Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace, March 18th, 2026

Transcript

Living Waters of Grace, March 18th, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

0:03
This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
0:08
Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
0:12
of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
0:16
continues teaching through God's Word.
0:37
I remember Clark, man, he used to get drunk all the time.
0:39
He was fun. He used to get stoned.
0:41
It was so cool being around him. We had a good day.
0:43
I can't stand being around him now because he doesn't do it
0:45
anymore. Why doesn't he do it?
0:47
They think it's strange that I don't run in the same
0:50
dissipation of the way I used to live with them.
0:52
And I'm sure that's the case with many of you.
0:55
But it says they will give an account to him who is ready to
0:58
judge the living and the dead. It's important to be an
1:02
influencing factor in this day that you live.
1:07
What Pastor Clark just shared might come as a surprise to you.
1:11
Having heard all the wonderful Bible teaching from Pastor
1:13
Clark, it's sort of hard to imagine him drunk or doing
1:17
drugs. And yet, we know that everyone
1:20
has some sort of past before they came to Christ.
1:24
Pastor Clark reminds you today that your past can be used to
1:28
minister to others. In fact, that's the reason that
1:32
God allowed you to go through what you went through.
1:35
Again, our lives on earth are for the sake of others.
1:39
Your story can and will bring God glory if you choose to let
1:45
Him now. Here's Pastor Clark in
1:47
Revelation Chapter 6 with today's edition of Living Waters
1:51
of Grace. This book, this chapter today is
1:55
a difficult chapter. I probably struggled more with
1:59
preparing this message than most messages I've worked on down
2:03
through the years and different reasons.
2:06
Because number one, what this chapter discusses is something
2:11
that you don't want anybody to have to deal with, that you
2:14
love, that would be left behind #1 #2 is that there's a lot of
2:20
imagery in this chapter that would cause perhaps some
2:25
difficulty and understanding, or people would have different
2:29
positions about how these things transpire.
2:32
And it's important to realize when we study the end times,
2:35
there's never anything in the end times that we argue about
2:38
because these are all futuristic things.
2:41
And we will know these things clearly when they truly come to
2:45
pass. But we're still looking ahead.
2:47
Now, some things are very, very clearly revealed and we can
2:51
grasp and comprehend. And some things, quite frankly,
2:54
we read them and they, they perplex us.
2:55
So what does that really mean? And how's that going to work
2:59
out? So I'd like to just give you a
3:01
little bit of foundation so that as we study this book going
3:04
forward, you'll understand more about the great tribulation that
3:10
is soon to come upon this world. This is where it begins in
3:14
chapter 6. So I'm going to give you a
3:16
little bit of background first before we get into the actual
3:20
text of the Scripture. Now, when we think of prophecy,
3:23
prophecy is given for the purpose of helping us to see
3:27
into the days ahead. The apostle Paul said that he
3:31
desires that we would prophecy more than anything else, and
3:35
that's just not this ability to communicate something that
3:38
hasn't occurred yet, but in the sense of what prophecy means.
3:41
It's the ability to edify, exhort, and comfort the church.
3:47
So today I trust that when we study this, that you will be
3:50
built up in your faith with the Lord Jesus, that you'll be also
3:55
worn in regard to perhaps some things that maybe are in your
3:58
life today that need to be cleaned up by the grace of God
4:02
and repentance. And, and then comfort that as
4:08
you think about loved ones who left this world, who died in
4:12
Christ, you have the hope, as Paul said, that we don't sorrow
4:16
as those who have no hope. So those three important issues
4:20
of prophecy are to be revealed to each of us today.
4:25
But the events of the end time will follow the rapture of the
4:28
church, which is the next major event that we believe is
4:32
evangelical Christians that are on, that's on the horizon, that
4:35
we will be removed from this planet prior to God pouring out
4:39
his wrath upon the earth. And we have a lot of proof texts
4:43
for that. I was thinking this morning as
4:46
my mom was going through this message that, you know, I have
4:48
children, I have grandchildren. I can't think of any time in my
4:52
life that I put them through a test, a difficult test that I
4:57
knew they wouldn't be able to pass, to prove that they love
5:00
me. I just knew that my kids love
5:03
me. Even when they were rebellious
5:05
and said all kind of mean things to me, I always knew my kids
5:09
down deep inside love me. And I know my my grandchildren
5:13
are like that too. And I, as a, as a grandfather
5:16
and a father, would never intentionally do anything to put
5:20
them into a circumstance that would potentially destroy them.
5:25
And God, our Father, is the same way.
5:26
He would never do that to any of us.
