Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters Of Grace 03.03.26
Transcript
- 0:03This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
- 0:08Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
- 0:12County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37You'll receive afflictions and persecutions when you stand up
- 0:40for truth. Guys, you realize that some of
- 0:42you are already experiencing that.
- 0:45They got rid of Jesus because of sound doctrine.
- 0:50They eliminated all the apostles because of sound doctrine.
- 0:56This is not fashionable. This is not culturally relevant.
- 1:02This is not something that the society really is looking for.
- 1:08Wow, what an indictment of our current culture.
- 1:12Indeed, It is not mainstream to submit to the authority of
- 1:15Scripture. It is not popular to live life
- 1:18in the way that Jesus taught, being humble and giving
- 1:22generously. Jesus does not offer his
- 1:24disciples an easy road to walk, but He has walked this road
- 1:29before us. Truth is often not easy to stand
- 1:33for, and there are always consequences for going against
- 1:36the grain of the culture. In today's message, Pastor Clark
- 1:40reminds us that choosing Jesus is worth any cost.
- 1:45Now here's Pastor Clark in Ephesians chapter 4 with today's
- 1:49edition of Living Waters of Grace.
- 1:52False doctrine is the invention of man, his concepts, his
- 1:57interpretations and heresies. It's not rooted in the Apostolic
- 2:01teaching and Ephesians 414. Paul warns them about being
- 2:05carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men,
- 2:09where they lie in cunning craftiness, thereby waiting and
- 2:12lying, waiting to deceive. It's hard to conceive that
- 2:15there's people out there that make their living under the
- 2:18auspices of ministry and they're leading the flock down the path
- 2:24of destruction in regard to the teaching.
- 2:27And Paul warns the church there in Ephesus, don't be carried
- 2:31about with all these winds of doctrines.
- 2:33I get so tired of all these new moves out there today, This book
- 2:38about this book and then this book about that book and this
- 2:40book about it's like, try this and try.
- 2:42And then the pastors, they feel pressured.
- 2:44It becomes schizophrenic. Well, we need to do this because
- 2:47this is in now. And when that isn't in anymore,
- 2:49then we'll do this. And then let's talk about this
- 2:52book and by this guy's writings. And then, you know, before, you
- 2:55know, people aren't in the word anymore.
- 2:56They're into some book that some man's written.
- 3:00First Timothy 110 says there are things that are contrary to
- 3:04sound doctrine, warning them not to be around that stuff.
- 3:08First Timothy 41, it says give heed, that people will give heed
- 3:12to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and the last
- 3:16days in chapter 4, verse 6, if you instruct the brethren, I
- 3:20love this. It should be the life verse of
- 3:22every pastor, every teacher. If you instruct the brethren in
- 3:26these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
- 3:31nourish in the words of faith and of God's doctrine which you
- 3:35have carefully followed. Amen.
- 3:38That's what we're all to do. Let me read that again.
- 3:41This is the responsibility of anybody that teaches the word.
- 3:45If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good
- 3:50minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith
- 3:54and of God's doctrine, which you have carefully followed.
- 4:00I'll tell you the day that we stopped carefully following the
- 4:03doctrine of God. Here is a day you bolt from this
- 4:06church. Don't allow yourself to be
- 4:09sitting here ever under any false teaching anywhere.
- 4:16If you have friends or in churches and they're in places
- 4:18of false doctrine or false teaching, it behooves you to
- 4:22warn them and to tell them to search the Scriptures as the
- 4:26Bereans did daily to see whether the things they were being
- 4:29taught were so. There's too many Christians
- 4:32nowadays that attend the church without their Bible.
- 4:36And you come and you listen to some man rant and rave up front
- 4:40for 45 minutes and you figure, well, he's a minister, he must
- 4:43know what he's talking about. Don't ever take that for
- 4:46granted. Your job is to study and to be
- 4:50in the Scriptures along with me or anybody in this church that's
- 4:54teaching something that isn't in the word.
- 4:56You say very nicely. Where did you come up with that?
- 4:59You keep my fire to the feet too.
- 5:02It's important. It says in 413 I come, I give
- 5:06attendance to doctrine. 416 Take heed unto yourself, and and unto
- 5:11the doctrine. Verse 517 it says, They who
- 5:14labor in the word and doctrine are worthy of double honor.
- 5:18Second Timothy 43 it says, When they will not endorse sound
- 5:22doctrine, Titus 210 says, that they may adorn the doctrine of
- 5:26God our Savior in all things. Hebrews 13, nine says, Do not be
- 5:30carried about with various and strange doctrines.
