Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 12.22.25
Transcript
- 0:04This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
- 0:08Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
- 0:12County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37But we're all in a battle. Whatever that sin is, whatever
- 0:40that struggle is that you have, that you're still trying to get
- 0:43victory over, you are in a battle.
- 0:46It's a spiritual war. And in a war there are many
- 0:50battles. And thank God He gives us the
- 0:54strength to win many of the battles.
- 0:57It doesn't mean sometimes we don't lose some, sometimes we
- 1:00do. Sometimes things come out of my
- 1:02mouth that shouldn't. Thoughts come into my mind that
- 1:06shouldn't. Sometimes I'll lose that battle.
- 1:10Wow, isn't that the truth? We are all in a battle and
- 1:14sometimes you lose. One of the best places in the
- 1:18Bible that we see this played out is in Romans Chapter 7 where
- 1:22Paul talks about not doing the things he wants to do and doing
- 1:27the things he does not want to do.
- 1:30That's a daily, sometimes moment by moment battle.
- 1:34The point Pastor Lewis will make today is that while you won't
- 1:37win every battle you face, you need to stay in the battle and
- 1:42allow the Lord to equip you daily.
- 1:45Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter
- 1:48one with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
- 1:53And then in verse 15, the best line in this whole Scripture, he
- 1:58said this is a faithful saying. That means it's a trustworthy
- 2:02saying and worthy of all acceptance.
- 2:06That means everyone, everyone should accept this.
- 2:09It's worthy for everyone to grab hold of this.
- 2:14What is that word? This is the best news in this
- 2:18entire chapter, that Jesus Christ came into the world to
- 2:23save sinners, to save sinners. He didn't come to save the
- 2:32righteous. He didn't come to save those
- 2:34whose garments have never been soiled.
- 2:36He didn't come to save the perfect.
- 2:38He didn't come to save the ones who had never sinned, those who
- 2:41were so good, you know, oh, that's a good person.
- 2:43That's a good person. And God didn't come for you.
- 2:46God came for us who are messed up, those who were sinful, those
- 2:51who blew it in the past, those who understand our need for him.
- 2:56That's who God came for. That's who Jesus Christ came
- 2:59for. So he said Jesus Christ came
- 3:03into the world to save sinners. And Paul's acknowledging and he
- 3:08says, and I am chief, I'm one of the worst.
- 3:12And when he says that, he's not saying, well, I compare myself
- 3:15to your sin. My sin is worse than yours.
- 3:17That's not what he's talking about.
- 3:19I've even heard that before. People comparing sins, Well, you
- 3:22should see what I used to do. Paul's saying compared to God,
- 3:28compared to the standard of God, because we don't compare
- 3:31ourselves with each other. We don't compare ourselves to
- 3:33each other. We shouldn't feel good about the
- 3:35fact that this person did something worse than me.
- 3:38Sin is sin. Paul's saying compared to the
- 3:43standard that God has, I am a chief Sinner.
- 3:47I am a chief Sinner and so am I. And notice he says I am chief.
- 3:54He didn't say I was chief. He didn't say I used to be
- 3:57chief. He says I am chief.
- 4:01Paul acknowledges that he still have some things that he needs
- 4:04to get victory over, just like we all do.
- 4:08We still got some things that we struggle with.
- 4:11We still got some things that sometimes our flesh raises up
- 4:15and we go the wrong way on it. And Paul said, I acknowledge
- 4:19that I am chief. I can still be like that old
- 4:23person sometimes. But the news that he came to
- 4:27save sinners, not to condemn them, as it says in John 3 and
- 4:3217, he came not into the world to condemn the world, but that
- 4:37the world through him might be saved.
- 4:41He didn't come to condemn us, He came to save us.
- 4:45And I thank God for that because I qualify.
- 4:49I qualify. I am a Sinner and I qualify for
- 4:56the person that Jesus Christ came for.
- 4:59And thank God I do and thank God I do because otherwise I'd still
- 5:03be there. I'd still be there.
- 5:07He is so good. And I think about my life and
- 5:10the things I did in my life, and I'm so grateful that he didn't
- 5:14leave me where I was. I've hit some dark times in my
- 5:18life, very dark. I used to be angry at one point,
- 5:23very angry. Went through a lot of different
- 5:27changes in my life. I used to chase money, thought
- 5:30it was the most important thing, selfish.
- 5:35Everything was for me and about me.
- 5:38Chase positions. I chased opportunities that
- 5:44would get me more money. I ran the streets.
