to work out and
be no problems. And then whenever there's
problems and it doesn't work out and it causes issues in your own
life and the lives of other people, you realize you were
presumptuous. You know, you assumed upon the
Lord about something that he didn't give you a green light
for. So whenever you have a, a sense
like, Hey, we need to do this or this is what we should do, I'd
encourage you as I got to encourage myself, pray about it
for a while. Wait on the Lord, give us some
time. And then once you sense a
clearance and feel free to move on as God gives you grace to
move on. And then it says, the psalmist
says this is David, and surely we all know he had some
presumptuous sins when he ended up in the affair with Bathsheba.
It says, let the words in my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and
my Redeemer. So the Holy Spirit, he works in
our lives and He speaks to us in our conscience and through the
Word and in our minds. And I hear him most of the time
pretty loud and clear. Whether I want to hear him all
the time, that's another story, right?
But I know that He's always speaking and always want to
direct me. And I want my words, the things
that I say and the things I think about in my life to be
pleasing to Him, to be acceptable to him because He is
our strength and our Redeemer. So powerful section of
Scripture. Psalm 19, the whole Psalm.
You can review it, but you can make that your own prayer.
Lord, keep me back from making stupid decisions that are going
to affect myself and others in my testimony and a very, you
know, not cool way. So that is the foundation I
wanted to sort of share before we look at the the book of Acts,
Proverbs 21 two says every way of a man is right in his own
eyes, but the Lord weighs his the hearts.
So lots of times we think what we're going to do is no problem,
no issues. And and then we find out later
that there was a big issue because we we weren't listening
and we weren't paying attention. So we're going to go to Acts
now. Acts chapter 23, if you have
your Bibles, but Acts chapter 23, let's pray.
Father, we thank you, Lord, for assembling us together here
today as brothers and sisters in Christ.
And Lord God, speak to all of us about what it is you want us to
consider today. Maybe some of us are on verges
of decisions or doing things that we are maybe not well
advised over from you and from our closest friends.
Lord, give us wisdom. We need wisdom from you to know
how to live this life every day to make the right choices.
So Lord, may your blessing be upon your body, your bride, your
sheep. Feed us Lord, from your word by
your Holy Spirit. And we ask these things in Jesus
name, Amen. So Acts 23.
I'm going to read the first 10 verses and then make some
comments. Well, I'm going to start with
first 30 the next day. This is the previous chapter.
This leaves into 23 the next day.
Because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by
the Jews, he released him from his bonds and commanded the
chief priest on all the council to appear, and brought Paul down
and set him before them. Then Paul, looking at earnestly
at the council, said men and brother.
And I have lived in a good conscience before God until this
day. And the high priest Ananias
commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed law,
for you sit to judge me according to the law, and do not
command me to be struck contrary to the law.
And those who stood by said, Do you revile God's high priest?
And Paul said, I did not know, brother, and that he was the
high priest. For it is written, you shall not
speak evil of a ruler of your people.
But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the
other Pharisees, he cried out in the council.
Men and brethren, I'm a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.
Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am
being judged. And when he had said this, a
dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and
the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say there was no
resurrection and no Angel or spirit, but the Pharisees
confessed both. Then there arose a lot outcry,
and the scribes of the Pharisees party arose and protested,
saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an Angel
has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander,
fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them,
commanded the soldiers to get down and take him by force, and
among them bring him in to the barracks.
So Paul's intention of going to Jerusalem was to be able to
preach and and share the gospel and tell people about their need
of Jesus Christ, specifically the Jewish people, that they
might understand and believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah
that was prophesized throughout the Old Testament, had come and
was crucified, buried and rose again on the third day.
So now he's in a different setting here.
They're moving him to another group of people, the Sanhedrin.
This is a 70 or 71 Jewish leaders who rule according to
the Law of Moses to make decisions on judgment upon
people was made-up of Pharisees and Sadducees.
Pharisees were the conservative branch of the Sanhedrin, and the
Sadducees would be considered the liberal branch.
The Pharisees believed in a literal resurrection from the
dead. The Sadducees did not believe
that the body had a spirit or there was a literal
resurrection, that when you die, you just die.
So they were sort of at odds to begin with, but somehow they
rolled together. So Paul's looking at them and
he's thinking in his mind, how can I get these people to listen
to me? That was his whole focus.
So he says, men and brethren, He's calling them brethren
because Paul used to be a member of the Sanhedrin.
Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees before he got born again, before
he got saved on the road to Damascus.
He persecuted Christians, he hated the movement of God, the
way Christianity did not accept Jesus Christ didn't believe, and
until the Lord got ahold of him personally and he did become a
believer. But he's trying to not flatter
them, but find a way of entry into having an opportunity of a
conversation. And he says I've lived in all
good conscience before God until this day.
Now that came across, I'm sure to the leaders as well as the
big shot here that got upset with him, the high priest that
who in the world can honestly say that they've lived in all
good conscience before God until this day.
I don't know about you, but sometimes my conscience isn't
good. I'm sure yours isn't either.