- 5:35Second Timothy 42 says Exhort with all long-suffering and
- 5:39doctrine. Let's read Second Timothy
- 5:41chapter 4 for a moment. If you flip over there Second
- 5:44Timothy chapter 4 verse one through 5, I charge you
- 5:50therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
- 5:53judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom.
- 5:56Preach the word, be ready in season, in and out of season,
- 6:00convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching
- 6:05as yours might have, and doctrine for this time will come
- 6:08when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their
- 6:11own desires, because they have itching ears.
- 6:14They will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn
- 6:17their ears away from the truth and be turned aside the fables.
- 6:21But you be watchful in all things and door afflictions.
- 6:24Do the work of an evangelist for full fulfill your OR ministry.
- 6:27You'll receive afflictions and persecutions when you stand up
- 6:31for truth. Guys, you realize that some of
- 6:33you are already experiencing that they got rid of Jesus
- 6:38because of sound doctrine. They eliminated all the apostles
- 6:45because of sound doctrine. This is not fashionable.
- 6:49This is not culturally relevant, so this is not something that
- 6:56the society really is looking for.
- 6:59But if we don't use our salt and light in the days that we are
- 7:03living right now, we will lose our opportunity to continually
- 7:08be the church in this country. This is a day that you stand up
- 7:14and you speak the truth and love.
- 7:16You don't hold back, you don't hide it, you don't hide your
- 7:20light under a bushel. You speak the truth and the top
- 7:23of the mountain. And I believe in these days the
- 7:26Lord is stirring A remnant around the earth, not only in
- 7:31the church, but within the confines of the political arena.
- 7:34People are getting fed up with the destruction of our moral
- 7:39fiber in our country. People are getting tired of
- 7:44liberal agendas. People are getting tired of
- 7:48conservative values being pushed down the drain for the sake of
- 7:54the liberal tendencies of the ungodly.
- 7:57The founders of our constitution, the majority of
- 8:00those men that wrote that declaration were ministers.
- 8:06And we as a church need to understand that doctrine
- 8:09pervades not only what we believe in the church, but how
- 8:13we live in the culture. Amen.
- 8:15Your faith stands with you wherever you go, and if you
- 8:19don't have sound doctrine, you won't know how to stand.
- 8:23So here in Pergamos, the very things that the church is warned
- 8:26against, the doctrines that Jesus hates, are infiltrating
- 8:31the church. The Nicolaitans.
- 8:34The word means to rule the people.
- 8:37The doctrine of Balaam means to Lord it over the people, Lord it
- 8:41over the flock and lead them astray.
- 8:43The the pressure of leaders to put pressure upon the people and
- 8:48try to manipulate them and control them and make them feel
- 8:52second to them because they have a disagreement or a different
- 8:56perspective regarding something that the Word teaches.
- 9:00Whenever the pastor isn't willing to be challenged about
- 9:05something in the church and he isn't willing to listen and
- 9:11consider what the body is sensing, it's very, very
- 9:16dangerous. You're in a situation where you
- 9:19are being controlled and manipulated.
- 9:23It's the Church of Jesus Christ, not the Church of Calvary Chapel
- 9:28or the Church of any other name. Christ is the head of the
- 9:32church, and we are all accountable to him alone.
- 9:36He is Lord. The pastors aren't Lord, but the
- 9:39Nicolaitans and the Balamites were the type of people that
- 9:43they were very controlling and manipulating.
- 9:46They lorded it over the flock and as a result they led the
- 9:49people astray. Balaam, interesting about him.
- 9:52He was a true prophet but he sold his gifts for money.
- 9:57He was hired by King Balak to cure people, curse people of
- 10:01Israel, and God prevented this in one sense.
- 10:05Yeah, 24,000 people died because of the compromise and the Jews
- 10:09ended up worshipping at Pagan altars and they ended up
- 10:12committing fornication. You know the Bible says come out
- 10:17from among them and be separate, saith the Lord.
- 10:20Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
- 10:23but rather reprove them. If you and I are in ungodly
- 10:26places, hanging out with ungodly people, slowly our own moral
- 10:32fiber will be eroded and we'll find ourselves doing the very
- 10:36things that the nature of the people who are lost are doing.
- 10:40Christians fall and Christians still sin, and that's why we're
- 10:44warned not to be around things that are ungodly.
- 10:47It says light and darkness cannot coexist.
- 10:50Again, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
- 10:53darkness, but rather reprove them.
- 10:55In other words, preach about what's right and what's wrong.
- 11:00Let your conviction be heard. If someone asks you your opinion
- 11:02about something regarding you know the gay lifestyle or
- 11:07abortion, let your voice be heard.