- 5:48There was even a point where I got so angry that I actually
- 5:50owned a gun. And I remember times when I
- 5:54would be in a room with a bunch of gang members and there was a
- 5:58time when I was the only one that didn't have a gun, and then
- 6:00I went and got a gun. So when people say carrying a
- 6:03gun sometimes don't change you if you're not the right person
- 6:06to be carrying a gun, yes it will.
- 6:08Yes it will. Because it made me bold to do
- 6:11things that I wouldn't do if I didn't have it.
- 6:14To say things that I wouldn't say if I didn't have it to go
- 6:17places that I wouldn't go if I didn't have it.
- 6:21But he saved me. Even in spite of all that, he
- 6:24still reached down one night and touched my heart and he saved
- 6:29me. I'll never forget my wife and I
- 6:32sitting about 5 rows back from the 1st and we're listening to a
- 6:37teaching of preaching on Proverbs chapter 6.
- 6:43And we both looked at each other like that's us.
- 6:46I know it was me. And as he was praying and asked
- 6:50us to close our eyes and to think about whether or not this
- 6:54is for us. The scripture is about us.
- 6:56And if God is tugging at your heart, maybe the day is the day
- 6:59for you to receive salvation. And my wife and I both stood up
- 7:03together and we got saved. But it was that day when the
- 7:07Lord touched our hearts. There is a time and we needed it
- 7:12because we were sinners. I was Sinner, am a Sinner, but
- 7:20I'm a forgiving Sinner. And then he goes on in verse 16
- 7:27he says, however, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in
- 7:32me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering as a pattern
- 7:37to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting
- 7:41life. Paul says I am now the poster
- 7:44child of who can be saved. If he can save me, then he can
- 7:51definitely save you. Paul is saying I'm the pattern
- 7:55I'm the pattern on those that in other words, he did it in me
- 7:58first. I love that verse where it says
- 8:01in me first, Jesus Christ might show long-suffering.
- 8:04He showed his patience towards sinners in me first because I
- 8:09persecuted him. I was a direct assault upon him.
- 8:15And if he saved me, he'll definitely save you.
- 8:18I was, I heard somebody talking about this when he said, yeah,
- 8:21yeah. Sometimes when I'm preaching
- 8:22Christ or if I'm talking to a somebody who's a Sinner and they
- 8:26say, well, Jesus Christ, well, you know, he'll never save me
- 8:28because of the things that I used to do.
- 8:30The guy says that he would always go back to this and go
- 8:33back to Paul and say, well, wait a minute, did you ever blasphemy
- 8:36Jesus Christ? Well, no.
- 8:38Did you ever kill anybody because they follow Jesus
- 8:41Christ? Well, no.
- 8:42Did you ever beat people up, drag people out of church
- 8:44because they. No, I never did that.
- 8:46Well, Paul did and he still got saved.
- 8:48But I don't have to go back to Paul and talk about what Christ
- 8:52did. I can talk about what he did in
- 8:54me first, what he did in me first.
- 8:59And so Paul said, I am the pattern.
- 9:01I'm the prototype. I'm the example of what the
- 9:04patience of Jesus Christ will do and what grace and His mercy
- 9:09will accomplish in us. Not only did he save me, He
- 9:12changed me. Not only did he change me, he
- 9:14delivered me. This is the power of the gospel.
- 9:18The gospel is power. That's why Paul says in Romans
- 9:22116, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it
- 9:28is the power of God unto salvation.
- 9:31There's power in the gospel. There's power in the gospel.
- 9:36It changes lives. It can deliver.
- 9:39It can set people free. It can save lives.
- 9:43Thank God. Verse 17 So after Paul says all
- 9:46that, then he goes into a praise and worship service.
- 9:50A1 man praise and worship service.
- 9:53He says now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible to
- 9:58God, who alone is wise be honor and glory forever and ever.
- 10:03Paul's worshiping, Paul's worshiping, and do you ever
- 10:07think about what God did for you or what he delivered you out of
- 10:10and you just go and just start worshipping him, that blessing
- 10:14to just think about, Oh my God, Lord, I can't believe you did
- 10:17this and just start worshipping. He is king eternal.
- 10:20He's never, he's alpha and Omega.
- 10:22There's none before him. There's not going to be any
- 10:24after him. He's immortal.
- 10:26That means he's uncorruptible. He's uncorruptible.
- 10:30He's imperishable. He doesn't decay.
- 10:33He's immortal and he is the invisible God.
- 10:37He's invisible. You know, Hebrews says that, you
- 10:40know, we believe it's through the Word of God that we believe
- 10:44that things that are seen are made by things that are not
- 10:47seen. Amen.