5:28
He loves us and we're his children.
5:31
And so this time period that occurs after the rapture is
5:34
called the period of preparation.
5:37
During this period, and it's actually occurring right now,
5:40
there's been discussions as to this world government that will
5:44
eventually arise on the political horizon.
5:49
Some people for years thought it was made-up of countries such as
5:53
Russia and Germany. And but as time goes on, we've
5:57
shifted a lot of us in our thoughts because none of us
6:00
understood the influence and the power of Islam like we do today.
6:05
When I was growing up, I didn't even know what Islam was, let
6:08
alone what a Muslim was or who Mohammed was.
6:11
I, I knew nothing about that. Today it is the most influential
6:15
apart from Christian Christianity, most powerful by
6:18
most dynamic force upon the face of the earth.
6:22
It's the fastest growing religion right now, whether you
6:26
know it or not. Some of the cities in America
6:28
are being inundated with the growth of Islamic people and our
6:34
country, our nation, a wonderful country.
6:36
We invite everybody in and this is a home for a lot of different
6:39
people groups, and we don't want to discriminate or look down
6:43
upon anybody, any group of people.
6:45
But we need to understand that the agenda of the Islam nation
6:50
is to destroy the infidels, which is who we are.
6:54
So if there was ever a movement on the face of the earth that
6:56
was designed by the Evil 1 to wipe out Christianity, it is the
7:01
empire of Islam. If we study back in church
7:06
history, some of the most horrendous atrocities that
7:09
occurred on Christian people was by the Islamic nation.
7:16
And so as we think about the potential countries that will
7:19
form this political alliance in the Middle East, the Middle East
7:23
is where everything's happening. It's the hotbed as we think
7:27
about this Islamic Arab nation state where the Antichrist will
7:31
raise up and be a ruler. These are the nations that we
7:34
believe will be involved in that Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan,
7:39
Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
7:44
If you think about those nations today, they are heavily
7:49
dominated by Islamic rule, so much so that if you're a
7:54
Christian in these countries and your vocal and outspoken about
7:58
your faith, you have the potential of being imprisoned
8:01
and being martyred. And, and as we speak right now,
8:04
our brothers and sisters in Christ in these countries are
8:08
being martyred and they are in prison awaiting martyrdom.
8:11
So what we're studying about sometimes in Revelation is sort
8:15
of outside the realm of where we live every day.
8:18
But if you live in these countries, you understand the
8:21
horrendous events of being under a rule of Antichrist movement.
8:29
But this leader is going to emerge from this 10 nation
8:33
confederacy, and he's going to be in charge of everything.
8:37
And Daniel 724 and 25 gets into that.
8:41
You can check that out on your own.
8:43
But this evil one who raises up the Antichrist, he's going to
8:46
have the power to enter into a covenant with Israel to bring a
8:51
form of peace. Now we know every president that
8:54
has been in office has worked to try to bring peace in Israel
8:59
between the Arab nations and the Jewish people.
9:02
No one succeeded. Some people will get peace for a
9:05
couple months, maybe six months, but eventually it falls apart.
9:09
But this particular individual will have so much charisma and
9:13
so much intellectual promise that he'll be able to develop
9:17
this covenant. And this peace treaty will
9:19
actually look like it's working for about 3 1/2 years.
9:23
The world at that time, they're going to be amazed and
9:25
mesmerized by this leader. And they're going to say, hey,
9:27
this is finally someone that'll get things straightened out.
9:30
The economic situation will improve, prosperity, peace, all
9:34
that kind of stuff. And he's the one that'll
9:36
eventually bring rest to the relationship between Israel and
9:39
their Arab enemies. This person is defined as an
9:44
intellectual genius. He has extraordinary power.
9:49
He will work to destroy the nation of Israel.
9:53
He'll be very shrewd in how he goes about things.
9:56
He'll let the nations rest in a sense of false security for
9:59
those first 3 1/2 years, and then he'll move to destroy them.
10:04
He'll magnify himself above everything that's called God,
10:07
doesn't matter what religion, including Christianity.
10:11
He'll set himself up in the temple actually when it's
10:15
rebuilt, and he'll declare himself to be God, and that's
10:19
called the abomination of desolation.
10:22
He'll be able to control all the nations in human life and he'll
10:26
be worshipped as God and he will be the the strength of the
10:32
nations at that time because of the prosperity he brings.
10:36
As I said, for half of this seven-year period, this peace
10:39
treaty will be in place and it'll look like it's working at
10:43
the midpoint of this 7 1/2 year of this seven-year period.