- 11:10Speak up about what you know the word teaches and what the truth
- 11:14is. James chapter 4, it's gives us
- 11:17warning if you flip over there for a minute.
- 11:19James chapter 4 regarding our relationship in this world.
- 11:23James chapter 4 verse one, it says where do wars and fights
- 11:28come from among you? Do they not come from your
- 11:30desires for pleasure? That war in your members you
- 11:33lust, you do not have, you murder and you covet and cannot
- 11:36obtain. You fight and you war, yet you
- 11:39do not have because you do not ask, you ask and you do not
- 11:43receive, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your
- 11:47pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses, do
- 11:50you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with
- 11:54God? Whoever, therefore wants to be a
- 11:57friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
- 12:00Or who do you think that the Scripture says in vain?
- 12:04The Spirit who dwells in US yearns, jealous, jealously.
- 12:08We want to be friends with this world that's destroying, being
- 12:12destroyed and falling apart, and we want to hang out in the
- 12:16places that the world goes to. We're jeopardizing our walk in
- 12:24our testimony before the lost. If you and I get alongside of
- 12:30people that are on their way to hell and we sit beside them and
- 12:33we don't tell them about why they're going to hell.
- 12:39That's the the, the tragedy of tragedies, isn't it?
- 12:43That we just endorse what they do and how they live, and we
- 12:46never tell them that there's a better way and that there's a
- 12:49Savior that can change their heart.
- 12:52See, the lost people, you and I know, our friends, our
- 12:55neighbors, our relatives, the way they, the reason they are,
- 12:58the way they are is because they don't have the heart that you
- 13:00have. And so all they can do is act
- 13:02the way they do because they don't know that there's a
- 13:04different way to live. We're not better than them.
- 13:08We're just changed, right? We've been cleansed, we've been
- 13:11forgiven, we've been given mercy, and the cross of Jesus
- 13:14Christ has changed our hearts and our lives.
- 13:18So in order for these people to know the difference, some of us
- 13:21have to have the guts to say, hey, I need to tell you about
- 13:25what Jesus has done for me. Whether they want to listen or
- 13:28hear it or not, tell them anyway in a loving, humble, gracious
- 13:33way. If they ask why you don't run in
- 13:35the same excess that you used to run with them, tell them I can't
- 13:40because Christ has changed my life and I can't pattern in my
- 13:45life after what this world patterns itself after anymore
- 13:48because I'm no longer part of this world.
- 13:51I'm waiting for the new heaven and the new earth where I really
- 13:54belong. The world, this world isn't our
- 13:56home, is it guys? It really isn't.
- 13:58If you're a true Christian, a true believer in Christ, you
- 14:01know this isn't your final dwelling place.
- 14:03And that's why the early church, man, they were so excited.
- 14:06Maranatha, come quickly. Lord Jesus, the early church,
- 14:09every day they were living like Christ was going to come
- 14:11tomorrow. It says about those people in
- 14:13Hebrews. They look for a city and builder
- 14:16whose maker was God. They lived in tents, temporary
- 14:19dwellings, not considering this world their home, but they look
- 14:24for a city whose builder and maker is God and tip us.
- 14:29He's just mentioned there this once one name, one person, no
- 14:32background information, but this guy would not compromise and it
- 14:37cost him his life and God favored him by putting his name
- 14:41in the scriptures to be remembered down through the
- 14:44centuries. Many others caved into Rome's
- 14:46whims and edicts and and you know, unfortunately that they
- 14:51would say before the throne and the false incense that Caesar is
- 14:55Lord. They had no testimony.
- 14:58And I wonder how many of us today we need to bring this down
- 15:01to where we are today. We trying to advance our careers
- 15:06by ungodly compromise by hiding Jesus.
- 15:10Well, I really can't let the boss really know my convictions.
- 15:13So I'll go to this place with them or I'll go to this meeting
- 15:17or this affair and I'll just sort of hang out there with them
- 15:21even though I don't want to be there.
- 15:23But I, you know, I got to do it because of business.
- 15:24No, guys and gals, you don't do it because of business.
- 15:28You make a stand and you say, you know, be honest with I can't
- 15:31really be comfortable there. But you know, you go, you have a
- 15:33nice time, but why don't you want to go?
- 15:34You religious or something, though?
- 15:36I'm not religious, but I have a relationship with Christ, and
- 15:39this goes against my convictions.
- 15:41I can't compromise my spiritual values.
- 15:45And the boss might say, well, you know, that might cost you
- 15:47your career. You might not get that
- 15:48advancement. You know, it might not get that
- 15:50raise. Well, let it be right.