But Paul being apostle, boy, God was so upon this guy and
anointing him in such an intense way that he kept him on the
straight and narrow and on a very, very short leash because
he was responsible for so much of the beginning of the New
Testament church and also writing the scriptures that God
had given him for us to read as we're reading now.
So he's saying that his life was in good place spiritually
according to the law and according to the Gospel.
The high priest hears this Ananias, and this Ananias is a
bad dude. He's not a good leader.
He's a scoundrel actually. He's hateful, he's vindictive,
he's godless. And he commands those who are
standing by Paul to strike him on the mouth just to, to start
beating him, which is illegal. You, you can't do that, let
alone with a Roman citizen. First of all, there's no crime
that he's committed. All he's doing obviously at this
point in time is offending this guy's ego.
And then Paul says to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed
wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law and do not
command me to be struck contrary to the law.
So that wasn't a good way to start out when friends and
influence people in a conversation before the
authorities, right? He's antagonizing this high
priest and everything he said is obviously true.
But Paul responded out of an emotion that made him angry.
Now, Jesus, whenever he was hit on the mouth, he didn't respond
this way. Matter of fact, Jesus didn't
open his mouth most of the time whenever he was being harassed,
something we can learn from. But Paul not being God,
obviously, and neither are we. When we get in a situation we
don't like and we think it's unfair, we're going to fight to
the end to prove that we're innocent.
And Paul wasn't going to take any guff from these people or
from this high priest. And so he basically says
something to him that he's a hypocrite.
Now, when I was in Israel and I saw the tombs and I was on the
Mount of Olives and looking down, I remember Jesus talking
about the Pharisees being like whitewashed sefalickers.
In other words, the tombs, they look really clean and beautiful
on the outside, but inside they were full of dead man's bones
and corruption. And I'll never forget that.
When I looked down and saw that, it just, you know, resonated and
reminded me of that because they look beautiful, but inside they
were just full of nothing but broken lives and dust and souls
that will unfortunately be on their way to a Christ less
eternity in hell because they never believed that Jesus was
the Christ. But what's happening here is
that Paul is tying him into this dead religion and this false
leadership he had that he's contrary and he's judging
unrighteously now. This guy eventually was caught
up couple years later before Rome was sacked and the Jewish
people had to scatter. But the Jewish people did find
this guy and eventually assassinate him.
So eventually he was judged for his crime of godless leadership
in government. And it says in verse 4, and
those who stood by said, do you revile God's high priest?
So first of all, this was an impromptu meeting.
And so there wasn't any kind of regalia and robes and all that
kind of stuff. And him sitting on a throne like
some big shot. He came in, sat there talking,
listening, and Paul wasn't even aware that the high priest was
there. And this is interesting.
In verse 5, Paul says, I did not know, brethren, that he was the
high priest. For it is written, you should
not speak evil of a ruler of your people.
So regardless of what Paul thought about this man's
leadership and his call and his ability to lead the people at
this time, then like him, hypocrite, scoundrel, Pagan, all
the different names you could put on him, he knew the
scripture said you're not to speak evil of a roller of your
people. Now I wonder how many pleasant
things you or I have thought or said about Joe Biden lately.
He's making a lot of crazy moves, isn't he?
Yet he's the president of our country.
He was elected. Whether you think he was elected
fairly or unfairly, it's not the point.
The point is God has appointed him to be the president right
now. Now, I don't like it any more
than anybody else, but he's our president.
So I'm convicted. Like, do I pray for him?
I'm commanded to pray for those who are in authority that the
Lord would work in his heart, that he would cause him to come
to some kind of reasoning in his mind to realize that the
legislation that he's making is causing us not to be 1 nation
under God anymore, but one nation under humanism and this
immorality and this disgusting agendas.
Every time we turn around some kind of new things coming down.
So we're not. We'll have to be real careful,
all of us. And I'm telling you about
myself, doesn't matter who's in office or who you like, who you
don't like, you need to pray for those who are in office.
That's our responsibility as Christians and we need to do
that. And maybe if we began to do
that, maybe there would be some changes in our nation because
that man needs God's mercy, just like you and I do.
And there was times in our lives that we probably were worse than
the way Joe Biden acts or lives perhaps.
But this is a very clear statement that Paul said you
shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.
In verse 6 it says but when Paul perceived that one part where
Sadducees and other Pharisees, he cried out in the council men
and brethren, I'm a Pharisee. He was proud to say that he was
a Pharisee. He was a son of a Pharisee
concerning the hope of the resurrection of that I'm being
judged. So all Paul's wanting people to
know is that Christ rose again from dead.
Amen. But Paul's whole focus was to
let these people know the good news that there's life after
death, there's forgiveness of our sins, and that we can
believe on Christ as our Messiah and have the promise of
everlasting life and never die. That's good news, right?
And they're wanting to silence Him.
Now what's interesting here is that when He said that the
dissension began to occur in verse 7.
And when He said this, the dissension arose between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
Now He wasn't intentionally trying to cause some kind of
uproar, but He was just stating a case relating to what his past
was and the need for them to understand that there is a
resurrection where the Pharisees were wow, Amen.