10:47
The treaty will be broken about 3 1/2 years and the Antichrist
10:52
will then rise up and he'll proclaim his position as ruler
10:56
of the entire world and then persecution will then begin.
11:01
The final 3 1/2 years will end at the rain when Jesus Christ
11:07
comes and the second coming. That's the only thing that will
11:10
bring this horrendous cataclysmic time on earth to a
11:14
conclusion. And that will be preceded by a
11:18
Great War prior to Christ's return called the Battle of
11:21
Armageddon. So as we begin to move through
11:23
Revelation 6 through 18, this will begin to revealed to us
11:29
this period that is called the Great Tribulation.
11:32
And more specifically as we study we'll we'll really see
11:35
clearly the last 3 1/2 years before Jesus begins his descent
11:42
to roll and reign for the millennial Kingdom on the face
11:45
of the earth. So let's pick it up in verse 9
11:49
of chapter 5 before we jump into 6.
11:53
There's groups that believe that the church will be in the
11:56
tribulation or part of the tribulation amid tribulation
12:01
people or post tribulation folks.
12:05
We don't believe that's an accurate assumption of what's
12:09
going to happen in verse 9 of chapter 5.
12:13
This is a scene in heaven prior to the seals being open.
12:17
In chapter 6, the beginning of the tribulation, it says, and
12:19
they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll
12:23
and to open its seals. For you were slain and have
12:26
redeemed us. And you might want to underline
12:28
us in your Bible to God by your blood out of every tribe and
12:32
tongue and people of a nation. And it made us kings and priests
12:36
to our God. And we shall reign on the earth.
12:39
So this is spoken of prior to the establishment of the
12:43
millennial Kingdom, the thousand year reign in the face of the
12:46
earth. So we're not going to be in the
12:48
scene in chapter 6. So that is a very, very
12:51
important verse to be reminding yourself of because you know,
12:56
when things start to unravel and and they're on the verge of
13:00
unraveling any day now, no one knows the time or the season.
13:04
The Bible says only the Father in heaven.
13:06
But we don't want our faith to be shaken because of some
13:10
adversity that comes upon us wondering, was God true to His
13:13
word or is he going to be faithful to what He promised?
13:16
If you were living in Sudan today and you're a believer, you
13:20
would have a hard time thinking you weren't in the tribulation
13:23
right now because of what you're having to deal with presently.
13:26
But believe me, as bad as things are in Sudan and some of the
13:29
other places, the world, it doesn't come close to what it's
13:31
going to be like during this great tribulation period.
13:35
So the tribulation doesn't really actually begin until
13:38
these seals are broken in chapter 6.
13:40
And so as I said, the throngs that we just read about in
13:44
Revelation 59, that's us. We're not going to be there with
13:49
what's going to begin to happen in chapter 6.
13:51
So let's start in chapter 6, verse one.
13:53
Now I saw when the Lord opened one of the seals, and I heard
13:57
one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like
14:00
Thunder, come and see. And I looked and behold, a White
14:04
Horse, he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him
14:08
and he went out conquering and to conquer.
14:12
Now a lot of people think, well, White Horse, this, this is a,
14:15
this is Jesus. He's he's coming back and he's
14:18
going to, you know, establish his Kingdom and he's going to
14:20
rule and reign. But this is a, a deception here.
14:23
This is truly not Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
14:27
because when he comes, he conquers with the sword.
14:31
There's no sword in the hand of this rider.
14:33
In this White Horse. He has a bow, but he has no
14:37
arrow. The crown he has isn't the crown
14:39
that's defined in the Greek diadem.
14:42
When Christ comes, he will have a crown on that'll be declaring
14:47
him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
14:50
So this person on this horse represents the Antichrist, the
14:54
false Messiah. And he's coming at this time to
14:57
conquer the earth, to begin to control the forces and the
15:00
circumstances of of the human race.
15:04
He's going to set up his authority and he's going to have
15:07
this power, and his emergence as a world roller will begin at the
15:12
beginning of this first seal being opened up.
15:15
And it tells us in Second Thessalonians, it's important to
15:18
realize that what's going to happen, the only thing that's
15:22
preventing it from happening right now is the church, the
15:25
body of Christ. We're still on earth, we're
15:27
still having influence, we're still having salt and
15:30
influencing ungodly people. But it says in Second
15:34
Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 7, For that which hinders shall
15:38
hinder until it is taken out of the way, and then the son of
15:41
perdition will be revealed. Now the church is always seen in
15:46
the Scriptures as a preserving influence, a purifying entity.
