Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace March 16, 2026
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.
- 0:37That he's pictured in tight and the Old Testament is a Passover
- 0:40lamb. That he is the true Lamb of God
- 0:44that has the ability to take away the sins of the world.
- 0:50Well, John is giving us a picture as though it had been
- 0:54slain, and he's describing what he's seeing in this this vision.
- 1:00And the lion is referring to the one who judges as sins of the
- 1:05ungodly, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
- 1:08Stop and think about a lamb. They are furry, fairly docile
- 1:12and approachable. Have you ever heard of a lamb
- 1:15attack? No, lambs are harmless
- 1:18creatures. As we just heard from Pastor
- 1:20Clark, Jesus is described as the Lamb, the Lamb of God.
- 1:27Why would God describe His Son this way?
- 1:29You'll learn today that Jesus is described as the Lamb of God
- 1:33because he is directly correlated to the Passover lamb
- 1:37that was sacrificed for the Jewish people just before the
- 1:41exodus from the land of Egypt. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
- 1:45Book of Revelation Chapter 5 with today's edition of Living
- 1:49Waters of Grace. They represent his government
- 1:52over the four corners of the Earth.
- 1:54The first one is referred to one who looks like a lion,
- 1:59representing one who has majesty and authority and power.
- 2:02We think of Jesus being the lion from the tribe of Judah.
- 2:07We see the second creature is described as a young bull or
- 2:11like an ox, meaning someone who is a servant and we know Jesus
- 2:17Christ is a servant to all. The third one is has a face of a
- 2:21man that represents intelligence and moral choice and
- 2:25responsibility. We know that God Himself became
- 2:28man and dwelt among us, and so the picture of the humanity of
- 2:33our Savior being fully God and fully man, and the fourth
- 2:37creature is symbolized as looking as a flying eagle,
- 2:41representing the majesty and the swiftness and the transcendence
- 2:45of our God. I love that verse in Isaiah that
- 2:48says that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their
- 2:51strength. They shall mount up with wings
- 2:53like eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
- 2:56and they shall walk and not faint.
- 2:59And boy, don't we need that at times, huh?
- 3:01We get weighed down in life, the struggles, the difficulty, and
- 3:05to be able to wait upon the Lord.
- 3:07And He promises us if we wait upon Him, He will renew our
- 3:11strength. And I know I need that all the
- 3:14time. And this vision that John is
- 3:17receiving is pretty much the same kind of vision that Isaiah
- 3:21saw in chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah when he was standing
- 3:28before the throne of God. And he had the vision and heard
- 3:30the voices of the cherifim and the seraphim.
- 3:33Holy, holy, holy art thou, O God, who was and is and is to
- 3:38come. This is a picture of worship
- 3:41again of the throne of God. As we speak.
- 3:45There is continual worship. The worship is never over and
- 3:51the creatures are always ascribing to the Lord his honor.
- 3:56Do holy, holy, holy art thou, O God.
- 4:01Whenever I look at this and I'm at a different stage in my life,
- 4:05when I would read this when I was a fairly new believer, I
- 4:09would sort of say, well, that sort of sounds nice, but is that
- 4:12all they do up there? I mean, when they get boring
- 4:14after a while, I mean, just like, what else do you do?
- 4:18Well, I'm sure there's a lot of things we do the scriptures, you
- 4:21know, there's, there's so many things that are not yet in this
- 4:26book. The Bible says all the things
- 4:27that Jesus both spoke about and did, all the books in the world
- 4:32could not fill everything that He had actually accomplished.
- 4:36But in regard to worship for me at this stage of my life, I want
- 4:43Christ more than ever in my life.
- 4:46And I found in my own heart that He's enough to satisfy me.
- 4:52There's nothing else I long for in earth or in heaven but the
- 4:57Lord. And so in my own mind, at the
- 5:00stage I'm at my life, to me this is bliss.
- 5:03This being in the presence of God and worshipping Him, it
- 5:07just, it satisfies the deepest longings in my heart.
- 5:10No distraction or no temptation or no other thought would come
- 5:18near. No other experience would come
- 5:21close to experiencing this kind of presence right with God.
- 5:26And I trust that as we study this book, that Christ will
- 5:29become your All in all that as you are being taught of him and
- 5:33as you're being drawn closer to him, that he fulfills your heart
- 5:36in a way that nothing or nobody else can.
- 5:40And because it's that's what it's going to be all about.
