This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
You know, it blows my mind and humbles me, but I get a chance
to talk about this Holy Savior Jesus Christ as a sinful man to
you as sinful people. God chooses to use broken
people, people whose lives have been messed up, people who have
done heinous things like Paul proclaimed himself what he had
done in the kind of life he lived.
Have you ever noticed how different people that God used
in the Bible were never the ones you would pick?
Moses had a stutter. Jacob was a con man.
Rahab was a prostitute. David was an adulterous
murderer. Paul persecuted and killed
Christians. Do you see what I mean?
God used all of those people despite their shortcomings.
Today, Pastor Clark wants you to know that God doesn't pick
people for their ability or personality, but for their
availability. Are you available to be used by
God now? Here's Pastor Clark in Acts
Chapter 22 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
He says in verse 16, and now why are you waiting and rise and be
baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the
Lord. And what's interesting here is
that Paul is chosen. He's already saved.
He's already believed on the Lord.
It isn't baptism. It's going to wash away his
sins. The translation is a little bit
hard to understand and how it came across into the Greek, but
basically what it means is that you call upon the name of the
Lord, then you're baptized. You don't get baptized until
you're a Christian. Baptism doesn't precede the born
again experience. A born again experience occurs
first. You're washed in the blood of
Jesus, of your sin, and the water represents this cleansing,
but has no power in itself to cleanse you of your sin.
Baptism is an outward sign of what's happened inwardly.
And so now Paul is going to be baptized, and that's important.
If you've become a believer and you haven't been baptized yet,
you need to be baptized because that's obedience to the Lord.
So now it happened. When I returned to Jerusalem and
was praying in the temple, I was in a trance.
So the time between the words of Ananias and this time of being
in Jerusalem now in verse 17 was about three years.
Paul went into the desert of Arabia and he heard the Lord
speak to him and teach him about the Old Testament and all the
things that began to be part of what the New Testament would be
proclaiming as the message of the gospel that Paul had
received from the Lord himself. And so he's, he's explaining now
he's coming back after that period of time.
And when I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the
temple that I was in a trance. This idea of a trance, this is
somewhat rare and very unusual. And in regard to biblical
teaching, there's only three people in the New Testament that
had a trance. That was Apostle Paul, Apostle
Peter, and Apostle John in the Book of Revelation.
Peter, when he had the vision and the trance, when he was
sitting up on the roof praying in the hours of prayer, and he
was able to see through the vision of these animals that
would be perceived as being not good to eat because they weren't
kosher. God saying don't reject
anything. All this food is given for good.
And so Peter was released from that bondage of Judaism at the
time. So here we are, Paul's having
this experience and he senses the Lord speaking to him and he
hears this direction here. Make haste and get out of
Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony
concerning me. Now, this is prior to what was
happening right now and what we're reading about.
It sort of blows my mind that he was warned by God himself not
to, you know, get out of Jerusalem.
And Paul, I'm sure, man, I just want to be here and tell him
what what you did for me and give him my testimony.
He's saying they're not going to receive your testimony and
they're going to want to kill you.
Get out of Jerusalem. Well, guess what?
He's here in Jerusalem right now.
He's already been told several times by the Holy Spirit not to
go there, and he wants to give his testimony and he's given it
now. And you're going to see they're
not going to receive it here either.
So be encouraged, you know, whenever you're telling people
about your relationship with the Lord and they don't want to hear
it. Paul didn't have a successful
day every day of his life when he was preaching.
In this instance, it's just really, really difficult.
So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned
and beat those who believe in you.
And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed and he
was the first martyr in the New Testament.
You remember reading about that earlier in the book act.
I was also standing by consenting to his death and
guarding his clothes, the clothes of those who were
killing him. Then he said to me, depart, for
I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.
So Paul's trying to argue with the Lord there a little bit and
regard to leaving Jerusalem and said, man, I just want to tell
him, you know, like what I was like and how I was responsible
for Stevens martyrdom and all this stuff.