- 15:53Let it be. I remember a man in
- 15:54Philadelphia. He was a supervisor in the US
- 15:57Post Office and he was an evangelist.
- 16:01And he would share his faith on his job.
- 16:03And they warned him not to do it, that he did it anyway.
- 16:06And he kept doing it and they gave him I think 3 warnings and
- 16:09said it would cost his him his job.
- 16:12He had a livelihood, a family, a house, a mortgage, but he could
- 16:16not stop telling people about their need of Christ.
- 16:19He was fired, he lost his job, but the Lord had something
- 16:23better for him. He's now one of the pastors that
- 16:25did Calvary Chapel in Philly. So God will always reward you
- 16:28when you stand up for him. It might seem like a set back,
- 16:32but it isn't. God is very, very blessed and
- 16:36pleased with us, and we're not afraid of what this world can
- 16:39throw at us. So Pergamus, the word means to
- 16:42be married. And they were unfortunately
- 16:44being married to Caesar instead of understanding their marriage
- 16:47to Christ. And the world is seen in this
- 16:50Book of Revelation as a defiled harlot.
- 16:53We'll get to it later on. And the church is to be seen as
- 16:56a pure, chaste virgin bride. Being unfaithful to the Lord,
- 17:01James tells us, is spiritual adultery.
- 17:04We know how bad adultery is. Some of us have committed it,
- 17:08and the Lord has been merciful to us.
- 17:10But spiritual adultery is even worse because it's when we're
- 17:16defaming the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
- 17:21Spiritual adultery is very, very serious.
- 17:27You know, the sin of one of us effects all of us.
- 17:30If I decide to walk in secret sin and come into this church
- 17:34and preach the word and tell you guys about Jesus, it might all
- 17:38line up with everything the scriptures say that it's a
- 17:43unpure sacrifice and my sin will affect you in your walk.
- 17:50Your sin the day will affect brothers and sisters around you.
- 17:55If we had the bubonic plague in Greensburg today, we'd make sure
- 17:59that this place was quarantined and isolated from anybody that
- 18:01might have it. But if we found one person
- 18:04sitting in here with that bubonic plague, all of us would
- 18:07be compromised, right? The Bible tells us that the sin
- 18:10of one of us effects all. That's why we need to live in
- 18:13continual repentance, continual asking the Lord to cleanse us,
- 18:18not willingly walking in sin, not allowing our heart to be
- 18:21hard because we've been embittered by someone or
- 18:25challenged by someone or hurt by someone.
- 18:27We need to lay down our feelings and our emotions for the sake of
- 18:31Christ and His church and His Bride.
- 18:34Jesus refers to His voice and His Word as a sword coming out
- 18:39of his mouth, the sword of Christ, and it references
- 18:43Hebrews chapter 412, The sword being the word of God.
- 18:47The word of God is sharper than any 2 edged sword.
- 18:51It's able to Pierce and divide asunder of soul and spirit and
- 18:54is a very discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
- 18:57heart. I have no idea what God's doing
- 18:59with this message today in your hearts, but He does, and He
- 19:02knows where to put that sword in and move away some area there
- 19:08and cut out the sin, the cancer that can so easily end up in any
- 19:13of our hearts at any given time. His word is a liberating word, a
- 19:17cleansing word, a purifying word, and the present judgment
- 19:21on this church and Pergamus that Jesus is referring to, that it
- 19:25must listen to what He has to say, have an ear to hear what
- 19:29the Spirit is saying to the church.
- 19:32And when the church is disobedient to the Word of God,
- 19:36then God does bring judgment. And it says in the last days
- 19:39that judgment has to begin first with us, right?
- 19:42Has to start with me and you before we can have an effect on
- 19:45the world. The world just looks at all
- 19:48those people inside those buildings on Sunday.
- 19:50All they do is live in delusion. They talk about a Kingdom and
- 19:54they talk about a Savior, but they live like they're pagans,
- 19:58and we have no influence in this world but praise God by His
- 20:02grace and by the power of His Spirit.
- 20:04When you guys leave here today, I trust you're going to be
- 20:07walking out with brightness in your face, with light in your
- 20:11eyes. And when you're in the midst of
- 20:13other people, in the presence of other people, they're going to
- 20:15know, as they knew in the book of the Acts, that these people
- 20:20have been with Jesus. He speaks about the man in the
- 20:24wilderness. Interesting insight here.
- 20:27Back in those days there was a pot that they put in the ark of
- 20:30the covenant that had man in. And Jesus is speaking that he
- 20:33will provide them food in the midst of this persecution and
- 20:36wilderness, that they don't have to be afraid or worry.