- 5:44And those of us I think that come to understand that in a
- 5:47deeper way on this side of heaven, we'll be able to be
- 5:50prepared to receive the richness of this experience when we see
- 5:54it face to face, as opposed to going and saying, what are they
- 5:57doing? Can you explain why are they
- 5:59doing that? Well, go back in the Book of
- 6:02Revelation. This is what's going on.
- 6:03I mean, we're going to continually learn in the in the
- 6:06in the heavens. You know, it isn't like we're
- 6:07going to get there and we don't need to learn anymore.
- 6:10It tells us in Ephesians that in the ages that come, He will
- 6:13reveal his riches and his glory and His kindness to us in Christ
- 6:18Jesus. And so as we see these
- 6:20creatures, keep in mind that heaven is full of all kind of
- 6:24experiences and a different type of manifestations of things that
- 6:30God has created. Specifically in the heavenly
- 6:32realm of that first sphere where they, Sarah from a cherub, from
- 6:36standing, give watch to the throne of God, angels,
- 6:40archangels, Sarah from cherubim. And what's happening here?
- 6:44This is the prelude to the tribulation, judgment, the
- 6:47celebration, the worship, the glory of God, the excitement,
- 6:51the anticipation that's happening right now is that
- 6:54they're on the edge of God, finally bringing justice upon
- 6:59the earth, upon the evilness of this earth.
- 7:02David says, why do the wicked rage and the people imagine vain
- 7:07things? Why is it that the wicked
- 7:09prosper? I'm sure you think in your own
- 7:11life, people that have done bad things to you in in your life,
- 7:16why do they get away with it? Why is there seeming no justice?
- 7:20But one day there will be justice.
- 7:21And one day God's anger in his wrath is going to come down upon
- 7:25the ungodly people upon the face of the earth.
- 7:29And even then, his love will still be manifest because that
- 7:32judgement, even though it's a judgment that's due, it's a
- 7:36judgment that will cause many to realize Jesus is who He said He
- 7:40was. I remember all those people that
- 7:42would tell me about him, and they're no longer here that have
- 7:45been raptured or taken out. I know now that what they told
- 7:48me was true. And I need this Savior as well.
- 7:52And so His holy judgment is about to be unleashed.
- 7:56And we'll get into that next week in chapter 6.
- 7:59As we look in the verse nine now, it says these living
- 8:03creatures, they give glory and honor.
- 8:06And we see in this picture the attributes of God being
- 8:09magnified. In verse 9, it tells us that the
- 8:13one who sits on the throne, he lives forever and ever.
- 8:17God is an eternal being. There is no beginning or ending
- 8:20with God. He's the Alpha and Omega, the
- 8:231st and the last, the beginning and the end.
- 8:25And verse 11 it says He is worthy, the worthy one.
- 8:30His worthiness to receive glory, honor and power.
- 8:35That's something we need to learn, isn't it?
- 8:36More about that. Our prayers before God and our
- 8:40offerings to Him. He deserves our worship and so
- 8:45often our prayers are, Lord, I need this, help me with this.
- 8:48This isn't going right. I'm not happy with this.
- 8:50And we our prayers many times are complaints and
- 8:53unthankfulness to God, wanting him to to do all kinds of
- 8:56things. But can we learn to just give
- 8:59him glory and worship him and give him honor and give him
- 9:03praise. Think about your prayer life
- 9:05this week when you sit before the Lord.
- 9:07How much of your time is this praising Him and thanking Him
- 9:12and honoring Him and glorifying Him?
- 9:16And then verse 11 it says that He has created all things.
- 9:19This is a good proof text for those who are trying to cram
- 9:23evolution down your throat. Just smile and say, well, it
- 9:28says here that God creates all things.
- 9:32They just didn't happen. God has made these things and He
- 9:36has brought all this to pass and He does this, it says for His
- 9:41pleasure. These are created.
- 9:43And it isn't like this ego selfish type concept.
- 9:46It means for his desire they were created.
- 9:49You know, God has created everything on the earth to bless
- 9:53us. Everything He's made, everything
- 9:55He's designed was with the intention of blowing our minds
- 10:00and blessing us and this being good to us.
- 10:04Think about that when you see a beautiful sunset or you see the
- 10:06blossoms of the spring come this don't say, well, this is just a
- 10:10cycle. Again, it happens every year,
- 10:12spring, summer, winter and fall. No, God rejoices in the
- 10:16daffodils and the lilies and all the flowers in the bloom.