- 10:49He is the invisible God who alone is wise.
- 10:53And we can say that because He is the source of all wisdom.
- 10:57He's the source of all wisdom. He is the Spirit.
- 11:00According to Isaiah Chapter 11 and verse 1, He is the Spirit of
- 11:05wisdom in the spirit of understanding.
- 11:08He's the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of counsel and might.
- 11:13All of that is in Christ Jesus. He is the source of it all.
- 11:18So he is the only wise God. And to him, yes, be honor and
- 11:23glory. And you know what?
- 11:25And so much more is due to him, and so much more.
- 11:30Honor and glory forever and ever a man.
- 11:36So be it. Then in verse 18, he says this I
- 11:39commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies
- 11:44previously made concerning you. Now these are prophecies.
- 11:47If we go over to go over to first Timothy chapter 4 and look
- 11:51at verse 14 and it says here do not neglect the gift that was in
- 11:55you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of
- 11:59the hands of the eldership. So you know, we know that when
- 12:02Timothy before Timothy was called out, there was a laying
- 12:04on of hands. It was an anointing.
- 12:06There was that that Commission that came, you know, by the
- 12:09presbytery, the learning, the laying on of hands by many
- 12:12elders. And in that according to this,
- 12:15there were prophecies that was given to Timothy about his
- 12:18ministry. And what Paul is saying here is
- 12:21that according to those prophecies that was previously
- 12:25made concerning you, he says, listen by them, wage the good
- 12:31war, fight the battle well, fight the good fight with those
- 12:37prophecies. And we said, you know, and, and
- 12:40he's saying that to us. He said that to us, fight the
- 12:45good fight. Hold on to the word of God.
- 12:50Hold on to the doctrine that is coming to you through this.
- 12:53Hold on to that. Every day you get up, you are in
- 12:58a spiritual battle. Believe it or not, we are all
- 13:01soldiers. That's why, you know, the
- 13:03Scripture refers to us so much as being like soldiers, so many
- 13:06military terms, because being in the faith is being in battle.
- 13:10But our weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
- 13:12That's all. But we are in a spiritual
- 13:16battle. Some of us are in a battle
- 13:19against our flesh, somewhere in the battle against the world,
- 13:22somewhere in the battle against Satan every day who's constantly
- 13:26accusing you before God and man. But we're all in a battle.
- 13:32Whatever that sin is, whatever that struggle is that you have,
- 13:36that you're still trying to get victory over, you are in a
- 13:39battle. It's a spiritual war.
- 13:42And in a war there are many battles.
- 13:46And thank God He gives us the strength to win many of the
- 13:50battles. It doesn't mean sometimes we
- 13:52don't lose some. Sometimes we do.
- 13:54Sometimes things come out of my mouth that shouldn't.
- 13:58Thoughts come into my mind that shouldn't.
- 14:01Sometimes I'll lose that battle. Like the time I told you I was
- 14:04riding my wife and something happened and the spirit said
- 14:08don't say it. You go out.
- 14:09You're about to say I told you so don't say it.
- 14:12Don't say it. I lost that battle because I
- 14:14said it. You know, those are spiritual
- 14:17battles, though. Those are spiritual battles.
- 14:20We win some and some we lose, but we fight the good war, we
- 14:28fight the good fight all the time, every day.
- 14:31We get up, we're fighting the good faith, fight off the good
- 14:35fight and then 19, he says. Having faith and good
- 14:38conscience, that means you have your testimony of what you
- 14:41believe, your proclamation of what you believe.
- 14:44You believe that Jesus Christ came and died for your sins.
- 14:47You believe that Jesus Christ was buried and you believe that
- 14:50he rose again on the third day. You believe that he ascended
- 14:53into heaven. You believe that he's coming
- 14:55back. Our faith is in that, our hope
- 14:57is in that. And we keep that with us having
- 15:00that faith and we believe in the word of God and everything
- 15:03that's in this word. We keep that with, we hold this
- 15:06in front of us, not behind us or in or beside us.
- 15:09We got to keep this in front of us.
- 15:12Paul said you were to always keep in front of me, always
- 15:15before me, so that I might not send against you.
- 15:18So we hold on to those things. And the good conscience is just
- 15:22walking out our faith. It's just walking out our faith
- 15:26or living out our faith. We don't have to live with a
- 15:28condemned conscience. We're not being hypocritical in
- 15:31our faith. We're not living double lives.
- 15:34We're not allowing the enemy to try to make us feel guilty or
- 15:37make us feel condemned about anything.