- 20:40Jesus is referred to as being the bread of life, right?
- 20:43You feed on him, you eat and partake of his life.
- 20:47His life is your life. That's why Jesus said unless
- 20:50you're willing to eat in my flesh and drinking my blood, my
- 20:53life is not in you. Not cannibalism, the spiritual
- 20:57nurturing that comes from the person of God himself.
- 21:01It's mystical, it's hard to grasp, it's hard to understand,
- 21:04but as you digest this word, the Bible says your word.
- 21:09Have you hid in your heart that you will not sin against them,
- 21:15against him? Not the sacrifices to idols
- 21:19which Pergamus was making. He refers to this interesting
- 21:23item at the end here of this whitestone some people think is
- 21:27ties in with the Urim and Thummim.
- 21:29In the Old Testament it was a 2 stones that were used to pass
- 21:33out judgment, the Blackstone or white acquittal.
- 21:38But Jesus is referring to the situation in these days.
- 21:41If you didn't have a pass, you couldn't get into the feast.
- 21:44And why would you want to pass to go into the feast of idols?
- 21:47Jesus is talking about giving them entrance into an admission
- 21:51to a feast that will last forever.
- 21:54And one day we will feast with the glory, Jesus Christ in
- 21:58heaven forever, the marriage supper, the lamb.
- 22:01Do you have admission to that? The admission comes through the
- 22:04blood of Jesus Christ. Have you received Christ Himself
- 22:07that you might have admission into His Kingdom?
- 22:11The wonderful thing is for you and me today that I am no longer
- 22:15guilty. I know I'm a Sinner still, and
- 22:18you know you're still sinners. But when Christ atones for your
- 22:22sin, and when He shed His blood for you, and you receive that
- 22:27sacrifice by faith, it means that you have been made
- 22:30righteous, and that you have no more guilt and no more stain,
- 22:35and no condemnation. It's a wondrous thing that He
- 22:38does, and that Whitestone represents the righteousness of
- 22:42Christ that he imparts to us in our heart.
- 22:45And he no longer sees in you a depraved individual who is
- 22:50guilty before his throne. He sees now a son and a
- 22:54daughter, a St. that has received his blood and has been
- 22:58acquitted and declared righteous by grace through faith in Jesus
- 23:02Christ. And we also have received this
- 23:05invitation to feed on Him today and throughout eternity.
- 23:10I love the Lord's Supper every week.
- 23:12It nurtures me. It feeds me when I can partake
- 23:16in this mystical way of His body and His blood.
- 23:21It transforms me like no other dinner or meal that I can get
- 23:26because it purifies me. I can't take that with Him or
- 23:30before you, unless I've first dealt with my own heart as you,
- 23:35I trust, have dealt with yours. And I celebrate that Supper
- 23:40every Sunday, as I trust you do. The early church met daily in
- 23:46the Apostles doctrine in fellowship and prayers in the
- 23:50Lord's Supper, and the Lord added daily to the church such
- 23:54as should be saved. This has been Living Waters of
- 23:59Grace with Pastor Clark. We're going through the
- 24:01challenging and also intriguing Book of Revelation.
- 24:05Whether you're a fan of reading ahead in books of fiction,
- 24:08there's such a benefit to reading ahead in the Bible to
- 24:11read about how it all ends. But in an interesting turn of
- 24:15events, the Book of Revelation is not really the end, but
- 24:20rather the beginning. It's the end of life as we know
- 24:23it here on earth, but there's so much to look forward to.
- 24:28But what comes after all? The judgement of the earth and
- 24:30those who reject God. There's a lot to work through,
- 24:34and it can be heartbreaking to read through the intense
- 24:38judgements and wrath that will come on those who hate God with
- 24:42all their might. The thing is, God has given
- 24:45chance upon chance to these people.
- 24:47They don't want it. So the outcome is that there are
- 24:51judgements and consequences for those who've rejected the good
- 24:55news and the gift of salvation that's offered through Jesus's
- 24:59death and resurrection. Are you one who has heard about
- 25:03these things but doesn't really want it because you want to live
- 25:07life on your terms? Trust me, living for Jesus is so
- 25:13much better. That doesn't mean it will be
- 25:15easy, but as you listen and read through Revelation with us,
- 25:19you'll come to a stark realization that you don't want
- 25:22to be on earth when the apocalypse happens.
- 25:26So check out Calvary Chapel online.com to learn how to come
- 25:30to a saving grace through faith that will allow you to be with
- 25:35Jesus for eternity. We'd also love to meet you in
- 25:38person at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
- 25:41Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
- 25:44Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601. This has been living waters of
- 25:52grace.