- 10:19It magnifies Him and gives him glory, but it also regenerates
- 10:24us, doesn't it? It makes us alive and it
- 10:27strengthens us. And so again, God does these
- 10:30things for various purposes. And I think of that song, Open
- 10:35the eyes of my heart, Lord. We need the Lord to open our
- 10:39eyes that we may know how to worship Him.
- 10:42I know I need to learn a lot about what that means to worship
- 10:46Him. Worship is a selfless act, isn't
- 10:49it? Worship is all about being
- 10:52totally empty of our own interests and our own desires
- 10:57and our our thoughts and our intentions are only upon the
- 11:01Lord. It's important that our hearts
- 11:03are empty of our self will when we come to worship God so that
- 11:08our focus and our attention can be on Him.
- 11:10And boy, what a day that's going to be when we are in the heavens
- 11:13and I can worship and I don't have to think about Monday
- 11:16morning anymore. You know what's going to happen
- 11:18Monday morning with my job or my boss or the trials and the
- 11:21struggles of life? It won't be like that anymore.
- 11:24What a freedom it'll be. It'll be like a eternal
- 11:27vacation, won't it? It's going to be awesome.
- 11:30And in verse 10, it says that the four and 20 elders, they
- 11:33cast their crowns before the throne.
- 11:36And there's different types of crowns we see in the Scriptures.
- 11:39James 112 talks about the crown of life.
- 11:42It's for those who endure temptation.
- 11:45And Jesus says that those who love him will receive this
- 11:49crown. You know, when temptation comes
- 11:52our way, we have one or two choices and and God doesn't let
- 11:56us get tempted. He he permits the temptation,
- 11:59but he doesn't cause the temptation.
- 12:01The Bible says when we're tempted, we're drawn away by our
- 12:04own lusts. And while lust is birth, it
- 12:06brings forth evil. So no one can say they've been
- 12:09tempted by God. But the interesting thing about
- 12:12temptation is that there's never a temptation that's set up, so
- 12:16to speak, by the evil one that you're going to look and say, oh
- 12:18man, that's horrible. Who would want that?
- 12:20The temptation is always going to be the most alluring, most
- 12:23exciting, most dynamic type of possibility that you could ever
- 12:28fathom. It's a temptation.
- 12:30It's called temptation because it wants to draw you to itself
- 12:33and draw you away from the Lord. Well, the beauty of you
- 12:36resisting temptation by the grace of God, every time you
- 12:41guys resist temptation, you're saying and proving that you love
- 12:45God. The crown is given to those who
- 12:47endure temptation because they love him.
- 12:50So how can we prove that we love God?
- 12:53Resist temptation. Every time you give in to
- 12:55temptation, you're basically saying I don't love you God.
- 12:59I want this more than you was taught to me many years ago.
- 13:03And every time I'm tempted, I think of that.
- 13:05If I give into the temptation, I'm not loving God.
- 13:10But if I resist the temptation, God knows that I love him.
- 13:15The crown of righteousness And Second Timothy 48, this is for
- 13:19all those who love his appearing.
- 13:21So that's a crown that you're all going to have because if
- 13:24you're really a Christian, you're, you're looking forward
- 13:26to his appearing. You're you're you're excited
- 13:30about it. The next crown is a clown of
- 13:32crown of glory. First Peter 54 it fadeth not
- 13:36away. It's again given to those who
- 13:40are excited about his appearing. And then first Thessalonians 219
- 13:44talks about the crown of rejoicing and that's for those
- 13:47who have lived their life for the purpose of reaching others,
- 13:51winning people to Christ, telling people the gospel,
- 13:54seeing people come into the Kingdom.
- 13:56Those we reached for Jesus Christ who now stand in the
- 14:01presence of God with us. And then the last crown is the
- 14:05crown of life again, similar to the first one I described.
- 14:09And this is given to the martyrs and we'll read about this.
- 14:12We already read about it in the second chapter of Revelation.
- 14:15These people have been faithful to death.
- 14:19And you think about all those who have given our lives for the
- 14:21gospel and history of the church that died horrendous deaths,
- 14:26burned at the stake and horrible things happening to them
- 14:31physically. And they didn't renounce their
- 14:33faith in Jesus Christ. They were faithful to death.
- 14:37The Bible says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
- 14:41of his Saints. And we'll get to cast these
- 14:43crowns at the feet of Jesus Christ, just like the elders.