And the Lord again makes it real clear.
Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.
Now Paul is interesting because I just wanted to reference
something in regard to what this guy had to go through and his
life as he served the Lord and also the importance of what it
means to be an apostle in First Corinthians chapter 15 verses
one through 10. I want to read that briefly.
To be an actual apostle, you had to be an eyewitness of Jesus.
Personally, I don't know how in the world people call themselves
apostles today, but they do, unfortunately.
It says. Moreover, brethren, verse 1 of
chapter 15 and 1st Corinthians, I declare to you the gospel
which I preached you, which also you received, in which you
stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that
word which I preached you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures. That's the gospel.
And Paul received that from the Lord himself to proclaim to all
those people that got saved even before Paul was an apostle
through Peter's sermon in the book of the Acts, and that he
was buried. He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures. He was seen by Cephas.
Of course he was seen by Peter. Then by the 12.
After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remained to the present time, But some of fallen
asleep passed away. After that he was seen by James,
then by all the apostles. Then last of all, he was seen by
me also as one born out of due time.
So Paul physically saw Christ, experienced him and was in a
legitimate an apostle, but his humility says in verse 9 For I
am the least of the apostles, who I'm not worthy to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.
And his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more
abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or
they, so we preached and so you believe so Paul always had his
feet grounded, no matter what his his title was, his calling,
his authority, his gifting. He knew what he was in and of
himself apart from the grace of God.
And that's something we all need to continually remember what we
are apart from the grace of God. We're sinners saved by grace.
I'm the least deserving person to be in this church preaching
to you the gospel of Christ because my life was stained by
so many horrific things. I don't want to bore you with
the details, right? But you know, it blows my mind
and humbles me that I get a chance to talk about this holy
Savior Jesus Christ as a sinful man to you as sinful people.
God chooses to use broken people, people whose lives have
been messed up, people who have done heinous things, like Paul
proclaimed himself what he had done in the kind of life he
lived. And perhaps some people might
think, well, if they knew everything about me, why would
they want to even listen to what I have to say?
Well, that's the hope that somehow God knows that whenever
we are honest about our lives and we tell people where we've
come from and what he's done, then a light goes on in their
head and they start thinking, maybe he'd do that for me.
I'm not as bad as you, Clark, so he'd accept me faster.
But that's the good news, isn't it?
Christ died for sinners, and Paul always took the credit for
being the worst of all sinners. And so they listened to him
until this word, verse 22, and they raised their voices and
said away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not
fit to live. They were uptight because
hanging out with Gentiles was the worst thing that you could
do. And so all of a sudden they cut
them off. They didn't want to hear
anything he had to say anymore about what Christ had done for
them. And you think about the
persecution and all that stuff that he went through from them
because he was telling them about persecuting Christians at
this point in time. Like despite everything he said,
at least outwardly had no meaning or impact.
Now we have no idea what God used in their lives long down
the road after this that they might have become believers
because of this testimony of Paul.
You can't always go by what you see happening outwardly.
God's always doing something inwardly, and He promises His
word won't return void. It'll accomplish the purposes
for which He sends it. They're crying out.
They're tearing off their clothes.
This big ruckus are throwing dust in the air.
The commander orders him to be brought into the barracks and
says that he should be examined under scourging so that he might
know why they shouted so against them.
They want to beat Paul now. They want to take him up into
this area. And scourging was a way of
getting the truth of confession out of someone.
They would whip with this cat of nine tails with glass and
leather and pieces of steel and take his shirt off and tie him
to post with his back tight, and they would just start lashing.
Well, let me tell you, what did you do, Paul?
What did you say? He's not going to say anything.
Maybe the first one a second all the sudden starts hurting,
bleeding agony. I'll tell you the truth.
Stop. I'll tell you the truth.
And then they lighten up on the lash a little bit because
they're getting what they want. Well, there was nothing really
for Paul called to to have to defend because he's already told
everybody what's going on here. And I think about Jesus, he was
lashed and he didn't open his mouth.