- 15:39Look, if I sin, I repent, I'm restored back to the Father.
- 15:43He's not going to hang that over me all the time.
- 15:46I have a good conscience. I have a conscience toward God.
- 15:50So I'm always trying to always think about the things of God.
- 15:53And then he says here, which some having rejected, some
- 15:57rejected the faith and they rejected their good conscience,
- 16:00some having rejected that concerning the faith and
- 16:03suffered shipwreck. I think he goes from the army
- 16:06now to the Navy. You know, he, he suffered, you
- 16:10know, the example now is a Navy exam.
- 16:12Now you suffered shipwreck. You know, we're talking about
- 16:14battling now we're talking about shipwreck.
- 16:16And it's like that sometimes, you know, when we're in that
- 16:19battle, if we give up and we turn our conscience, you know,
- 16:23we, we, we ignore our conscience or we ignore the faith or we
- 16:26reject the faith, it will shipwreck our lives.
- 16:30It will lead to sin. There's no question about it.
- 16:33It will lead to disobedience, lead to sin.
- 16:35Verse 20, and we're going to close here.
- 16:37And in verse 20, he says of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander,
- 16:43whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blasphemy
- 16:48Hymenaeus and Alexander. These are two men that you've
- 16:52read about in the book of Acts at some point.
- 16:54These are men who were associated with Paul, was
- 16:57walking with Paul, but they decided that they'd rather have
- 17:01the world instead. When he talks about Jimenez,
- 17:05Jimenez was a man who actually begin to teach that the
- 17:11resurrection have already come. He started teaching that the
- 17:15resurrection had already come, totally contrary to what Paul
- 17:19was teaching, contrary to the letters that Paul has sent.
- 17:23So he says the resurrection has already passed and he calls some
- 17:26to stumble in their faith as a result of that.
- 17:29And then there's Alexander. Alexander, he greatly resist or
- 17:33he opposed Paul's teaching. And Paul says as a result of
- 17:39that, that they all need to be delivered into Satan.
- 17:43Now, that doesn't just happen because they did it once.
- 17:46That's not what he's talking about.
- 17:47Obviously, when that had happened, he warned them, he
- 17:52went to them, he talked to them. You can see almost a very
- 17:54similar account of this discipline and how the process,
- 17:58the discipline works back in First Corinthians chapter 5,
- 18:01when the gentleman who had sinned, you know, they had gone
- 18:04to him and they had talked to him and, and just did not
- 18:07repent. And that's what he's talking
- 18:09about with these guys. He did not repent earlier.
- 18:12While at the end of chapter Second of Thessalonians, at the
- 18:16end of that, it talks about the church discipline and how we
- 18:19withdraw from people who are sinning openly sinning and not
- 18:23repenting, not repenting. But the purpose of that is not
- 18:27that. Again, I want to repeat this.
- 18:28The purpose of that is not to throw people away.
- 18:31I do not want to discard my brother because he slipped or my
- 18:36sister because she slipped. The purpose of withdrawing from
- 18:40that brother or sister is so that they will have an
- 18:43opportunity to either hear God or they end up giving themselves
- 18:49over to Satan. And if they give themselves over
- 18:51to Satan, they'll be, they'll become afflicted and they'll
- 18:53come to a point like I was come to a point where I can now hear
- 18:58God, 'cause I'm at my lowest and I'll give myself thin to
- 19:03repentance. I repent because I realize what
- 19:06I've done. And he's saying that this is
- 19:08what the goal is for them to learn not to blasphemy.
- 19:13That's what church discipline is for.
- 19:16It is not to just kick somebody out of church.
- 19:18It's for the purpose of restoration.
- 19:21It's always for the purpose of restoration.
- 19:24We have to get better. The church itself has to get
- 19:28better at walking with people who fall, who slip.
- 19:32We got to get better at that. There are some people who
- 19:35believe that the church is the only religion that shoot is
- 19:37wounded. We got to get better at walking
- 19:42with people to victory over whatever it is that they're
- 19:46dealing with. My heart breaks when I hear
- 19:49about pastors who have fell off. Maybe they fell off into some
- 19:55sin. My heart breaks because what
- 19:58that's telling me is that you mean they had nobody that they
- 20:02could have reached out to before it get to this point?
- 20:06Nobody that they could sit down with over breakfast like my
- 20:11brother and I did the other day. Sat down over breakfast and just
- 20:15talk with each other. Yeah.
- 20:17Nobody. He could share that he's
- 20:19struggling with a with a sin or the thought of a sin.