That's what we believe that too. But the Sadducees in verse 8 say
there is no resurrection and no Angel or spirit, but the
Pharisees confess or believe both.
Then there arose a lot outcry and the scribes and the
Pharisees party arose in protest and saying we find no evil in
this man. So now the Pharisees are
supporting Paul. There's really no crime he's
committed. There's no reason for him to be
in chains or to be smacked around or to be persecuted right
now. Absolutely none.
And they're admitting there is no evil in him.
And so let's let it go. If an Angel or a spirit had
spoken to him and gave him this other revelation, they're saying
let us not fight against God. So now, when there arose of
great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be
pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go
down and take him by force from among them and bring him into
the barracks. So this was getting dangerous.
I mean, there was a big outroar here.
There was a potential here of murder upon Paul, and so they
had to get him out of there. It was this mass confusion.
So here's Paul. Now think about this.
It's like your greatest opportunity to share your faith
with your family, maybe on a holiday or someone you work with
and, and you think the timing's perfect and it's all set up and
you're just praying it's going to go well.
And you got all the verses lined up and you got your testimony
ready and you begin to tell the people about what Jesus has done
for you and it falls on deaf ears.
They begin to yell at you or complain or they don't want to
hear it. They bring up all your flaws and
faults that you've had in your life and saying, who are you to
say that you're a Christian? When you did this or you acted
this way, you said that and you know what it's like and you
would be deflated, right? You would be discouraged.
You had the chance to tell them and it seemed like it didn't
work out. Like, Lord, why?
I really practice. I was really prepared and my
intention and my desire was to really be a blessing.
And this is a mess. I've made a complete mess out of
all this. Now if Paul would have listened
to the people in regards to not going up to Jerusalem right now,
all this wouldn't have gone down this way.
But keep in mind that the Lord says all things work together
for good to those who love him and are called according to his
purpose. So in your life and mine, the
things that we've done or situations where we shared our
faith that it's just been a complete bust is never in vain
because the Lord promises His Word won't return void if people
laugh at you or scoff at you or reject you or ridicule you
because of what it is you believe and what you're
committed to in your life. We should distrust God in that
even though it didn't work out, we wish it would work out
better, right? But sometimes it doesn't.
And that's the mystery of life. God causes all things to work
out according to the counsel of His own will, not my will or
your will. His will be done right.
So we're to be obedient to do what he tells us to do,
regardless of the potential consequences, especially in
regard to sharing our faith or standing up for our faith.
But Paul is, I'm sure, discouraged now.
He's in this prison. It's not a pleasant place to be.
And this isn't verse 11. But the following night, the
Lord stood by him and said, now the Lord is faithful to be with
us in our failings. He's not like people who will
reject us and tell us we're worthless or we're disqualified.
Or, you know, the Lord is the God of the second chance, the
third chance, the fifth chance, the 100th chance.
He never gives up on us. He always comes to us to assure
us and to encourage us and to love on us.
He doesn't come to revile us or to condemn us or to judge us as
his kids. He's a loving father and he
knows how to minister to us. He knew Paul felt like a
failure. He knew Paul had the heads up
not to go. And Jesus didn't say, well, the
reason this has happened is because you didn't listen,
right? Like I would as a parent, I'd
say to my kids, if you wouldn't have done that, like I told you,
you shouldn't, this wouldn't have happened.
That's not the best way to minister to your kids.
You should try to figure out a different way to get to them,
right? But we're all the same way.
That's how we all act. And it's just, you know, self
righteousness or being judges or whatever.
But this is the Lord here. He says to him, be of good
cheer. Paul's down in the dumps, be of
good cheer. You got to be kidding me.
This is how God loves us. And he says Paul, for as you
have testified for me in Jerusalem, and he didn't give an
attitude of how well it went or how bad it went.
He just said you testified for me in Jerusalem.
That meant something. So you must also bear witness at
Rome, and Paul's greatest desire was to eventually get the room
before he died to share. Paul loved being in the big
cities and seeing the architecture and reading about
the artwork and meeting all the interesting people.
He loved the sightsee and he was a Taurus.
But he was also an apostle and whenever he went into a city he
wanted to become all things to all men that he might win some.
He tried to have start up conversations to be able to find
a place of relating with people on their term as opposed to
speaking down to him. He was just that way and
something we can learn by his methodology and evangelism.
He didn't pound people on the head like many of us have done
at times. And so he's encouraging Paul and
I pray today, wherever you're at and spiritual and walking and
life and circumstances and things that don't seem to be
working out right the way you'd like them to, but the Lord's
coming alongside of you telling you to be a good sheer, don't be
discouraged. Don't be dismissed for your
Lord, Your God is with you wherever you go.
We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living
Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through
the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the
history of the early church immediately after Jesus's
ascension. It gives us a front row seat to
how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem
and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.
In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary
believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that
transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history
lesson. It's a reminder of what God can
do when His people are surrendered, obedient and filled
with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still
inspires us today. May we follow their example and
live faithfully for Christ in our own time.
We hope today's message encouraged you.
Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,
Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
area, we'd love to have you join us in person.
Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Be sure to join us again for Living Waters of Grace.