15:52
And if you flip over to Matthew 513 for a minute, Jesus talks
15:55
about the the ability of salt. He says in verse 13, You are the
16:00
salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
16:03
flavor, how shall it be seasoned?
16:06
It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled
16:09
under foot by men. Now salt in the early days was
16:15
used as a preservative to keep meat from developing surface
16:20
bacteria. It kept it edible for people to
16:24
eat. It kept it from rotting.
16:26
And what what's happening here right now, today is that you and
16:30
I are the influence in the world.
16:33
And I, I pray you grasp that today.
16:35
I need to grasp that more that your word and your testimony and
16:40
your walk and your faithfulness to Christ is having a pushback
16:44
influence on an unbelieving world.
16:46
You don't think sometimes, well, what does my little life do or
16:49
how does it affect anybody? People are watching you.
16:52
They are many times going to go do something or get involved in
16:56
something or say something. You being there makes them
16:59
uncomfortable. So they're not inclined to maybe
17:01
tell the filthy stories or do the deceptive evil deed.
17:06
Your influence is, is preserving and and protecting them in a
17:10
sense to keep them aware of pressing into things that are
17:13
evil. That's why the Bible tells us
17:16
that we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
17:18
together. The most important thing for you
17:20
and me as Christians is to be with believers to keep us on
17:24
track. Because I'll tell you, if you're
17:26
not in the body and you're not plugged into the Word, and
17:28
you're not worshipping God and you're not letting the Word of
17:31
God influence you and affect you, you will drift.
17:34
You will drift and you will begin to lose your influence on
17:38
others. You'll begin at times to find
17:39
yourself doing the very things that those people that are lost
17:44
are doing. I speak from experience.
17:47
I know what it means to drift. And we're all bound and
17:52
potentially capable of any sin, aren't we?
17:55
Of any crime? It's only the grace of God, the
17:59
power of the Holy Spirit, that keeps us in the place that we
18:02
need to be as pure instruments of salt.
18:07
But when the salt has been silenced, in other words, when
18:10
we are taken out of this world, the unbelieving world's going to
18:13
party. Hey, those people are gone.
18:16
Basically. Literally all hell will break
18:18
loose. Well, anyway, that's what it's
18:20
going to be like. I mean, people are going to be
18:22
going wow. Then they're just going to be so
18:24
excited that goody 2 shoes isn't around anymore.
18:28
That that prude or that the bigot or that fanatic is no
18:33
longer here to challenge me about my lifestyle and to warn
18:36
me about the wrath of God to come.
18:39
If you flip over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 for a
18:42
moment. And my heart, when I teach this
18:45
guys, isn't this a teach history, Future history?
18:49
That can be interesting, but it can also be really boring.
18:52
The importance of these truths in the Book of Revelation is to
18:55
cause you and me to in a practical sense, live
18:59
differently. I, I trust when you hear these
19:01
things that you're thinking, I got to change my life's got to
19:04
become more influenced by the things of God and less
19:08
influenced by the things of this world because this chapter and
19:11
what we're studying, guys, this isn't where our minds are every
19:14
day. Our minds are working, creating,
19:18
you know, building, developing, experiencing, buying, selling,
19:24
having fun. I mean, you know, and God does
19:26
allow us to have fun, obviously, but it's so easy to get outside
19:31
the realm of what Christ is wanting to fulfill in these last
19:35
days, isn't it? And what happens for me today,
19:39
teaching this and I trust for you being here is that it
19:41
energizes your mind again to think about as Jesus said, look
19:45
up your redemption draws an eye. And so as we look in 2nd
19:49
Corinthians 214, this is what's happening when you're out there
19:54
in the world every day. It says thanks be to God who
19:57
always leads us to triumph in Christ and through US diffuses
20:01
the fragrance of his knowledge to every place I pray in my life
20:05
today is diffusing the fragrance of the Kingdom of God and the
20:09
Lord Jesus Christ into your lives today and you to me for we
20:14
are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being
20:17
saved. This being together.
20:19
It's good to be. With the brothers and sisters,
20:23
isn't it? It's good to dwell with brothers
20:25
and sisters who dwell together in unity in Jesus Christ.
20:29
It's a smell that is unlike the smell that I smell when I go
20:34
into the world every day, because the world doesn't care
20:36
about what we're talking about today.
20:39
They're not interested. They're ignorant of it, and
20:43
they, quite frankly, most of the time don't want to even talk
20:45
about it. But I can come here and you guys
20:48
can come here with a group of people that actually are
20:51
anticipating the return of the Lord.