- 20:24That's sad. I pray that that doesn't happen
- 20:26here. I pray that if someone is
- 20:29struggling, that there's someone in here that you can reach out
- 20:33to. It doesn't have to be me,
- 20:34doesn't have to be Clark, but that there's somebody that we
- 20:37can reach out to and say, you know what?
- 20:39I'm struggling in this area. So Satan can shine the light on
- 20:45you and show how weak the church is.
- 20:48All that's exactly what he wants to do.
- 20:50Tear up your testimony. Let's do it before it gets to
- 20:53that point. So Hymenaeus and Alexander, they
- 20:59went shipwrecked, but he turned them over to Satan so that they
- 21:03would learn to not blasphemy. Listen, the grace of our Lord
- 21:08Jesus Christ is abundant. And maybe there's someone here
- 21:13who have been overtaken by sin, someone who's walking and sin,
- 21:16someone who's never given their life to Christ, never, someone
- 21:19who's never believed in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
- 21:23There is no reason. Now we know that there's going
- 21:26to come a day when judgments going to come and all those who
- 21:30are disobedient, all of those who have refused to believe on
- 21:34Jesus Christ will suffer the wrath of God.
- 21:39I mean, it's in the word, it's going to happen.
- 21:42Nobody here today has to suffer that you can either right where
- 21:50you are, confess that you're a Sinner and that you're in need
- 21:56of a Savior. Doesn't have to be something
- 21:59that it's public or public and everything.
- 22:01And a few people here would pray with you, talk with you.
- 22:05No one has to leave here today. Hell bound those of you on TV.
- 22:10If you're watching today, you can give your heart to Jesus
- 22:15Christ and repent and receive His salvation.
- 22:20His grace and His mercy is abundant.
- 22:24It's abundant. He had enough for me, He'll have
- 22:28enough for you. He had enough for me.
- 22:30He'll have enough for you or you or you or you.
- 22:34No respecter of persons. Let's pray.
- 22:39Father, we thank you for your sacrifice.
- 22:43We thank you for your love. We thank you that you sent your
- 22:45son Jesus to die for our sins. Lord, we thank you for the grace
- 22:50and the mercy that you have in abundance.
- 22:53Father, we just want to thank You that You would press it upon
- 22:57our hearts always, Lord, to remember, to remember that
- 23:02sacrifice, Lord, that you made so that as sinners we can come
- 23:07to You. We can still ask for Your
- 23:10forgiveness. Lord.
- 23:11We thank you, Lord, that we can be saved by grace through faith
- 23:16and not by accomplishing the works of the law.
- 23:21Father, we pray that You will always allow us to remember and
- 23:26to commemorate what you did on that cross, Lord, when you
- 23:30defeated sin, Satan, and the great.
- 23:35We thank you Lord, that we now have eternal life because of
- 23:39that sacrifice and we remember that in the name of our Savior
- 23:43and our Lord, in Jesus name we pray.
- 23:46Amen. You've been listening to Pastor
- 23:50Lewis Harrell here on Living Waters of Grace.
- 23:54We're digging into all that Paul shared with Timothy in the books
- 23:57of First and Second Timothy. Timothy was commissioned to do
- 24:01the following fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
- 24:05eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed
- 24:09the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
- 24:14Timothy would be carrying on what Paul had taught him and
- 24:18continuing on in ministry, even though Paul knew that more
- 24:22hardships would come for Timothy.
- 24:24This is the Christian life. It's not glamorous, it's not
- 24:29some celebrity status. It's hard fought, it's gritty,
- 24:33it's unpopular, but it's worth it.
- 24:37Can you believe that today? Are you willing to fight the
- 24:39good fight even at the cost of earthly pleasures?
- 24:43Living the life of a follower of Jesus will have its heavenly
- 24:47rewards. To be a part of a community
- 24:50that's looking forward to that heavenly reward, we invite you
- 24:54to join us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
- 24:57If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, come be with us this
- 25:00Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
- 25:05Ste. 6B. Check out Calvary Chapel
- 25:09online.com For more information on directions and any other
- 25:14details you might want to know. You can also download our mobile
- 25:18app from our website thatscalvarychapelonline.com.
- 25:23If you have friends or family members who want to tune in,
- 25:26encourage them to listen on Grace FM 91.7.
- 25:30One last thing, this radio ministry relies on your support
- 25:34to keep things going. If you're willing to donate
- 25:37financially, send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA
- 25:4415601. Thanks for prayerfully
- 25:48considering this, and thank you for listening to Living Waters
- 25:52of Grace.