- 14:47And when we go through the judgment seat, which is a
- 14:50judgment for believers, our works are going to be tried as,
- 14:53oh, by fire. Gold, silver, precious stone or
- 14:57wood, hay and stubble. If you died today and your life
- 15:00would go through that fire, what would be left of your work on
- 15:06earth, would it? This burn up like man?
- 15:09There's nothing there. It says there will be some saved
- 15:11as oh, by fire, meaning by the skin of their teeth, and then
- 15:16there'll be others that out of their life will flow gold,
- 15:19silver, and precious stone, and have a big pile of stuff that
- 15:24you can take and lay at the feet of Christ and cast at his feet.
- 15:29I'll tell you, the Bible says that there will be some who will
- 15:32suffer loss in Jesus. It says in Revelation, we'll
- 15:35wipe away all the tears that people will have.
- 15:38There'll be a lot of heartache and heartbreak at that judgment
- 15:42because we'll say, oh, if I would have known how glorious
- 15:45this was and how real it truly is, I would have lived my life
- 15:50so differently. But May God give us grace this
- 15:53morning to sit here not thinking just about words, but may these
- 15:58words penetrate our heart to wake us up to the reality of
- 16:02what lay lies ahead for those who belong to the Lord.
- 16:07And in chapter 5 we see it says, I saw on the right hand of him
- 16:10who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back
- 16:14sealed with 7 seals. This scroll was written on both
- 16:20sides. There's seven seals.
- 16:22The Romans whenever they had a document in regard to a deed of
- 16:28title, it was sealed 7 times and this is seen as the title deed
- 16:34to to the earth and Christ is the only one that can receive
- 16:38this. The judgments are already
- 16:40written on this scroll. It isn't like, well let's figure
- 16:44this out as we go along. All this has been preordained by
- 16:47God. Everything has been established.
- 16:50It's just waiting to be a manifest.
- 16:53And the seal is, these seals are made with wax and it forbids any
- 16:59unauthorized opening. This particular scroll, this
- 17:02document has never ever been opened in the past.
- 17:05And it will be open at that time prior to the the wrath of God
- 17:10being poured out onto the face of the earth at the start of the
- 17:13tribulation period. And these 7 seals represent the
- 17:17tribulation judgments that will be manifest by these seals.
- 17:21Verse 2 says, I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud
- 17:25voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to lucid seals.
- 17:29And no one in heaven are on earth or under the earth was
- 17:32able to open the scroll or to look at it.
- 17:35And the reason that is, is that we're all sinful people.
- 17:39There's only one that has the power and the ability and the
- 17:42right to cast judgment. Right now, you and I aren't to
- 17:46judge. The Bible says judge not lest ye
- 17:48be judged. One of my prayers every day is
- 17:51Lord, help me to judge my own sins and not the sins of my
- 17:55brothers and sisters. It's easy for us to judge, but
- 17:58our judgments have no power. They have no authority, and I'm
- 18:03not talking about the judgments of sin or church discipline.
- 18:06Those have been given to us that authority by the word of God.
- 18:10But in regard to judging sinful people, well, this person
- 18:16deserves to go to hell because of this and this and that.
- 18:19Well, if that's the case, we all deserve to go to hell, right?
- 18:22There's none of us that are worthy.
- 18:24Praise God that when you look at someone who's messed up, that
- 18:28your heart would pray for the Lord to save them and work in
- 18:30their lives as He's worked in yours, and that you wouldn't be
- 18:34casting judgment. But John's weeping, this was so
- 18:37broken understanding that we are so unholy compared to the
- 18:42greatness of our God, our Savior Jesus Christ.
- 18:46And John 87, it says he that is without sin among you, let him
- 18:51cast the first stone. Who of us here today can pick up
- 18:56a stone and throw it at each other?
- 18:58None of us. God's our Judge.
- 19:02The Scripture reminds us about this picture of the scepter of
- 19:08God's righteousness that only is given to the one from the tribe
- 19:14of Judah, Jesus Christ himself. In Genesis 44910, it says A
- 19:20scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
- 19:24between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the
- 19:29gathering of the people be. And we see that verse 4 says he
- 19:35wept so much that no one was found worthy to open and read
- 19:38the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders said to
- 19:41me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of
- 19:43Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and
- 19:47to lucid 7 seals. And so the the beauty of this is
- 19:51Jesus isn't only the descendant of the throne of David, but he's
- 19:56the one who established the throne before the earth was
- 19:59made. So David truly is a descendant
- 20:02of our Savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
- 20:05But in Jesus humanity, he is a descendant of this lineage
- 20:10through David's father Jesse. And the Messiah is this word
- 20:16Shiloh is taken from the word meaning Messiah, and he takes
- 20:21the scepter, the symbol of the right to govern.