Why? Because he had nothing to
confess, did he? He's perfect.
Christ had nothing to to say. And he went through that for you
and me. And so Paul is being set up
here. And Paul then says to him in
verse 25, as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the
centurion who stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man
who is a Roman and uncondem? And they're going to freak out
here. He's a citizen of Rome.
It's illegal to take someone and scourge him as a Roman citizen.
And when the centurion heard that, he went and told the
commander, saying, take care of what you do, for this man is a
Roman. Then the commander came and said
to him, tell me, are you a Roman?
He said yes. And the commander answered with
a large sum. I obtained the citizenship.
So he's bragging he became a citizen of Rome.
You can't buy this. But he obviously bribed someone.
And Paul said, but I was born a citizen.
He's a legitimate citizen of Rome.
Then immediately those who were about to excourage him withdrew
from him. And the commander was also
afraid after he found out that he was a Roman and because he
had bound him. Now, when you think about the
apostle Paul, I want you to go to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11.
As we begin to conclude here, Second Corinthians Chapter 11,
verses 22 to 28, think about this and I and as I read this in
Acts 916, Ananias spoke by the Lord's leading, where the Lord
said, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for
my name's sake. Paul lived a life of sacrifice
and suffering beyond what any of us will ever experience in verse
22 suffering for Christ disheading.
Are they Hebrews? So am I are they Israelites?
So am I are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I so Paul identified with his own people group that
rejected him and rejected Christ and then he begins to talk about
what this cost him. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I am more and labor's more
abundant and stripes above measure imprisons more
frequently and deaths often from the Jews.
Five times I received 40 stripes.
So he escaped the beating and the lashing that I'm reading
about an axe, but he still went through it.
It says Five times he received 40 stripes.
Can you imagine that? How in the world did that guy
survive and live through all that loss of blood and pain?
Three times I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned publicly, they stoned him and threw rocks at
him. Three times I was shipwrecked.
A night and a day I have been in the deep.
He was in the ocean for a long time, floating around in the
water, cold, dark, probably thinking about sharks and what's
going to happen and a day. I've been in the deep.
I mean, if I was like that, I'd be thinking of that, you know,
when the sharks coming, I'd be trying to move.
Now it's I'd be freaking out. He's been in journeys often, in
perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils of my own
countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles, and perils in the
city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the
sea, and perils among false brethren.
And weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often, and hunger
and thirst and fastenings often, and cold and nakedness beside
the other things. What comes upon me daily?
My deep concern for all the churches.
What a example of someone who's totally giving over to the Lord.
I haven't experienced any of those things, and you haven't
either. We might experience someone
laughing at us because we're Christians, or scoffing at us
because of our faith or thinking we're crazy or whatever, and we
got all upset over that, don't we?
You read this, you think? Lord, thank you for saving me
from going through this stuff. Of course, Paul couldn't have
gone through it except for the grace of God and God's strength.
So in verse 30, the next day, because he wanted to know for
certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from
his bond and commanded the chief priests and all their counsel to
appear and brought Paul down and set him before them.
You know, what's the application here today for me, for you is
the Lord speaking to you specifically about anything in
your life that needs to be taken care of?
In other words, He's been giving you some slack, time, patience,
but you still want to do what it is you want to do.
You think your decision or your way of running your life is the
best way to do it. But God has another plan.
His plan is perfect. And you're maybe in a situation
today that you're not happy about and things aren't going
the way you really would like them to go.
And there's conflict and there's obstacles and there's difficulty
because you're wanting to live life as a Christian even on your
own terms or as an unbeliever, maybe someone who hasn't come to
faith in Christ. You think that your way of
living life is OK and you don't need to make any adjustments.
You don't need to save your life's good and no big deal kind
of thing. Well, the Bible teaches us, as
does the work of the Holy Spirit, that there's a God that
all of us have to reckon with on a daily basis.