20:55
That's rare, it's precious and it's vital.
20:58
And so we should smell that fragrance in one another's
21:01
lives. Soon as we see each other, we
21:03
know we're part of the same family and and among those who
21:06
are perishing, it's a different fragrance to the one we are.
21:10
The aroma of death leading to death, and the other, the aroma
21:14
of life leading to life. And so when you're out there in
21:18
your influence of being salt, you remind people of their
21:22
mortality. You remind people of the
21:24
impending judgment and that one day they will stand and give an
21:27
account of themselves to God because you've probably told
21:29
them that. And so every time they see you,
21:32
there's that person again that's making me feel guilty or they're
21:36
making me feel uncomfortable. And that's not our intention.
21:38
We're just like being who we are.
21:39
We're in a sense no better, but we're changed, right?
21:43
We have the light of Christ in us.
21:45
We have the Holy Spirit dealing with us and purifying us and
21:49
cleansing us and that we're filled with God's Spirit.
21:51
So when we're around people, we are different.
21:54
We're, we should be radically different at this as much as
21:57
when we're around each other. Like last night we had the
21:59
worship night. It was awesome just sitting here
22:01
worshiping the Lord and listening to different people's
22:04
skills and talent. You know, if you were lost and
22:06
you didn't know Christ, you'd sit here and say, these people
22:08
are nuts. You know, what are they doing?
22:11
You know, what's this mean? But we were singing about our
22:14
love for Christ. We were worshiping him and those
22:19
of us who were here, we're connecting.
22:21
We were feeding off that in each other's lives.
22:24
It was just a blessed time. First Peter chapter 4, verse
22:28
one. Therefore, since Christ suffered
22:31
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same
22:34
mind. For he who suffered in the flesh
22:36
has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of
22:39
his time in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of
22:42
God. It's time for all of us guys no
22:45
longer to live after the lust of this world, but live for the
22:50
will of God. For we spent enough of our past
22:53
lifetime, Amen. We spent enough of our life
22:57
wasting it and doing the will of the gentiles or the lost when we
23:01
walked in, lewdness and lust and drunkenness and reverently
23:05
drinking parties and a bomb on our idolatries.
23:08
In regard to these, they think it's strange that you don't run
23:11
with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of
23:15
you. In other words.
23:15
Again, salt. I remember Clark, man, he used
23:18
to get drunk all the time. He was fun.
23:19
He used to get stoned. It was so cool being around and
23:22
we had a good time. I can't stand being around him
23:24
now because he doesn't do it anymore.
23:25
Why doesn't he do it? They think it's strange that I
23:28
don't run in the same dissipation of the way I used to
23:31
live with them, and I'm sure that's the case with many of
23:34
you. But it says they will give an
23:36
account to him who is ready to judge the living in the dead.
23:41
It's important to be an influencing factor in this day
23:46
that you live. In the Book of Revelation,
23:50
Pastor Clark is taking us through all kinds of events and
23:53
happenings that are predicted for the future.
23:57
But for those who believe and follow Jesus, there's much to
24:00
look forward to in heaven with Jesus.
24:03
However, for those who are here on earth during the Tribulation,
24:07
there's all kinds of chaos that will unfold.
24:11
The Bible talks about an Antichrist, a false prophet, and
24:15
of course, that evil enemy, Satan.
24:18
Do you see how there are such clever attempts for the enemy to
24:21
disguise himself as God and even the Trinity?
24:25
The true Savior of the world is God and how He comes to rescue
24:29
through his triune nature God the Father, Jesus the Son, and
24:34
God the Holy Spirit? Just like Satan tried to take
24:39
over for God in heaven and was cast out, Satan will try to
24:43
convince people on earth that he is the Triune God to be
24:47
worshipped instead of the legitimate God in heaven.
24:50
It's an attempt, and although he will capture plenty in his
24:54
schemes, he will not win. The true God wins, and
24:59
Revelation unpacks how that will all happen in detail.
25:03
Be encouraged because there's a way out for all of this madness
25:07
that will ensue on this earth. But you don't want to wait
25:11
indefinitely to make that decision about Jesus.
25:15
We don't know when the church will be raptured, and you want
25:18
to be ready to be with Jesus. To learn more about this, head
25:22
over to calvarychapelonline.com. We're so glad you've been with
25:28
us today. And if you'd like to connect
25:30
further with this ministry, find us on Facebook or YouTube.
25:34
You can also download our mobile app at calvarychapelonline.com.
25:39
Be sure to join us for weekly services at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
25:44
Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601. This has been Living Waters of
25:53
Grace.