- 20:24There's only one that has the authority to govern the universe
- 20:27and the whole world, and that's our Savior Jesus Christ and all
- 20:31those in the line of Judah. David and Solomon and Rehoboam
- 20:36were actually kings from the line of Judah, but Jesus himself
- 20:41is truly the King of kings and the Lord of Lords that was
- 20:45preordained and prophesized by the Old Testament Saints and the
- 20:50prophets. And Acts 13 is an interesting
- 20:53verse that ties into this. If you got your Bible to flip
- 20:56over there to Acts 13, it's amazing how all these things
- 21:00connect together. Acts 13 verse 22 and 23 it says
- 21:05and when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as
- 21:10king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found
- 21:14David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do
- 21:18my will from this man's seed. Referring to David, according to
- 21:24the promise God raised up for Israel a Savior Jesus.
- 21:29And so Jesus is this one that's being spoken about in the Book
- 21:33of Revelation. The lion of the tribe of Judah,
- 21:36the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose
- 21:41its seven seals. Jesus is seen as he looks in
- 21:45verse 6. And behold, in the midst of the
- 21:47throne, and of the four living creatures, into the midst of the
- 21:50elder, stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having 7 horns
- 21:54and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out
- 21:58into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll
- 22:01out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
- 22:05Again, when we study the Book of Revelation, some of these things
- 22:09are quite graphic and strange. You know, that we would think,
- 22:12OK, here's here's the Lord here referred to as a lamb, the Lamb
- 22:16of God who taketh away the sin of the world.
- 22:18That's what John the Baptist said whenever he saw Jesus
- 22:21walking at him. He said, behold, the Lamb of
- 22:24God. Now, Jesus was not coming down
- 22:26the road as a lamb, but he's pictured in type and the Old
- 22:30Testament is a Passover lamb, that he is the true Lamb of God
- 22:35that has the ability to take away the sins of the world.
- 22:41Well, John is giving us a picture as though it had been
- 22:46slain, and he's describing what he's seeing in this this vision.
- 22:51And the lion is referring to the one who judges the sins of the
- 22:56ungodly, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
- 22:59And the seven horns represent the complete omnipotent power of
- 23:03God. 7 is always a number of completeness and perfection.
- 23:07The seven eyes show the omniscience of God, that God is
- 23:12all seeing. He's everywhere, present and
- 23:14knows all things. I mean, today he looks into your
- 23:17heart and mine. He sees it all.
- 23:19We can't see each other's hearts, but God sees it all.
- 23:22He's receiving now, taking into His own hands the title D to the
- 23:27universe. The beautiful picture is that
- 23:30only the Father has the authority to give this scroll,
- 23:34and only the Son has the power and the authority to receive it.
- 23:40No one else. And what happens in verse 8 when
- 23:43he takes this scroll? The the living creatures, the
- 23:47four creatures and the 24 elders, they fall down before
- 23:50the Lamb. They fall down and adore Him and
- 23:54worship him. Thanks for being with us today
- 23:58here on Living Waters of Grace. We're in the Book of Revelation,
- 24:02and we find it fascinating how influential and involved the
- 24:07angels are in this book. They bring about whatever it is
- 24:11that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their
- 24:15actions that much of the judgements come on the earth.
- 24:19The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He
- 24:22utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.
- 24:26Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a
- 24:30unique purpose and plan too. God wants to use you in your
- 24:34life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are
- 24:37currently lost into the fold of God.
- 24:41God would love more than anything for all who are willing
- 24:44to come to Him for salvation, but he wants it to be their
- 24:47choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not
- 24:53forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.
- 24:58If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free
- 25:01and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and
- 25:06click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we
- 25:10believe. We'd love to be a help and a
- 25:13resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a
- 25:16follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on
- 25:20our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer
- 25:24request. We'd love to hear from you.
- 25:27That's all for today's edition and Revelation, but there's much
- 25:30more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this
- 25:34culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that.
- 25:37And make sure to mention this radio program to others.
- 25:40Invite them to tune in to Grace FM 91.7 FM and they can stream
- 25:46worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM. This has been living waters of
- 25:52grace.