And we're either surrendering to this creator God and yielding to
what it is He's requiring of us and what it is He's calling us
to respond to, or we're blowing them off.
And there's a reason on the Turnpike why they have state
troopers. And whether you like them being
there or not, there's a reason they're there.
There's a reason why there's a medium strip in the middle of
the highway to prevent one car from crashing into the other.
There's a reason why there's speed limits, and there's
reasons why you have brakes in your car.
The reason why you have a speedometer.
It tells you where you're at and where they should slow down.
All these are pictures of God and His Spirit working in our
lives because God set up barriers and the Word of God is
the safest barrier and boundary to have in your life and around
your life. Because if you stay within the
confines of what the Bible teaches, you're going to have a
life that's going to be a lot better than trying to test the
boundaries we have these times in church.
We take the Lord's Supper and we need to think about like, well,
where am I with the boundaries of God?
What is it that I need to surrender to?
What is it that I need to yield to?
What is it that needs to change in my life and recognize that
personally, you and God privately, what it is you want
to tell him or talk to him about or surrender to him or give over
to him. And you want to do that before
you take the supper because you don't want to take the supper
when God's telling you that these are the boundaries.
And yeah, yeah, yeah, Lord, I understand.
But I'm not ready to deal with that right now.
Then don't take the supper because that would be taking it
unworthily. You want to take it with a clear
conscience. Doesn't mean you're perfect,
doesn't mean everything's resolved, but you want things to
be taken care of. So Lord, I'm going to take this
in honor of you remembering why you died, why you came, what you
did. And I want to submit and be more
surrendered to you as Lord and Savior.
And if you do that, you know God's going to work in your
life. But every time you're in church
or listen to a Bible message somewhere, somewhere on the
radio, TV, whatever you do, reading your own devotions, God
is wanting to reckon life with you and get us all to the point
of being able to reflect and say there's got to be some changes
that occur in my life. And I'm talking about myself
too. It's never a day or a Sunday or
a week that doesn't go by that God's speaking to me about going
deeper with him. Even as a pastor, I need to go
deeper with God. There's no get out of jail card
free. There's consequences to
rebellion and sin. So as we take a couple minutes,
let's think about blowing through the will of God and
passing by it, not considering it.
Maybe we can together today. Say, Lord, I don't know
everything about your will yet, but I'm willing to submit to it
if you reveal it to me through your word and show me what it is
you want me to do. I don't want to waste my life
anymore. I don't want to waste my time.
Waste your time or other people's time, my family's time,
my employer's time, I, you know, whatever relationships we have
that are needing to be dealt with, we just want to give this
to you. So Lord, just speak to us for a
couple minutes here. Lord, we need you.
Father, we thank you for the example Paul, and how real it is
as we watch him in a situation that if he wouldn't have gone to
Jerusalem, he wouldn't be in the crisis he's in right now, having
to spend the remaining years of his life and thank prisons and
and people abusing him. But Lord, we know in spite of
his mistakes, in spite of ours, you still use them for your
glory. You don't condemn us, and you
just teach us from not listening to You.
So we want to listen to you. So speak to us now.
Father, we pray. We're so thankful, Lord, that
you tell us that if we confess our sins, agree with you, You
are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. We're thankful, Lord, that
you're for us and not against us, that You love us and Your
will is perfect and good. Or we desire to be closer to
you. We desire to be able to hear
Your voice through Your Word by Your Holy Spirit.
We desire to walk with You closely.
Help us, Lord, in our weakness. Help us, Lord, in our double
mindedness, at times hypocrisy, whatever it might be, God, we
don't want to be that way. We want to be found faithful to
you, Lord. 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
area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information or you can
also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give
online and download our mobile app.
If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the
new station that will reach thousands more listeners.
Send gifts to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
If you can join us in person, you can subscribe to the Calvary
Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel so you'll be alerted
when new material becomes available.
We're so grateful that you joined us today in Axe TuneIn
again soon for another edition of Living Waters of Grace.